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History of the Christian Church — General

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History of the Christian Church — General

Course Plan:

Course title:History of the Christian Church

OhridCourse audience: This course is designed for those who have no previous education in Christian Church History, and for students of theology looking to refresh, continue and deepen their knowledge of the History of Christianity.

Model of teaching: Distance learning.

Course Purpose and Objectives: The course “History of Christian Church” is designed to form students’ understanding of the spread of Christianity worldwide. By Christianity we understand a society of people who believe in Christ, united by worship, sacraments, canonical hierarchy. The subjects of the study of the history of the Christian Church in the framework of our review are: the activities of the sacred hierarchy, the actions of the state leadership in relation to the Church, significant events in church life.

Course structure: 16 lessons.__

Introduction.****

“Upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against Her” (St Matthew 16:18)

The Major Apostles after the Book of Acts

The Apostolic Fathers Encourage and Teach the Faithful

Some Key Doctrines And Practices Taught In The Apostolic Fathers: The Full Deity Of Christ.

Some Key Doctrines and Practices taught in the Apostolic Fathers: The full deity of Christ

Relevance of the Apostolic Fathers for today

The Diocletian Persecution

St. Constantine The Great, The Struggles With Donatism And Arianism, And The First Ecumenical Council.

Constantine’s Rise to Power

Donatism

The Rise of Arianism

St. Athanasius The Great And The Defense Of The Council Of Nicea.

St. Athanasius the Great

St. Constantine and the First Ecumenical Council

Macedonianism, Apollinarianism, And The Second Ecumenical Council.

Macedonianism

Apollinarianism

Second Ecumenical Council

The Christological Controversies. The Nestorian And Monophysite Heresies And Their Defeat At The III And IV Ecumenical Councils.

The beginning of the Christological controversies: Diodorus of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia

The beginning of the Christological controversies: Nestorius

The III Ecumenical Council

The IV Ecumenical Council and the Monophysite heresy

Emperor Justinian’s And Peace Within The Church. The V Ecumenical Council And The Three Chapter Controversy.

The actions taken by Justinian. The Three-Chapter Controversy

The V Ecumenical Council

The Monophysites separate into various movements

The Heresy Of Monothelitism And The VI Ecumenical Council.

The Monothelete Heresy

The VI Ecumenical Council

Saint Sophronius of Jerusalem and Saint Maximus the Confessor

Iconoclasm And The VII Ecumenical Council.

The first era of iconoclasm. The emperor Constantine Copronymus1

The empress Saint Irene and the VII Ecumenical Council

Iconoclasm after the VII Ecumenical Council

Spiritual Awakening And Theology From The Fourth To The Eleventh Centuries In The East And The West.

General notes on the state of theology from the fourth to the fifth centuries

The Antiochian school of theology

Western church writers of the fourth and fifth centuries

General notes on church literature from the sixth to the eleventh centuries

A General Overview Of Christian Life From The Fourth To Eleventh Centuries.

The birth of monasticism in Egypt

The spread of monasticism

Monasticism in the West

Female monasticism

The Division Of The Churches: The Schism Of 1054.2

The causes for the division of the Churches

The history of the schism of the Churches

The events of 1054

The Byzantine Emperors And Union.

The cause of the policy of Union in Byzantine politics

The Union of Lyons

The Union of Florence

The Rise And Fall Of The Papacy In The West From The Eleventh To The Fifteenth Centuries.

General notes on the papacy

Pope Innocent III (1198-1216)

The Avignon Papacy (1309-1377)

The great Western schism

The Birth Of Protestantism. The Catholic Counterreformation.

The Reformation. The birth of Protestantism

Thomas Műntzer and Calvin: the conclusion of the Reformation and the appearance of Protestant religious sects

The theology of Protestantism

The Catholic Counterreformation

The Eastern Church Under Ottoman Rule.

The Conquest of Constantinople in 1453

The treatment of the Church by the Turkish government under Mehmed II

The position of the Christian population under Ottoman rule

Religious education

** Bibliography:**

The Apostolic Fathers, Early Christian Writings, Harmondsworth, 1968

*David Bentley Hart, The Story of Christianity, London, 2011

Henry Chadwick, The Early Church, Harmondsworth, 1967

*Owen Chadwick, A History of Christianity, London, 1996

Owen Chadwick, The Reformation, Harmondsworth, 1979

Derwas J. Chitty, The Desert A City, Crestwood, 1995

Eusebius, The History of the Church, Harmondsworth, 1965

Richard Fletcher, The Conversion of Europe, London, 1998

Charles Freeman, A New History of Early Christianity, London, 2011

J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Creeds, 3rd edition, New York, 1972

J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines, 5th edition, London, 1977

J.M. Hussey, The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire, Oxford, 1990

*Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Harmondsworth, 2010

Ramsay MacMullen, Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eight Centuries, Yale, 1997

R.A. Markus, Christianity in the Roman World, New York, 1974

R.A. Markus, The End of Ancient Christianity, Cambridge, 1998

Peter Marshall, Reformation England, London, 2012

John McGuckin, The Path of Christianity: The First Thousand Years, Downers Grove, 2017

John McGuckin, The Eastern Orthodox Church: A New History, Yale, 2020

Anthony Meredith, The Cappadocians, London, 1995

John Meyendorff, Rome, Constantinople, Moscow: Historical and Theological Studies, Crestwood, 1996

