CHRISTIANITY

1. It is a way of life, embodied in a corporate society or fellowshipcentered on the worship of One God revealed to the world throughJesus Nazareth.

a. Jesus lived as a human being for about thirty years and wascrucified by the Romans at Jerusalem between A.D. 29 and 33.

b. Based on the testimony of contemporary witnesses of thattime: Christians believe that he rose from the dead afterthree days and was seen on numerous occasions during the nextforty 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 theJews, but within one generation Christianity had made a tre-mendous appeal to the non-Jewish or Gentile world of theHellenized Empire of Rome.

b. The Greek language and Greek thought forms became a part ofthe new Christian gospel (euangelion - good news) from SaintPaul 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 firewould be dissolved, after running its course, into the divinefire again, to be succeeded over and over again throughoutall enternity.

c. Judaism: taught that this universe is the creation of the OneTrue God, who has throughout its history has shown his power(and intervention) through a series of mighty acts which willlead 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, ofredemption from evil and of salvation for the individual was easyto accept by those who were familiar with the many mysteryreligions and cults of the Hellenistic world.

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5. Christianity was a new way of life.

a. It made moral demands upon individuals, but it also filledthem 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 thenext world.

The Origins of Christianity

1. Both Jesus and his disciples who followed him in his early ministryin 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 whowould free the Jews from Roman Rule and establish the Kingdom ofGod (the Day of the Lord - ie. Issiah) on earth.

3. Jesus identified himself with the "Suffering Servant" as theMessiah.

a. This identification saw its culmination by Jesus's crucifi-xion on Calvary.

b. This attitude mystified his disciples and caused the JewishPeople to reject him as a true Messiah.

4. The origin of the Christian Church can not be primarily found inthe 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 ofthe First Easter which are recorded in all of the FourGospels.

b. The issue is not whether one agrees or disagrees with theGospels, the point is something happened that resulted in anew religious faith.

c. "Resurrection Faith" - the new faith was based on the idea ofhope of the "imminent second coming of the Lord".

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5. The Spread of the Gospel

a. By the First Century A.D., as a result of the Diaspora, manyJewish colonies existed outside of Palestine especially inlarger 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 (inderision), Paul took the gospel to Jewish Centers in AsiaMinor and Greece ----------------- ultimately he went toRome where by tradition he was martyred with Peter (ca. A.D.64).

d. Result: both Gentile and Jewish Converts were made, and bythe 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 totranslate the Hebrew word for the assembly, congregation or peopleof God.

a. In the New Testament it usually means the whole body ofChristians, but the same word is used to refer to localChristian 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 -------------------

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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 bodyof elders.

a. The presbuteroi: (presbyters, or elders) of the Church inJerusalem are mentioned along with the apostles as itsleaders.

b. In the Gentile World Paul and Barnabas appointed elders inevery 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 referredto elders as bishops (episcopoi), so that in the GentileChurches the terms were interchangeable.

4. The Role of Bishops

a. The term episkopos (bishop) denotes a personal funtion ofsuperintendence or oversight which was evidently exercised byone 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 theterms 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."

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d. Apostolic Succession: scholars in the episcopal tradition seethe origin of the espicopate in the appointment of localbishops 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, inconstrast 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 Pauluses the terms interchangeably in his letters to the GentileChurches.

5. Consecration

a. Originally - Bishops could not be consecrated until theirprdecessors were dead.

1. Irenaeus was probably chosen and consecrated by hisfellow-presbyters at Lyons, in the same way as thebishops of Alexandria were down to the fouth century.

2. In Milan and Carthage, the bishop was elected by thepeople 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 allmales had to be circumcized at eight days of age.

b. When Gentiles adopted Judaism they were first baptized (sinceGentiles were regarded as being in a state of ritual impur-ity), and then circumcized.

c. Jesus commanded his disciples to "make disciples of all thenations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and ofthe 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-

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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 baptismin water in the name of the Trinity.

1. Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus (ca. 215) - theChurch had evolved a full baptisimal liturgy.

2. It included the washing away of sin (symbolically) inwater, annoiting with oil blessed by the bishop, andfirst communion.

3. The normal time for baptism was on Easter Eve, followedby first communion on Easter Day.

7. The Sabbath

a. The Christian Church inherited from Judaism the seven dayweek culminating in the observance of Saturday as "theSabbath", which was for the Jew a day of rest from all work.

b. Willy Rordorf, a Swiss scholar, published (1968) an importantstudy entitled Sunday.

