CHRISTIANITY
CHRISTIANITY
1. It is a way of life, embodied in a corporate society or fellowship
centered on the worship of One God revealed to the world through
Jesus Nazareth.
a. Jesus lived as a human being for about thirty years and was
crucified by the Romans at Jerusalem between A.D. 29 and 33.
b. Based on the testimony of contemporary witnesses of that
time: Christians believe that he rose from the dead after
three days and was seen on numerous occasions during the next
forty days.
2. Jesus of Nazareth was believed to be the Christ (ie. the Messiah,
the annointed deliver promised to the Jews in the Old Testament.
a. It was built upon the revelation of One God given to the
Jews, but within one generation Christianity had made a tre-
mendous appeal to the non-Jewish or Gentile world of the
Hellenized Empire of Rome.
b. The Greek language and Greek thought forms became a part of
the new Christian gospel (euangelion - good news) from Saint
Paul onward.
3. The Universe and Time:
a. Plato and Aristotle had taught that the time process in un-
ending, each human civilization being succeeded by another.
b. Stoicism, the most popular philosophy of the 1st Century,
A.D., taught that the universe formed out of the divine fire
would be dissolved, after running its course, into the divine
fire again, to be succeeded over and over again throughout
all enternity.
c. Judaism: taught that this universe is the creation of the One
True God, who has throughout its history has shown his power
(and intervention) through a series of mighty acts which will
lead to the "day of the Lord".
* A day when evil will be conquered an a new dawn, in which
God will reign as king of peace and righteousness.
4. This idea of a final goal of history, of a purpose in creation, of
redemption from evil and of salvation for the individual was easy
to accept by those who were familiar with the many mystery
religions and cults of the Hellenistic world.
5. Christianity was a new way of life.
a. It made moral demands upon individuals, but it also filled
them with a new divine power (ie. the Holy Spirit).
b. Christians were promised a new quality (or existence) of be-
ing - "eternal life", which began now and continued into the
next world.
The Origins of Christianity
1. Both Jesus and his disciples who followed him in his early ministry
in Galilee and Judaea were all Jews by race and religion.
* They attended the synagogue, visited the Temple in Jerusalem,
kept the Jewish feast of the Passaover and other great festivals.
2. Jesus's claim to be the Messiah (ie. Christos, the annoited, the
Greek equivalent to the Hewbrew Messiah) would not have caused a
great deal of surprise among his contemporaries ------------------
there was a general expectation of the coming of a Messiah who
would free the Jews from Roman Rule and establish the Kingdom of
God (the Day of the Lord - ie. Issiah) on earth.
3. Jesus identified himself with the "Suffering Servant" as the
Messiah.
a. This identification saw its culmination by Jesus's crucifi-
xion on Calvary.
b. This attitude mystified his disciples and caused the Jewish
People to reject him as a true Messiah.
4. The origin of the Christian Church can not be primarily found in
the teachings of Jesus, but is found in the resurrection and glori-
fication of Jesus on Easter Day.
a. The historian can neither prove nor disprove the events of
the First Easter which are recorded in all of the Four
Gospels.
b. The issue is not whether one agrees or disagrees with the
Gospels, the point is something happened that resulted in a
new religious faith.
c. "Resurrection Faith" - the new faith was based on the idea of
hope of the "imminent second coming of the Lord".
5. The Spread of the Gospel
a. By the First Century A.D., as a result of the Diaspora, many
Jewish colonies existed outside of Palestine especially in
larger towns.
ie. Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, Rome, Carthage, and Alexan-
dria.
b. It was through the synagogues of the Diaspora that Christi-
anity first spread and came in contact with the Gentile
(non-Jewish) World.
c. From Antioch, where the term Christian was first used (in
derision), Paul took the gospel to Jewish Centers in Asia
Minor and Greece ----------------- ultimately he went to
Rome where by tradition he was martyred with Peter (ca. A.D.
64).
d. Result: both Gentile and Jewish Converts were made, and by
the end of the First Century A.D. Christian Communities
(Churches) were established all around the Mediterranean.
e. By the Second Century: Christianity had spread to Egypt,
North Africa, and Gaul.
Organization and Worship of the Early Church
1. The word Church (ecclesia) means an assembly of the people -------
it is used in the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament to
translate the Hebrew word for the assembly, congregation or people
of God.
a. In the New Testament it usually means the whole body of
Christians, but the same word is used to refer to local
Christian Congregations.
ie. the Church in Antioch or at Corinth.
b. To Paul, there is only one Church which has many members.
"In one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether
Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free." (I Corinthians XVI:
19).
ie. The members of the one Church which is "the Body of
Christ".
2. Christianity arose (or emerged) out of Judaism -------------------
Paul also attended the synagogues in the cities of the Diaspora.
3. It was a natural process for the Early Church to model its organi-
zation on that of the synagogue which was directed by a local body
of elders.
a. The presbuteroi: (presbyters, or elders) of the Church in
Jerusalem are mentioned along with the apostles as its
leaders.
b. In the Gentile World Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in
every Church of their first missionary journey.
ie. the office was not confined to the Jewish-Christian
Church in Jerusalem.
c. In his letters to these Churches Paul subsequently referred
to elders as bishops (episcopoi), so that in the Gentile
Churches the terms were interchangeable.
