Petersen Randy - The 100 Most Important Events in Christian History

1991 by Christian History Institute

Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com

Previously published under the title Dates with Destiny

Ebook edition created 2013

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

ISBN 978-1-5855-8129-0

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture marked NIV is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked RSV is taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Preface

W hat are the ten most important things that have happened in your life in the past five years? Now ask your father, daughter, wife or husband, or any two close friends to answer the same question in regard to you. You will quickly see how capable we are of attaching different significance to events even among those who live in the closest intimacy and proximity.

Right at the start let us admit that no one has the final word on what are the most important dates in the history of the church. Indeed, Gods list would probably differ significantly from any we could make.

We have not intended to set ourselves up as the authoritative arbiters of what finally counts in the life of the church over the centuries. Instead we have attempted to give an overview of events in the perplexing history of the people of God that will provide the nonhistorian and nonspecialist with a convenient look at major contours and catalysts that have shaped Christianity.

Many Christians today want to know more about the roots of their faith and how many of the teachings and practices of their churches came into existence. But few have the time or inclination to take on a multi-volume academic work. This kind of book should help in serving that interest. Non-Christians will find this a handy reference to acquaint themselves with major people, movements, meanings, and events in the long history of Christianity.

We started our consideration of church history after (or at least outside of) the events recorded in the New Testament. Obviously, the Resurrection, the conversion of Paul, the Council of Jerusalem, and so on are important dates in church history, but where does one stop? We judged it best, therefore, to select only events not recorded in the New Testament.

Rather than rank the events in any kind of order of importance, we have presented them in chronological order, to give a kind of tour through the centuries.

Some worthy selections were left out because we felt that we could incorporate them into another. For example, while a survey that we did included both the posting of Luthers Ninety-five Theses and the Diet of Worms, we have included only the former to encompass both.

Other events were included not only for their immediate significance but what they led to or how things might have been greatly different had they not happened. For example, the Synod of Whitby will not go down as one of the great councils of the church, but it is of tremendous importance that the English church chose to unite with Rome at that time. History could have been vastly different had they taken the other alternative.

We also introduced several entries that may seem contrived and artificial. The world did not change, nor did the church, on the birth dates of Bach and Handel, but not to include the contribution of great music to the life of worship would be defective indeed. Therefore, several entries are included primarily for their symbolic value.

We avoided inclusions from the last two decades, because, although we saw some attractive alternatives, we are too close to those events to have the necessary perspective.

Some may accuse us of weighting our choices in favor of the West, males, Protestants, and evangelicals. This is partly unavoidable but no doubt also reflective of our bias.

But, as noted above, we make no claims to finality in this list and from the beginning have expected brisk response from readers who will want to challenge us on possibilities that they think must be included and others they think could have been omitted. So we invite readers to write and let us know what you think and detail your reasons. If response warrants we will issue a second volume of more important dates in church history. Those of you who just want advance word about a second volume are also invited to write. Write to Ken Curtis, Christian History Institute, Box 540, Worcester, PA 19490, or FAX to 215-584-4610.

When I was editor of Christian History magazine, we wrote to our subscribers and asked them to tell us what dates they thought should be on the list. We then collated and tabulated these and sent the list back out to subscribers, asking them to check off the selections they agreed with, cross out the ones they disagreed with, and add others that were not on our list. Their replies generated a new list. A survey was also sent to all of the members of the American Society of Church History, a group of professional church historians. The selections included in this book took the above surveys into view, but I must take responsibility for the final choices.

All along in these choices, we have been fully aware that some of the most important things are hardest to identify and quantify. We are like the treasurer in the temple, who in all probability would have missed the importance of the widows mite. Jesus made it clear that love was the foremost distinguishing mark of His followers. He also spoke most approvingly of simple things like the cup of water given in His name. Many of the entries reflect these basic qualities of Christianity, and others most surely do not. Most of what is of eternal importance will not be known until that day when the judge of us all shows us what is really the wheat and the chaff.

K EN C URTIS

Dates With Destiny

These are the dates we identified as some of the most important ones in church history.

The Fire in Rome

Nero at the burning of Rome.

W ithout the Roman Empire, Christianity might never have spread so successfully. You could say the empire was a tinderbox awaiting the spark of Christian faith.

The empires unifying elements aided in the expansion of the Gospel: Roman roads made travel easier than it had ever been before; throughout the realm, people spoke Greek; and the mighty Roman army kept peace. As a result of the increased mobility, pockets of migrant craftsmen settled for a time in a major cityRome, Corinth, Athens, or Alexandriathen moved on to another.

Christianity stepped into an open climate, religiously. In a sort of new age movement many people had begun to embrace eastern religionsthe worship of Isis, Dionysus, Mithras, Cybele, and others. Worshipers searched for new beliefs, but some of these religions had been declared illegal, because they were suspected of offensive rituals. Other faiths were officially recognizedlike Judaism, which had enjoyed a protected position since the days of Julius Caesar, though its monotheism and biblical revelation set it apart from the other ways of worship.