Church History

Broad Outline

  1. Early Church History (persecution) AD 100-312
    1. Defending the faith required the church to "think through" and defend its doctrines
    2. Persecution did more to spread the truth than any other event
  2. Catholic Church Evolves AD 313-590
    1. Edict of Milan, Constantine’s vision "In this sign conquer"
    2. Corruption seeps in as the church and state become entwined
    3. Division of East/West grows
      1. Patriarch in Constaninople
      2. Pope in Rome
      3. Hierarchical structure grows as church takes on political forms
      4. Division between laity and clergy increases
      5. As Roman political power DECREASES Church power INCREASES
      6. AD 476 fall of the last Roman emporer
      7. AD 590 Gregory I becomes Pope and consolidates power
  3. Imperial or Medeival Church (590-1054)
    1. Muslim gains wipe out Christian influence in Egypt and Jerusalem
    2. Muslim threat weakens the Patriarch in Constaninople
    3. Division between East/West grows until there are two Popes-Rome and Constaninople
    4. Church and state begin to battle over who has what authority
    5. Political intrigue causes three Popes: Rome, Avignon, and Constaninople
    6. East and West split in Ad 1054
  4. Roman Catholic Church (AD 1054 - 1517)
    1. Zenith of power AD 1054 - 1305
    2. Power unravels AD 1305 - 1517
      1. Great Schism
      2. Babylonian Captivity
      3. Corruption grows
      4. States gain more power
  5. Modern Church History (AD 1517 - Present)
    1. Reformation
      1. Luther: Germany, 95 theses, Wittenburg Castle
        1. Initially hoped to reform the RCC
        2. Sola scriptura and sola fideia Scripture only and faith alone
        3. Began the Lutheran church in Germany as a state church
        4. Luther’s "failures"
          1. Broke with the Anabaptists in 1535
          2. Lost support of the peasants after writing Against the Plundering Murderous Hordes of Peasants causing 100,00 peasants to be slaughtered
          3. Couldn’t agree with Zwingli on communion (though they agreed on 14 other issues)
          4. Held to a church-state concept
      2. Zwingli: Switzerland
      3. Calvin: Switzerland and France (Presbyterian and reformed)
      4. John Knox: Scotland
      5. Three Great Doctrines of the Reformation
        1. Authority of the Scriptures
        2. Salvation by faith
        3. Priesthood of the believer
    2. Anabaptists: rebaptizers
      1. Persecuted by the RCC, Lutherans, and the Calvinists
      2. Proportionately more martyred than any other group in history
      3. From them come the Ammish, Mennonites, General Baptists, Hutterites, and the Muenster rebels
      4. Some groups were "off the wall" ex. Muenster rebellion, polygamy
      5. Great Anabaptist doctrines
        1. Authority of the Bible
        2. The church is a free assembly of the regenerate
        3. Believers’ baptism
        4. No infant baptism
        5. Separation of church and state (not in the way it is defined oftentimes today)
    3. Key thoughts
      1. Reformers started state churches initially
      2. There were various levels of withdrawal from the RCC
        1. Some withdrew doctrinally but not organizationally
        2. Some retained what was not expressly forbidden
        3. Others discarded anything that was not mentioned in Scripture
        4. Baptists trace their history through both the Anabaptists and the Puritans
    4. Baptist History
      1. Puritans came from the Church of England and had two groups: separatists and non-separatists
      2. Separatist ideas were floating around along with many Anabaptist ideas.
      3. From this, various separatist groups evolved which came to be known as Baptists
      4. One group of Calvinistic Baptists did emerge from the Presbyterian churches
    5. Fundamentalist History
      1. Irenic fundamentalism
      2. Fundamentalist-modernist controversy
      3. Big question? to come out or stay in
      4. Since 1940 the definition of fundamentalism has narrowed to include only those who hold to the fundamentals and also hold to a separatist, "militant" position when it comes to defending the faith.
      5. Today, with a few exceptions, independent Baptists are the fundamentalists as it is now defined.