History of Christianity

Jonathan Hill

Description

How did a group of scared peasants from a backwater of the Roman empire - followers of an executed criminal - form the largest religion on the planet? The story of Christianity, its transformation from an illegal sect to the religion of emperors, kings and presidents, and its spread across the globe, is an endlessly fascinating one. The History of Christianity gives readers an overview of these extraordinary 2,000 years. It is a history not only of how Christianity has changed the world, but also of how the world has changed Christianity. The first half of this volume is arranged mostly chronologically to create a single narrative from the age of exploration to the late twentieth century. The second half describes the history of the church in the past hundred years or so, with each chapter focusing on a different part of the world. Boxed features throughout the volume highlight especially important figures or themes from each of these periods. The History of Christianity:The Age of Exploration to the Modern Day will be welcomed by all those wanting a lively and engaging presentation of the people, events, places, and plain curiosities that have formed the Christian story.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• History of religions
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Lion Hudson
• Date de parution: 20 novembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781912552511
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Consulting editors
Michelle Brown
Professor Emerita of Medieval Manuscript Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London
Mark Noll
Research Professor of History, Regent College
Michael Nai Chiu Poon
Asian Christianity coordinator of the Centre for the Study of Christianity in Asia at Trinity Theological College, Singapore
Lamin Sanneh
Formerly Professor of Missions and World Christianity at Yale Divinity School and Professor of History at Yale University
Graham Tomlin
President of St Mellitus College and Bishop of Kensington

