Curated category
Religion and politics
- SecularismSecularism, in 1851, did not yet have a name. In Britain that year, a writer reaching for an alternative to a word he found too aggravating settled on a new…
- Investiture ControversyThe Investiture Controversy began with a letter. In the winter of 1076, King Henry IV of Germany wrote to Pope Gregory VII using a salutation that was not…
- PolygamyPolygamy, a word rooted in Late Greek and meaning the state of marriage to many spouses, has never been a single, simple institution.
- Edict of ThessalonicaOn the 27th of February, AD 380, three emperors put their names to a document that would reshape the religious identity of the ancient world.
- English ReformationThe English Reformation began not with a theological dispute but with a king who wanted out of his marriage. In 1527, Henry VIII asked Pope Clement VII to…
- Vatican CityVatican City sits on a marshy patch of ground that the ancient Romans considered cursed. Long before popes built their palaces here, the area was known as…
- Divine right of kingsIn the year 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket died after being murdered by knights loyal to King Henry II of England. This violent event marked a turning point…
- Keston InstituteThe Keston Institute exists because a young British student walked through Moscow in the 1950s and counted churches. Michael Bourdeaux had arrived as part of…
- Holy SeeThe Holy See is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City, and under international law it stands as a sovereign juridical entity.
- IranIran sits on one of the world's oldest continuous major civilizations, and the people of present-day Iran were first unified under the Medes in the 7th…