4. The Role of Bishops
a. The term episkopos (bishop) denotes a personal funtion of
superintendence or oversight which was evidently exercised by
one of the college of presbyters in a Church.
b. Ignatius (d. ca. A.D. 117): in his Epistle to the Trallians,
he wrote -
"When you are in subjection to the bishop as Jesus Christ...
it is necessary that you should do nothing without the bish-
op, but be ye also in subjection to the presbytery. Like-
wise let all respect the deacons as Jesus Christ, even as
the bishop is also a type of Father, and the Presbyters as
the council of God, and the college of Apostles."
* A three-fold ministry of bishops, priests, and deacons is
clearly envisaged.
* The deaconate was an entirely new office, not derived from
the synagogue.
c. The Didache, an early Christian manual, compiled before A.D.
100 speaks of apostles and prophets (sometimes using the
terms interchangeably) and gives detailed directions for dis-
tinguishing between true and false prophets.
* It also gives an instruction to "appoint for yourselves
bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord."
d. Apostolic Succession: scholars in the episcopal tradition see
the origin of the espicopate in the appointment of local
bishops as direct successors of the apostles.
1. It originally meant a guarantee of the genuine tradi-
tion of the doctrine and teaching of the apostles,
handed down through a verifiable series of men, in
constrast to un-apostolic heretical teachings.
2. It eventually came to mean apostolic authority to or-
dain, sacramentally transmitted through an uninterrupt-
ed series of the "laying on of hands".
e. Scholars in the Presbyterian and allied traditions have re-
garded every presbyter as a bishop on the grounds that Paul
uses the terms interchangeably in his letters to the Gentile
Churches.
5. Consecration
a. Originally - Bishops could not be consecrated until their
prdecessors were dead.
1. Irenaeus was probably chosen and consecrated by his
fellow-presbyters at Lyons, in the same way as the
bishops of Alexandria were down to the fouth century.
2. In Milan and Carthage, the bishop was elected by the
people and consecrated by three bishops from neighbor-
ing communities.
b. By the middle of the second century, the function (or author-
ity) of consecration was exercized universally by the bishop.
6. Baptism and Circumcision
a. Membership of the Jewish faith was by virtue of birth and all
males had to be circumcized at eight days of age.
b. When Gentiles adopted Judaism they were first baptized (since
Gentiles were regarded as being in a state of ritual impur-
ity), and then circumcized.
c. Jesus commanded his disciples to "make disciples of all the
nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of
the Son and the Holy Ghost (Mat. XXVIII:19).
d. Baptism was regarded by Paul as the Christian Circumcision,
and the comparison of baptism with circumcision (ie. initia-
tion into the convenant with God) is frequent in the litera-
ture of Early Church Fathers.
* Instruction in the faith was required before a candidate
for baptism could be accepted.
e. The Didache, prior to A.D. 100 ------------ ordered baptism
in water in the name of the Trinity.
1. Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus (ca. 215) - the
Church had evolved a full baptisimal liturgy.
2. It included the washing away of sin (symbolically) in
water, annoiting with oil blessed by the bishop, and
first communion.
3. The normal time for baptism was on Easter Eve, followed
by first communion on Easter Day.
7. The Sabbath
a. The Christian Church inherited from Judaism the seven day
week culminating in the observance of Saturday as "the
Sabbath", which was for the Jew a day of rest from all work.
b. Willy Rordorf, a Swiss scholar, published (1968) an important
study entitled Sunday.
1. He maintained that the early Christians regarded the
duty of Sabbath observance as including the whole span
of life.
2. Sunday (the first day of the week) replaced the Sabbath
as a day of worship from the very beginning, and that
"right down to the 4th Century the idea of rest played
no part in the Christian Sunday.
c. Sunday was observed as a day of worship being a weekly com-
memoration of Easter, the day of resurrection.
1. Christians could not observe it as a day of rest until
the Emperor Contantine decreed it as such in 321.
2. Early Christians did not abandon the Sabbath (Saturday)
------------ both were kept as festivals marked by
the celebration of the Eurcharist.
8. The Eurcharist
a. The origin of the Christian Eurcharist lies in the Last
Supper, at which Christ inaugurated the New Convenant in his
blood on the night before his crucifixion.
b. By tradition (it has been disputed), the Last Supper took
place during the Passover Season ------------ thus, the
date of Easter is fixed on the Sunday following the Passover
full moon.
c. The Eurcharist came to be celebrated every Sunday as a weekly
commemoration of the ressurection.
1. By the early 3rd Century a daily celebration of the
Eurcharist is attested to by Cyprian in North Africa.
2. Prior to this period, the Eurcharist seems to have
been clebrated only on Saturday and Sunday and on
"station days", Wednesday and Friday which were fasting
days.
* these days were reminiscent of the older Jewish fasts
on Monday and Thursday.
d. There were also daily gatherings for prayer at dawn and at
dusk, the times of the ancient Jewish temple sacrifices.
9. Daily Worship In the Early Church
a. The content of the daily and weekly worship of Christians
was also modelled on that of the synagogue.
b. There were four main elements: prayer, singing of psalms
(collectively), scripture readings, and a sermon or homily
(on the Sabbath) based on scriptures that were read.
c. Greek was the liturgical language of Christians even at Rome
until the 3rd Century.
d. The earliest surviving texts of the Eurcharist (ca. 215) show
the service consisted of the four elements derived from the
synagogue.
1. The consecration of the bread and wine followed which
were offered to God as a sacrifical memorial
(anamnesis) of the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary.
