Timothy Paul Jones - Rose Bible Basics: Christian History Made Easy

The printed version of this eBook is the Christian History Made Easy book, ISBN-13: 9781596363281

Printed layout design by Nancy Fisher, cover design by Sergio Urquiza

Character illustrations on printed pages 10, 25, 37, 53, 68, 85, 97, 99, 106, 111, 129, 143, 158, 177, and 180 were created by Stephen Hesselman.

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2009 Timothy Paul Jones
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ROSE BIBLE BASICS

Christian History

Made Easy

Timothy Paul Jones, Ph.D.

• Examines key events and people in church history from the time of Jesus to present day.
• Covers the Early Church, Middle Ages, the Crusades, the Reformation, through modern day.
• Know about famous people such as St. Patrick, Augustine, John Wycliffe, and William Tyndale.
• Know the history of how we got the Bible in English.
• Includes a 12-session study guide for personal or group use.

Timothy Paul Jones serves as professor of leadership and associate vice president for online learning at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world. Before coming to Southern Seminary, Dr. Jones led churches in Missouri and Oklahoma as a pastor and an associate pastor.

Dr. Jones has been widely recognized as a leading writer and researcher in the fields of apologetics, Christian education, and family ministry. Christian Retailing Magazine awarded Jones top honors in 2010 in the Christian education category for his book Christian History Made Easy . Charles Colson listed him as one of four names you need to know when responding to the new atheists. Jones has also received the Scholastic Recognition Award from the North American Professors of Christian Education for his research in faith development.

The son of a rural pastor, Dr. Jones earned his bachelor of arts degree in biblical studies at Manhattan Christian College. He holds the Master of Divinity degree from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City and the Doctor of Philosophy degree from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has taught biblical languages at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and at Oklahoma Baptist University, as well as lecturing on the reliability of the New Testament Gospels at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) at forums sponsored by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

Despite his strong academic pedigree, Dr. Jones has shown a unique ability to communicate in an appealing, accessible style that has made him popular with the masses. He has authored or contributed to more than a dozen books, including Misquoting Truth, Trained in the Fear of God , and the CBA bestseller The Da Vinci Codebreaker . Widely sought as a commentator on theological topics, Dr. Jones has been interviewed on numerous radio and television programs, including WGN Morning News, Fox & Friends, Crosstalk America, and Bible Answer Man.

He is married to Rayann and they have two children, Hannah and Skylar.

Church history is being stolen from us, and I dont think we should stand for it anymore.

Church history is being stolen by professional historians who have discarded reporting tales of tragedy, valor, and pathos for writing textbooks crammed with dates, social analysis, and political posturing. Its being shoplifted by television, which lulls us into an entertainment stupor, so that our minds can no longer grasp anything more complicated than Wheel of Fortune. And were pickpocketed by our own foolishness, this panting after the latest, the new, the now.

How do we bring church history back? We can write it in a way that shows its relevance. We can follow Augustines dictum that communication should entertain while it informs. We can be honest about Christian failureswhich have been manifoldand yet refuse to wallow in cynicism. We can make sure we dont produce textbooks but books filled with people and stories we will never forget.

Okay, I admit it. Im biased when it comes to church history.

What Im saying is that good history should read like Christian History magazine, because thats precisely the sort of history that I worked for several years to produce there. And that is precisely what drew me to Christian History Made Easy . I know good history when I see it, and I see it here.

The study of church history can do many things for us, to name a few: it gives perspective; it frees us from faddishness; it shows Gods working in the world; it gives wisdom; it implants hope deep within us. If youre looking for such thingsor perhaps just wondering how you and your fellow believers ended up at this time and place in the larger schemereading Christian history, and this book in particular, is one place to begin.

Mark Galli

Managing Editor, Christianity Today

In a classic Peanuts comic strip, Sally carefully labels her paper, Church History. As Charlie Brown glances over her shoulder, Sally considers her subject.

When writing about church history, Sally scrawls, we have to go back to the very beginning. Our pastor was born in 1930.

Charles Schulzs comic strip may be amusing, but it isnt too far from the truth. In sermons and devotional books, Christians encounter names like Augustine and Calvin, Spurgeon and Moody. Their stories are interesting. Truth be told, though, most church members have a tough time fitting these stories together. The typical individuals knowledge of church history ends with the apostles and doesnt find its footings again until sometime in the twentieth century.

Still, the story of Christianity deeply affects every believer in Jesus Christ. The history of the Christian faith affects how we read the Bible. It affects how we view our government. It affects how we worship. Simply put, the churchs history is our family history. Past Christians are our mothers and fathers in the faith, our aunts and uncles, our in-laws andin a few casesour outlaws!

When a child in Sunday School asks, How could Jesus be God and still be like me? shes not asking a new question. She is grappling with an issue that, in AD 325, three hundred church leaders discussed in a little village named Nicaea [ni-SEE-ah], now the city of Iznik in the nation of Turkey. Even if youve never heard of Iznik or Nicaea, what those leaders decided will influence the way that you frame your response to the childs question.

If youve ever wondered, Why are there so many different churches? the answer is woven somewhere within two millennia of political struggles and personal skirmishes. When you read words like predestined or justified in the apostle Pauls letter to the Romans, it isnt only Paul and your pastor who affect how you respond. Even if you dont realize it, Christian thinkers such as Augustine and John Calvin and Jonathan Edwards also influence how you understand these words.