The Gospel According to Maddie

The apostles are gone. The Corinthians are fighting AGAIN. Traveling prophets are overstaying their welcome. And apparently, somebody needs to clarify whether warm water is acceptable for baptism. 💀Welcome back to After the Apostles!In this episode, we're looking at what happened when the earliest Christian communities had to start figuring things out for themselves.We're digging into three fascinating pieces of early Christian history:1 Clement: Rome gets involved in Corinth's business, and Paul's old letters are STILL being brought into arguments.The Didache: An early Christian instruction manual covering everything from baptism and prayer to figuring out whether that traveling prophet is actually trustworthy or just eating all your food.Papias: A man determined to preserve the teachings of earlier generations, and what his surviving fragments reveal about how Christian memories were passed down.This movement is getting a little too messy for me..but it's fine...I'm not gonna quit now!!! I'm in it for the long haul, baby let's go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Love you all :)-Maddie

What if Revelation makes a whole lot more sense when you stop trying to make it predict debit cards, QR codes, Neuralink, and helicopters... and start looking at Rome?In Episode 2 of After the Apostles, we’re putting Revelation back into its first-century world: John of Patmos, the Roman Empire, Nero return legends, the beast, 666 and 616, Papyrus 115, the mark of the beast, Babylon, imperial wealth, and the New Jerusalem.Once you know what was happening in Rome around the time Revelation was written, some of this imagery starts looking a LOT less mysterious.Was Nero the beast? Why does “Neron Qesar” add up to 666? Why do some ancient manuscripts say 616? What does the mark actually represent? And why does John describe Babylon as a wealthy city ruling over kings and sitting on seven mountains?We’re not decoding the future, everyone does that. We’re going back to John’s world and asking what his audience may have heard.And personally, I think historical Revelation is way better than the conspiracy version.Next: Christianity Without the Apostles. Now it gets messy.Love you guys!-Maddie :)

Acts ends with Paul preaching in Rome... and then the camera basically shuts off.So what happened next?

Welcome to After the Apostles, where we’re picking up the story of early Christianity after the generation closest to Jesus begins disappearing.

In Episode 1, we’re heading into the 60s: James is killed, Rome burns under Nero, Christians are brutally punished, Peter and Paul disappear from our surviving story, Judea erupts into revolt, Josephus somehow ends up working with the people he was fighting, Rome goes through FOUR emperors in one year, and Titus eventually lays siege to Jerusalem.

And by the year 70, the Second Temple is gone.This season comes with one rule:How do we know that?Early source? Later tradition? Or do we just... not fucking know?

Because once the apostles are gone, things get messy quick.

Was Paul a false apostle? Was Paul teaching something different from Jesus? And why, nearly 2,000 years later, are people STILL arguing about this man?Welcome to the Summer with Saul finale, baby!!!!. After following Paul through the Book of Acts, tracing his missionary journeys across the Roman Empire, reading his letters in historical context, and watching the early Christian movement explode across the Mediterranean, we’ve finally reached one of the biggest questions surrounding the Apostle Paul:Was Paul actually a legitimate apostle… or was Paul a false apostle?In this episode, we dig into the case against Paul, the arguments used to claim Paul corrupted Jesus’ message, his relationship with Peter, James, and the Jerusalem apostles, the conflicts we see in Paul’s letters, and what Acts and the New Testament actually tell us about how Paul fit into the earliest Christian movement.Because, well...Paul is complicated.He argues with people. He defends his apostleship. He clashes with other believers. His letters have been interpreted, weaponized, debated, and pulled out of context for centuries.This is the final chapter of Summer with Saul, our journey through Acts, Paul’s letters, the Roman world, and the birth of early Christianity.Grab your map one last time.It’s time to put Paul on trial. ⚖️All love,Maddie :)

We are finishing up reading Paul's letters today!

Where was Paul when he wrote them? Who was he writing to? What was happening with those churches? And how do letters like 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Romans, Philippians, and Philemon fit into the world we’ve been following through Acts?

Because reading somebody else’s mail gets a LOT more interesting when you know the lore lolol

We’ll connect Paul’s letters to his travels, the churches he helped establish, the conflicts happening behind the scenes, and the wider Roman world surrounding all of it.

Grab your map. We’re reading Paul’s mail.

It’s FINALLY time to read Paul’s mail!! 📬This week we’re stepping out of Acts and into Paul’s letters, reading them in the historical order of his life and travels and asking what was actually happening when he wrote them.We’ll look at where Paul probably was, who he was writing to, what problems were going on in these early Christian communities, and how the letters connect back to the story we’ve been following throughout Acts.Because Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, and Thessalonians weren’t originally theology textbooks. They were somebody else’s mail. So grab your map, your Bible, and probably a snack because Paul gets SPICY!This episode is presented from a historical perspective. The goal is to understand these texts in their ancient context...I will never tell you what to believe. :)I love you guys thanks for hanging out with me!-Maddie

Paul is finally going to Rome. But naturally, he has to survive a few things first. 😂In Episode 11 of Summer With Saul, we’re finishing the book of Acts with Acts 24–28: Paul’s trials before Felix, Festus, and Agrippa, his appeal to Caesar, the voyage to Rome, a catastrophic shipwreck, Malta, and finally his arrival in the capital of the Roman Empire.After eleven episodes, we made it to Rome. 🥹We might be done with the book of Acts, but we aren't done with Paul! Come back next week so we can read the letters he sent out!

Welcome back cats and kittens!!!!!Paul is heading back to Jerusalem, everyone keeps warning him not to go, and Paul goes anyway lolIn Episode 10 of Summer With Saul, we’re covering Acts 20–23: Eutychus falling out a window, Paul’s emotional farewell at Miletus, Agabus and the belt prophecy, the Temple riot, Paul pulling the Roman citizen card, the Sanhedrin absolutely imploding, an assassination plot, and finally… Paul becoming a Roman prisoner.

The final act of Acts has officially begun. 🗺️SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!!! I'm already getting emotional...

• Maddie :)

Acts 19 is pure chaos. :) Paul arrives in Ephesus, the Sons of Sceva get their asses handed to them, magic scrolls go up in flames, and a silversmith named Demetrius accidentally kicks off a full-blown riot over Artemis.Welcome back to Summer With Saul!!!!I love you guys-Maddie

Paul’s second missionary journey is officially underway, and Acts 16–18 is PACKED.In this episode of Summer with Saul, we follow Paul, Silas, Timothy, and possibly a newly arrived Luke (?!?!?!) through Macedonia and Greece. We meet Lydia in Philippi, watch Paul and Silas get beaten and thrown into prison, see Paul pull out his Roman citizenship card, follow riots and debates through Thessalonica and Berea, and finally land in Athens, where Paul speaks at the Areopagus and uses Greek poetry to explain his God.Then it’s on to Corinth, where we meet Priscilla and Aquila and start getting dangerously close to some of the earliest Christian letters we still have today.Basically: prison, earthquakes, Roman law, Greek philosophy, angry mobs, ancient poetry, new churches, and Paul refusing to stop moving.Welcome back to Summer with Saul. ☀️📜- Maddie :)