Giants of the Faith - A Christian History Podcast

Giants of the Faith - A Christian History Podcast

Giants of the Faith is a bite-sized podcast where we’ll explore some of the great figures in Christian history. Expect to hear episodes on Luther, Augustine, Wesley, and more. Some of the folks we talk about will be familiar to you and some will probably not be but all are noteworthy in some way.

Episodes

December 19, 2025 14 mins

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This Christmas 2025 episode will focus on the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It is this year's Christmas episode, of course, because Longfellow wrote the memorable poem Christmas Bells - which later became the Christmas hymn I Heard the Bells.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is one of America's most cherished poets, a writer whose moral vision, gentle piety, and lyrical craft helped shape the cultural...

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This episode concludes our three part look at Jacobus Arminius as part of the larger series of episodes taken from Inter-Varsity Press' Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals. In this episode we're discussing Arminianism today. If you haven't listened to the preceding two episodes you should go do that now. 

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Today we're continuing our look at Arminius and the storms that followed his death. He died of tuberculosis in 1609 but, of course, his impact continued, and continues, long after his death. Specifically, we're going to focus on the Synod of Dort, one of the most important, and perhaps least understood, events in the history of Christian doctrine. We'll look at what Dort was, why it happened, and why ...

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Today we are continuing our random march through Inter-Varsity Press' Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals. My son pulled random number 18, which lead us to page 18 in the book. Page 18 takes us to Jacobus Arminius - the founder of the Remonstrant Movement and the arch-enemy of Calvinists everywhere. That's a bit of a joke but he is the founder of one of the two primary (sorry Molinists) views on the Do...

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This is Episode 81 and the second in out series of episodes based on the Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals from Inter-Varsity Press. If you remember from the last episode I'm using a random number generator to choose a number from three to 763 and that determines what page to check to find the subject of the episode. It's kind of like a modern casting of the lots. My son Zach chose random number 42 a...

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This season we're doing something a little different. This season will consist of mostly shorter episodes with inspiration drawn from the Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals by Mark Noll and published by Intervarsity Press. BDE features brief biographies, ordered chronologically, of over 400 evangelicals from John Wycliff to the modern day spread across 816 pages. My plan for each episode is to use a random...

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This is a special Christmas bonus episode featuring Charles Dickens. Dickens is in many ways responsible for the modern celebration of Christmas - for good or ill. I hope you enjoy this look at this life.

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November 23, 2024 20 mins

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Today's show is about one of the titans of medieval thought - John Duns Scotus. Scotus was one of the most influential scholastics - right behind Thomas Aquinas. In this episode I'm going to go off into the weeds a bit to explain some of the details of the medieval school of thought known as Scholasticism and other topics. Hopefully you find the side-trips helpful.

https://whytheology.wordpress.co...

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July 3, 2024 14 mins

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Cornelius Van Til is one of the foremost apologists of the 20th Century. He developed the strand of apologetics known as presuppositional apologetics. His influence on modern Christianity is undeniable.

RESOURCES

New Netherlands Institute: https://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/dutch_americans/cornelius-van-til

Banner of Truth: https://banneroftruth.org/us/resources/articles/2001/corneliu...

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May 1, 2024 9 mins

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Hello and welcome to episode 77 of the Giants of the Faith podcast. My name is Robert Daniels and I am the host of this show where we look back at Christians from the past that have made an impact for the kingdom of God. Today we're looking at the life of Scottish missionary John Paton.

RESOURCES

Ligonier: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/missionary-john-paton

All Nations Interational: https://all...

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In today's episode we're looking at influential modern theologian Karl Barth. This is my third try at writing this episode because I've struggled to be able to present Barth in a way that both appreciates his impact on the 20th century church while dealing with the problems in his personal life. So, to avoid rubber-stamping Barth's status as a Giant of the Faith but to also cover such an influent...

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April 7, 2024 9 mins

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Hello, and welcome to episode 76 of the Giants of the Faith podcast. This is the podcast where we look at the lives of Christians from history and examine the impact that they have had for the Kingdom of Christ. I'm your host, Robert Daniels, and in today's episode we're focused on one of the Church Fathers, John Chrysostom.


RESOURCES

Orthodox Christianity: https://orthochristian.com/4310...

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March 12, 2024 9 mins

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 This is the podcast where we profile Christians from throughout the age of the church and look at their impact on the world and our shared faith. In this episode we're profiling the Anglican Bishop J.C. Ryle, who's commentaries and works are still in print and in wide use today.

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February 22, 2024 5 mins

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Dionysius Exiguus, whose name would be translated today as "Dennis the Humble," was a 6th-century monk, scholar, and mathematician. While he may not be as well-known as some other figures from antiquity, his contributions to the world are profound and enduring. 


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February 3, 2024 4 mins

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Welcome to Giants of the Faith, a podcast where we explore some of the great figures in Christian history. I'm your host, Robert Daniels, and today we're going to talk about Mark Buntain, a Canadian evangelist and missionary who founded a hospital and a feeding program in Calcutta, India. This episode is for Tim Svoboda, who won the graphic novel contest from a few months ago by suggesting Buntain. 

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 Today, we will focus on the life and work of John Mason Neale, an Anglican priest, scholar, and hymnwriter who translated and adapted many ancient and medieval hymns into English. My initial thought was to relegate Neale to a bonus episode hitched to Episode 71 and Wenceslaus. But when I saw that he was also responsible for the popular English translations of "Good Christian Men, Rejoice" and "O Come...

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Merry Christmas! I'm recording this episode in December 2023 and Christmas is fast approaching. So, in honor of this festive season, today's episode will focus on the history and stories surrounding two men that have become part of our Christmas traditions in the West. One, Boniface, is most famous as the bringer of the Christmas tree. The other, Wenceslaus, for his noble act of kindness.

RESOURCE...

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This is part two of two of a look at the life of famed evangelist Billy Graham. In part one we looked at Graham's early life through his first major evangelistic campaign in Los Angeles. Today we'll look at the rest of his life. I feel like I should say that I'm not covering everything that Graham did in his life. He was a busy guy. There are plenty of biographies out there if you are interested in le...

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We've been following the chain of faith from Edward Kimball to DL Moody, then from Moody to Wilbur Chapman and on through Billy Sunday and Mordecai Ham until we've finally reach the man himself, William Franklin Graham. Graham needs little introduction so we'll just jump right into the story.

RESOURCES

The Billy Graham Library: https://billygrahamlibrary.org/blog-billy-graham-and-the-florida-b...

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This is a bit of a bonus because I didn't intend to give today's subject the full episode treatment. But after a last-minute change of mind here we are with a short episode focusing on Mordecai Ham, the Kentuckian evangelist who will be the penultimate link in our chain of faith leading up to Billy Graham. Ham was a fundamentalist Baptist - not the kind of guy I would normally want to feature. He was, perh...

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