Church History (part eight): Anabaptist; Zwingli; Calvin; Theology Test; King Henry; King James; Fundamentalist

1536   John Calvin (1509-1564)

• Calvin was a Frenchman, born in France and educated at the Paris University
• Calvin suffered from migraines, ate one meal a day, was physically weak, he suffered from poor health, slept four hours a night and continued to grow thin and bent. 
• Calvin was exiled from France in 1535
• Calvin stopped by Geneva not intending to stay when he was convinced by God and a local pastor that he was needed in Geneva.
• Calvin began to teach the people and the magistrates of Geneva God’s word and Calvin’s plans for a revived city.  These plans included:

• A teaching church
• Orthodox faith
• Obedient to holiness demonstrated in private and public lives
• Daily church gatherings for singing and expository preaching
• Monthly service of the Lord’s Supper
• Church court to discipline and excommunicate members
• Magistrates of the local Geneva government would support the church

• In 1536, at the age of 26 John Calvin published his book Institutes of the Christian Religion as an introduction to Protestant theology that altered to refined the Protestant movement and directed the direction of the Western church until today
• In 1553 an anti-Trinitarian teacher named Servetus was burned in Geneva as a heretic.

1546   Luther dies

1546-1552     Lutheran Wars

• Wars between the Protestants and the Catholics in Germany

1555   Peace of Augsburg

• Ended the wars in Germany between Protestants and Catholic
• Placed Lutheranism on a basis of legal equality with Roman Catholicism in Germany.
• Each German prince (225 of them) would determine the religion of his territory
• Roman Catholic Priests that had converted to Lutheranism had to return their territory to the Roman Church

1580   Resolving Doctrinal Conflict

• From 1555-1580 Lutheranism was marred by internal doctrinal controversy
• Most were over issues that Luther and Melanchthon differed
• One main issue was the place of preaching the law

• Luther preached the Law as a means of revealing men’s sinfulness
• Others said only the gospel should be preached

• The Majoristic Controversy

• George Major contended good works were important part of but not means of salvation
• Luther’s followers said this was a return to the Roman doctrine of salvation by faith and works

• The German Princes realized the divisions caused political and religious disunity
• Beginning in 1577 they began the process of establishing doctrine in the “Formula of Concord” and published it in 1580
• The Lutheran theologians produced “The Book of Concord”
• These disputes made the Lutherans very conscious of the importance of doctrine
• This emphasis led to cold, scholarly orthodoxy that ignored the subjective spiritual aspects.
• The Pietistic movement arose in the 1600’s as a reaction to this.

Philipp Melanchthon (1497-1560)

Zwingli, Swiss Reformer (1484-1531)   

Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556)

1526   William Tyndale (1494-1536)

• Translates English New Testament into English in 1526
• Studied at Oxford in 1512 and was ordained as a priest
• Tyndale was fluent in eight languages: French, Greek, Hebrew, German, Italian, Latin, Spanish and English
• After receiving his MA decree he was allowed to start his studies in theology but was shocked to find out the theology studies did not include the study of scripture.
• Tynale got in trouble with other clergymen for his opinions that included plans to translate the scripture into English and was charged with heresy in 1522
• The clergy’s position concerning the translation of the Bible was, “We had better be without God’s laws than without the Pope’s”.  Tyndale responded dangerously but with clear direction, “I defy the Pope, and all his laws; and if God spares my life, I will cause the boy that drives the plow in England to know more of the Scriptures than the Pope himself.”
• The only English Bible available at the time was John Wyclif’s 1380 translation from Latin into English which was secretly distributed by the Lollards, the followers of Wyclif
• 1524 Tyndale leaves for Germany to complete his translation of the New Testament from Greek into English.
• 1525 Tynale’s first printing of the New Testament at Cologne, Germany was interrupted by a raid on the printing house.  Tyndale fled to Worms. (one incomplete copy survives today)
• 1526 Tyndale’s first complete of the New Testament printed at Worms, Germany where 6,000 copies were made (two of these copies survive today)
• Tyndale’s English New Testament was smuggled into England and the church burned them as fast as they found them
• Over the next ten years revisions were made and other printings followed
• 1535 Tyndale betrayed and arrested at Antwerp
• 1536 Tyndale is strangled and burned by the church at Brussels