1. He maintained that the early Christians regarded theduty of Sabbath observance as including the whole spanof life.

2. Sunday (the first day of the week) replaced the Sabbathas a day of worship from the very beginning, and that"right down to the 4th Century the idea of rest playedno 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 untilthe Emperor Contantine decreed it as such in 321.

2. Early Christians did not abandon the Sabbath (Saturday)------------ both were kept as festivals marked bythe celebration of the Eurcharist.

8. The Eurcharist

a. The origin of the Christian Eurcharist lies in the LastSupper, at which Christ inaugurated the New Convenant in hisblood on the night before his crucifixion.

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b. By tradition (it has been disputed), the Last Supper tookplace during the Passover Season ------------ thus, thedate of Easter is fixed on the Sunday following the Passoverfull moon.

c. The Eurcharist came to be celebrated every Sunday as a weeklycommemoration of the ressurection.

1. By the early 3rd Century a daily celebration of theEurcharist is attested to by Cyprian in North Africa.

2. Prior to this period, the Eurcharist seems to havebeen clebrated only on Saturday and Sunday and on"station days", Wednesday and Friday which were fastingdays.

* these days were reminiscent of the older Jewish fasts on Monday and Thursday.

d. There were also daily gatherings for prayer at dawn and atdusk, 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 Christianswas 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 Romeuntil the 3rd Century.

d. The earliest surviving texts of the Eurcharist (ca. 215) showthe service consisted of the four elements derived from thesynagogue.

1. The consecration of the bread and wine followed whichwere offered to God as a sacrifical memorial(anamnesis) of the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary.

2. It was partaken (received) by the baptized members ofthe Church as the body and blood of Christ, appointedby Him at the Last Supper for communion with Him.

e. Asceticism found a place within Christianity from its veryearliest beginnings.

1. Fasting, celebacy, and renunciation of earthly posses-

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sions was practiced by some Christians in their ownhomes before St. Anthony (ca. 285) adopted the life ofa hermit in the desert of Egypt.

2. Other solitaries (ascetics) followed his example andfor mutual protection lived in loosely organized groupsof hermits (anchorites).

3. Ca. 320, Pachomius founded the first monastery formonks living under a regular rule at Tabennisi on theright 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 byConstantine and Licinius provided religious toleration for theChristians.

* 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 theunity of the empire.

a. This attitude prompted imperial interference to maintainunity within the Church which was torn by heresy and schism.

b. Donatism in North Africa was an anti-Roman nationalistic

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movement among the Berbers of Numidia.

c. The Donatists claimed to be the true Chruch of the apostlesand martyrs, and refused to have any dealings with the state.

d. Emperor Honorius in 412 declared the Donatists outlaws, butthey survived this and the Vandal invasion of North Africa------------ it was not until the 7th Century when Islamdestroyed 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 theFather to his Son, Jesus Christ.

b. Arius, an Alexandrian presbyter, maintained that the Son wasa created being who did not eternally exist and was a sort ofdemi-god, subordinate to the Father.

4. Constantine summoned the first General Council of the Church atNicaea in 325.

a. The purpose was to settle the dispute over Arianism andreunite the Church.

b. The Council condemned the teaching of Arius and produced aCreed that declared that the Son is of one substance with andco-eternal with the Father.

5. Theodosius I summoned the second General Council at Constantinoplein 381.

a. It endorsed the emperor's definition (380) of Catholicism.

b. It also condemned Arianism and Apollinarianism (which hadoverstressed the divinity of Christ, in opposition toArianism.

* 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 soopposed the tradition description of Mary as Theotokos(mother of God).

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b. He declared that Mary's proper title should be "Mother ofChrist", since she was the mother of the human nature alone.

c. Rome sided with Cyril of Alexandria ----------- eventuallythe State was forced to intervene.

7. Theodosius II of the East and Valentinian III of the West summoneda 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 onenature in Christ.

ie. Monophysitism (one natureism).

b. This belief was condemned by the fourth Gerneral Council ofthe Church at Chalcedon in 451 (called by the EmperorMarcian).

c. The Catholic Church both in the East and the West acceptedwhat is known as the Chalcedonian Definition of the Doctrineof 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 ProtestantChristians.

