8/14/2019 Week One Church History Handout
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Course Outline:
Lecture and discussion of the following -
Date Topic
12/06/09 Introduction; What Is Church History? Why Study
It?12/13/09 The earliest churches
12/20/09 The crazy '60s
12/27/09 The end of the apostolic age
01/03/10 The early church fathers
01/10/10 The practices of the early church
01/17/10 Early heresies
01/24/10 The next 200 years01/31/10 The New Testament Canon
02/07/10 Defining the Faith
02/14/10 The Late Persecutions
02/21/10 Constantine
02/28/10 The Council of Nicea
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12/06/09 Introduction; What Is Church History? Why Study It?
1. What is church history?
a. What is the church? WCF 24 -
1.The catholic or universal church, which is invisible, consists
of the whole number of the elect,that have been, are, or shall be
gathered into one, under Christ the Head thereof; and is the
spouse, the body, the fullness of him that filleth all in
all.
2.The visible church, which is also catholic or universal under
the gospel (not confined to one
nation, as before under the law), consists of all those
throughout the world that profess thetrue religion; and of their
children: and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
house
and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility
of salvation.
3.Unto this catholic visible church Christ hath given the
ministry, oracles, and ordinances of
God, for the gathering and perfecting of the saints, in this
life, to the end of the world: anddoth, by his own presence and
Spirit, according to his promise, make them effectual
thereunto.
4.This catholic church hath been sometimes more, sometimes less
visible. And particular
churches, which are members thereof, are more or less pure,
according as the doctrine of thegospel is taught and embraced,
ordinances administered, and public worship performed
more or less purely in them.
5.The purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture
and error; and some have sodegenerated, as to become no churches of
Christ, but synagogues of Satan. Nevertheless,there shall be always
a church on earth, to worship God according to his will.
6.There is no other head of the church but the Lord Jesus
Christ. Nor can the pope of Rome, in
any sense, be head thereof.
b. Visible/Invisible Church Distinction
2. Why Study Church History?
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3 . How can church history be known?
a. Historical sources
i. Scripture
ii. Inscriptions
iii. Documentsiv. Art
b. Ways of interpreting history
i. Secular/materialistic
1. Optimistic -
2. Pessimistic -
ii. Sacred
1. Roman Catholic.
2. "Default" Roman Catholic.
3. Catholic Protestant.
4. Denominational bias
4. Periods of church history
a. Ancient
i. Apostolic 30-100
ii. Ante-Nicene 100-313
iii. Nicene 313-590
b. Medieval 590-1517
c. Modern
i. Age of Reformation 1517-1648
ii. Age of Reason and Revival 1648-1789
iii. Age of Progress 1789-1914iv. Age of Ideologies 1914-
1. Backgrounds - the culture before the church
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a. Very cultural and cosmopolitan
b. Recently established Empire. One Empire, one law.
c. Free movement all around the Mediterranean
d. Roman system of roads
e. Greek as a universal language (and culture)
f. Greek philosophy weakened the old religions
g. New religions, superstitions, magic and astrology were on the
increase in the empire
h. Jewish residency throughout the Empire helped the Christians
in several ways
i. The Greek Scriptures (Septuagint LXX) became the OT Bible of
the early
Christians
ii. Legality of their religion aided the early Christians since
they were seen as Jews
iii. The synagogue system was a ready made model for the early
churches
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