Church History Events Flashcards
Council of Nicea
325 AD
Council of Nicaea (325 AD) – Key Points
Heresy Addressed: Arianism – Arius taught that Christ was not eternal but a created being, denying His full divinity.
Key Debate:
Arians: Christ was created and not of the same essence as the Father.
Semi-Arians: Christ was homoiousios (“of similar substance” to the Father).
Athanasius & Supporters: Christ was homoousios (“of the same essence” as the Father).
Council’s Decision: Affirmed that Christ is eternally begotten of the Father, fully divine, and not a created being.
Outcome: The Nicene Creed was formulated, declaring Christ to be true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial (homoousios) with the Father.
Council of Chalcedon
Council of Chalcedon (451 AD) – Key Points
Heresies Addressed:
Monophysitism: Taught that Christ had only one nature, with His divine nature absorbing His humanity, denying His full humanity.
Eutychianism (a form of Monophysitism): Claimed that Christ’s human nature was dissolved into His divine nature, leading to an overemphasis on Christ’s divinity.
Correct Doctrine (Chalcedonian Definition): Christ is one Person with two distinct natures, fully divine and fully human.
Key Clarifications:
The two natures of Christ exist without confusion, change, division, or separation.
Both natures retain their properties but are united in one Person.
The communication of attributes: What is true of one nature can be spoken of Christ as a whole (e.g., “God suffered” through His human nature).
Outcome: Christ assumed a human nature, ensuring He is the true God-man, fully capable of mediating between God and humanity.
Council of Constantinople
(381 AD)
Council of Constantinople (381 AD) – Key Points
Heresies Addressed:
Pneumatomachianism: Denied the full divinity of the Holy Spirit, treating Him as a created being.
Apollinarianism: Apollinarius taught that Christ’s divine nature replaced His human mind/soul, denying the fullness of Christ’s humanity.
Key Debate:
Pneumatomachians: The Holy Spirit was not fully divine and was subordinate to the Father and Son.
Apollinarians: Christ’s human nature was incomplete because He lacked a human soul, with His divinity taking its place.
Orthodox view: The Holy Spirit is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and Son, and Christ was fully human and fully divine in body, soul, and spirit.
Council’s Decision: Expanded the Nicene Creed to affirm that the Holy Spirit is “Lord and Giver of life”, proceeding from the Father (and the Son, in Western tradition), and Christ fully assumed human nature, including a human soul.
Outcome:
Solidified the doctrine of the Trinity, affirming the full divinity of the Holy Spirit.
Rejected Apollinarianism, affirming that Christ is truly human in every way (body, soul, and spirit), not just in His flesh.
Council of Ephesus
(431 AD)
Council of Ephesus (431 AD) – Key Points
Heresy Addressed: Nestorianism – Nestorius taught that Christ was two separate persons (one divine, one human), and rejected calling Mary the Theotokos (“Mother of God”).
Key Debate:
Nestorius: Christ’s divine and human natures were separate, leading to a division between His person and His nature.
Opponents: Christ is one unified Person with two natures (divine and human).
Council’s Decision: Affirmed that Mary is the Theotokos (God-bearer), meaning she gave birth to the one Person who is both fully God and fully man.
Outcome: Rejected Nestorianism and affirmed the unity of Christ’s two natures in one Person
Reformation
1517
We may use this as a date for the Reformation since the beginning of the Reformation is traditionally tied to Luther’s nailing of his Ninety-five theses to the door at Wittenburg. This was the culmination of a developing movement to Reform the Catholic church from it Medieval laxity. Above all it was a time of spiritual renewal in which God graciously intervene to return his gospel to the center stage of human history.
Counter-Reformation
Council of Trent (1545-1563) – Key Points
Key Issue: The Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation, aimed at addressing church abuses while reaffirming Catholic doctrine in contrast to Protestant teachings.
Key Debates:
Scripture vs. Tradition: The Catholic Church affirmed that Scripture and tradition are of equal authority, rejecting the Protestant sola scriptura (Scripture alone).
Sacraments & Transubstantiation: The council reaffirmed that the sacraments (especially the Eucharist) were vital, teaching that the bread and wine become the actual body and blood of Christ (transubstantiation).
Justification: Justification is achieved through faith and works, rejecting the Protestant teaching of justification by faith alone (sola fide).
Council’s Decision: The Council of Trent issued a series of doctrinal decrees, addressing the Protestant reforms and reaffirming Catholic beliefs on the authority of the Church, the sacraments, the nature of salvation, and the role of tradition.
Outcome: The Council of Trent solidified the Catholic position on critical issues such as authority, justification, sacraments, and the nature of the Eucharist, and it became a foundational document for Catholic doctrine moving forward, marking a key moment in the Counter-Reformation.
Heidelberg Catechism
Heidelberg Catechism (1563) – Key Points
Authors: Written by Zacharias Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus in 1563.
Form and Content: It is structured as a catechism, but with the theological depth of a confession.
Reformed Influence: Held by the Continental Reformed Churches, particularly in Germany and the Netherlands.
Personal Tone: Known for its personal and pastoral tone, often considered more accessible and relatable compared to the Westminster Confession.
