A Brief History of the Christian Church

Christian history begins with Jesus of Nazareth, a Jew who was born in a small corner of the Roman Empire. Little is known of his early life, but around the age of 30, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and had a vision in which he received the blessing of God. After this event, he began a ministry of teaching, healing, and miracle-working. He spoke of the "kingdom of God," condemned religious hypocrites and interpreted the Mosaic law in new ways. He spoke before crowds of people, but also chose 12 disciples whom he taught privately. They eagerly followed him, believing him to be the long-awaited Messiah who would usher in the kingdom of God on earth.

After just a few years, however, opposition mounted against Jesus, and he was ultimately executed by crucifixion by the Romans. Most of Jesus' followers scattered, dismayed at such an unexpected outcome. But three days later, women who went to anoint his body reported that the tomb was empty and an angel told them Jesus had risen from the dead. The disciples were initially skeptical, but later came to believe. They reported that Jesus appeared to them on several occasions and then ascended into heaven before their eyes.

The remainder of the first century AD saw the number of Jesus' followers, who were soon called "Christians," grow rapidly. Instrumental in the spread of Christianity was a man named Paul, a zealous Jew who had persecuted Christians, then converted to the faith after experiencing a vision of the risen Jesus. Taking advantage of the extensive system of Roman roads and the time of peace, Paul went on numerous missionary journeys throughout the Roman Empire. He started churches, then wrote letters back to them to offer further counsel and encouragement. Many of these letters would become part of the Christian scriptures, the "New Testament."

In the second and third centuries AD, Christians struggled with persecution from outside the church and doctrinal debates from within the church. Christian leaders, who are now called the "church fathers," wrote defenses of the false claims made against Christians (apologetics) as well as arguments against false teachings spreading within the church (polemics). Doctrines were explored, developed, and solidified, the canon of the New Testament was formed, and the notion of "apostolic succession" established a system of authority to guard against wrong interpretations of Christian teachings.

A major turning point in Christian history came in the early 4th century AD, when the Roman emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. The Christian religion became legal, persecution ceased, and thousands of pagans now found it convenient to convert to the emperor's faith. Allied with the Roman Empire, Christianity gradually rose in power and hierarchy until it became the "Christendom" that would encompass the entire western world in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Emperor Constantine hoped Christianity would be the uniting force of his empire, so he was distressed to hear of a dispute over Arianism, which held that Christ was more than a man but less than God himself. In 325 AD, Constantine called the Council of Nicea so that the bishops could work out their differences. They condemned Arius and Arianism and declared the Son (Christ) to be of "one substance" with the Father. After the council, St. Athanasius of Alexandria continued to battle the Arians, but the orthodox view eventually won out for good. The church then turned to issues about Christ's divine and human natures, which were essentially resolved at the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD).

In the meantime, the considerable religious, cultural, and political differences between the Eastern and Western churches were becoming increasingly apparent. Religiously, the two parts of Christendom had different views on topics such as the use of icons, the nature of the Holy Spirit, and the date on which Easter should be celebrated. Culturally, the Greek East has always tended to be more philosophical and abstract in its thinking, while the Latin West tended toward a more pragmatic and legal-minded approach. As the old saying goes: "the Greeks built metaphysical systems; the Romans built roads." The political aspects of the split began with the Emperor Constantine, who moved the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople (in modern Turkey). Upon his death, the empire was divided between his two sons, one of whom ruled the western half of the empire from Rome while the other ruled the eastern region from Constantinople.

These various factors finally came to a head in 1054 AD, when Pope Leo IX excommunicated the patriarch of Constantinople, the leader of the Eastern church. The Patriarch condemned the Pope in return, and the Christian church has been officially divided into West ("Roman Catholic") and East ("Greek Orthodox") ever since.

In the 1400s, some western Christians began to publicly challenge aspects of the church. They spoke against the abuse of authority and corruption in Christian leadership. They called for a return to the gospel and a stripping off of traditions and customs like purgatory, the cult of the saints and relics, and the withholding of the communion wine from non-clergy. They began to translate the Bible - then available only in Latin - into the common languages of the people.

