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Session 7 (1500 – 1700) -

1500

1517 Martin Luther posts his 95 Thesis on Wittenberg door October 31 which stir Germany and Europe in a matter of months. 1524 – Peasants’ revolt in Germany. For a list of the 95 Thesis click here "95 Thesis". To learn about Purgatory click here Purgatory or Indulgences. What is Protestantism?

Luther and his attacks were discussed at the Council of Trent.

The 7 sacraments are defined Seven Sacraments

• The printing of books begun in the fifteenth century now develops swiftly, propelling the spread of the Reformation.
• Renovation on St. Peter’s Cathedral and the Sistine Chapel. Works by Michelangelo.
• The Scriptures become more available for the common person as Luther translates into German and Tyndale into English in the 1520's.
• The Protestant Reformation spreads throughout Europe with Zwingli in Switzerland, the Anabaptist in central Europe, and John Knox in Scotland. 1534 Henry VIII begins Anglican Church with 6 Articles of Faith as head of the Church of England. John Calvin's ministry in Geneva and wrote Institutes begin a Scriptural reexamination of theology and society. 5 Tenants of T.U.L.I.P.assigned to Calvin.
• The Counter-Reformation defends traditional Catholicism against Reformation ideas. The Council of Trent (1545-1563) reaffirms Catholic doctrine. The Society of Jesus - Jesuit order becomes the defender of the Catholic faith and begins sending missionaries abroad.
• 1575-1603 James Arminius. Arminianism taught against Luther’s and Calvin’s Predestination and taught “prevenient grace.” Later, John Wesley would embrace his teachings. What is an Arminian?
• Religious convictions produce martyrs among both Catholics and Protestants -- Sir Thomas Moore, William Tyndale, and Thomas Cranmer among the many executed. Huguenots in France begin to be persecuted. Foxe's Book of Martyrs (actually titled Actes and Monuments) records the persecution believers in Christ have endured through the centuries.

1600

Timeline of Christianity in America Timeline Watch Program Program

• In England the Puritan Revolution removes King Charles and executes him while attempting to establish a Puritan Commonwealth.
• England begins to establish colonies in North America. Jamestown begins in 1607, Pilgrims land in 1620, Massachusetts Bay Colony established by Puritans in 1630.
• In France, the Protestant Huguenots rebel against King Louis XIII.
• 1618-1648 -- In central Europe, the Thirty Years Wars brings destruction as Protestants and Catholics vie for power ended with the treaty of Westphalia.
• 1611 - "King James Version" translation of the English Bible released.
• 1633 - Galileo forced by the Inquisition to abjure Copernicus' theories. New scientific studies often pursued by men seeking to learn the ways of their Creator - Johann Kepler, Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon, Robert Boyle.
• 1634 -- First Oberammergau Passion Play, later used by Hitler to promote anti-Semitism.
• Classic works of Christian literature are written: 1667 - John Milton's Paradise Lost; 1670 - Blaise Pascal's Pensees; 1678 - John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.
• "Enlightenment" writers question Christianity and seek to base knowledge on human reason--Leibnitz, Hobbes, and Descartes.

Session 8 (1700 – 1900)
• Early beginnings of the “Modern Age” according to Kellner’s definition of 1669.
• Voltaire, one of many Deists, further develops the rationalism of the "Enlightenment," attacking Christianity and finding in man the center of all things.
• 1776 – The American Revolution and the beginning of the American experiment. The Church shifts from a religion supported by the state to being supported by the people. Shift from being a Christian because you are a part of the state church, to an emphasis on revivalism, conversion and a personal decision.
• Pietism was a reaction to “dead orthodoxy” which rose out of the 30 Years War.
• Separation of Church and state caused religious freedom and diversity. Churches now had to be concerned about financially supporting the Church through individual giving and pastors had to be concerned about buildings and budgets, instead of just proclamation. It shifted focus to the individual decision to become a part of the church, not just because you were born into the state religion. The Bible became the symbol of authority not the pope.
• 1735-43 The “First Great Awakening” was an evangelical awakening that spread throughout England and America under the preaching of George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards who were Calvinists.
• 1725-91 John Wesley an Anglican minister begins preaching in America and experiences a “strange warming of the heart” while reading Luther’s commentary on Romans and he later embraces the Moravians, Pietism and Arminianism and establishes the “holy club.” He taught prevenient grace, justification by faith and Christian perfection. His brother Charles wrote thousands of Christian hymns. After his death was the break with the Anglican Church. The label of “Methodists” is coined because of their methodical study of the Bible, prayer and social action.
• Pietism brings new life to German Lutheranism (Johann Arndt, and Lutheran J. S. Bach writes his music "only for the glory of God."
• 1789 - The French Revolution overthrows the traditions of the Church and briefly establishes the goddess of Reason.
• Count Zinzendorf establishes Herrnhut as a Moravian settlement in Saxony, from which the Moravian Brethren begin their missionary work.
• Christians Handel and Haydn write classical music, including masterpieces of religious art, while Isaac Watts and the Wesley’s write hymns for congregational singing.
• Religious freedom gains grounds. In the United States, religious tests for government positions are abolished, and in Russia Czarina Catherine the Great grants freedom of religion Russia was known as the 3rd Rome.
• The era of modern missions advances with the establishment of London's Baptist Missionary Society and the sending of William Carey to India.

