the story of the church 1

THE STORY OF THE CHURCH 1 By Julius Mucheregwa Assignment 1 Course code: THE3125-Church History Bachelor of Theology South African Theological Seminary 14 September 2017 Assessor: Dr Robert Brodie TABLE OF CONTENTS THE STORY OF THE CHURCH 1 ................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................. 1 1. THE PATRISTIC AGE (-312 A.D)................................................................................ 1 1.1 The New Testament Canon ................................................................................... 2 1.2 The church-state relations during the patristic times ......................................... 2 1.3 The Church and the Barbarians ............................................................................ 2 2. THE AGE OF THE CHRISTIAN ROMAN EMPIRE (313-590) ................................ 2 2.1 The Church Councils in the Christian Roman Empire ....................................... 2 2.2 Church fathers from the East................................................................................. 3 2.3 The Church Fathers from the West ...................................................................... 3 2.4 Monasticism ............................................................................................................. 4 3. THE CHRISTIAN MIDDLE AGES (A.D 590-1300) ................................................... 4 3.1 The church-state relations ..................................................................................... 4 3.2 The emergence of the East-West tensions ......................................................... 5 3.3 Other tensions .......................................................................................................... 5 3.4 The close of the middle ages................................................................................. 5 4. THE REFORMATION .................................................................................................... 6 4.1 Reformation in Germany ........................................................................................ 6 4.1.1 The causes of the reformation ........................................................................... 6 4.1.2 The diet of Speier and the question of the Lord’s Supper ............................. 6 4.1.3 The rise of the Anabaptists ................................................................................. 7 4.2 Reformation in Switzerland .................................................................................... 7 4.3 Reformation in other countries .............................................................................. 7 5. APPLICATION ................................................................................................................ 7 CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................... 8 WORKS CITED ................................................................................................................. 10 THE STORY OF THE CHURCH 1 INTRODUCTION This assignment will tell the story of the church from A.D100-1648. It will be organised in the following way: the patristic age, the age of the Christian Roman Empire, the middle ages and the age of the reformation. Each age will address the major events that happened, the causes of the events, the people who were involved and the consequence of the event. The assignment recognises the cause and effect nature of history and will explore all the issues from a biblical and scholarly point of view and will end with an application of some of the historical facts. 1. THE PATRISTIC AGE (-312 A.D) The death of the apostles spelt guidance challenges for the early church. Then the church was led by appointed bishops who guarded the tenets of the faith. Irenaeus advocated for this. These good man were not as sober nor had the same spiritual vigour as the apostles (Renwick and Harman 2004:24). The church was weak. Consequently, the church was overrun by various erroneous teachings. For instance, Hermas taught the forgiveness of sins through baptism (A.D 150). In addition to this, Docetism, Gnosticism and Montanism flourished in the church. Interestingly, the Didache taught baptism through sprinkling or immersion and asceticism (Renwick and Harman 2004:24; 31-33). Godly man contended for the faith. Ignatius, wrote to seven churches dealing with atonement, incarnation and with the heresy of Docetism. He supported Episcopal Church management and helped in discussing the date of Easter. Tertullian deciphered the Trinity and fought against the Gnostics (Cairns 1981:133), but equated tradition with Scripture and held that salvation was partly earned (a foundation of the Roman Catholic teaching). Cyprian dealt with church governance, Justin Martyr was an apologetic and Clement upheld the authority of Scripture (Renwick and Harman 2004:31) and ready to give an account for the hope that was in him (1 Pt 3:15). 