John Meyendorff, The Byzantine Legacy in the Orthodox Church, Crestwood, 1982

John Julius Norwich, A Short History of Byzantium, Harmondsworth, 1997

George Ostrogorsky, A History of the Byzantine State, Oxford, 1956

Robert Payne, The Fathers of the Western Church, New York, 1971

Robert Payne, The Holy Fire: The Story of the Fathers of the Easter Church, Crestwood, 1957

Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development pf Doctrine 1. The Emergence of the Catholic Spirit (100-600); 2. The Spirit of Eastern Christendom (600-1700); 3. The Growth of Medieval Theology (600-1300); 4. Reformation of Church and Dogma (1300-1700); 5. Christian Doctrine and Modern Culture (since 1700), Chicago 1973-1990

Stephen Runciman, The Great Church in Captivity, Cambridge, 1968

R.W. Southern, Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages, Harmondsworth, 1990

Arthur Stanley, Lectures on the History of the Eastern Church, London, 1984

Timothy Ware, Eustratios Argenti: A Study of the Greek Church Under Greek Rule, Oxford, 1964

Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church, revised edition, Harmondsworth, 2015

References to be used for this course:

  • Chadwick, Henry - The Early Church

  • _Eusebius - The History of the Church _

  • Ford, David - Wisdom for Today from the Early Church

  • Ford, David - Book of Handouts for the Early Church

  • The Apostolic Fathers, Early Christian Writings , Harmondsworth, 1968

    • ***** David Bentley Hart, The Story of Christianity , London, 2011
    • Henry Chadwick, The Early Church , Harmondsworth, 1967
    • ***** Owen Chadwick, A History of Christianity , London, 1996
    • Owen Chadwick, The Reformation , Harmondsworth, 1979
    • Derwas J. Chitty, The Desert A City , Crestwood, 1995
    • Eusebius, The History of the Church , Harmondsworth, 1965
    • Richard Fletcher, The Conversion of Europe , London, 1998
    • Charles Freeman,_ A New History of Early Christianity_, London, 2011
    • J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Creeds , 3rd edition, New York, 1972
    • J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines , 5th edition, London, 1977
    • J.M. Hussey, The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire , Oxford, 1990
    • ***** Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity , Harmondsworth, 2010
    • Ramsay MacMullen, Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eight Centuries , Yale, 1997
    • R.A. Markus, Christianity in the Roman World , New York, 1974
    • R.A. Markus, The End of Ancient Christianity , Cambridge, 1998
    • Peter Marshall, Reformation England , London, 2012
    • John McGuckin, The Path of Christianity: The First Thousand Years , Downers Grove, 2017
    • John McGuckin, The Eastern Orthodox Church: A New History , Yale, 2020
    • Anthony Meredith, The Cappadocians , London, 1995
    • John Meyendorff, Rome, Constantinople, Moscow: Historical and Theological Studies , Crestwood, 1996
    • John Meyendorff, The Byzantine Legacy in the Orthodox Church , Crestwood, 1982
    • John Julius Norwich, A Short History of Byzantium , Harmondsworth, 1997
    • George Ostrogorsky, A History of the Byzantine State , Oxford, 1956
    • Robert Payne, The Fathers of the Western Church , New York, 1971
    • Robert Payne, The Holy Fire: The Story of the Fathers of the Easter Church, Crestwood , 1957
    • Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition : A History of the Development pf Doctrine 1. The Emergence of the Catholic Spirit (100-600); 2. The Spirit of Eastern Christendom (600-1700); 3. The Growth of Medieval Theology (600-1300); 4. Reformation of Church and Dogma (1300-1700); 5. Christian Doctrine and Modern Culture (since 1700), Chicago 1973-1990
    • Stephen Runciman, The Great Church in Captivity , Cambridge, 1968
    • R.W. Southern, Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages , Harmondsworth, 1990
    • Arthur Stanley, Lectures on the History o f the Eastern Church, London, 1984
    • Timothy Ware, Eustratios Argenti: A Study of the Greek Church Under Greek Rule, Oxford, 1964
    • Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church , revised edition, Harmondsworth, 2015

*** **These books are excellent summaries of the history of the Christian Church and should be required reading.

This course is designed for those who have no previous education in Christian Church History, and for students of theology looking to refresh, continue and deepen their knowledge of the History of Christianity.

Editorial Footnotes

Footnotes

  1. The “first era” of Byzantine iconoclasm was initiated not by Constantine V (“Copronymus,” r. 741–775) but by his father, Emperor Leo III, who moved against icons beginning around 726–730. Constantine V was the more systematic and aggressive iconoclast — he convened the iconoclast Council of Hieria (754) — but pairing the onset of the first iconoclast period with him alone omits Leo III, under whom the policy actually began. ↩

  2. Dating “the division of the Churches” to a single event in 1054 is a traditional framing that modern scholarship substantially qualifies. The mutual excommunications of July 1054 were pronounced between Patriarch Michael Cerularius and the legates of the recently deceased Pope Leo IX (which arguably voided their legal authority), were limited in scope to the individuals involved, and were not regarded by contemporaries as a definitive rupture between East and West. Most historians now treat the schism as a gradual estrangement over centuries, with the Fourth Crusade’s sack of Constantinople in 1204 often seen as far more decisive in hardening the breach; the 1054 excommunications were formally lifted only in 1965. ↩

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