John Wycliffe (1330-84)

Attacked what he saw as corruptions within the church, including:

1. The sale of indulgences
2. Pilgrimages
3. The excessive veneration of saints
4. The low moral and intellectual standards of ordained priests.

Wycliffe's political ideas included:

1. The rejection of the right to property
2. The rejection of the hierarchical organization of society

Wycliffe also repudiated the doctrine of transubstantiation, held that the Bible was the sole standard of Christian doctrine, and argued that the authority of the Pope was not well-grounded in Scripture. Some of Wycliffe's early followers translated the Bible into English, while later followers, known as Lollards, held that the Bible was the sole authority and that Christians were called upon to interpret the Bible for themselves. The Lollards also argued against clerical celibacy, transubstantiation, mandatory oral confession, pilgrimages, and indulgences.

However, these early reformers did not have widespread success, and most were executed for their teachings. Legend has it that when Jan Hus, a Czech reformer whose surname means "goose," was burned at the stake in 1415, he called out: "Today you roast a goose, but in 100 years, a swan will sing!"

John Huss (1372-1415)

A Bohemian priest, excommunicated in 1410, and burned at the stake for heresy in 1415. His death lead to the Hussite Wars in Bohemia. Huss followed Wycliffe's teachings closely, translating Wycliffe's Trialogus into Czechoslovakian, and modeling the first ten chapters of his own De Ecclesia after Wycliffe's writings.

1. Believed in predestination
2. Regarded the Bible as the ultimate religious authority
3. Argued that Christ, rather than any ecclesiastical official, is the true head of the church.

In 1517, a German monk named Martin Luther (who bore little resemblance to a swan) posted 95 complaints against the practice of selling indulgences on a church door. He had experienced a personal conversion to the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and also shared many of the ideas of those early reformers. Growing German nationalism and the invention of the printing press ensured that Luther would have greater protection than his predecessors and his teachings would be spread quickly. He was excommunicated and barely escaped with his life on more than one occasion, but Luther lived out his life spreading the Reformation, and died a natural death. His ideas had already spread throughout Germany, and similar reforming movements sprung up in England and Switzerland. Soon much of Europe was embroiled in a civil war, with Protestant nationalists fighting Catholic imperialists for religious and political freedom.

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

10/31/1517--Nails his 95 theses onto the door of Castle Church at Wittenberg. These theses were Latin propositions opposing the manner in which indulgences (release from the temporal penalties for sin through the payment of money) were being sold in order to raise money for the building of Saint Peter's in Rome.

6/15/1520--Condemnation of his teachings.

1/1521--Excommunication.

4/1521--Diet of Worms. Luther is summoned to appear before Emperor Charles and asked to recant. He refused, declaring that he would have to be persuaded by Scripture and reason in order to do so. The statement "Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise," is probably legendary.

In Lutheran Germany, an Episcopal (bishop-based) form of Church government is retained.

Huldreich Zwingli (1484-1531)

Swiss theologian and leader of early Reformation movements in Switzerland.

1. The Bible was the sole source of moral authority.
2. Everything in the Roman Catholic system not specifically prescribed in the Scriptures should be eliminated.

1. Religious relics were burned.
2. Ceremonial processions and the adoration of the saints were abolished.
3. Priests and monks were released from their vows of celibacy.
4. The Mass was replaced by a simpler communion service.

John Calvin (1509-64)

Calvin was a French Protestant theologian who fled religious persecution in France and settled in Geneva in 1536.

1. The congregational singing of the Psalms as part of church worship.
2. The teaching of a catechism and confession of faith to children.
3. The enforcement of a strict moral discipline in the community by the pastors and members of the church.
4. The excommunication of egregious sinners.

Geneva was, under Calvin, essentially a theocracy. Household conduct was rigidly inspected. Dress and behavior were subject to minute details of regulation. Forbidden activities included: Dancing, Card playing, and Dicing. Less innocuous activities such as blasphemy were subjected to the most severe punishments. Nonconformists were persecuted and even put to death. All citizens were provided with at least an elementary education so that they might read and understand the Bible.

An ardent disciple of Calvin, Knox established Calvinism as the national religion of Scotland.