1 1.1 THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON Firstly, the church fathers had to fight was which books to include in the Canon. The Gnostics pushed for the acceptance of their own kind of books. On this, Irenaeus argued as Scripture the books written by the Apostles or those closely associated to them. Tertullian pushed for those that could be placed at the same level with the Old Testament in terms of inspiration (Renwick and Harman 2004:39). The Gnostics had their own Gospels and Epistles and Tertullian defined true doctrine through a creed. 1.2 THE CHURCH-STATE RELATIONS DURING THE PATRISTIC TIMES On the whole the church faced many challenges and good times in the Patristic times. Constantine helped the church by passing the Edict of Milan which helped the church to flourish but erred in trying to control the church (Curtis 1991). He helped to settle disputes that arose in the church (Hicks 1997) leading the state to interfere in the church relations. The church rested and worshipped on the Lord’s Day and women’s status was elevated, he offered subsidies and exempted the clergy from public service (Curtis 1991). The good wave continued through Emperor Gratian’s reign who made Christianity the official state religion through the edict of Constantinople, outlawing other religions. Emperor Justinian strengthened this by closing the School of Philosophy in Athens (Cairns 1981:124-125). 1.3 THE CHURCH AND THE BARBARIANS After the fall of the Roman Empire to the barbarians (AD 500s), Tiridates had the New Testament translated into Armenian aiding the conversion of many and the first Christian nation. The Gospel spread through largely the conversion of the leaders and the works of missionaries (Cairns 1981: 127-130). 2. THE AGE OF THE CHRISTIAN ROMAN EMPIRE (313-590) 2.1 THE CHURCH COUNCILS IN THE CHRISTIAN ROMAN EMPIRE Cairns (1981:131) states that the church had to deal with theological controversies through councils which stated the position of the church on certain issues. These include the Nicene (325) and Athanasian (451) creed. These councils were held 2 later than sooner because during persecution holding on to one’s faith was more important than resolving differences (Cairns 1981:131). Within this age, seven councils were held that dealt with, among others, the relationship of the Son to the Father, the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the Father and the relationship between the natures of Christ (Cairns 1981:134). 2.2 CHURCH FATHERS FROM THE EAST In the same age the church had great fathers. Chrysostom was a great orator and expositor of the New Testament. He is noted for denouncing the ways of the empress (Cairns 1981:143). Another was, Theodore who had also studied under Diodorus of Tarsus (like Chrysostom). He is known for denouncing allegorical interpretation, insisting that the correct meaning can be found after considering the context of the text (Cairns 1981:143). He wrote commentaries on the books of the Bible. The church boasted of Eusabius (a historian) who preserved the history of the church. This included the history of the church and the history of the Jewish people from the time of Abraham (Cairns 1981:143). 2.3 THE CHURCH FATHERS FROM THE WEST From the Western side, Jerome was a commentator and translator (Bryer 1997). He translated the Bible into the Latin Vulgate. His Bible is still being used by the Catholic Church since the council of Trent (1545-63) and so are his commentaries. He, like Eusebius, preserved the history of Christian writers (Cairns 1981:145). Ambrose of Milan, an expert at church administration. He was famed for speaking against Arianism and against the emperor. The interference of the state in the affairs of the church (which began at the time of Constantine) was finally addressed by Ambrose. He emphasised that the church and the state should be separate and that communion should be taken after repenting of one’s sins (Cairns 1981:145). It is my opinion that he upheld taking the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner (2 Cor. 11:1734). His eloquent preaching led to Augustine’s conversion (Newton 1997). 3 Augustine seemed to possess all the qualities the preceding fathers had. He was a good preacher, administrator and more (Cairns 1981:146). Though he resorted to allegory (Cairns 1981:146), he wrote many works that span many fields that are still being used today (Newton 1997). His interpretation of history that was superior to all (Cairns 1981:148). 2.4 MONASTICISM In this era, people held to the gnostic teaching and wanted to be separate from the world. Monks copied manuscripts and provided education for those who were eager to learn. Monasteries housed the sojourner and the outcast (Cairns 1981:155). However, they took away able people from serving Christ in the real world and birthed pride in the monks. Monasticism in this age became the foundation of the Roman Catholic’s convents and monasteries (Cairns 1981:155). 3. THE CHRISTIAN MIDDLE AGES (A.D 590-1300) The middle ages had great missionaries including, Boniface and great writers like Bede who helped to record the growth of the faith and used his scholarly authority at the synod of Whitby (A.D 664) to establish that the Roman traditions should prevail over Celtic ones (Garlow 2004:89). 