2. It was partaken (received) by the baptized members of
the Church as the body and blood of Christ, appointed
by Him at the Last Supper for communion with Him.
e. Asceticism found a place within Christianity from its very
earliest beginnings.
1. Fasting, celebacy, and renunciation of earthly posses-
sions was practiced by some Christians in their own
homes before St. Anthony (ca. 285) adopted the life of
a hermit in the desert of Egypt.
2. Other solitaries (ascetics) followed his example and
for mutual protection lived in loosely organized groups
of hermits (anchorites).
3. Ca. 320, Pachomius founded the first monastery for
monks living under a regular rule at Tabennisi on the
right bank of the Nile (coenobites).
4. Both forms of asceticism spread to the West.
* St. Basil (in 358-64) composed a monastic rule based
on that of Pachomius which became the basis of the
rule still followed by monks in the East.
* St. Benedict (6th Century) established the first
Benedictine Monastary at Monte Cassino in Italy under
a rule developed by him --------- it became the
basis of all subsequent forms of monasticism in the
West.
5. Prayer was common to all of these rules:
* A regular cycle of prayer for the day and night was
provided.
* Seven Canonical Hours were established and are con-
tained in the Medieval Breviary of the Western
Church.
Church and State
1. The Edict of Milan (Peace of Constantine) A.D. 312, issued by
Constantine and Licinius provided religious toleration for the
Christians.
* Christianity did not become the official religion of the Roman
Empire until the Edict of Theodosius in 380.
2. In the Fourth Century the emperors' objective was to preserve the
unity of the empire.
a. This attitude prompted imperial interference to maintain
unity within the Church which was torn by heresy and schism.
b. Donatism in North Africa was an anti-Roman nationalistic
movement among the Berbers of Numidia.
c. The Donatists claimed to be the true Chruch of the apostles
and martyrs, and refused to have any dealings with the state.
d. Emperor Honorius in 412 declared the Donatists outlaws, but
they survived this and the Vandal invasion of North Africa
------------ it was not until the 7th Century when Islam
destroyed both the Donatists and Catholics.
3. The Nature of Christ: The Arian Controversy of the Fourth Century
a. It arose out of the question of the relation of God the
Father to his Son, Jesus Christ.
b. Arius, an Alexandrian presbyter, maintained that the Son was
a created being who did not eternally exist and was a sort of
demi-god, subordinate to the Father.
4. Constantine summoned the first General Council of the Church at
Nicaea in 325.
a. The purpose was to settle the dispute over Arianism and
reunite the Church.
b. The Council condemned the teaching of Arius and produced a
Creed that declared that the Son is of one substance with and
co-eternal with the Father.
5. Theodosius I summoned the second General Council at Constantinople
in 381.
a. It endorsed the emperor's definition (380) of Catholicism.
b. It also condemned Arianism and Apollinarianism (which had
overstressed the divinity of Christ, in opposition to
Arianism.
* The Council also reaffirmed the Nicene Creed.
6. Fifth Century: Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, and Cyril,
Patriarch of Alexandria.
* the controversy was over the two natures of Christ (divinity
and humanity).
a. Nestorius over-emphasized the humanity of Christ, and so
opposed the tradition description of Mary as Theotokos
(mother of God).
b. He declared that Mary's proper title should be "Mother of
Christ", since she was the mother of the human nature alone.
c. Rome sided with Cyril of Alexandria ----------- eventually
the State was forced to intervene.
7. Theodosius II of the East and Valentinian III of the West summoned
a third General Council of the Chruch at Ephesus in 431.
* It condemned Nestorianism, and Nestorius was exiled to the
Egyptian desert in 435.
8. A further fifth-century dispute between the Patriarch of Alexandria
(supported by Rome) and the Patriarch of Constantinople.
a. The conflict: that after the incarnation there was only one
nature in Christ.
ie. Monophysitism (one natureism).
b. This belief was condemned by the fourth Gerneral Council of
the Church at Chalcedon in 451 (called by the Emperor
Marcian).
c. The Catholic Church both in the East and the West accepted
what is known as the Chalcedonian Definition of the Doctrine
of the Trinity.
"It maintained that Jesus Christ is one person, the Divine
World, in whom are two natures, the divine and human, per-
manently united before and after the incarnation, though
unconfused and unmixed.
d. This statement of belief, together with other doctrinal de-
finitions of the first four councils of the Church have ever-
since been accepted by Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant
Christians.
9. A Monphysite or Jacobite Church (named after the Syrian monk Jacob
Baradai, d. 578) broke away.
* today it has a Patriarch of Antioch and churches in Syria, Iraq,
Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Armenia, and Ethiopia.
The Church In the West:
1. The growth in power and influence of the see of Rome (sedes) be-
tween the second and fifth centuries was due primarily to the fact
that Rome was the capital of the empire until it was transferred to
Constantinople in A.D. 337.
a. The Petrine Doctrine: claims authority and jurisdiction over
churches by virtue of being the successors of the Apostle
Peter.
b. These claims were not always accepted by the ancient
Patriarchates of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and
Constantinople.
c. In the West the jurisdiction of the see of Rome had been
generally recognized by the time of Pope Leo (440-61).
* the first pope to be buried in St. Peter's in Rome.
2. The Church's organization was modelled on that of the Roman
Empire.
a. There was, in every metropolis or chief city of Each Pro-
vince, a superior magistrate over local magistrates of the
cities within the province.
b. The Church: there was a bishop in the metropolis whose
authority extended over other bishops in the province.
