Dr Paul Allen

Today in history, the West achieved one of its most resounding victories over the forces of jihad — a triumph so monumental that it inaugurated the tradition of ringing church bells at noon. This practice still endures, even if its meaning has faded from memory. Three years after his brutal conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman sultan Muhammad II — the infamous “Conqueror” — marched westward with more than 100,000 Turks. His target was the strategic fortress town of Belgrade, gateway to Hungary and sentinel of Europe. If it fell, the heartlands of the West would lie exposed to the tide of Islamic conquest. The memory of Constantinople’s horrific sack was still raw, its churches defiled, its faithful slaughtered or enslaved. As the Muslim horde advanced, a wave of panic swept across the Danube. Even King Ladislaus V of Hungary, gripped by fear, fled to Vienna on the sorry pretext that he was going “hunting.” But one man refused to flee, standing tall while kings quailed: John ...

Paul the Apostle, Russian icon from first quarter of 18th cen. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” ( 1 Timothy 6:6 ) In this day of internet sales pressures and an ever-increasing array of technological gadgets and creature comforts, the Christian virtue of contentment is a rare commodity. There is even a widespread error among born-again Christians that material prosperity is a token of spirituality and divine approval on an affluent lifestyle. Instead of a blessing, however, such affluence (if it comes) should be regarded as a testing, for Jesus said: “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” ( Luke 12:48 ). Paul was perhaps the most faithful and fruitful Christian who ever lived, yet he died penniless in a Roman dungeon. His own testimony concerning material possessions and standards of living was this: “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how...

Inquisition Scene by Francisco Goya. The Spanish Inquisition was still in force in the late eighteenth century. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) A friend asked me that question earlier this week. And so I thought it might be helpful to share a few thoughts, from a historical perspective. Opinions about how to answer the question vary widely. Some suggest that just a few thousand people were executed during the Inquisition, while others project that there were tens of millions of victims. So how can the estimates be so widely divergent? There seem to be several explanations: 1. First,  the imprecise nature of the historical records means that contemporary historians are forced to extrapolate on the basis of the limited information they possess. One of the first accounts of the Inquisition came from a former Spanish secretary to the Inquisition named Juan Antonio Llorente (1756–1823). According to Llorente, the total number of “heretics” burned at the stake during the Sp...