3.1 THE CHURCH-STATE RELATIONS In this era Roman traditions were dominant the Muslims were pressing the church from all angles. Pope Leo III controlled the church and Pepin donated land that he won at the battle of Tours to the Pope. This strengthened the state-church relations. The good church-state relations led to learning, manuscript copying and theological libraries and the formation of the theological school at Aachen (Garlow 2004:90-92). The pope and the politicians were close resulting in people being forced to convert by sword. Consequently, the church was full of baptised pagans. Monasticism arose again (Garlow 2004:91). This relationship, collapsed when popes refused to take orders from the emperor. This led to the Investiture Controversy which raged on from 1075-1022. A 4 compromise was reached at Concordat of Worms (1122) giving spiritual leaders the power to invest leaders in the presence of an emperor’s representative (Garlow 2004:101). 3.2 THE EMERGENCE OF THE EAST-WEST TENSIONS The church was split because of icons some people embraced as worship aids. Iconoclasts saw using images as prohibited by the Word while others saw them as visual aids which helped in worship. The council of Lateran and Second Council of Nicea upheld their use (Garlow 2004:94). This birthed the hostile relationship between the West and the East (Garlow 2004:94). Further, the East and the West differed on: celibacy of the clergy, who is in charge of the church, understanding the Trinity and whether a lay-person could lead in Constantinople and the tension got to its breaking point when the West sponsored Crusaders raped and slaughtered many in Constantinople on Good Friday 1204. 3.3 OTHER TENSIONS The popes disagreed with the church councils leading to moving the papacy from Rome to Avignon (1309-1378). The church also disagreed with the civil rulers such that Marsilius, a civil ruler, believed that the state needed coercive power to keep its subjects in check (including the church) and the pope marked him as a heretic. Heresy was redefined to include anything that did not agree with the Roman Catholic Church (Garlow 2004:115-118). 3.4 THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES Towards the end of the middle ages, a European renaissance began leading to humanism, the invention of the Gutenberg press, the sparking of the internal reformation and the sale of indulgences. The press had a tremendous impact through the printing Bible copies. The internal reformation sought to transform the church from within, unlike Luther, as we shall see, who did it from the outside. The purchase of indulgences sparked the reformation (Garlow 2004:127-131). 5 4. THE REFORMATION 4.1 REFORMATION IN GERMANY 4.1.1 The causes of the reformation The Christian humanists had worked within the church but had failed to transform it. The church continued to sell indulgences in order to finance the church’s growing expenditure (Garlow 2004:109). Luther, disgusted by the equivalent of the Prosperity Gospel, nailed a ninety-five page theses at a door at Wittenberg (AD1517) showing that indulgences never atoned sin (but Christ did, 1 John 2), that God alone judged sin (Ps. 7:11) and that there was no redemption for souls in the Purgatory (Garlow 2004:109 and Bromiley (1997). Later Luther declared at a discussion at Leipsic (1519) that the Pope’s authority was man-made and that the councils had made an error in assenting to it (besides there is only mediator between God and man… 1 Tim. 2:5). Impliedly, Luther was now not under the authority of the papacy and had support from the humanists and the Germans, whose political and religious freedom rested in supporting Luther. Luther used the printing press to print sermons and pamphlets for his campaign. He also burned the papal Bull, the Cannon Law and the Forged Decretals. The pope excommunicated Luther from fellowship (Garlow 2004:110-111). Emperor Charles tried to give Luther an option to recant at the Diet of Worms (1521) hoping for a united empire and united church from which no one could dissent. However Luther did not recant. At this point Luther was an enemy of both the church and the state. 4.1.2 The diet of Speier and the question of the Lord’s Supper In later years, Francis and Charles disagreed. The pope was pushing for stopping the protests, but the emperor gave a tolerant first Edict of Speier (1555). The edict spelt that each state should hold the religion of its ruling prince. The second Diet of 6 Speier stopped the reformation from spreading into Catholic areas. Thus, Germany was divided into protestant and catholic areas (Garlow 2004:113). While the Reformers made progress on the reformation front, they were divided on the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. The Swiss theologians felt that the bread and the wine were symbolic while Luther believed in Consubstantiation. Both parties rejected the Roman Catholic view of Transubstantiation (Garlow 2004:113). 