9. A Monphysite or Jacobite Church (named after the Syrian monk JacobBaradai, 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 factthat Rome was the capital of the empire until it was transferred toConstantinople in A.D. 337.

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a. The Petrine Doctrine: claims authority and jurisdiction overchurches by virtue of being the successors of the ApostlePeter.

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 beengenerally 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 thecities within the province.

b. The Church: there was a bishop in the metropolis whoseauthority 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 volutaryofferings of the faithfull.

b. The Biblical precedent of the Tithe or First Fruit (fromDeuteronomy XIV:22-26) was not exploited by the clery untilthe 2nd half of the 6th Century in Merovingian Gaul.

c. From Contantine's time the property of the churches was firstconfined 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 wasan Arian Christian.

b. Other Germanic Invaders (most of them non-Christian) crossedthe Rhine into Gaul, Spain and North Africa.

c. The Franks alone, under Clovis, were the first to be convert-ed to Christianity.

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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 ofEngland after the Anglo-Saxon invasions, and northernHolland, 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 800created the Holy Roman Empire ----------- it also led toconflicts 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 thequestion of lay investiture.

2. The emperor surrendered to the Church all investitureof bishops with ring and staff (symbols of spiritualauthority).

3. The pope granted Henry the right to invest a bishopwith temporal possessions of his office by the touchof his royal sceptre.

c. The struggle of lay investiture and papal supremacy in bothspiritual and temporal matters continued throughout theMiddle Ages.

d. Under Pope Innocent III, the papacy reached its hieght ofpower (1198-1216).

1. When King John of England resisted the pope's nomina-tion of Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury, heplaced 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 HolyRoman emperor to pay homage to him.

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3. The Fourth Lateran council in 1215 declared thedoctrine of Transubstantiation to be an article offaith --------- anyone denying it would be eternallydamned.

4. Christians were also required to make a confession andreceive 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 theReformation in the 16th Century, the Papacy had become a toolof the Holy Roman Empire.

b. Nationalism: a new identiy and independence was arising inboth England and France.

1. Both Edward I of England and Philip IV of France defiedPope Boniface VIII.

2. Unam Sanctam (1302) --------- Boniface had assertedin this papal bull that temporal powers are subject tospiritual powers and that "it is altogether necessaryto salvation for every human creature to be subject tothe Roman Pontiff.

3. Boniface was taken prisoner by Philip's mercenaries inRome and died soon afterwards: the temporal power ofthe papacy was broken.

c. The Great Schism (1378-1417) a period when there were rivalpopes, one in Avignon (France) and the other in Rome.

1. A series of Church Councils followed culminating withthe Council of Constance aimed at unifying and reform-ing the Church.

2. It united the Church, but any attempts at meaningfulreform failed ----------- the way was paved for theReformation and the Counter-Reformation.

7. Religon In Feudal Society (background of the Reformation)

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a. The Medieval Western Church took for granted the existenceof 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 thatwas 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 thesight of God by the performance of "good works".

d. Good Works included attendance at mass, paying for the sayingof masses, going on pilgramages, veneraton of the saints, anddoing 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 thetheory of human merit.

The Reformation

1. The struggle over spiritual and temporal authority, along with thegrowing spirit of nationalism in England, France, Germany, andBohemia led to anti-papalism and anti-clericalism in the lateMiddle Ages.

2. The failure of the General Church Councils of the 15th Century toreform the Church, the increasing financial drain of nationaltreasuries by the Papal Curia, the decadence and worldliness ofmonasticism 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 newdemand for intellectual freedom, and the right of privatejudgement (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 andpractices of the Pre-Reformation Church).

a. They kept the three main creeds derived from the GeneralCouncils of the 4th and 5th Centuries.

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b. The belief in the Trinity, the two natures of Christ, thefall and original sin, the atonement brought by the death ofChrist, 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 ChurchTradition the same authority as scripture.

b. Protestants maintained that the Scriptures were the soleauthority ((eventhough individual opinion and interpretationvaried among the reformers).

c. It was the Primitive Church that was to be the model andpattern for subsequent development and evolution of theChurch.

Martin Luther (1483-1546): Salvation Through Faith

1. Through the study of the Bible (especially Paul's Epistle to theRomans), that Martin Luther came to the opinion that Man can notattain justification (a right relationship with God) by his ownworks. (ie. the Catholic concept of "Good Works")

2. To Luther, it was only by faith in the saccrifice of Christ thatwas 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, notearned by human merit or bought through a papal indulgence.