Belgic Confession
Belgic Confession (1561) – Key Points
Author and Background: Written by Guido de Bres in 1561, it is one of the three standards of the Dutch Reformed Church.
Influence: It draws heavily on the Gallican Confession, which was a French Reformed confession.
Content: The confession outlines core Protestant beliefs, affirming the authority of Scripture, the doctrine of salvation, and the rejection of Roman Catholic teachings.
Purpose: It served as a statement of faith for the Reformed churches in the Netherlands during a time of religious persecution, defending Protestant doctrines against Catholicism.
Synod of Dort
1618 to 1619
A convening of Reformed thinkers to answer the assertions of the Remonstrants. Although political and other issues affecting the Dutch church were raised at this Synod, its primary business was answering the five points of Arminianism. Their response is what we today know as TULIP, or the five points of Calvinism.
Westminster Assembly
Westminster Assembly (1643-1652): Convened by the English Parliament in 1643 to reform the Church of England.
Duration: Met regularly from 1643 to 1649, with some work extending to 1652.
Purpose: To establish a unified doctrinal and ecclesiastical framework for England and Scotland.
Key Responsibilities:
Drafting doctrinal statements and church governance policies.
Producing a new Confession of Faith and Catechisms.
Developing guidelines for worship, ordination of ministers, and church discipline.
Major Works:
Westminster Confession of Faith
Larger Catechism
Shorter Catechism
Directory for Public Worship
Form of Presbyterial Church Government
Impact:
Became the doctrinal standard for Presbyterian churches.
Influenced Congregationalists (modified as the Savoy Declaration of 1658).
Adapted by Reformed Baptists (1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith).
Theological Roots: Based on Scotch and English Calvinism.
Influences:
Irish Articles of Faith (1615) (drafted by James Ussher).
Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England.
Earlier Reformed confessions (e.g., Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism).
Pietism
Pietism (1600s): A movement primarily based in Germany, reacting against dead orthodoxy in the Lutheran Church.
Key Figures:
Philipp Jakob Spener and August Hermann Francke (began the movement at Halle).
Later influenced by Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf and the Moravians.
Core Emphases:
Individual experience over mere theological knowledge.
New birth (personal conversion experience).
Spiritual discipline (devotional life and practical godliness).
Lay involvement in the church (priesthood of all believers).
Renewal preaching (heartfelt, experiential sermons).
Love for all people (including missions and social concern).
Legacy: Played a major role in the modern missionary movement, influencing figures like the Moravians and later evangelical revivals.
Great Awakening(s)
First Great Awakening (1741-1745)
A revival movement that swept through the New England colonies, marked by an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Key Figures:
George Whitefield – powerful itinerant preacher.
Jonathan Edwards – theologian and defender of the Awakening.
Gilbert Tennent – preached “The Danger of an Unconverted Ministry”.
Characteristics:
Reformed preaching led to thousands of genuine conversions.
Emotional and experiential faith became emphasized.
Criticism and abuses led Edwards to write “Distinguishing Marks” and “Treatise on the Religious Affections” to defend true revival.
Impact:
Strengthened evangelical identity in America.
Deepened religious devotion and personal piety.
Created divisions between Old Lights (skeptical of revivalism) and New Lights (embraced revival).
Second Great Awakening (1800-1825)
Response to religious decline in America, bringing a widespread revival.
Key Differences from the First Great Awakening:
Extended into the frontier (not just New England).
Longer duration and greater emotional fervor than theological precision.
Key Features:
Mass conversions and increased church growth.
Camp meetings and revivalistic preaching (especially on the frontier).
Arminian theology became dominant.
Moral and social impact, including:
Check on Deism’s growth.
Expansion of missions (both home and foreign).
Birth of social reform movements (abolitionism, temperance, etc.).
Lasting Impact:
Revivalism became a permanent feature of American evangelicalism.
Strengthened Methodism and Baptists, while weakening traditional Calvinist dominance.
Old School/New School
1837: The formal division between Old School and New School Presbyterians.
This was the controversy over the Second Great Awakening. There was an effort to create a cooperative plan for reaching the frontier out of which emerged a debate over seeming doctrinal indifference. The Old School were strict subscriptionists, and skeptical about the excesses of the Cane Ridge revivals and the New Measures of Finny. The New School were, at best, lax subscriptionists, and often Arminian or rationalists. This controversy would split the Presbyterian Church into two denominations in 1837, a division that would last until the reunification—only to split again along North-South line in the Civil War Era.
Auburn Affirmation
The Auburn Affirmation was issued by a group of Presbyterian ministers in 1924 in Auburn, New York, as a response to the growing divide between liberals and conservatives in the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (PCUSA). It aimed to safeguard the unity and liberty of the church by promoting tolerance and freedom of belief in theological matters. However, it ultimately became a point of contention in the fundamentalist-modernist controversy that characterized much of 20th-century American Christianity.
It rejected the requirement for ordained ministers to commit to the five essentials of fundamentalist theology, which were:
Inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture
The virgin birth of Christ
Substitutionary atonement
Christ’s real and historical resurrection
The performance of miracles by Jesus