1560--Knox persuades the Scottish Parliament to adopt a confession of faith and book of discipline modeled on those in use at Geneva. The Parliament creates the Scottish Presbyterian church and provides for the government of the church by local kirk sessions and by a general assembly representing the local churches of the entire country.

Henry VIII (1491-1547)

1531--Henry VIII wishes to divorce Catherine of Arag?n because the marriage has not produced a male heir.

His marriage normally would be illegal under ecclesiastical law because Catharine was the widow of his brother, but it had been allowed by a special dispensation from the pope. Henry claims that the papal dispensation contradicted ecclesiastical law and that therefore the marriage is invalid. The pope upholds the validity of the dispensation and refuses to annul the marriage.

Zwingli and Johannes Oecolampadius consider Henry's marriage invalid, but Luther and Melanchthon declare it binding.

1533--Henry marries Anne Boleyn, and two months later he had the archbishop of Canterbury pronounce his divorce from Catherine.

1533--Henry is excommunicated by the pope.

1534--Henry has Parliament pass an act appointing the king and his successors supreme head of the Church of England, thus establishing an independent national Anglican church.

1536-1539--The monasteries are suppressed and their property seized.

1539--The Act of Six Articles makes it heretical to deny the main theological tenets of medieval Roman Catholicism. Obedience to the papacy remains a criminal offense. Lutherans are burned as heretics, and Roman Catholics who refuse to recognize the ecclesiastical supremacy of the king (most notably, Sir Thomas More) are executed.

King Edward VI (1537-53)

The Protestant doctrines and practices opposed by Henry VIII are introduced into the Anglican church.

1547--The Act of Six Articles is repealed.

1547--Continental reformers, such as the German Martin Bucer, are invited to preach in England.

1549--A complete vernacular Book of Common Prayer is issued to provide uniformity of service in the Anglican church, and its use is enforced by law.

1552--A second Prayer Book is published, and a new creed in 42 articles is adopted.

Mary I (1516-58)

Mary attempts to restore Roman Catholicism as the state religion, and during her reign many Protestants are burned at the stake.

Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603)

1563--Protestantism is restored.

1. The 42 articles of the Anglican creed adopted under Edward VI are reduced to Thirty-nine Articles. This creed is closer to Lutheranism than to Calvinism.
2. Large numbers of people in Elizabeth's time do not consider the Church of England sufficiently reformed and non-Roman. They are known as dissenters or nonconformists and eventually form or become members of numerous Calvinist sects such as the Brownists, Presbyterians, Puritans, Separatists, and Quakers.

The Episcopal organization and ritual of the Anglican Church is substantially the same as that of the Roman Catholic Church.

James I (1566-1625)

"No Bishop, No King." James ties the Episcopal form of church government directly to the power of kingship. This statement would serve ironically as a kind of rallying cry for the anti-prelatical and anti-Charles I forces during the English Revolution.

Charles I (1600-1649)

1637--Attempts, under the influence of Archbishop William Laud, to impose the Anglican liturgy in Scotland leading to rioting by Presbyterian Scots.

Protestant Church Government (or Polity) in this period can be broken down roughly into two camps: Episcopacy, and Presbyterianism.

The churches of Lutheran Germany and those of Anglican England are primarily Episcopal in their polity, while those of the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Scotland are Presbyterian.

Episcopal vs. Presbyterian: Bishops vs. Presbyters

What exactly is the difference between an Episcopal church organization and a Presbyterian church organization? The essential difference is that between the offices of Bishop and Presbyter. In the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican churches, a Bishop is an ecclesiastical official who, through sacramental consecration, holds special powers in the ministry, and has special administrative powers. (Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican churches claim apostolic succession for their bishops, while Lutheran churches do not.) The English word "bishop" is a translation of the Greek word episkopos, which means "overseer." A presbyter does not hold such special office nor have such special powers (nor is any claim of apostolic succession made). Presbyterian churches are less hierarchical in their organization than are Episcopal churches: the Presbyterian Church takes literally Luther's idea (developed and systematized by Calvin) of a "priesthood of all believers." The Presbyterian Minister is conceived of as a servant to the congregation rather than as a leader of the congregation. The English word "presbyter" is a translation of the Greek presbuteros, which means "elder."