1530   Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)

• Founder of the Society of Jesus whose members are called Jesuits
• Wrote “Spiritual Exercises” in 1522-1524 which are a month long set of meditations, prayers and mental exercises
• Very active in fighting the Protestant Reformation and advancing the Counter-Reformation in the Roman Catholic church

1542   Francis Xavier (1506-1552)

• A Jesuit priest sent to evangelize India, Indonesia and Japan

1545   Council of Trent                             

• 20th Church Council
• Lasted from 1545-1563
• Counter Reformation
• Major Decisions:

• Tradition of the church is equal in authority as Scripture
• Apocrypha accepted as part of the canon of Scripture
• Latin Vulgate is declared the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church
• Justification by faith alone is a heresy
• Transubstantiation is affirmed

1563   Foxes Book of Martyrs

1558   Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), Queen of England

• Elizabeth and others wanted to break away from the Church of Rome
• The Act of Supremacy became law in 1559 which made Elizabeth the Supreme Governor of the Church of England
• The Act of Uniformity was passed requiring church attendance and the use of Thomas Cranmer’s 1552 Book of Common Prayer

The Radical Reformation

Zwingli’s reformation in Switzerland was closely associated with the Anabaptist

Anabaptist means “baptized again” or “the re-baptizers”

Zwingli believed:

Absolute authority of the Bible

Everything had to be proved in scripture

Was a humanist and followed Erasmus

As a humanist he believed that Socrates and Plato would be in heaven as well as many Roman Catholics

Unconditional predestination to salvation but, only those who heard and rejected the gospel in unbelief were predestined to condemnation.

Lord’s supper symbolic and faith was the essential element

Lord’s supper was “commemorative” rather than a “repetition” of the atonement.

The Anabaptists

• First appeared in Switzerland
• Zwingli’s insistence on the Bible as the basis for teaching of the preachers encouraged the rise of Anabaptist concepts

Conrad Grebel (1498-1526)

• Founder of Swiss Anabaptist movement
• Wealthy, influential family
• Good education from Vienna and Paris
• 1522 – converted
• 1525 – broke with Zwingli
• 1525 – Zurich council ordered Grebel to stop having Bible studies
• Zwingli had taught that infant baptism had no biblical basis but when he realized it was too radical for many to be re-baptized (ana-baptist) and his movement would be too slow, he gave up his earlier stance.
• More radical Anabaptists opposed state control
• Zwingli debated them at first, but turned to fines and exile when that failed.
• By 1535, Anabaptist were nonexistent in Zurich because of cruel treatment and fleeing.

1481-1528     Balthasar Hubmaier 

• Excellent education with doctor of theology while studying under John Eck, Luther’s opponent.
• In 1525 Hubmaier and 300 others were baptized by pouring
• Hubmaier fled to Austria and then was banished to Moravia
• In Moravia he began to lead those who had fled from the Zwinglian persecution
• 1,000’s of Moravians became Anabaptists
• 1528 Hubmaier was burnt at the stake
• His wife was drowned in the Danube by the Catholic Church
• Hubmaier believed:

• Separation of church and state
• Authority of the Bible
• Baptism of believers

1522-1560     Radical Fringes of the Anabaptist

• Discredited the many sound believers in the movement
• Bad eschatology
• The Zwickau prophets (i.e.: 1522 in Wittenberg vs. Luther)
• 1535 Munster rebellion by Anabaptist alienated Luther
• Promoted socialism and selling of property to aid poor
• 1529 Melchior Hoffman arrived in Strasbourg to await the Millennium in 1533
• Jan Matthys, the baker, replaced Hoffman.  Matthys though he was Enoch.
• Matthys was killed in fighting and his wife married John Leyden.  Leyden had 15 wives.  Polygamy was practiced due to the excessive number of women.
• Disorder arose from the common goods for the community (based on communal pattern of early church in Acts) and fanatical anticipation of the coming kingdom.
• A catholic bishop recaptured Strasbourg and executed the Anabaptist leaders.
• Persecution drove them to Hungary, Ukraine, and South Dakota in 1874.  These are know today as Hetterites and practice agrarian communalism on a voluntary basis

