A. Branches of
Church History
For
the sake of convenience, church history can be organized under the following
topics:
2.
The propagation
of the Christian faith cannot be ignored. This involves the study of
world missions, home missions, city missions, and the story of any special
technique by which the gospel has been carried to others. The story of missions
has its heroes and martyrs and is an integral part of the story of the church.
The essential person-to-person nature of the spread of Christianity and the
unlimited possibilities for a church faithful to its Lord is shown in a study
of the propagation of the faith.
3.
This propagation has many times brought persecution to the church. This
persecution was begun by the political-ecclesiastical Jewish state, was
organized on an imperial basis by Decius and Diocletian, was often made a part
of Muslim policy, and has been revived by the modern secular totalitarian
state. Study of persecution reveals the truth of Tertullian’s dictum that “the
blood of Christians is seed” (of the church). This branch of church history,
far from leading to discouragement, shows rather that the church has made its
greatest advance in periods of persecution or immediately after.
4.
Polity
is another branch of church history. It is the study of the government of the
church. It necessitates consideration of the government of the church by
bishops (episcopacy), by elected elders (presbytery) who represent the
congregation, or by the congregation in a system of direct rather than
representative democracy (congregationalism), or modifications of these three
systems. Consideration of the position of the minister and the growth of the distinction
between clergy and laity is also a part of this topic. Discipline and forms of
worship (liturgy) are related to polity.
5.
Polemics,
which concerns the struggle of the church to fight heresy and to think out its
own position, is an important aspect of the development of the church. It
involves study of the opposing heresies and of the formulation of dogma,
creeds, and Christian literature in answer to heresies. The literature of the
church fathers is a particularly rich field for the study of polemics—whether
that literature be the writings of Justin Martyr, answering the contention that
the state must be all in life, or of Irenaeus, exposing the heresies of the
various types of Gnosticism. Most theological systems have been born in a
period of struggle to meet existing needs. The eras between 325 and 451 and
between 1517 and 1648 especially involve the problem of polemics. Calvin
developed his system of theology in an attempt to provide a scriptural theology
that would avoid the errors of Romanism.
6.
Still another branch of our study may be called praxis. It is the
consideration of the practical outworking in life of the Christian faith. The
home life, charitable work, and influence of Christianity on the life of the
day are parts of this branch of church history, which involves the lifestyle of
the church.
7.
Christianity could not continue to grow unless it gave attention to the problem
of presentation
of truth. Presentation involves study of the educational system of the
church, its hymnology, liturgy, architecture, art, and preaching.
These
branches will be discussed in the areas in which each is most important, but
not all will be developed in detail in every one of the periods. Each can be
the center of fascinating studies that the individual can carry on for himself
once he has the necessary general background.
B. Periods of
Church History
The
student must remember that history is “a seamless garment.” By this Maitland
meant that history is a continuous stream of events within the framework of time
and space. For that reason periodization of church history is merely an
artificial device to cut the data of history into easily handled segments and
to aid the student in remembering the essential facts. The people of the Roman
Empire did not go to sleep one night in the ancient era and wake up the next
morning in the Middle Ages. There is instead a gradual transition from a view
of life and human activity that characterizes one era of history to a view that
characterizes another. Because the division of history into periods does aid
the memory, does help one to deal with one segment at a time, and does present
the view of life in that period, it is worthwhile to organize history
chronologically.
Ancient Church
History, 5 B.C.–A.D. 590
The
first period of church history reveals the growth of the apostolic church into
the Old Catholic Imperial church and the beginning of the Roman Catholic system.
The center of activity was the Mediterranean basin, which includes parts of
Asia, Africa, and Europe. The church operated within the cultural environment
of Greco-Roman civilization and the political environment of the Roman Empire.
The Spread of
Christianity in the Empire to 100
In
this section attention is given to the environment in which Christianity
emerged. The foundation of the church in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection
and its founding among the Jews is important to an understanding of the genesis
of Christianity. The gradual growth of Christianity within the swaddling bands
of Judaism and the bursting of those bands at the Council of Jerusalem preceded
the carrying of the gospel to the Gentiles by Paul and others and the emergence
of Christianity as a sect distinct from Judaism. Attention is also called to
the leading role of the apostles in this period.
The Struggle of the
Old Catholic Imperial Church for Survival, 100–313
In
this period the church was concerned with continued existence in the face of
opposition from without—persecution by the Roman state. Martyrs and apologists
were the answer of the church to this external problem. The church also had to
deal with the internal problem of heresy at the same time, and the polemical
writers of the church provided the answers to heresy. The Supremacy of the Old
Catholic Imperial Church, 313–590
The
church faced the problems that arose out of its reconciliation with the state
under Constantine and its union with the state in the time of Theodosius. Soon
it was dominated by the state. The Roman emperors demanded a unified dogma in
order to have a unified state to save Greco-Roman culture. But the Christians
had not had time to work out a body of dogma in the period of the persecution.
There followed then a long period of creedal controversy. The writings of the
more scientifically minded Greek and Latin church fathers were a natural
outcome of the theological disputes. Monasticism arose, partly as a reaction
from and partly as a protest against, the increasing worldliness of the
organized church. During this period of institutional development, the office
of bishop was strengthened and the Roman bishop grew in power. As the period
ended, the Old Catholic Imperial church virtually became the Roman Catholic
church.
