One of my favorite parts of teaching church history to high school students is assigning primary sources and hearing or reading their reactions. Works like Athanasius’s On the Incarnation, Augustine’s Confessions, or Eusebius’s Church History often intimidate students initially. But there’s nothing like the moment when a student opens a presentation, sometimes with a hint of surprise in their own eyes, with “I found this incredibly relatable.” I can never hide my smile. 

As a part of my blog series about church history figures, I’ll be introducing Ambrose, a remarkable man who served as bishop of Milan from AD 374 to his death in AD 397. Read on to discover the hidden gems in the life of Ambrose.

Like any country, sometimes we are blessed with God-fearing leaders, and sometimes we are not. Sometimes our land experiences prosperity and peace, sometimes war and disaster. Sometimes churches build and grow; sometimes they struggle and close their doors. It can be difficult to find ways to explain current events to young people, especially if we struggle to understand why things happen the way they do ourselves.

If your experience is anything like mine, you look around the world today and see a culture increasingly hostile to Christianity. Something as simple as a trip to the local library with the kids has shifted in recent years from a pleasant morning out in the community to an aggressive confrontation with anti-Christian ideology.

“You have formed us for Yourself, oh Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in you.” —St. Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, 1.1, paraphrased 

If you enter a room of pastors, theologians, or historians and ask, “Apart from Jesus Christ and the apostles, who is the most important figure in church history?” you will likely be met with blank stares as your audience grapples with the difficulty of answering such a question. But if they decide to play along, Augustine’s name is one of the first you will hear.

Recently, I had the opportunity to share about the books I write at a homeschool convention. I remember one mom looked over the flier about Journey through Church History and said thoughtfully, “I don’t know if it ever occurred to me to teach my kids about church history, but I think that’s a great idea.”