Church History in Plain Language

From the Apostles to the Present

Approximately 8 weeks
Beginning Wednesday
January 23, 2008 at 6:00 p.m.
Church History in Plain Language

30-70 Jesus and the Apostles

70-312 Catholic Christianity
312-590 Christian Empire
590-1517 Middle Ages
1517-1648 Reformation
1648-1789 Reason and Revival
1789 1914
1789-1914 P
Progress
1914-2008 Ideologies
 AD 30-70 Jesus and the Apostles

Jerusalem Jerusalem
Jesus’ Birth Council Destroyed

BC 0 32 49 64 70 AD 100

Pentecost Fire in Rome

 The Beginning of the Roman
Persecutions—AD 64

• The fire in Rome Nero blamed on the

Christians.
• Peter and Paul died in the persecution
that followed.
 The Destruction of the
Jewish Temple—AD 70
• On August 5, AD 70, Titus
destroyed the Jewish temple
temple.
Church History in Plain Language

30-70 Jesus and the Apostles

70-312 Catholic Christianity
312-590 Christian Empire
590-1517 Middle Ages
1517-1648 Reformation
1648-1789 Reason and Revival
1789 1914
1789-1914 P
Progress
1914-2008 Ideologies
 AD 70-312 Catholic Christianity

T t lli
Tertullian
Clement Justin
Ignatius Irenaeus Origen Constantine

AD 100 200 300

Marcion Diocletian

Polycarp
Gnosticism Crisis
Extent of Christian communities by the 1st century CE
Extent of Christian communities by 185 CE (the time of Irenaeus)
Early centers of Christianity
Early centers of Christianity, with a link to more information
Boundary of the Roman Empire for most of the 1st and 2nd centuries CE
 Orthodox
• Orthodox = Good Theology
– Theo = God
– Logos = word or rational thought
• Theology
gy = rational thought
g about God
 Gnosticism

• The word “Gnosticism” comes from

gnosis,, a Greek word that means
g
“knowledge.”

© 2003 Timothy Paul Jones http://www.timothypauljones.com

 Gnosticism
• The basic beliefs of Gnosticism were:
– 1.
1 Certain people can achieve “secret
knowledge” about God.
– 2. This “secret
secret knowledge”
knowledge included
acknowledging that everything
physical is evil.
– 3. The Father of Jesus was not the same
God as the God of the Old Testament,
who created the physical world
– 4. Nothing physical could be holy; so,
JJesus Christ was not truly
y human.

© 2003 Timothy Paul Jones http://www.timothypauljones.com

 Christianity and Gnosticism

• Marcion of Pontus
(died, AD 160)
• Rejected
j the O
Old
Testament and the
God of the Jews
• Regarded an edited
version of Luke and
ten of Paul’s letters
as the authoritative
texts for Christian
beliefs
© 2003 Timothy Paul Jones http://www.timothypauljones.com
 Christianity and Gnosticism

• How did Christians respond to

Gnosticism?
i off authoritative
– 1. A list i i writings
ii ((a
“canon”) for Christians to follow.

• “Canon” was a Greek word that

meant “measuring
g stick.”
 Christianity and Gnosticism
• Christians asked three questions
about Christian writings that could
have been included in the canon:
– (a) Is the book connected to an apostle?
– (b) Do churches throughout the world
use the book?
– (c) Does the book agree with what we
already know about God?
 Christianity and Gnosticism

• Christians included the Old

Testament in their list because
they believed the God of the
Jews was also the God of Jesus
Christ.
 Christianity and Gnosticism

Although questions persisted into

the 300s about Hebrews
Hebrews, James,
James
2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, and Jude,
by AD 200,
200 Christians
throughout the world had
agreed on a basic canon.
 AD 3
313
3 The Canon
The New
Th N Testament
T t t books
b k are collected
ll t d
and circulated throughout the
Mediterranean about the time
of Constantine, the Roman
Emperor, who legalizes
Christianityy in AD 313.
Constantine

1500 BC 500 BC AD 1 AD 500 AD 1000 AD 1500 AD 1900 AD 2000

 AD 39
397 The Canon
The 27 books of the
New Testament are
formally confirmed as
canonical by the Synod
of Carthage in AD 397,
thus recognizing three
centuries of use byy
followers of Christ.

1500 BC 500 BC AD 1 AD 500 AD 1000 AD 1500 AD 1900 AD 2000

 AD 400
00 The Canon
By AD 400, the standard of 27 New
Testament books is accepted in the East
and West as confirmed by:
 Athanasius
 J
Jerome
 Augustine
 Th
Three church
h h councils
il
Augustine

1500 BC 500 BC AD 1 AD 500 AD 1000 AD 1500 AD 1900 AD 2000

 Christianity and Gnosticism

• How did Christians respond to Gnosticism?

– 1. A list of authoritative writings (a “canon”)
f Christians
for Ch i ti to
t ffollow.
ll
– 2. The Rule of Faith
• To help new Christians to understand how
their faith differed from Marcion’s false
teachings, a longer statement of faith
emerged—“the
d “ h Rule
R l off F
Faith.”
ih”
 Christianity and Gnosticism

• How did Christians respond to

Gnosticism?
– 1. A list of authoritative writings (a
“canon”) for Christians to follow.
– 2. The Rule of Faith
– 3. More p
powerful overseers
More Powerful Overseers
– Leading pastors—known as
“overseers”
overseers or “bishops”—
bishops
were viewed as the trustees of
the apostles’ teachings.
teachings
– During the Gnostic
controversies, these overseers
gained
g e more
o e authority.
o y
More Powerful Overseers
– In cities where apostles had lived
and died, the overseer was
viewed as having a unique
measure of authority.
– Because Peter and Paul died in
Rome and because Rome was an
i
important
t t city,
it the
th Roman
R
overseer became especially
esteemed.
esteemed
 1. Great Persecutions
• Local persecutions
had affected
Christians since
AD 64.
• Emperor Decius
launched an
empire-wide
persecution
ti off
Christians around
AD 249.
9
 1. Great Persecutions
• Anyone without a
“sacrifice
certificate” could
be imprisoned and
executed.
executed
St. Valentine was
martyred in AD 269
because he did not
possess a sacrifice
certificate.
 SACRIFICE CERTIFICATE

To: The Sacrifice Commission

From: Diogenes
g
In obedience to the emperor, I’ve
sacrificed again.
again …
Please certify this below.
I Syrus,
I, Syrus saw Diogenes and his
son sacrificing
 1. Great Persecutions
• Some church
members obtained
fake certificates to
avoid
id torture.
t t
• When the
persecution ended
ended,
many of these
church members
wanted d to return to
their churches’
fellowship.
 1. Great Persecutions
• Cyprian of
Carthage allowed
church members
who
h obtained
bt i d fake
f k
certificates to
reenter their
churches, but …
• … he required them
to demonstrate
d
their penitence
through prayer and
fasting.
 1. Great Persecutions
• When Diocletian
became emperor in
AD 284,, Christians
experienced severe
empire-wide
persecution.
i
•St.The persecution
Nicholas of Myra
Myra—
—
better known
worsened d as “Santa
under
d
Claus”—
Claus”
the — wasemperor,
next imprisoned
during Diocletian’s reign.
Galerius
Galerius.
 1. Great Persecutions
• On his deathbed,
deathbed Emperor Galerius
legalized Christianity, as long as …

“… they don’t disturb the public order.

May they ask their deity for our well-
being and for that of the state.”
Next Week:
The Legalization
g of Christianity
y
13 WeeksRecommended Resources
to a Better Understanding of Church History