* he was known as a metropolitan or primate (archbishop).
3. Church Revenues
a. Church revenues were originally derived from the volutary
offerings of the faithfull.
b. The Biblical precedent of the Tithe or First Fruit (from
Deuteronomy XIV:22-26) was not exploited by the clery until
the 2nd half of the 6th Century in Merovingian Gaul.
c. From Contantine's time the property of the churches was first
confined to places of worship and burial grounds.
* from this it grew rapidly --------- even Constantine gave
land and houses to the Church.
4. Impact of the 5th Century: Barbarian Invasions
a. In 410 Rome was sacked by the Visigoth chief, Alaric who was
an Arian Christian.
b. Other Germanic Invaders (most of them non-Christian) crossed
the Rhine into Gaul, Spain and North Africa.
c. The Franks alone, under Clovis, were the first to be convert-
ed to Christianity.
d. Prior to 410, Christianity had reached Britain from Gaul.
1. The ancient British (or Celtic) Church was driven west-
ward into Wales, Cornwall and Ireland.
2. It was responsible for the reconversion of much of
England after the Anglo-Saxon invasions, and northern
Holland, southern Denmark and northwest Germany.
* This process continued through and beyond the Eighth
Century.
5. The Holy Roman Empire
a. The coronation of Charlemagne by the Pope in Rome in 800
created the Holy Roman Empire ----------- it also led to
conflicts between temporal and spiritual powers.
b. The Concordat of Worms: was a compromise of sorts.
1. 1122: Pope Calixtus II and Emperor Henry V settled the
question of lay investiture.
2. The emperor surrendered to the Church all investiture
of bishops with ring and staff (symbols of spiritual
authority).
3. The pope granted Henry the right to invest a bishop
with temporal possessions of his office by the touch
of his royal sceptre.
c. The struggle of lay investiture and papal supremacy in both
spiritual and temporal matters continued throughout the
Middle Ages.
d. Under Pope Innocent III, the papacy reached its hieght of
power (1198-1216).
1. When King John of England resisted the pope's nomina-
tion of Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury, he
placed England under an interdict.
ie. the ending of the administration of all sacraments
in England.
2. Innocent threatend Philip II of France with interdict,
excommunicated John of England, and forced the Holy
Roman emperor to pay homage to him.
3. The Fourth Lateran council in 1215 declared the
doctrine of Transubstantiation to be an article of
faith --------- anyone denying it would be eternally
damned.
4. Christians were also required to make a confession and
receive communion at least once a year.
* The Church's power of excommunication and interdict must be
viewed in the context of the people's belief that the only
defense against the fiends (powers) that attack the soul when
one dies was the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ.
6. Decline In Church Power (Temporal Influence)
a. Balance of Power was to shift ---------- by the time of the
Reformation in the 16th Century, the Papacy had become a tool
of the Holy Roman Empire.
b. Nationalism: a new identiy and independence was arising in
both England and France.
1. Both Edward I of England and Philip IV of France defied
Pope Boniface VIII.
2. Unam Sanctam (1302) --------- Boniface had asserted
in this papal bull that temporal powers are subject to
spiritual powers and that "it is altogether necessary
to salvation for every human creature to be subject to
the Roman Pontiff.
3. Boniface was taken prisoner by Philip's mercenaries in
Rome and died soon afterwards: the temporal power of
the papacy was broken.
c. The Great Schism (1378-1417) a period when there were rival
popes, one in Avignon (France) and the other in Rome.
1. A series of Church Councils followed culminating with
the Council of Constance aimed at unifying and reform-
ing the Church.
2. It united the Church, but any attempts at meaningful
reform failed ----------- the way was paved for the
Reformation and the Counter-Reformation.
7. Religon In Feudal Society (background of the Reformation)
a. The Medieval Western Church took for granted the existence
of rich and poor and of different callings which were divine-
ly appointed (the serf and the lord).
b. The Church attempted to achieve unity within Christendom that
was centered on obedience to spiritual and temporal author-
ity.
* the Crusades was one expression of this ideal.
c. Grace was believed to be otained by acquiring merit in the
sight of God by the performance of "good works".
d. Good Works included attendance at mass, paying for the saying
of masses, going on pilgramages, veneraton of the saints, and
doing penance.
e. A good deal of superstition was mixed with popular Christian-
ity of the later Middle Ages and sixteenth - century reform-
ers rejected the whole sacramental theology built on the
theory of human merit.
The Reformation
1. The struggle over spiritual and temporal authority, along with the
growing spirit of nationalism in England, France, Germany, and
Bohemia led to anti-papalism and anti-clericalism in the late
Middle Ages.
2. The failure of the General Church Councils of the 15th Century to
reform the Church, the increasing financial drain of national
treasuries by the Papal Curia, the decadence and worldliness of
monasticism and the clergy - all contributed to the growing skepti-
cism of the Church.
3. The Renaissance: Revival of Learning
a. The movement led to a new study of the scriptures, a new
demand for intellectual freedom, and the right of private
judgement (personal - individual).
b. The invention of the printing press was of paramount impor-
tance in the spread and general awareness of these ideas,
issues, and criticisms.
4. Old Traditions Retained: (ie. much of the traditional teachings and
practices of the Pre-Reformation Church).
a. They kept the three main creeds derived from the General
Councils of the 4th and 5th Centuries.
b. The belief in the Trinity, the two natures of Christ, the
fall and original sin, the atonement brought by the death of
Christ, his ressurection and ascension were all kept.
c. Protestants also retained the belief in the literal, infalli-
ble inspiration of the Old and New Testaments which were con-
sidered to be dictated by the Holy Spirit.