3. 1517: Ninety-five Theses, Luther challenged the Church's teachingon indulgences, and by his Appeal to the Christian Nobility of theGerman Nation (1520) - he denounced the financial demands of thePapacy.

a. He was excommunicated, and then outlawed by the Imperial Dietat 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, andwrote many tracts that were circulated throughout Germany.

4. After his return to Wittenburg, many German Princes and cities

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accepted the evangelical teaching of Luther and allied themselveswith the Elector of Saxony.

a. The Latin mass was abolished and replaced by Luther's Germanmass (1525).

b. Priests and monks began to marry (Luther himself marrying anex-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 inEngland was dead after 1550 after which Zwingialism andCalvinism left more permanent influence.

b. In Sweden, where bishops were retained (in constrast to the"superintendents" set over the Land or State Churches inGermany) 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 Romeand the death of Luther (1546), Lutheran theology developed onconfessional lines into a new form of rigid-scholasticism.

Zwingli (1484-1531)

1. A parallel movement of reform had been in progress at Zurich andother German Swiss cities.

2. Zwingli was educated in the humanist tradition, and lectured on theNew Testament attacking fasting, clerical celebacy, and the mass.

3. Relics and images were removed from their Churches in July 1524and 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 Easter1525.

5. Other Swiss towns formed themselves into a Civic Christian Allianceagainst 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 accomplishedby magistrates in town councils following the lead of local ofreformers 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-

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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 Christin the bread and wine, while Zwingli regarded the words ofChrist at the Last Supper, "This is my body" as purelysymbolic.

John Calvin (1509-64) in Geneva

1. In French Switzerland, the Reformation had already started inGeneva 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 councilof all citizens and there were factions and quarrels throughoutCalvin's life.

3. His first attempt to gain control affairs in both the Church andState ended in failure and his departure to Strasbourg in 1538.

a. His departure was prompted when he and Farel refused toaccept 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 fromMartin Bucer (1491-1551).

c. Bucer -------- emphasized the doctrine of predestination,a restoration of a fourfold ministry (ie. New Testament) ofpastors, teachers, elders and deacons.

d. Bucer also provided a vernacular congregational litury inFrench derived from the Latin mass.

4. Calvin had already published in 1535 the first edition of hisfamous 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 Councilof his Ordonnances Ecclesiastiques.

a. It established a Consistory of Pastors presided over by alay magistrate, and the establishment of a liturgy adoptedfrom the Strasbourg liturgy.

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b. This Genevan liturgy was the basis of all Presbyterian litur-gies, in Scotland and elsewhere, as well as Reformed Churchesof 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 GenevanConsistory, 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 mysteryof the absolute sovreignty of God.

b. He rejected the Medieval doctrine of transbustantiation, theLutheran doctrine of consubstantiation, and Zwingliansymoblism in the Eucharist.

c. In the Institutes Calvin accepts the Eurcharist as a mysterywhich one experiences rather than understands.

d. In his Little Treatise on the Lord's Supper (1542) in whichhe insists that there is a real spiritual presence (and areal 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 inAmerica.

a. From it developed the Presbyterian, Congregationlist, andBaptist denominations.

b. In the 16th Century Calvinism (as expressed in the "ReformedTradition" stemming from the Zurich Agreement of 1549 betweenCalvin, Farel, and Bullinger, the son-in-law and successor ofZwingli, ie. between Calvinists and Zwinglians) spread rapid-ly across France, the Low Countries, central and easternEurope, and also influenced the Reformation in England duringthe reigns of Edward VI and Elizabeth I.

The English Reformation as a Moderate Movement

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1. In England more than any other European Protestant country, theCatholic 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 theEcclesiastical Courts inherited from the Middle Ages.

2. Under Henry VIII Parliament passed various acts abolishing thejurisdiction of the "Bishop of Rome" and recognizing the sovereignas 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 in1536 and 1539, their lands and revenues being taken over bythe Crown.

b. The Bible was translated into English and placed in allChurches, while the use of images was prohibited.

3. During the reign of Edward VI (the Seymour family) the Latin masswas abolished which was replaced in form by the liturgy in thefirst 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 Massand 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 forheresy and burnt at the stake.

5. The reign of Elizabeth I saw the final break with Rome and theestablishment of the Anglican Church as the national Church ofEngland.

a. It saw the re-establishment of royal supremacy and the Eng-lish Book of Common Prayer.

