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Church History – 36 Illustrated Lectures

When Ian completed his Ph.D. and was invited to lecture part-time on Church History at the Scottish Baptist College, he preferred to give an ‘overview’ of the two thousand years. He also did this three times, for eight weeks at a time, at the Asian Theological College in Manila in the Philippines in 2001 and 2002. He similarly taught students at the Faith Mission Bible College from 2008 to 2012 and at the Edinburgh Bible College from 2013 to 2016, as well as ‘Saturday only’ students at the Institute of Biblical Studies, held at the Carrubbers Christian Centre in Edinburgh, every year from 1995 to 2016.
Now that he is no longer able to deliver these lectures in person, he has been asked to make them available in this format, for any who would like an overview of Western Church History.

JesusThe original lectures were a combination of (1) a printed hand-out, which contained an abstract of the lecture and charts, maps and pictures, which the students had open on their desks, and (2) a one-hour oral lecture, which worked through the hand-out and expanded on the material. As it is impracticable to display (1) and (2) together on the average website, they have been combined here into one document for every lecture.
Students were asked to speak for ten minutes on a Topic relevant to the lecture, about halfway through the hour, to break up the time and to get them involved. The guidance given to the students is reproduced here, at the end of the relevant lecture, but there is no record here of what they said.

Overview

Lecture Syllabus

 


Early Church (30-500)fish_mosiac

Introduction, Cradle of Christianity; (Topic) Septuagint
Apostolic Fathers, C2 Apologists; (Topic) C2 Church worship
Early Christianity at Rome and Alexandria; (Topic) Date of Easter
First heresies, New Testament Canon; (Topic) Marcion
Tertullian at Carthage, Christian language; (Topic) Montanus
Cyprian at Carthage, Church government; (Topic) Eucharist
Persecution of Early Church, Constantine’s conversion; (Topic) Constantine’s faith?
Golden Age of Early Church, Chrysostom, Ambrose; (Topic) Jerome and Vulgate
Augustine, Pelagians, Donatists; (Topic) Pelagius
Councils and Creeds to 451; (Topic) Athanasius

 


Middle Ages (500-1500)muslim_helmet

Rise and fall of Papacy to 1500; (Topic) Charlemagne
Monasticism to 1500, Mendicant Orders; (Topic) Benedict ofNursia
Evangelism in West, ‘Christian Europe’; (Topic) Synod of Whitby
Evangelism in East, Division of Church; (Topic) Icons
Crusades, Indulgences; (Topic) Damage by Crusades
Medieval Church life, Schoolmen; (Topic) Anselm
Voyages of Discovery, Catholic ‘Propaganda’; (Topic) Francis Xavier
Movements for reform, Humanism; (Topic) Thomas a Kempis

 


Reformation (1500-1650)

john_calvin
John Calvin
Reformation overview, Martin Luther; (Topic) Philip Melanchthon
Ulrich Zwingli, Reformers’ differences; (Topic) Heinrich Bullinger
Radical Reformers, (a) Anabaptists; (Topic) Anabaptist Munster
Radical Reformers, (b) Mennonites; (Topic) Amish
John Calvin, Arminianism; (Topic) Calvin’s Institutes
English Reformation, Puritans and Pilgrims; (Topic) Westminster Confession
Scottish Reformation, Church government; (Topic) Presbyterianism
Catholic Reformation, Evaluation of Reformation; (Topic) Ignatius Loyola

 


Modern Period (1650-2016)

Pentecost by Fidel Schabet (1813-1874)

Introduction to Modem Period, Deism; (Topic) Quakers
Pietists, Moravians, Early American Christians; (Topic) Count Zinzendorf
Cl8 Evangelical Revivals, Methodism; (Topic) Charles Wesley
C19 Evangelical Revivals; (Topic) D. L. Moody
Cl9 Societies and mission, C19 Denominations; (Topic) David Livingstone
Cl9 Church and Society, The Social Gospel; (Topic) Salvation Army
Pentecostals, Fundamentals, Neo-orthodoxy; (Topic) Dispensationalism
Evangelical Christians, Para-Church groups; (Topic) Albert Schweitzer
Ecumenical Movement, Vatican II; (Topic) Liberation theology
C20 Crusades, Congresses, C20/C21 Church survey; (Topic) John R. W. Stott