5. Chief Differnce: Protestants and Catholics
a. Rejection of the Roman Church's claim to be the sole inter-
pretor of the scriptures, and their refusal to give Church
Tradition the same authority as scripture.
b. Protestants maintained that the Scriptures were the sole
authority ((eventhough individual opinion and interpretation
varied among the reformers).
c. It was the Primitive Church that was to be the model and
pattern for subsequent development and evolution of the
Church.
Martin Luther (1483-1546): Salvation Through Faith
1. Through the study of the Bible (especially Paul's Epistle to the
Romans), that Martin Luther came to the opinion that Man can not
attain justification (a right relationship with God) by his own
works. (ie. the Catholic concept of "Good Works")
2. To Luther, it was only by faith in the saccrifice of Christ that
was offered on the Cross that one could gain salvation.
a. By "faith" Luther did not mean just intellectual agreement
(fides), but a rather child-like trust in the Redemeer.
b. Luther maintained that "Grace" is freely given by God, not
earned by human merit or bought through a papal indulgence.
3. 1517: Ninety-five Theses, Luther challenged the Church's teaching
on indulgences, and by his Appeal to the Christian Nobility of the
German Nation (1520) - he denounced the financial demands of the
Papacy.
a. He was excommunicated, and then outlawed by the Imperial Diet
at Worms (Edict of Worms - 1521).
b. Luther was hidden in Wurtburg Castle by his patron and pro-
tector, the Elector Frederick of Saxony -------------------
during this period he translated the Bible into German, and
wrote many tracts that were circulated throughout Germany.
4. After his return to Wittenburg, many German Princes and cities
accepted the evangelical teaching of Luther and allied themselves
with the Elector of Saxony.
a. The Latin mass was abolished and replaced by Luther's German
mass (1525).
b. Priests and monks began to marry (Luther himself marrying an
ex-Cistercian nun, Katherine von Bora, in 1525).
5. Lutheranism had spread into Scandanavia, France, and England.
a. It never took serious hold in France, and its influence in
England was dead after 1550 after which Zwingialism and
Calvinism left more permanent influence.
b. In Sweden, where bishops were retained (in constrast to the
"superintendents" set over the Land or State Churches in
Germany) a truly National Lutheran Church developed.
6. After the Confession of Augsburg (1530) drafted by Philip Melanch-
ton which marked the first break between Lutheran states and Rome
and the death of Luther (1546), Lutheran theology developed on
confessional lines into a new form of rigid-scholasticism.
Zwingli (1484-1531)
1. A parallel movement of reform had been in progress at Zurich and
other German Swiss cities.
2. Zwingli was educated in the humanist tradition, and lectured on the
New Testament attacking fasting, clerical celebacy, and the mass.
3. Relics and images were removed from their Churches in July 1524
and religious houses were dissolved in December.
* 4. The mass was abolished by the town council of Zurich and was re-
placed by Zwingli's German Service of the Lord's Supper at Easter
1525.
5. Other Swiss towns formed themselves into a Civic Christian Alliance
against those cantons which had remained loyal to Rome.
* Civil War broke out and Zwingli was killed at the Battle of
Cappel (1531).
6. The Protestant Reformation in German Switzerland was accomplished
by magistrates in town councils following the lead of local of
reformers like Zwingli.
7. At the Colloquy of Marburg (1529) whre Luther and Zwingli had met,
an agreement was reached between them on fourteen articles of re-
ligion.
a. Agreement on a fifteenth article (dealing with the Eucharist)
could not be reached.
b. Luther maintained his belief in the real presence of Christ
in the bread and wine, while Zwingli regarded the words of
Christ at the Last Supper, "This is my body" as purely
symbolic.
John Calvin (1509-64) in Geneva
1. In French Switzerland, the Reformation had already started in
Geneva under Guillaume Farel when John Calvin arrived in 1536.
* On his death-bed Calvin described the citizens of Geneva as a
"perverse and ill-natured people."
2. Geneva was ruled by a council responsible to the general council
of all citizens and there were factions and quarrels throughout
Calvin's life.
3. His first attempt to gain control affairs in both the Church and
State ended in failure and his departure to Strasbourg in 1538.
a. His departure was prompted when he and Farel refused to
accept the Liturgy of Berne imposed by Geneva's Council with-
out consultation.
b. He was the pastor of the French Congregation of Strasbourg
--------- where he was influenced and learned much from
Martin Bucer (1491-1551).
c. Bucer -------- emphasized the doctrine of predestination,
a restoration of a fourfold ministry (ie. New Testament) of
pastors, teachers, elders and deacons.
d. Bucer also provided a vernacular congregational litury in
French derived from the Latin mass.
4. Calvin had already published in 1535 the first edition of his
famous Institutes of the Christian Religion in Latin.
* An enlarged second edition appeared in 1539 (the final edition
in 1559) and a series of French editions from 1541.
5. On his return to Geneva, Calvin secured the adoption by the Council
of his Ordonnances Ecclesiastiques.
a. It established a Consistory of Pastors presided over by a
lay magistrate, and the establishment of a liturgy adopted
from the Strasbourg liturgy.
b. This Genevan liturgy was the basis of all Presbyterian litur-
gies, in Scotland and elsewhere, as well as Reformed Churches
of continental Europe until recent times.
c. The insitution of Elders which Calvin set up is also charac-
teristic of all Reformed Churches.