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b. The Thirty-Nine Articles were introduced to define thedogmatic position of the Church of England in relation to thecontroversies of the 16th Century.

6. Elizabethan England also contained Puritans who were not satisfiedthat the so called "settlelment of religion" had carried reform farenough 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 conformto the religion established by law.

ie. Non-Conformists.

c. They left the Church of England (hence, "Separatists") andfled to Holland.* They are the ancestors of the Independents or Congrega- tionalists and the Baptists.

7. The Calvinist John Knox was instrumental in establishing theReformed 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 byJohn Calvin.

b. Presbyteries were not systematically set up for anothertwenty years ------------- Presbyterianism and Episcopacyalternated 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 ofDivine Love and various new religious orders such as the Society ofJesus.

3. Their object was to restore the dignity and due observance ofdivine service, to educate the clergy, and to preach the Catholicfaith.

4. The Roman Inquisition was established in 1542 by Pope Paul III tobring an end to heresy, and shortly afterwards the "Index" of Pro-

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hibited Books was set up.

5. The Council of Trent was in session at intervals between 1545 and1563.

a. The Canons and Dogmatic Decrees of the Council defined RomanCatholic doctrine.

b. It rejected the Lutheran Doctrine of justification by faithalone, 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 theappointment and residence of bishops and the establishment ofseminaries in every diocese for the training of clergy.

6. The Jesuits played a leading role in the Catholic revival in thosecountries which had not adopted Protestantism.

7. The Netherlands were divided: the seven northern provinces underWilliam of Orange were Calvinists while the ten southern provincesremained Catholic.

8. Calvinism had taken hold in France and the Huguenots (French Cal-vinists) were engaged in a civil war with the Catholic majorityfrom 1562-1598.

a. Henry IV by the Edict of Nantes granted full religioustoleration to the Huguenots.

b. Though France remained officially a Catholic nation until1905 (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 Lutheransand Catholics became characteristic.

b. Enforcement, after the Peace of Augsburg (1555), of unity ofbelief in both Potestant and Catholic territories was rele-gated to the belief of the ruler.

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c. Calvinism began to make inroads within German territorieswhich led to the Thirty Years' War.

3. 17th Century England

a. Puritans continued their demands for the abolition of theepiscopacy and the prayer book.

b. 1620 - some of the Puritans sailed (in the Mayflower) andestablished Congregationalism in New England.

c. The Church of England had already been established inVirginia 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 ofCommon Prayer.

c. The monarchy was re-established in 1660 under Charles IIalong with the whole episcopal system and a revised prayerbook in 1662.

d. Non-conformists (Calvinists) achieved some relief by theAct of Toelration of 1689 after which parliamentary controlover the Established Church superceded royal control.

5. During this struggle Quakerism was born:

a. lit. meaning the "seekers" who abandoned all traditionalChristian outward forms (ie. ministry, creeds, sacraments,liturgy, systems of theology).

b. They waited in silence meditating on the Bible until theyfelt the Holy Spirit within them enabling them to speak.

c. They stressed a communal life and works of charity inspiredby 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 ofFriends".

Scepticism and Revolution

1. By the end of the 17th Century, the cult of reason had made con-

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siderable progress and had become attractive to many.

a. Deists found God's law sufficiently manifest in nature anddenied the need for any supernatural revelation.

b. Deism in France was championed by Voltaire, Rousseau, and theEncyclopedists.

2. The French Revolution

a. 1790 - The Civil Constitution of the Clergy: forced theclergy to take an oath of loyalty to the nation, fixed theirincome and abolished old diocesan boundaries.

b. The Reign of Terror saw a total dechristianization and aclosure 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 aguarantee 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 inFrance, Germany, and Austria.

a. This period saw the development of Ultramontanism (thecentralization 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 aboutorthodox Christian belief.

a. This attitude was reinforced by discoveries of scientists andthe historical and bibilical critics of the 19th Century.

b. The industrial revolution produced social problems whichneither Catholics nor Protestants were able to deal with.

2. 18th Century England had witnessed an Evangelical Revival both

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within and outside of the Established Church.

a. Followers of John Wesley (1703-91) left the Church of Englandand 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 Englandknown as the Oxford Movement.