1800
• 1795-1830 the nineteenth century is sometimes called the Protestant Century. Protestants established missions throughout the world after the “Second Great Awakening”.
• Organizations such as the British and Foreign Bible Society, the American Bible Society, the Sunday School Union, and the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions lead in the spread of the Gospel message. Reform societies form to deal with abolition, temperance, prisons, and education. Sunday School and midweek prayer groups begin.
• Revival leader Charles Finney establishes "new measures" in his revival meetings, believing conversions can be achieved if the right approaches and techniques are used leading to the “Second Great Awakening". Was not Calvinistic like the 1st Great Awakening.
• 1830 -1880’s many cults including Mormons, Millerites / 7th Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science are established under leaders such as Joseph Smith, John Nelson Darby, William Miller & Ellen G. White, Charles Russell, and Mary Baker Eddy. The beginning of the teaching of dispensationalism and the Secret Rapture of the Church.
• New philosophies such as Charles Darwin's evolution, Immanuel Kant, George Hegel, and Karl Marx attack the traditional Christian view of life and history.
• German "higher critics" attack the historical validity of the Scriptures. The Documentary hypothesis and source criticism .
• Dwight L. Moody holds large revival meetings in America, while thousands hear Charles Spurgeon preach in London's Tabernacle.
• Fanny Crosby, Ira Sankey, Francis Havergal, and others poured out hymns of faith and devotion.
• 1844 – George Williams founded YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association).
• 1855-1900’s Beginning of the Salvation Army by William and Catherine Booth.

• The dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary is defined. In the Constitution Ineffabilis Deus of 8 December, 1854, Pius IX pronounced and defined that the Blessed Virgin Mary "in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin. For more information on the Marian dogmas click on the following Mariology

• David Livingstone and others open the African continent to missions, while workers with Hudson Taylor's China Inland Mission spread throughout China.

• The First Vatican Council 1870 21 Ecumenical Councils. Pope Pius IX condemns liberalism, socialism, and rationalism; also proclaims Infallability of the Pope when speaking Ex Cathedra.

• "Dispensationalism” is taught and defined by Cyrus Scofield. He was influenced by the writings of John Nelson Darby.

Discussion Questions

Were the theological changes that occurred as a result of the Protestant movement good, bad or necessary?

Did they lead the church and society in the right direction?

If the Bible is enough as the only necessary sole authority how can there be so many different interpretations?

Who, or what is (becomes), the final authority concerning doctrine?

What or who is a Protestant?

In the narrowest sense of the term, it is connected with the movement of the 16th century Reformation begun by Luther and Calvin to move away from Roman Catholic control and theology. Any denomination connected to the Lutheran, Presbyterian, Anglican, Episcopalian, and Methodist is considered historically to be as a result of the Reformation and the Protestant movement. These movements emphasize certain reformed theological doctrinal stances such as Scripture alone, Faith alone, the Priesthood of all believers, the sanctity of all vocations, Predestination, recognition of only 2 sacraments, infant baptism and the Lord’s Supper. But each has other certain distinctive developments of these and other doctrines.

Out of the 19th and 20th centuries, many other movements developed that do not connect themselves to Protestantism, but try to support the idea that they come directly from the “apostolic age.” Some of these include Pentecostal and Fundamentalist movements and most cults. What is similar in all these is their attack on the Catholic Church and the Papacy. They see themselves as “restoring” what was lost or distorted of biblical Christianity after the apostolic age. Many also have definite end-time scenarios to include the Roman Catholic Church as the arch enemy. Narrowly speaking, not all non-catholic denominations or even Evangelicals claim to be connected to the Protestant Reformation.

What is universal of all these, is that they see “sacred tradition” as irrelevant and it being merely human invention and man-made traditions that get in the way of true biblical teaching and Christianity. Ironically, each organization ends up establishing their own kind of pope, or authority, and add a number of extra-biblical traditions. Some have even suggested that the increase of various cults and other organizations are the direct result of people looking for a final authority to their spiritual questions, at the expense of not following orthodox Christian teaching.

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