6. In 1555 - Calvin finally gained complete control of the Genevan
Consistory, and established the right of excommunication of here-
tics and evil-doers.
7. The main lines of Calvin's theologoy were a belief in original sin,
justification, and presdestination, and the authority of scripture.
a. Calvin also maintained a belief in the impenetrable mystery
of the absolute sovreignty of God.
b. He rejected the Medieval doctrine of transbustantiation, the
Lutheran doctrine of consubstantiation, and Zwinglian
symoblism in the Eucharist.
c. In the Institutes Calvin accepts the Eurcharist as a mystery
which one experiences rather than understands.
d. In his Little Treatise on the Lord's Supper (1542) in which
he insists that there is a real spiritual presence (and a
real spiritual partaking) in the Lord's Supper.
* though Calvin insists one should not think "that the Lord
Jesus may be brought down as to be enclosed under any
corruptible elements."
8. Calvinism was one of the greatest religious forces in the develop-
ment of the Prtotestant Reformation in Europe, and ultimately in
America.
a. From it developed the Presbyterian, Congregationlist, and
Baptist denominations.
b. In the 16th Century Calvinism (as expressed in the "Reformed
Tradition" stemming from the Zurich Agreement of 1549 between
Calvin, Farel, and Bullinger, the son-in-law and successor of
Zwingli, ie. between Calvinists and Zwinglians) spread rapid-
ly across France, the Low Countries, central and eastern
Europe, and also influenced the Reformation in England during
the reigns of Edward VI and Elizabeth I.
The English Reformation as a Moderate Movement
1. In England more than any other European Protestant country, the
Catholic tradition of the Middle Ages was retained.
a. A threefold ministry of bishops, priests and deacons, toget-
her with the territorial division of England into two provin-
vinces (Canterbury and York) along with dioceses and par-
ishes.
b. It also retained Cannon Law of the Western Church and the
Ecclesiastical Courts inherited from the Middle Ages.
2. Under Henry VIII Parliament passed various acts abolishing the
jurisdiction of the "Bishop of Rome" and recognizing the sovereign
as the only supreme head of the Church of England.
* There were not significant changes in doctrine or worship.
a. The monasteries and other religious houses were dissolved in
1536 and 1539, their lands and revenues being taken over by
the Crown.
b. The Bible was translated into English and placed in all
Churches, while the use of images was prohibited.
3. During the reign of Edward VI (the Seymour family) the Latin mass
was abolished which was replaced in form by the liturgy in the
first Book of Common Prayer (1549) in English.
* There was increased influence of radical Protestants who favored
the theology of Bullinger and the Zurich Church, and a much more
Protestant second Book of Common Prayer (1552) was passed by
Parliament.
4. Queen Mary in 1553 brought about the restoration of the Latin Mass
and the jurisdiction of the pope over the English Church.
a. Foreign Protestants in England as well as many English Prot-
estants took refuge in such European cities as Frankfort,
Strasbourg, and Geneva.
b. Crammer, Ridley, Latimer and a few others were tried for
heresy and burnt at the stake.
5. The reign of Elizabeth I saw the final break with Rome and the
establishment of the Anglican Church as the national Church of
England.
a. It saw the re-establishment of royal supremacy and the Eng-
lish Book of Common Prayer.
b. The Thirty-Nine Articles were introduced to define the
dogmatic position of the Church of England in relation to the
controversies of the 16th Century.
6. Elizabethan England also contained Puritans who were not satisfied
that the so called "settlelment of religion" had carried reform far
enough in a scriptural direction.
a. They wanted to replace the episcopal system with a presby-
terian system.
b. Failing in these efforts ---------- they refused to conform
to the religion established by law.
ie. Non-Conformists.
c. They left the Church of England (hence, "Separatists") and
fled to Holland.
* They are the ancestors of the Independents or Congrega-
tionalists and the Baptists.
7. The Calvinist John Knox was instrumental in establishing the
Reformed Church of Scotland on the lines of Geneva.
a. It was based on a "Confessional Faith", a Book of Discipline
(1560), and had a liturgy based on the Forme Prayers (1556)
used by the English Congregation in Geneva and approved by
John Calvin.
b. Presbyteries were not systematically set up for another
twenty years ------------- Presbyterianism and Episcopacy
alternated in Scotland until Presybterianism finally triump-
ed in 1690.
The Counter Reformation
1. In Italy and Spain a great religious revival took place between
(ca. 1520-1580).
2. Associated with this revival was the founding of the Oratory of
Divine Love and various new religious orders such as the Society of
Jesus.
3. Their object was to restore the dignity and due observance of
divine service, to educate the clergy, and to preach the Catholic
faith.
4. The Roman Inquisition was established in 1542 by Pope Paul III to
bring an end to heresy, and shortly afterwards the "Index" of Pro-
hibited Books was set up.
5. The Council of Trent was in session at intervals between 1545 and
1563.
a. The Canons and Dogmatic Decrees of the Council defined Roman
Catholic doctrine.
b. It rejected the Lutheran Doctrine of justification by faith
alone, maintaining the equal authority of scripture and tra-
dition and the sole right of the Church to interpret scrip-
ture.
c. Probably the most important legislation concerned the
appointment and residence of bishops and the establishment of
seminaries in every diocese for the training of clergy.
