Western Civ

Charles and Buckingham go on an adventure to Spain which ends, spoiler alert, horribly. The Thirty Years War erupts in Germany. But James does not live to see it reach a fever pitch. WebsiteWestern Civ 2.0

James I desperately wanted to marry his son, Charles, to the Spanish Princess. However, when his son-in-law, Frederick of the Palatinate, becomes embroiled in what will become the Thirty Years War, that goal seems more and more distant by the minute.WebsitePatreon Support

A global history of the world’s best-known and most influential book.For Christians, the Bible is a book inspired by God. Its eternal words are transmitted across the world by fallible human hands. Following Jesus’s departing instruction to go out into the world, the Bible has been a book in motion from its very beginnings, and every community it has encountered has read, heard, and seen the Bible through its own language and culture.In The Bible, Bruce Gordon tells the astounding story of the Bible’s journey around the globe and across more than two thousand years, showing how it has shaped and been shaped by changing beliefs and believers’ radically different needs. The Bible has been a tool for violence and oppression, and it has expressed hopes for liberation. God speaks with one voice, but the people who receive it are scattered and divided—found in desert monasteries and Chinese house churches, in Byzantine cathedrals and Guatemalan villages.Breathtakingly global in scope, The Bible tells the story of this sacred book through the stories of its many and diverse human encounters, revealing not a static text but a living, dynamic cultural force.Buy the book HERE.

The Stuart dynasty did NOT have a good relationship with the English Parliament. That begins with King James I. WebsitePatreon Support

Aesop’s fables are among the most familiar and best-loved stories in the world. Tales like “The Tortoise and the Hare,” “The Dog in the Manger,” and “Sour Grapes” have captivated us for generations. The fables delight us and teach timeless truths. Aesop’s tales offer us a world fundamentally simpler to ours—one with clear good and plain evil—but nonetheless one that is marked by political nuance and literary complexity.  Newly translated and annotated by renowned scholar Robin Waterfield, this definitive translation shines a new light on four hundred of Aesop’s most enduring fables. Buy The BookWebsite

Guy Fawkes et al decide to blow up King James I and the English Parliament. Spoiler alert: it doesn't work...WebsiteWestern Civ 2.0 Free Trial

The end of the reign of Elizabeth I ends the Tudor dynasty. James I becomes the first of the short-lived Stuart line. His reign begins with no shortage of economic headaches.WebsiteWestern Civ 2.0 Free Trial

Henry of Navarre spends several years fighting for the crown of France, converts to Catholicism (again), and issues the famous Edict of Nantes. WebsitePatreon Support

Few dynasties have had the impact on a modern state more so than the Tudors on England. Yet, the dynasty lasted hardly more than a century.  Elizabeth I, the second born daughter of Henry VIII, who reigned after her younger brother and elder sister, would prove to be the final name on the list. Today we finish her story as the sun sets on Tudor England.WebsiteWestern Civ 2.0 Free Trial 

In this bonus episode, you get a sneak peek of the great stuff going on in Western Civ 2.0. You can join for a free trial by clicking HERE.After the Third Punic War, the Romans wasted little time turning on each other. Long-standing economic inequality became the issue of the late second century BCE and would, eventually, bring down the republic. In the late 140s, however, Tiberius Gracchus believed his land redistribution scheme might just solve the problem. The Senate felt otherwise. But, in the end, it was not the Lex Agraria per se that cost Tiberius his life. Rather, it was his refusal to play the political game by the old rules.