1496-1560     Menno Simons

• A sane leader in the Netherlands avoided the chaos and confusion of the Munster Anabaptist
• 1536 – Simons gave u priesthood to embrace Anabaptist
• To avoid “Anabaptist” stigma they took up name “brethren.
• The “brethren” became the Mennonites of today.
• Generally:   They insisted that all believers had the right to interpret the Bible as literal and final authority.
• Result:   Many different Anabaptist groups with slight variations.

1505-1572     John Knox

• Calvinist reformer
• Born in Scotland in 1513
• A notary by profession
• Embraced Protestantism in the 1540’s
• Became a leader of the protestant movement in Scotland
• He was Edward VI of England’s chaplain but fled when Mary Tudor succeeded him.
• Settled in Geneva.  There he met and was influenced by John Calvin
• Returned to Scotland in 1559 to reform the Scottish Church along Calvinist lines, but clashed often with Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots.
• When she was overthrown in 1567 Knox’s reforms triumph
• When the Scot and ScotIrish immigrants came to the U.S. during the Colonial period they brought with them the church that John Knox established in Scottland.
• John Knox’s Scottish Protestantism, influenced by John Calvin, became the Presbyterian Church.

1554-1612     John Smyth, founder of modern Baptists

• Born in 1554
• Ordained into the Church of England
• City preacher in Lincoln from 1600-1605
• Renounced the Church of England in 1606
• Became a minister to a group of Separatists
• Accepted the newly emerging ‘Baptist’ principle of believers’ baptism
• He first baptized himself and then the others in Amsterdam.
• He also baptized Thomas Helwys the founder of the first Baptist church on British soil.
• Died in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

1600-1700     Pietism and Methodism

1610   Jacobus Arminius (1559-1609)

• A year after Arminius’ death a publication called Five Articles of the Remonstrants orgainized Arminius’ ideas that became known as Arminianism
• Arminius disagreed with Calvinism’s ideas of predestination in salvation and unconditional election
• The debate between Calvinism and Arminianism did not occur between Calvin and Arminius since they were not contemporaries.  It did not begin until after Arminius’ death
• This debate was reply of the debate in the 400’s between Augustine and Pelagius

1611   King James Bible Published

1618-1648     The Thirty Year War

• The Thirty Year War was fought on German soil between Protestants and Catholics
• The war began as a Protestant reaction to the anti-protestant violence inflicted on them by the Catholic Church which included large groups of Protestants being hung. 
• The war involved all of Europe and spread to involve many issues
• The Peace of Westphalia of 1648 ended the hostilities but Germany was left with a devastated culture politically, economically and physically

1703-1758     Jonathan Edwards

1740   The Great Awakening

1714-1770     George Whitefield

1780   Robert Raikes first Sunday school for children

1783   John Wesley (1703-1791)

1793   William Carey

• Sails for India

1793   Baptist Missionary Society

1795   London Missionary Society

1807   British Parliament Abolishes Slave Trade

1816   African Methodist Episcopalian Church

• Founded by Richard Allen

1816   American Bible Society

1827   John Darby (1801-1882)

• Helps start the Plymouth Brethren

1830   Charles Finney (1792-1875)

• Begins Urban Revivals

1840   Livingstone Goes to Africa

1844   Kierkegaard writes Philosophical Fragments

1848   Karl Marx publishes Communist Manifesto

1854   Soren Kierkegaard Publishes His Attacks on Christianity

• Kierkegaard attacked the lifeless Danish church for having reduced Lutheranism to merely a devotional form and a philosophic system for the pursuit of money and power
• Kierkegaard developed this into the foundation of modern subjectivity of theology and existentialism

1854   Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)

• Pastor in London

1800-1900    

• Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventist (1844) and Christian Science are established
• New philosophies emerge:

