John Dickson (@johnpauldickson) / X

John Dickson

19.8K posts

John Dickson

@johnpauldickson

Professor, Wheaton College (IL). PhD, Ancient History. Presenter Undeceptions & First Hymn. Far from home. 🇦🇺 All my links: linktr.ee/johnpauldickson

Wheaton, Illinois.

Joined July 2009

Pinned
John Dickson
@johnpauldickson
Jun 30, 2023
I teach a class here at @WheatonCollege on the history of Christianity, focused on the first thousand years. One thought haunts me. We are right to look with shock and disappointment at the way medieval Christians accepted violence as a norm. 1/
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John Dickson
@johnpauldickson
Jul 3, 2020
Thesis: the average 18 year old student in, say, York in AD 800 (the middle of the so-called "Dark Ages") had read more, knew more languages, was better trained in logic, could read more music, knew more mathematics and astronomy than the average student from a university today.
John Dickson
@johnpauldickson
Apr 20, 2025
Replying to @CTmagazine
Dear CT, there's a grammatical error in paragraph 31 ("the Romans use of nails" requires a possessive apostrophe), and there's a historical error from paragraphs 1-43.
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John Dickson
@johnpauldickson
Jul 3, 2020
Replying to @johnpauldickson
Sorry, I should have said 'WAY more ..."
John Dickson
@johnpauldickson
Jun 30, 2023
Replying to @johnpauldickson
So, here's what haunts me. Without denying we are right to condemn medieval Christians for their violence, I wonder if they would have every right to rise up and condemn modern (Western) Christians for the way we accept the pursuit of wealth, pleasure, and comfort as norms. 4/
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John Dickson
@johnpauldickson
Jun 30, 2023
Replying to @johnpauldickson
Postscript: I am not claiming to be a modern-day prophet, only confessing that I am an anxious historian.
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John Dickson
@johnpauldickson
Nov 28, 2022
I have come to feel that the danger of set prayers becoming rote and ritualistic is no greater than the danger of extempore prayers becoming banal and unbiblical.
John Dickson
@johnpauldickson
Oct 14, 2025
For twenty years I’ve taught the standard scholarly view of the Testimonium Flavianum — the short passage about Jesus in the first-century Jewish historian Josephus. The consensus says Josephus wrote a brief, neutral remark about Jesus, later “improved” by a naughty Christian
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John Dickson
@johnpauldickson
Jun 13, 2025
The man who gave us the concept of “Just War” (St Augustine, AD 400) insisted that even if we are forced by circumstances to fight in such a “just war”, we should weep! ________________ “People say a wise person will fight in wars that are just. But if someone remembers they are
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John Dickson
@johnpauldickson
Jul 30, 2025
From 31 July, you can see The First Hymn in cinemas across Australia and New Zealand, for a limited time only. From Sydney to Joondalup, from Melbourne to Redcliffe, from Brisbane to Woden, from Perth to Erina Fair, from Adelaide to Tweed City, from Darwin to Eastgardens, from
742K
John Dickson
@johnpauldickson
Jun 30, 2023
Replying to @johnpauldickson
... when I teach the history of Christianity, and find myself (and my students) condemning medieval Christians for violence, I have this nagging anxiety about my wealth, pleasure, and comfort. 6/6
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John Dickson
@johnpauldickson
Jul 5, 2022
The future of Christianity is in good hands ...
John Dickson
@johnpauldickson
Mar 23, 2021
If you think Christian history is a story of charity and wisdom, this book might annoy you. If you think it is a long nightmare of ignorance and hypocrisy, the evidence amassed here might surprise you. This is my century-by-century account of the Church's "bullies and saints".
John Dickson
@johnpauldickson
Aug 7, 2025
Due to popular demand, @HoytsAustralia and @event_cinemas are extending the run of The First Hymn for another week (to 13 Aug) and increasing the number of cinemas showing the film. Find a theatre and check out the trailer here: thefirsthymnmovie.com/map
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