Podcast Episode 1
General Lew Wallace/Ben Hur
with Thomas Meeks & host Nick Walters
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This Week in Christian History is produced by the students of Mississippi College and Blue & Gold Media in partnership with the Center for Christian History. Each episode features a conversation with Nick Walters, founder and director of the Center for Christian History at Mississippi College, followed by a Deep Dive interview with a subject-matter expert, and concludes with a pair of historically significant moments drawn from this week in the global story of the Christian faith. The goal of the program is to create a weekly touchpoint that connects listeners to the enduring story of Christianity across cultures, continents, and centuries while also showcasing the research, public-history work, and academic excellence taking place at Mississippi College.
In this episode, Nick Walters welcomes Thomas Meeks, founder of Ben-Hur.com, to discuss the background and historical significance of Lew Wallace and his enduring novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. First published in 1880, Wallace’s book became one of the most influential works of Christian literature in American history. The novel’s reception, adaptations, and global impact continue to draw scholarly interest, and the Deep Dive guest provides expert insight into Wallace’s life, writing process, and the lasting cultural reach of Ben-Hur. As always, the Deep Dive segment is designed to give listeners access to leading specialists who can illuminate the deeper historical context behind well-known Christian figures, texts, and traditions.
Each week, This Week in Christian History includes two carefully selected historical highlights that take place during this same week in the Christian calendar. These highlights are not summaries of the podcast discussion but stand-alone historical notes provided by the Center for Christian History. This week’s first highlight takes us to February 13, 1793, marking the death of Christian Schwartz, a Lutheran missionary from Prussia who dedicated his life to ministry in India. While William Carey is widely recognized for his missionary accomplishments, Schwartz was an equally significant figure whose missionary work left a deep imprint on South India. He mastered several Indian languages so he could communicate directly with local communities, including Muslim groups, and he invested his life in establishing structures that would allow future generations of Christians in India to sustain, expand, and lead the work he had begun.
The second highlight for this week is dated February 14, 278, and examines the tangled historical memory of St. Valentine. The long-standing tradition associated with Valentine is well known, but the historical details remain uncertain. Because of the mixture of legends, contradictory stories, and lack of definitive evidence, the Catholic Church removed the feast of St. Valentine from its official calendar in 1969. The most plausible version of the story suggests that during the reign of Roman Emperor Claudius the Cruel, a ban on marriages and engagements was issued because the emperor believed that the desire for family life was preventing young men from enlisting in the Roman army. A Christian priest named Valentine refused to observe this prohibition and continued to officiate marriages in defiance of imperial decree. For this act of faithfulness, he was arrested and beheaded on February 14 in the year 278. These events, though shrouded in ambiguity, have shaped one of the most recognizable commemorations in the Western calendar and continue to reflect the longstanding intersection of Christian memory, martyrdom, and cultural tradition.
This podcast is part of the broader mission of the Center for Christian History, committed to expanding access to Christian historical scholarship, elevating public engagement with Christian memory, and building bridges between academic research and public curiosity. By partnering with Blue & Gold Media and Mississippi College students, the Center seeks to create a platform where rigorous scholarship and accessible storytelling meet. Listeners are invited to explore additional resources, interviews, articles, and archival materials through the Center’s wider digital presence as the project continues to grow.
Photo citation: Public domain portrait of Lew Wallace. Source: Library of Congress, Brady-Handy Collection.
