132: An Introduction to Early Church Mothers (Part 1) with Emilie Cubino

Emilie Cubino is a wife, mom, graduate student, business owner, and writer who is passionate about church history. Today she comes on the show to introduce us to early church mothers whom many of us probably don’t know anything about, but should! I hope you come away from this episode encouraged and inspired by these examples of women who did amazing things for the sake of Christ and the wellbeing of the early church!

What We Chat about in Today’s Episode:

~Legalistic views of women and what the Word actually shows about their contribution to the early church

~Thecla and her contribution to the early church

~Perpetua and her contribution to the early church

~The strength of women

~Amma Syncletica (whose biography was written by Athanasius!) and her contribution to the early church

~How history shows that, prior to the Protestant Reformation, there were no other denominations and all Christians were Catholics

~Mecrina the Younger, her brothers St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Basil the Great, and their impact on the early church

~The concept of asceticism

~How we need to be careful to not unfairly judge our early church mothers who did things differently than we might now

~St. Paula and her impact on the early church, the direct influence she had on translating the Scripture into the Latin Vulgate alongside St. Jerome

~The huge importance of studying history, especially church history; the impact that has on our faith

~And more!

Resources Mentioned

Offer for a free audiobook and 30 day trial membership from Audible: www.audibletrial.com/HomeandHearth

Emilie’s Church History column

Joy Clarkson’s podcast with Oliver Langworthy on Mecrina the Younger and other church mothers

Khan Academy free history videos

50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning from Spiritual Giants of the Faith by Warren Wiersbe

50 Women Every Christian Should Know: Learning From Heroines Of The Faith by Warren Wiersbe

The Story of Christianity, Vol. 1 by Justo Gonzalez

The Story of Christianity Vol. 2 by Justo Gonzalez

INSPIRING QUOTES TO REMEMBER:

“Perpetua is my favorite early church mother, because of her amazing bravery. She was a nursing mother at the time when she was martyred for her faith in Christ.”

“We can walk in the steps of our foremothers and be brave and strong in our faith as they were.”

“I have a strong personality by nature and had to repent of the fact that I was trying to squash that and be weaker than God created me to be. Our early church mothers and their strength and fortitude led to me realizing just how strong God did create women to be.”

“Prior to the Protestant Reformation, all believers were Catholic – the only Christian church was the Catholic church. There were no other denominations.”

“Despite the bad rap they get now, during the early church, it was largely monastic orders that were the ones spreading the gospel.”

“We need to be careful to not unfairly judge our early church mothers for doing things differently than we do now and understand that their heart motivations were very much like ours are now. They, too, were just working out their salvation with fear and trembling as we are called to, as well.”

“St. Paula directly edited and influenced the Latin Vulgate translation of Scripture alongside St. Jerome.”

“Taking the time to study church history is important for our faith.”

“The point of talking about these early church mothers is to inspire you to study church history for yourself so that you know where your faith even comes from and what led to the doctrines you hold to today. It’s always good to know more about your church history.”

“Studying history is studying yourself, as well, and asking what you might have done if in the same situation. Studying history should impact and change us.”

“When you don’t know where doctrine comes from, you’re more likely to willingly let go of those important, core doctrines. But if you know your church history and where your doctrines came from, you’re more likely to hold fast to them.”

WHERE YOU CAN FIND EMILIE ONLINE:

Website – Naturally Balanced Motherhood

Instagram – @naturally_emilie

To Leave a Rating and Review on iTunes

Have you been encouraged or inspired by today’s episode? If so, could I ask a little favor? If you could leave the podcast a rating and review in iTunes, that would be amazing! The more ratings and reviews a podcast receives, the more iTunes shows that podcast to other folks searching for shows to listen to, so by leaving me a rating and review, you truly are partnering with me in this podcast ministry to encourage and help as many women as we possibly can. Thank you so much for taking the time to do that! Here’s how:

If you’re on your computer:

Access iTunes on your desktop and type Home and Hearth in the search box on the upper right hand corner.
Click on the podcast photo when it comes up
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