The Church survives emperors, arguments, and even its own misunderstandings in this set of readings. In Foxe’s account of the Ninth Persecution under Aurelian and the early stirrings under Diocletian, we witness Felix of Rome, Agapetus, the twin brothers Marcus and Marcellianus, Zoe, the Theban Legion, Alban of Britain, Faith of Aquitaine, and Quintin of Gaul—men and women who refuse sacrifice, refuse oaths against Christ, and accept torture, decimation, fire, and the sword rather than deny their Lord. Augustine then turns inward in The Confessions as he describes hearing the Word rightly divided each Lord’s Day and finally abandoning his crude, bodily imaginings of God, ashamed that he had attacked the faith instead of humbly inquiring into it. Thomas Aquinas, in Summa Theologica, Part 1, Question 45 (Articles 5–8 combined), an ...