Podcast Episode 51
Who were the St. Valentines?
with with Dr. Lisa Bitel & host Nick Walters
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Love, legend, and martyrdom converge in the long and complicated Christian history associated with the name St. Valentine.
This episode of This Week in Christian History features an interview with Nick Walters, founder of the Center for Christian History at Mississippi College. As with every episode in the series, the program is structured to combine expert insight, historical grounding, and carefully selected moments from the Christian past tied to the same calendar week.
The Deep Dive for this episode focuses on St. Valentine, a figure whose name has become globally familiar but whose historical identity remains difficult to pin down with certainty. This segment features Lisa Bitel, a medieval historian at the University of Southern California. Drawing on her expertise in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, the Deep Dive situates Valentine within the broader world of early Christian martyrdom, the development of saints’ cults, and the transmission of Christian memory across centuries. Rather than treating Valentine as a single, clearly documented individual, the Deep Dive places the tradition in its historical context, where multiple figures, overlapping stories, and later devotional practices shaped how Christians remembered and honored martyrs.
This episode also includes historical highlights drawn from the same week in Christian history. One highlight reflects on the life and legacy of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, whose Christian convictions deeply informed his moral critique of Soviet totalitarianism. Through his writings and public witness, Solzhenitsyn articulated a vision of truth, suffering, and moral responsibility shaped by Christian belief, leaving a lasting mark on both religious and literary history.
Another highlight turns to Cotton Mather, one of the most influential Puritan ministers in colonial New England. As a prolific writer, pastor, and public intellectual, Mather played a central role in shaping early American religious culture. His work reflects the theological concerns, pastoral ambitions, and intellectual currents of Puritan Christianity in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
Each episode of This Week in Christian History is intentionally structured around three core elements: an interview anchored in the work of the Center for Christian History, a Deep Dive led by a subject matter expert, and multiple historical highlights drawn from the same week in the Christian calendar. Together, these components are designed to help listeners see how individual figures and events fit within the larger story of Christianity across time.
Produced by the Center for Christian History, this program is created for educators, students, church leaders, and anyone interested in understanding the Christian past with historical care, scholarly integrity, and attention to context. Rather than simplifying complex stories, the series aims to model how Christian history can be approached thoughtfully, recognizing both the limits of historical evidence and the enduring significance of faith in shaping human lives and societies.