• Marx’s communism
• Darwin’s evolution
• Freud’s psychology
• German higher criticism of scripture’s authenticity

• By 1900 there have been 62 generations of people since Christ
• By 1900 34% of the world is Christian, 51% of the world has been evangelized and scripture is printed in 537 languages

1857   D.L. Moody (1837-1899)

• Converted in Boston in 1855
• Moved to Chicago in 1856
• Became a successful shoe salesman
• Started a Sunday school in the slums in 1858
• This became a church in 1863
• Organized Sunday school teacher conventions
• Went on a preaching tour in Britain from 1872-18175 with Ira Sankey and received enthusiastic responses.
• Did several in the U.S. and again in Britain.
• Started a school for women in 1879
• Started a school for men in 1881.
• Started what would become known as Moody Bible Institute in 1889
• Died in 1899

1859   Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species

1860   Civil War Begins

1865 Hudson Taylor establishes China Inland Mission

1869-1870     Vatican I

• 20th Church Council
• Declared Pope Infallible
• Pope Pius IX proclaims the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary
• Pope Pius IV condemns liberalism, socialism and rationalism

1878   Salvation Army is founded

1885   Julius Wellhausen

• Wellhausen was a critic of the Old Testament’s accuracy and authenticity
• His Document hypothesis explained that the first five books of the Old Testament came from four different text sources (J, P, D, E) and were written hundreds of years after Moses supposedly had lived

1895   Freud publishes Work on Psychoanalysis

1900-2000

• Missions have reached every region of the world
• 95% of humanity can read the Bible in their language
• Common understanding is that more Christians were martyred in the 20th century than all of the other centuries added together
• 33% of the world is Christian
• Atheistic states rise and fall
• Church attendance declines in the west

1906   Azusa Street

• Beginning of modern Pentecostal movement

1910-1915     The Fundamentals are published and distributed free

• President of the Union Oil Company, Lyman Stewart, was concerned about the rising tide of liberal thinking and teaching of the American churches.
• Lyman put together $300,000 to publish booklets that covered:

• Basic Christian Doctrine
• The evil of socialism
• The evil of Evolution
• The danger of Materialism

• Some of the editing was done by R. A. Torrey
• 3,000,000 copies were printed and distributed for free between 1910-1915
• These booklets were published in a set of books called The Fundamentals and distributed at no charge to pastors, evangelists, missionaries, theological students, Sunday school superintendents, YMCA and YWCA secretaries

• The Fundamentals educated and united believers with a core conservative view of scriptures that resisted the modern wave of liberal Christian theology and began the Fundamentalist movement

1912   Social Creed of the Churches Adopted

1914   World War I begins

1924   First Christian Radio Broadcast

1931   C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)

1934   Wycliffe Bible Translators is Established

1939   World War II begins

1940   First Christian Television Broadcast

1942   National Association of Evangelicals is formed

1947   Dead Sea Scrolls Discovered

1948   World Council of Churches

1949   Billy Grahm

• Los Angeles Crusade

1950   Assumption of Mary becomes Catholic Doctrine

1960   Beginning of the Modern Charismatic movement

1962-1965     Vatican Council II

• 22nd Church Council
• Effort to bring Christendom into one church
• Many Catholics thought the church became too liberal and too accommodating to Protestants
• Largest ever
• Major Decisions Made:

• Laity were recognized as spiritual priests
• Translation of the Bible into people’s language and the reading of the Bible by laity was encouraged
• Protestants were referred to as “separated brethren”
• Excommunication of the Eastern Church from the Great Schism of 1054 were revoked
• Religious freedom for all was supported
• Dialogue with people of other faiths was supported and even encouraged
• The Catholic “Index” of prohibited books was eliminated
• Mass was required to be preformed in the language of the people with the people participating
• Veneration of Mary was encouraged
• Papal infallibility was reaffirmed
• Tradition as a basis of authority was reaffirmed
• The Catholic church as the only was of salvation was reaffirmed

1968   Astronauts of Apollo VIII read Genesis while orbiting the moon

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