The argument made by Calvin and later Calvinist supporters (such as the Milton of the anti-prelatical tracts of the early 1640s) of a Presbyterian church government runs as follows:

Presbyterianism is a "rediscovery" of the apostolic model found in the Greek Scriptures. (Many supporters of a Presbyterian arrangement hold it to be the only permissible form of ecclesiastical government.) This claim is based on such texts as Acts 11:30 and 15:22, which describe a church government that closely resembles that of the Jewish synagogues of the time, each of which was governed by a group of "elders" (presbuteroi, or "presbyters"). Acts 14:23, describes Paul appointing these presbuteroi in Churches he founded during his ministry. In these early congregations, the terms for presbyter and bishop (presbuteros and episkopos) were used interchangeably, and did not serve to distinguish any necessary or Biblically-prescribed hierarchical distinctions (see Acts 20:17 and 20:28). Episcopacy establishes distinctions between believers that cannot be justified by Scripture, and bishops are spiritual and temporal usurpers who are dangerous to both their flocks and to their civil rulers.

The defenders of the Episcopal structure of the English Church argue that authority for Episcopacy is found both in Scripture and tradition.

Richard Hooker argues against the Puritan notion that Scripture is the sole source of guidance for either church doctrine or church discipline.

1593--Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity

1. Contradicts the Puritan notion that Scripture was the only guide either to man's conduct or his construction of Church government.
2. Beyond, and before, Scripture is another source of truth--the law of nature: "an infallible knowledge imprinted in the mindes of all the children of men, whereby both generall principles for directing humane actions are comprehended, and conclusions derived from them" (Polity , I, viii, 3 1611 edition).
3. Even without Scripture the law of nature acts to spur man to perfection and to show him his obligations to other men in society.
4. With the law of nature God "illuminateth every one which cometh into the world,"

Bishop Joseph Hall i

The most famous (and most temperate) spokesman for the Anglican Episcopal cause in Milton's day (unlike Archbishop William Laud, Bishop Hall never ordered the removal of a dissident's ears). Hall argues that Bishops were appointed in the early church as overseers for groups of presbyters as the church's membership increased. According to Hall, this overseer function of the bishops served to prevent the spread of schism and heresy, helping to keep Christian worship pure and undefiled.

1640--Episcopacie by Divine Right

1. Traces the origin of bishops and justifies hierarchy by the practice of the early church.
2. Bishops justified by the Holy Ghost.
3. Episcopacy--"an eminent order of sacred function, appointed by the Holy Ghost, in the Evangelicall Church, for the governing and overseeing thereof; and for that purpose, besides the Administration of the Word and Sacraments, indued with the power of imposition of hands, and perpetuity of Jurisdiction." (Part II, p. 4)
4. In any single church, all is done with the consent of the presbyters, but with the power of the bishops who receive their power in a direct line from the apostles.
5. "The apostles, by the direction of the Spirit of God, found it requisite and necessary for the avoyding of schisme and disorder that some eminent persons should every where be lifted up above the rest." (Part II, pp. 21,22)

The "typical" Presbyterian response to this line of reasoning is made by a group of ministers known collectively as Smectymnuus. (An acronym derived from the initials of Stephen Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William Spurstowe).

1641 (February)--An Anti-Remonstrance to the Late Humble Remonstrance

1. Antiquity is no argument for Episcopacy
2. Bishops' fees contrary to the customs of the early church.
3. The distance between minister and archbishop violates the spirit of the early church.
4. Bishops have no right to delegate deputies to preach for them or sit as judges in courts.
5. Reviews the abuses of excommunication, commuting of bodily penance to monetary payment, and argues that the church government cannot claim divine authority because of its numerous violations of the customs of early Christianity.

1641 (June 26)--A Vindication of the Answer to the Humble Remonstrance, from the Unjust Imputations of Frivolosnesse and Falsehood

1. Reviews further arguments against a mandatory liturgy, using the liturgies of Justin martyr and Tertullian as examples.
2. Dissenters to the Church of England created by the Prelates, not the Puritans.
3. Wide difference between the Reformations on the Continent and in England: "Our first Reformation was onely in doctrine, theirs in doctrine and discipline too." (39)
4. English bishops must trace their lineage through the hated Catholic Church, drawing "the line of their pedigree through the loynes of Antichrist." (89)
5. Ancient bishops never sought superior power.
6. Ancient bishops were preaching bishops.
7. Question: "What is the Church of England?" The Laudian Canons of 1640? The particular forms and ceremonies used?
8. Smectymnuuns object to the appropriation by the bishops of the sole right to define the Church of England.