6. The Jesuits played a leading role in the Catholic revival in those
countries which had not adopted Protestantism.
7. The Netherlands were divided: the seven northern provinces under
William of Orange were Calvinists while the ten southern provinces
remained Catholic.
8. Calvinism had taken hold in France and the Huguenots (French Cal-
vinists) were engaged in a civil war with the Catholic majority
from 1562-1598.
a. Henry IV by the Edict of Nantes granted full religious
toleration to the Huguenots.
b. Though France remained officially a Catholic nation until
1905 (state established Church).
The Struggle for Power
1. The 17th Century was filled with wars, sometimes religious wars
---------- resulting with various national chaurches consolidat-
ing their positions.
2. 17th Century Germany
a. Disputes within Lutheranism, and problems between Lutherans
and Catholics became characteristic.
b. Enforcement, after the Peace of Augsburg (1555), of unity of
belief in both Potestant and Catholic territories was rele-
gated to the belief of the ruler.
c. Calvinism began to make inroads within German territories
which led to the Thirty Years' War.
3. 17th Century England
a. Puritans continued their demands for the abolition of the
episcopacy and the prayer book.
b. 1620 - some of the Puritans sailed (in the Mayflower) and
established Congregationalism in New England.
c. The Church of England had already been established in
Virginia in 1607.
4. The Puritan Revolution
a. It achieved success in 1643 with the abolition of the monar-
chy and the episcopacy.
b. The Directory of Worship was substitued for the the Book of
Common Prayer.
c. The monarchy was re-established in 1660 under Charles II
along with the whole episcopal system and a revised prayer
book in 1662.
d. Non-conformists (Calvinists) achieved some relief by the
Act of Toelration of 1689 after which parliamentary control
over the Established Church superceded royal control.
5. During this struggle Quakerism was born:
a. lit. meaning the "seekers" who abandoned all traditional
Christian outward forms (ie. ministry, creeds, sacraments,
liturgy, systems of theology).
b. They waited in silence meditating on the Bible until they
felt the Holy Spirit within them enabling them to speak.
c. They stressed a communal life and works of charity inspired
by the experience of Christ through the Spirit.
d. Their great champion in America was William Penn (1664-1718)
-------------- today they are known as the "Society of
Friends".
Scepticism and Revolution
1. By the end of the 17th Century, the cult of reason had made con-
siderable progress and had become attractive to many.
a. Deists found God's law sufficiently manifest in nature and
denied the need for any supernatural revelation.
b. Deism in France was championed by Voltaire, Rousseau, and the
Encyclopedists.
2. The French Revolution
a. 1790 - The Civil Constitution of the Clergy: forced the
clergy to take an oath of loyalty to the nation, fixed their
income and abolished old diocesan boundaries.
b. The Reign of Terror saw a total dechristianization and a
closure of all Churches in Paris.
c. It was replaced with the cult of the Goddess of Reason,
Robespierre's Supreme being.
3. Napoleon's Coup d' etat
a. Napoleon regarded religion as necessary for France as a
guarantee of patriotism.
b. He formed the Corcordat of 1801 with Pope Pius VII ---------
the Catholic Church was not disestablished until 1905.
4. The defeat of Napoleon was followed by a revival of Catholicism in
France, Germany, and Austria.
a. This period saw the development of Ultramontanism (the
centralization of authority in the papacy).
b. 1870: a Vatican Council declared that the pope was infalli-
ble, by virtue of his office, on matters of faith and morals.
The Evangelical Revival
1. Rationalism produced in both England and Germany scepticism about
orthodox Christian belief.
a. This attitude was reinforced by discoveries of scientists and
the historical and bibilical critics of the 19th Century.
b. The industrial revolution produced social problems which
neither Catholics nor Protestants were able to deal with.
2. 18th Century England had witnessed an Evangelical Revival both
within and outside of the Established Church.
a. Followers of John Wesley (1703-91) left the Church of England
and founded the Methodist Movement.
ie. The Methodist Episcopal Church was destined to become the
largest Protestant Communion in the world.
b. There was a Catholic Revival within the Church of England
known as the Oxford Movement.
3. Christian Socialism (a movement started within the Church of
England) to arouse the conscience of the Church and nation to the
need for better housing, education and social conditions for the
working classes.
4. The unification Germany in 1871 and Italy in 1860 ----------------
resulted in 1870 in the end of temporal power of the Pope over Rome
and the Papal States.
ie. Prisoner of the Vatican until the Lateran Treaty with
Mussolini in 1929 (Pope Pius XI).
The Growth of the Ecumenical Movement
1. Methodists were the pioneers in denominational reunion (ie. the
healing of divisions within a denomination).
a. Union was achieved between the Weselyan and the Methodist
Episcopal Churches in Canada in 1833 (the Methodist New
Connexion joined in 1841) and the Methodist Church of Canada
in 1884.
b. 1857 three bodies of English Methodists joined together to
form the United Methodist Free Churches (yet the English
Methodist Church did come into existence until 1932).
c. In the United States a great schism ocurred in American
Methodism over slavery between the Methodist Episcopal Church
and the Methodist Episcopal Church - South in 1845.
* These two Churches joined with the Methodist Protestant
Church in 1939 to form the Methodist Church.
2. Since 1891 an International Council of Congregational Churches has
existed as an advisory body without administrative or judicial
powers.
3. Since 1905 most Baptist Churches have been associated in the
World Baptist Alliance, which also exercises no judicial control
over its member Churches.