3. Christian Socialism (a movement started within the Church ofEngland) to arouse the conscience of the Church and nation to theneed for better housing, education and social conditions for theworking classes.

4. The unification Germany in 1871 and Italy in 1860 ----------------resulted in 1870 in the end of temporal power of the Pope over Romeand 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. thehealing of divisions within a denomination).

a. Union was achieved between the Weselyan and the MethodistEpiscopal Churches in Canada in 1833 (the Methodist NewConnexion joined in 1841) and the Methodist Church of Canadain 1884.

b. 1857 three bodies of English Methodists joined together toform the United Methodist Free Churches (yet the EnglishMethodist Church did come into existence until 1932).

c. In the United States a great schism ocurred in AmericanMethodism over slavery between the Methodist Episcopal Churchand 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 hasexisted as an advisory body without administrative or judicialpowers.

3. Since 1905 most Baptist Churches have been associated in theWorld Baptist Alliance, which also exercises no judicial controlover its member Churches.

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4. The attempt to achieve wider reunion between different denomi-nations really began with the publication of the Chicago-LambethQuadrilateral adopted by the American Episcopal Church in 1886 andreaffirmed by the Lambeth Conference of the bishops of the AnglicanCommunion in 1888.

a. It asserted that Christian Unity can only be achieved (berestored) by a return of all Christian Communions to theprinciples of unity exemplified by the undivided Churchduring its first ages of existence.

b. Which principles we believe to be the substance of theChristian Faith and Order committed by Christ and HisApostles 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 asthe revealed word of God.

2. The Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of theChristian Faith.

3. The two sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

4. The Historic Episcopate locally adopted in methods ofits administration to the varying needs of the nationsand peoples called of God into the unity of His Church.

c. It is the last point (the episcopate) which has proved to bethe chief stumbling block to the organic union of episcopaland non-episcopal Churches.

A New Spirit of Co-operation

1. The ecumenical movement has not been solely concerned with thereunion of the divided Church.

a. Full Communion status was agreed between the Church ofEngland and the Church of Sweden in 1920 and with the OldCatholics in 1931.

b. Very friendly relations have been established between theChurch of England and the Eastern Orthodox Church and, al-though Pope Leo XIII declared Anglican Orders invalid in1896, a new spirit of co-operation and mutual respect hasarisen between the Anglican and Roman Communions (largelythrough the work of Pope John XXIII and the Second VaticanCouncil).

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2. All the Historic Churches of Western Europe sent missionaries toAfrica, 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 acuteproblem).

b. The World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh in 1910 resultedin the formation of the International Missionary Council(formed in 1921) whose purpose was to co-ordinate the work ofall 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 ofdoctrianl disagreements).

1. But a conference was conceived of to deal specificallywith this issue (ie. Conference on Faith and Order).

2. The General Convention of the American Episcopal Churchsupported this idea and World Conferences on Faith andOrder were held at Lausanne (1927) and Edinburgh(1937).

d. The concern of many Christians that Churches internationallyought to do something to prevent war had produced the WorldAlliance for International Friendship through Chruches.

3. Social Problems: International Christian co-operation on socialquestions led to the idea of a World Conference on Life and Work.

a. Purpose: to bring Christian conscience to bear on practicalproblems of the contemporary world.

b. This idea was taken up by Archbishop Soderblom of Uppsala,Sweden, and the first world conference was held at Stockholmand a second one at Oxford in 1937.

c. 1937 - there was a second World Conference on Faith and Orderin Edinburgh ---------------- negotiations started in 1937resulted in the union of "Life and Work" and "Faith andOrder".

d. The result was the establishment of the World Council ofChurches at Amsterdam in 1948.

1. The WCC has a permanent organization with offices inGeneva ----------- its membership is restricted to

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those Churches which accept our Lord Jesus Christ asGod 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 professorat the Gregorian University who was convinced that the Curia waswrong 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 CanterburyFisher 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 placeof 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 thetwentieth 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 atCanterbury Cathedral he gretted the Anglican Archbishop(Robert Runcie) as a "brother in Christ".

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c. John Paul II has continued the conservatism of Paul VI, re-affirming his encyclical against birth control and abortionand declaring that the Church would never ordain women tothe 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 soughtinterpret the gospel as social revolutions against politicaland financial dicatatorships.

f. Declining numbers in Chruch attendance in Europe has beenmatched by increases in Africa where foreign missions havebeen replaced, in part, by native evangelism.

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