William Laud

Perhaps most famous as the Archbishop of Canterbury under Charles I, and as the force behind the Star Chamber trials of the 1630s and early 1640s.

Ordained in the Church of England in 1601, he became bishop of Saint David's, Scotland, in 1621. Laud was made bishop of London in 1628, chancellor of Oxford in 1629, and archbishop of Canterbury in 1633. Laud fiercely opposed the church reforms proposed by the Puritans, and he staunchly supported King Charles I in his battle with Parliament.

Laud, with the support of Charles, attempted to introduce the Anglican liturgy in Scotland in 1637. This resulted in a riot in Saint Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh. This led to the Solemn League and Covenant of 1638, the First Bishop's War in 1639, and finally to the meeting of the Long Parliament in 1640, by whom Laud was impeached for treason. Laud's impeachment by the House of Commons was nullified by the House of Lords, but soon afterwards he was condemned under a bill of attainder and beheaded on 1/10/1645.

Laud:

1) Acted without doubts in suspending preachers: "Nor have I by these Suspensions, hindred the Preaching of Gods Word, but of Schism and Sedition" (History of the Troubles and Tryal of . . . William Laud, ed. Henry Wharton, 1695, p. 164).

2) Refugees at fault, not him: "Nor have I caused any of his Majesty's Subjects to forsake the Kingdom; but they forsook it of themselves, being Separatists from the Church of England; as is more than manifest to any Man, that will but consider what kind of Persons went to New-England" (Ibid).

3) "They have thrust themselves out" (p. 509).

4) No middle ground--anyone who did not worship according to prescribed ritual was a Separatist, no matter how small the deviation.

5) From Constitutions and Canons Eclesiastical (1640): "The most High and Sacred order of Kings is of Divine right, being the ordinance of God himself, founded in the prime laws of nature." This was to be read by each parish priest four times during the year.

The English reformation differs from those in Germany, Switzerland, and France in two respects:

1. England is a small country with a strong central government; therefore, unlike the continental experience of revolution splitting a country into regional factions or parties and ending in civil war, the English revolt is national. The king and Parliament act together in transferring to the king the ecclesiastical jurisdiction previously exercised by the pope.
2. In the continental countries agitation for religious reform among the people precedes and causes the political break with the papacy. In England the political break comes first, as a result of a decision by King Henry VIII to divorce his first wife, and the change in religious doctrine comes afterward in the reigns of King Edward VI and Queen Elizabeth I.

In the 17th century, Christians of many ideologies embarked on the hazardous journey across the Atlantic, to the promise of religious freedom and economic prosperity in the New World. Quakers came to Pennsylvania, Catholics to Maryland, and Dutch Reformed to New York. Later came Swedish Lutherans and French Huguenots, English Baptists and Scottish Presbyterians. With the exception of some Puritan communities, there was no attempt to impose religious uniformity in America.

The period from about 1648 to 1800 was an age in which reason (as opposed to revelation and dogma) became increasingly important, but so did religious revival. Benjamin Franklin exemplified his time's general attitude towards religious matters when he remarked, a few weeks before his death:

As to Jesus of Nazareth...I have...some doubts as to his Divinity, tho' it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it.... I see no harm, however, it its being believed, if that belief has the good consequence...of making his doctrines more respected and better observed.

At the same time that religious skepticism and toleration were growing in the west, so too were revival movements that sought to return to masses to genuine faith in Christ and the gospel of salvation. George Whitefield arrived in the colonies from England in 1739, and experienced wide success with his revival sermons. Jonathan Edwards was famous for his fiery sermons in which he described in detail the torments of those who do not have personal faith in Jesus Christ. John Wesley was revivalist preacher and a personal friend of Whitefield, but he differed strongly from his Presbyterian friend on the doctrine of predestination. Wesley founded a small group of preachers and bible students, who focused on holy living and came to be called the "Methodists."