4.1.3 The rise of the Anabaptists Luther’s work progressed well until the Revolt of the Nobles (1523) and that of the Peasants (1525) in which he called the authorities to descend on them. A bunch of his supporters left him and became Anabaptists. Luther erred in keeping the Catholic crucifix and candles among other things and as such, the Anabaptists objected to infant baptism and moved for the removal of images and pictures from the church (Garlow 2004:114). 4.2 REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND In Switzerland, Zwingli independently led the reformation, speaking against corruption and the sale of indulgences among other things. He was succeeded by Calvin who defended the Reformation contending that the Reformers were living out the Apostles Creed (Armstrong 1997). He has contributed immensely to the life of the church by showing that God was sovereign and salvation was through grace alone. 4.3 REFORMATION IN OTHER COUNTRIES In other European nations, the spirit of reformation caught on. This saw the growth of the reformed church and the Presbyterian churches in various countries. 5. APPLICATION The modern church can do well if it learns from past events. For a start, it should learn the benefits of the Paul and Timothy principle in which every Christian should both mentor and be mentored. This helps in making sure that the tradition of the church does not die. This can be learnt from apostolic succession. 7 The second lesson comes from the fact that no matter how gifted one seems, he is prone to make mistakes and it is the duty of the church to review every decision the leadership makes in light of Scripture. Allegory would have continued after Origen had the church not checked that against scripture at the Fifth Ecumenical Council (Cabaniss 1997). The church and the state should be separate. Christ shows that his Kingdom is not of this world (Jn. 18:36). Further, it is the duty of the church to propagate the Gospel and political news. In fact Kunhiyop (2004:87) politics is dirty and the church should not spoil herself with things of the world. It is against this background that I feel meddling in the politics, as was done by Constantine, compromises the church’s standards (Kunhiyop 2004:88). The copying and distribution of Christian literature that was done throughout the ages has helped to evangelise the world. This lesson can be used today to reach the 10/40 window. The contemporary Christion does well if he gives towards missions, in any way, as the monks of old gave their undivided effort to the church. It is the duty of every Christian to make disciples of the world (Mat. 28:19). In fact Luther used technology for the benefit of the reformation. This should be the same approach that the church should take and use technology for its growth. CONCLUSION This assignment gave the history of the church and the application of the historical facts. It has shown that the death of the Apostles left the church in a leadership crises was open to heresy. It boasted of many Church fathers who helped to shape it. These organised the canon and the Apostles Creed, enjoyed peace and growth under Constantine’s edict of Milan and translated the New Testament into Armenian under Tiridates. The next age saw the holding of seven church councils seeking to state the position of the church upon certain issues, for example the Nicene Creed (AD325). Many talented men lived in this age. Due to Gnosticism monasticism emerged. In the middle ages the church did not grow but was engrossed in the politics of the Middle Ages. Its ways led to the reformation which opposed the sale 8 of indulgences among other things. The church can learn a lot from the strength and weaknesses of those in history and such lessons can be used to inspire holiness. 9 WORKS CITED Armstrong BG 1997. “Calvin, John” in: J. D. Douglas, P. W. Comfort & D. Mitchell, Who's who in Christian history. Wheaton: Tyndale House. Bromiley G 1997. “Luther, Martin.” In J.D. Douglas, P.W. Comfort and D. Mitchell Who’s Who in Christian History. Wheaton: Tyndale House. Cabaniss A 1997. “Origen.” In J.D. Douglas, P.W. Comfort and D. Mitchell. Who’s who in Christian History. Wheaton: Tyndale House. Cairns E E 1981. Christianity through the centuries (2nd rev. ed.), 123-129. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. Curtis AK, Lang JS and Petersen R 1991. The 100 Most Important Events in Christian History. Grand Rapids: Baker. Garlow J L 2004. God and His people. Chapter 4. Eastbourne: Victor. Hicks C 1997. “Constantine the Great.” In J. D. Douglas, P. W. Comfort & D. Mitchell. Who's who in Christian history? Wheaton: Tyndale House. K. J. Bryer 1997. “Jerome” in: J. D. Douglas, P. W. Comfort & D. Mitchell, Who's who in Christian history. Wheaton: Tyndale House. Kunhiyop Samuel W 2004. African Christian Ethics. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan. Newton J 1997. “Augustine of Hippo.” In J. D. Douglas, P. W. Comfort & D. Mitchell. Who's who in Christian history? Wheaton: Tyndale House. Renwick A M and Harman A M 2004. The history of the church (3rd ed), 24-36. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press. 10