Church History

Introduction

Housekeeping

Sources of Theological Truth

From a theological perspective, who or what do we trust? From where do we derive truth and authority. Christians largely agree on what these sources of theological truth are, but throughout church history, the primacy or degree of authority for each of these sources has changed.

Experience

An accumulated body of knowledge derived through a first hand encounter with life.

Seeking to understand God through direct personal or communal encounters with the divine; often through prayer, meditation, contemplation, etc.

Emotion

responses that are obtained through experiential encounters, that enhance or detract from the experience.

General Revelation

Understanding God through the things that are revealed, ie., Nature, creation, etc.

Ps 139;

Psalm 19:1 “1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”

Romans 1:18–21 “18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

Tradition

Consensus of beliefs or doctrines that have been held by the Christian community of faith.

Reason

Seeking to understand the nature of God, existence, morality, and other theological concepts through rigorous philosophical analysis and argumentation and reasoning faculties.

Scripture

As we embark and continue on this journey through church history, try to identify the foundational sources of authority.

Perspicuity of Scripture

Not everything in Scripture is easy to understand, but what we must understand in order to be saved is clear.

Some things in Scripture are clearer than others, and some people understand the teachings more clearly than others.12   However, the things that must be known, believed, and obeyed for salvation are so clearly set forth and explained in one part of Scripture or another that both the educated and uneducated may achieve a sufficient understanding of them by properly using ordinary measures. 1689 London Baptist Confession in Modern English

Many of the theological doctrines and truths contained in scripture were not fully fleshed out when the ideas were inscripturated.

So those are just a couple of things that we need to keep in mind

Ante-Ecclesia (Pre Church Considerations)

With the gift of hindsight we can see God’s hand orchestrating events throughout history to make the culture ripe to receive the gospel and for formation of the church and development of doctrine.

Contributing factors that made the spread of the gospel and formation of the church successful

Jewish Diaspora

Language

Culture

Thought

Comparison between Hebrew thought and Greek Thought

Concrete vs Abstract

Psalm 92:2 “2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night,”

chesed חַסְֽדֶּ֑ meaning to bow in deference. This is a concrete term.

The Hebrew word for anger (אַף־) nose

Block logic vs Linear Logic

Hebrew thinker uses block logic, which groups things together according to their similarities.

Days of creation

The first three days of creation are related to separation.

• Day 1 – Separating light from darkness

• Day 2 – Separating the water from the sky

• Day 3 – Separating the land from the water

The next three days of creation are related to the filling of the creation.

• Day 4 – Filling the light with the sun and the dark with the moon

• Day 5 – Filling the water fish and the sky with birds

• Day 6 – Filling the land with animals and man

Roman Rule

Pax Romana

Technology

Early Church AD 64 ~ 600

Medieval Church AD500 ~ 1500

Reformation Era AD1500 ~ 1800

Contemporary Era AD1900 ~ Present