Lecture 1: Church History as a Theological Discipline Flashcards
What are 5 reasons we should study church history?
- It helps integrate systematic, Biblical, and practical theology
- Become more able pastors and missionaries in elders, and teachers, educators, and Christians.
- To gain a better grasp of false
- Gain perspective on the present
- Love for God
What did Lord Viscount tell Lord Cornbury was the true use of history?
I think that history is philosophy (or theology) teaching by examples.
Tweedale Definition of Church History
Church history is theology taught by example.
Why is Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones say studying church history would make us better pastors, missionaries, and Christians in general? How did his life prove this?
- He was a doctor for the queen
- He left because he felt the call
- He became the pastor at Westminster Chapel without going to seminary
- He learned theology from studying church history.
- To avoid becoming solely academic in our view of truth and not relating it to daily life.
- Doing that helps us avoid the pitfalls and dangers into which we will fall.
- “…it is always essential for us to supplement our reading of theology with the reading of Church history. We should take our theology in a historical manner. If we do not, we shall be in danger of becoming abstract, theoretical, and academic in our view of the truth; and failing to relate it to the practicalities of life and daily living. If we are careful to learn the lessons of history and to supplement our reading of theology by that, we shall already be prepared, and we shall avoid many of the pitfalls and the dangers into which we shall inevitably fall if we do not do this”
What did Robert Godrey say in his interview with Ligonier Ministries about church history’s ability to help us have a better grasp on false doctrines sneaking into the church?
- “While human cultures change, human needs do not change. The gospel always speaks to those basic needs…Certain patterns and struggles recur throughout history, and the contemporary church can be warned and strengthened by knowing that history. History can also remind us that humans are not motivated by theology alone, but often make their choices on the basis of other factors as well”
- History helps us develop an understanding of human behavior patterns and what people do when they face trial in crisis there.
Martin Llyod Jones said church history can help a preacher avoid what?
- “Church history is one of the essential studies for the preacher, were it merely to show him this terrible danger of slipping into heresy, or into error, without realizing that anything has happened to him” (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers
How and why does Philip Schaff say history helps us gain a better perspective on the present in his book “History of the Christian Church?”
- “Church history is the most extensive, and, including the sacred history of the Old and New Testaments, the most important branch of theology. . . . It has special value for the theologian and minister of the gospel, as the key to the present condition of Christendom and the guide to successful labor in her cause. The present is the fruit of the past, and the germ of the future. No work can stand unless it grows out of the real wants of the age and strikes firm root in the soil of history. No one who tramples on the rights of a past generation can claim the regard of its posterity. Church history is no mere curiosity shop. Its facts are not dry bones but embody living realities, the general principles, and laws for our own guidance and action. Who studies church history studies Christianity itself in all its phases, and human nature under the influence of Christianity as it now is, and will be to the end of time” (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church
What did Jaroslave Pelikan say about tradition vs. traditionalism in his book “The Vindication of Tradition?”
- “Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living”
- The color of the carpet in the church is traditionalism and not important
- He was an historian at Yale
- Church history is about living faith, Living Faith of the Dead.
What scripture is this?
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”
1 Peter 1:3
- Why do we have a Living Hope?
- Because we have a living savior, not a dead hope in a dead savior, but a Living Hope and a living savior.
What did Tweedale say was his top reason to study church history?
- Because he love God
- Whitehead, very famously said that Western history is a footnote on Plato
- We actually can say world history Is a footnote on Matthew 16:18.
- History tells the story of how Jesus is going to fulfill his promise that I will build my church.
- church history tells the remarkable story of how he will build his church, not because of us. More often than not, in spite of us.
How does R.L Dabney say church history relate to God’s eternal plan in his quote from “A Discourse on the Use and Results of Church History?”
“The history of the church and of the world, regarded as a whole is but the evolution of the eternal purpose of that God who ‘worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.’ Deep in the secrets of his own breast is hid the united plan, from which the pattern is gradually unfolded on the tangled web of human affairs. As that decree is one, so history is a unit”
- History is about watching God at work
- We see the evolution of the eternal purposes of God
- The Providence of God is best to read backward.
What does Mark Noll’s book “Turning Points” say about church history?
- He thinks of church history as a collection of turning points
- Church history point to the reason Christianity has endured: “I will build my church.”
- “The history of Christianity has wound its way through vast regions across vast stretches of time and in a vast variety of forms. But it remains the history of those who worship the Lord of Life, who seek to serve him, and whose witnesses they are. . . Despite a tangled history, the promise of the Savior concerning the church has been fulfilled: ‘the gates of Hades will not overcome it’ (Matt. 16:18). But precisely that tangled history points to the reason why Christianity has endured: “I will build my church”
What scripture is this?
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock[a] I will build my church, and the gates of hell[b] shall not prevail against it.
Matt. 16:18
How does Matt 16:18 trump Whitehead’s claim that history is a footnote on Plato?
- We actually can say world history is a footnote on Matthew 16:18.
- History tells the story of how Jesus is going to fulfill his promise that I will build my church in spite of us.
How do you read an ancient text?
Texts In Context - CONTEXTS
- Literary Context - What kind of piece of literature is this?
- Theological Context - what are the theological or philosophical or metaphysical assumptions that are being reflected in this piece?
- What is this person assuming about himself or herself? What is this person assuming about others? What is this person assuming about the world and was this person assuming about God?
- Social Context
- Is this person rich or poor? Is this person operating in the halls of power or writing on the margins of society? Is this person educated or uneducated? There are economic, social, and political factors that shape every single piece of literature.
- Personal Context
- Is this person single or married? Does this person have children or not? Is this person riding at the beginning of his or her career?