Medieval Church
History, 590–1517
The
scene of action moved from southern Europe to northern and western Europe—the
Atlantic seaboard. The medieval church sought to win the migrating hordes of
Teutonic tribes to Christianity and to integrate Greco-Roman culture and
Christianity with Teutonic institutions. In so doing, the medieval church still
further centralized its organization under papal supremacy and developed the
sacramental-hierarchical system characteristic of the Roman Catholic church. The
Rise of the Empire and Latin-Teutonic Christianity, 590–800
Gregory
I worked hard at the task of evangelizing the hordes of Teutonic invaders
within the Roman Empire. The Eastern church in this period faced the threat of
Islam, a rival religion that took away much of its territory in Asia and
Africa. Gradually the alliance between the pope and the Teutons took place in
the organization of the Teutonic successor to the old Roman Empire, the
Carolingian Empire of Charlemagne. This was a period of heavy losses.
Ebb and Flow in
Relationships Between Church and State, 800–1054
The
first great schism within the church occurred during this period. The Greek
Orthodox church after 1054 went its own way with the theology created by John
of Damascus in the eighth century. The Western church during this time became
feudalized and tried without much success to work out a policy of relations
between the Roman church and the state acceptable to the pope and the emperor.
At the same time the Cluniac reformers aimed at the correction of evils within
the Roman church.
The Supremacy of
the Papacy, 1054–1305
The
medieval Roman Catholic church reached the peak of its power under the
leadership of Gregory VII (Hildebrand) and Innocent III and successfully
enforced its claims to supremacy over the state by the humiliation of the most
powerful sovereigns of Europe. The Crusades brought prestige to the pope; monks
and friars spread the Roman Catholic faith and reclaimed dissenters. The Greek
learning of Aristotle, brought to Europe by the Arabs of Spain, was integrated
with Christianity by Thomas Aquinas in an intellectual cathedral that has
become the authoritative expression of Roman Catholic theology. The Gothic
cathedral expressed the supernatural, otherworldly outlook of the era and
provided a “Bible in stone” for the faithful. The Roman Catholic church was to
tumble from this peak of power in the next era.
Medieval Sunset and
Modern Sunrise, 1305–1517
Internal
attempts to reform a corrupt papacy were made by mystics, who sought to
personalize a religion too institutionalized. Attempts at reform were also made
by early Reformers, such as the mystics John Wycliffe and John Hus, reform
councils, and biblical humanists. An expanding geographical world, a new
secular intellectual outlook in the Renaissance, the rising nation-states, and
an emerging middle class were external forces that would not long brook a
decadent and corrupt church. The refusal by the Roman Catholic church to accept
internal reform made the Reformation a probability.
Modern Church
History, 1517 and After
This
era was ushered in by schisms that resulted in the origin of the Protestant
state-churches and the world-wide spread of the Christian faith by the great
missionary wave of the nineteenth century. The scene of action was no longer
the Mediterranean Sea or the Atlantic Ocean but the world. Christianity became
a universal and global religion by 1995.
Reformation and
Counter-Reformation, 1517–1648
The
forces of revolt held back by the Roman church in the previous period broke
forth in this period, and new national and free Protestant churches
emerged—Lutheran, Anglican, Calvinist, and Anabaptist. As a result, the papacy
was forced to consider reformation. In the Counter-Reformation movements of the
Council of Trent, the Jesuits, and the Inquisition, the papacy was able to halt
the spread of Protestantism in Europe, to regain Poland and Belgium, and to
make gains in Central and South America, in the Philippines, and in Vietnam and
experience renewal. Only after the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) ended the bitter
Thirty Years’ War did the two movements settle down to consolidate their gains.
Rationalism,
Revivalism, and Denominationalism, 1648–1789
During
this period the Calvinist views of the Reformation were brought to North
America by the Puritans. England passed on to the Continent a rationalism that
had its religious expression in Deism. On the other hand, Pietism on the
Continent proved to be the answer to cold orthodoxy. It expressed itself in
England in the Quaker and Wesleyan movements. While some movements preferred to
remain as much as possible within state churches, others set themselves apart
and developed into autonomous denominations.
Revivalism,
Missions, and Modernism, 1789–1914
During
the early part of the nineteenth century there was a revival of Catholicism.
This was matched by a Protestant revival that created a surge of missionary
endeavor abroad and that brought social reform at home in European countries.
Women became a major source of missionaries. Later in the period the eroding
forces of rationalism and evolution led to a “break with the Bible” that
expressed itself in religious liberalism.
Church and Society
in Tension Since 1914
The
church in much of the world still faces the problem of the secular and
totalitarian state and in some cases the democratic warfare-welfare state.
Liberalism, a force from 1875 to 1929, has given way to neo-orthodoxy and its
more radical successors. Reunion by cooperation in non-denominational agencies,
organic reunion of denominations, and confederation of churches is developing a
world ecumenical coordination. Evangelicals in general theological agreement
but diverse in some less important aspects are rapidly replacing mainline
liberal churches. Great church growth through megachurches and evangelism is
taking place in Pacific rim Asian nations, Latin America, and Africa. Many
denominations are giving women more prominent positions through ordination and
in missions.
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