4. The attempt to achieve wider reunion between different denomi-
nations really began with the publication of the Chicago-Lambeth
Quadrilateral adopted by the American Episcopal Church in 1886 and
reaffirmed by the Lambeth Conference of the bishops of the Anglican
Communion in 1888.
a. It asserted that Christian Unity can only be achieved (be
restored) by a return of all Christian Communions to the
principles of unity exemplified by the undivided Church
during its first ages of existence.
b. Which principles we believe to be the substance of the
Christian Faith and Order committed by Christ and His
Apostles to the Church unto the end of the world.
* This substance of Faith was further defined.
1. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as
the revealed word of God.
2. The Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the
Christian Faith.
3. The two sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
4. The Historic Episcopate locally adopted in methods of
its administration to the varying needs of the nations
and peoples called of God into the unity of His Church.
c. It is the last point (the episcopate) which has proved to be
the chief stumbling block to the organic union of episcopal
and non-episcopal Churches.
A New Spirit of Co-operation
1. The ecumenical movement has not been solely concerned with the
reunion of the divided Church.
a. Full Communion status was agreed between the Church of
England and the Church of Sweden in 1920 and with the Old
Catholics in 1931.
b. Very friendly relations have been established between the
Church of England and the Eastern Orthodox Church and, al-
though Pope Leo XIII declared Anglican Orders invalid in
1896, a new spirit of co-operation and mutual respect has
arisen between the Anglican and Roman Communions (largely
through the work of Pope John XXIII and the Second Vatican
Council).
2. All the Historic Churches of Western Europe sent missionaries to
Africa, Asia, the Americas and other parts of the world.
a. It was in the "mission field" that the problem of inter-
communion and common endeavor arose acuteley (became an acute
problem).
b. The World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh in 1910 resulted
in the formation of the International Missionary Council
(formed in 1921) whose purpose was to co-ordinate the work of
all non-Roman Catholic missions.
c. Arising from the Edinburgh conference was the World Confer-
ence on Faith and Order (a necessity was recognized for ex-
cluding from a World Missionary Conference all discussions of
doctrianl disagreements).
1. But a conference was conceived of to deal specifically
with this issue (ie. Conference on Faith and Order).
2. The General Convention of the American Episcopal Church
supported this idea and World Conferences on Faith and
Order were held at Lausanne (1927) and Edinburgh
(1937).
d. The concern of many Christians that Churches internationally
ought to do something to prevent war had produced the World
Alliance for International Friendship through Chruches.
3. Social Problems: International Christian co-operation on social
questions led to the idea of a World Conference on Life and Work.
a. Purpose: to bring Christian conscience to bear on practical
problems of the contemporary world.
b. This idea was taken up by Archbishop Soderblom of Uppsala,
Sweden, and the first world conference was held at Stockholm
and a second one at Oxford in 1937.
c. 1937 - there was a second World Conference on Faith and Order
in Edinburgh ---------------- negotiations started in 1937
resulted in the union of "Life and Work" and "Faith and
Order".
d. The result was the establishment of the World Council of
Churches at Amsterdam in 1948.
1. The WCC has a permanent organization with offices in
Geneva ----------- its membership is restricted to
those Churches which accept our Lord Jesus Christ as
God and Savior.
2. It is a consultive body which has neither legislative,
nor judicial, nor executive power over member Churches.
* It is essentially an organ of inter-Church coopera-
tion.
Rapproachment with Rome
1. The World Council of Churches at its first meeting included repre-
senatives of about 150 Christian Communions, but no official repre-
senative of the Roman Catholic Church or of the Orthodox Churches.
2. Rome sent as an observer Charles Boyer, a French Jesuit professor
at the Gregorian University who was convinced that the Curia was
wrong in boycotting the ecumenical movement.
3. At Amsterdam Boyer met George Beel, Bishop of Chichester (Angli-
can), and so began a series of contacts between the Church of Eng-
land and the Church of Rome.
4. These contacts resulted in a meeting of Archbishop of Canterbury
Fisher with Pope John XXIII at the Vatican in 1960 and of Arch-
bishop Ramsey with Pope Paul VI in March 1966.
5. Archbishop Ramsey opened an Anglican Institute at Rome, as a place
of common prayer for both Anglicans and Roman Catholics.
* Anglican observers also attended the Roman Council known as
Vatican II. (John XXIII, October 1962 - Pope Paul VI, December
8, 1965.)
6. Christianity Today/the Future
* Does it have the capacity to overcome the scepticism of the
twentieth century.
* Many suggest that it needs to return to its roots as a his-
torical and yet supernatural religion of the spirit.
7. Recent Years (Paul VI, d. 1978)
a. Pope John Paul II, first non-Italian pope since 1522.
* Became known as the traveling pope.
b. 1982: he became the first pope to travel to Britain and at
Canterbury Cathedral he gretted the Anglican Archbishop
(Robert Runcie) as a "brother in Christ".
c. John Paul II has continued the conservatism of Paul VI, re-
affirming his encyclical against birth control and abortion
and declaring that the Church would never ordain women to
the priesthood.
d. Dissension within the Catholic Church ----------------------
has led to a movement toward a more conservative and tradi-
tional position.
e. Liberation Theology: (especially in Latin America) has sought
interpret the gospel as social revolutions against political
and financial dicatatorships.
f. Declining numbers in Chruch attendance in Europe has been
matched by increases in Africa where foreign missions have
been replaced, in part, by native evangelism.
................
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