This edition copyright 2020 Lion Hudson IP Limited
The author and contributors assert the moral right to be identified as the author and contributors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published by
Lion Hudson Limited
Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Business Park
Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 8DR, England
www.lionhudson.com
ISBN 978 1 9125 5240 5
e-ISBN 978 1 9125 5251 1
First edition 2007
Acknowledgments
Scripture quotations are from The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches in the USA. Used by permission. All Rights Reserved.
All maps and diagrams by Richard Watts of Total Media Services.
Cover image copyright Chr. Offenberg/Shutterstock
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
CONTENTS
Timeline of Christian History
Introduction
1. Christian Beginnings
The Setting
The Roman Empire
Palestine
Judaism
The First Christians
The Resurrection
Jesus (Peter Walker)
Pentecost
The Christian Community
Divisions and Disagreements
A theology of mission: Paul (Jonathan Hill)
Christian Writings
The Faith of the Christians
Living in the Last Days
Faith in Christ
The New Israel
Life in the Church
The Christian Rites
Leading the Community
The Spread of Christianity
Church and Synagogue
Christianity in the Empire
Beyond the Empire
2. The Young Church
The Roman Empire
Christianity in the Empire
Becoming a Christian
Leading the Community
The Christian Life
Ignatius of Antioch (Thomas Weinandy)
The Catacombs
The Christian Problem
Hellenistic Culture
Hellenistic Philosophy
Hellenistic Religion
Other Religions in the Empire
The Hellenizing of Christianity
The Decline of Jewish Christianity
Institutions and Rites
Hellenistic Theology
Heresy, Orthodoxy and the Birth of Theology
The New Prophecy
Ebionism
Gnosticism
The Foundation of Orthodoxy
A Christian philosophy: Origen (John McGuckin)
The Role of Scripture
3. Christian Rome
The Conversion of Constantine
Christians in a Christian Empire
The Arian Conflict
Arius
The Council of Nicaea
The Crisis Deepens
Athanasius, Hilary and Gregory of Nazianzus (Andrew Louth)
The Crisis Resolved
The Monks
Antony of Egypt
The Desert Fathers
The Monastic Ideal
New Disputes
Jovinianism
Pelagianism
Augustine (Andrew Knowles)
Schism
The Empire Crumbles
The Christological Controversy
Cyril of Alexandria (Thomas Weinandy)
4. Africa, the Middle East and the Missions East
The Monophysite Movement and the Byzantine Empire
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (Paul Rorem)
The Monophysites and the Middle Eastern Wars
Monophysitism Outside the Empire
The Armenian Church
Ethiopia
The Nubian Kingdoms
The Church of the East
A Nestorian Church?
Eastern Spirituality, from Ephraim the Syrian to Isaac of Nineveh (John Healey)
Missions to the East
Central Asia
The Early Chinese Church
The Mongols and the Yuan Dynasty
The Malabar Church
Nestorians in Indonesia
The Coming of Islam
The Church of the East under Islam
Nubia in the Age of Islam
Ethiopia in the Age of Islam
New Dynasties, New Wars
The Sabbatarian Controversy
5. The Byzantine Empire
Byzantium and the Orthodox Church
Emperors, Churches and Heaven on Earth
The Monasteries
Christ on Earth and Christ in Paint: The Controversies
The Three Chapters
Monotheletism
From Monotheletism to Iconoclasm
The Isaurians
The Female Emperor and the Second Council of Nicaea
The Final Phase
Other Nations, Other Churches
Rome
Avars, Slavs, Bulgars and Magyars
The Filioque (Thomas Graumann)
Missions to Eastern Europe
A Dwindling Empire
New Heresies
New Enemies, New Defeats
The Last Days
Gregory Palamas (Constantine Scouteris)
6. A New Europe
Europe After the Empire
Italy under the Ostrogoths
Spain under the Visigoths
The Franks
Celtic Christianity
The Conversion of Ireland
A Monastic Church
The development of the monasteries (Thomas O Loughlin)
The Celtic Missions
The Rise of the Papacy
The Bishops of Imperial Rome
The Papacy and the Barbarians
Mission and the Spread of Papal Power
The church in England (Stephen Platten)
Christianity and paganism (Lesley Abrams)
Christianity in the Vice: The Late Dark Ages
Al-Andalus and the Mozarebs
The Carolingians
The Age of Charlemagne
The Carolingian Renaissance
Tradition and innovation in ninth-century theology (Elina Screen)
Hungary: The Eastern Border
The Vikings
7. The High Middle Ages
Medieval Europe
The Emergence of Nations
The Feudal System
Feudalism and the Church
Spirituality, Reform and the Papacy
The Cluniac Movement
Corruption and Reform
Medieval religious life (Justin Clegg)
Carthusians and Cistercians
Innocent III and the Fourth Lateran Council
The Friars
Francis and Clare (Michael Robson)
The World of Faith and Reason
Early Scholasticism
Scholasticism Develops
The Flowering of Scholasticism
Thomas Aquinas (Richard Cross)
Buildings and Beauty
Christendom and Its Neighbours
Relations with the Byzantine Church
The Crusades
The Crusades and Europe
Heresy and Orthodoxy
The Waldensians
The Cathars
The Inquisition (Edward Peters)
The Decline of the Middle Ages
The Avignon Captivity and the Great Schism
Critics and Reformers
8. Russia: The Heir of Byzantium
The Conversion of the Russians
Vladimir and the Links to Byzantium
Christianity Becomes Established
The Third Rome
The Church under the Tatars
Christianizing the Russians (Paul Steeves)
The Threat from the West
The Rise of Moscow
Art, Architecture and Christian Culture
Ivan The Terrible
Ivan IV, the Hundred Chapters Council and a new state church (Paul Steeves)
Monasticism and Spirituality
The Russian Monasteries
Russian Mysticism
The Holy Fools
Early Modern Russia
The Time of Troubles
The Great Sovereign
Sects and Schismatics
9. The Reformation
The Renaissance
New Economies, New Societies
Back to Basics
Humanism and the cult of the text (Kenneth Austin)
Mysticism and Science
The condemnation of Galileo (David Lindberg)
Backlashes
The Renaissance Papacy
The Early Reformation
Martin Luther and the 95 Theses
The New Churches
The Swiss Reformation
The Radical Reformation
The Church of England
The Catholic Response
The Council of Trent
A new spirituality: The Carmelite mystics (Edward Howells)
The Jesuits
The Later Reformation
John Calvin and the Reformed Tradition
The Protestant Rome (Carl Trueman)
Europe Divided
Baptists and Quakers
Witch hunting (Allison Coudert)
The Wars of Religion
Glossary
Contributors
Bibliography
Index
TIMELINE OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY
c. 30 Execution of Jesus of Nazareth.
c. 49 Council of Jerusalem establishes that Christians do not have to be Jewish.
c. 50-c.64 Paul writes letters to different churches.
c. 64 First persecution of Christians, under Nero. Deaths of Peter, Paul, and James the Just.
c. 66-c. 95 Probable dates of the four Gospels.
70 Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.
c. 90 Council of Jamnia marks break between Christianity and Judaism.
c. 95 Persecution under Domitian.
c. 107 Ignatius of Antioch writes to seven churches.
c. 180 Irenaeus of Lyons writes On the so-called gnosis .
c. 190 Osrhoene becomes the first officially Christian state.
c. 230 Origen of Alexandria writes On first principles .
250 Persecution under Decius.
303-11 Persecution under Diocletian and Galerius.
c. 310s-370s Persecutions in Persia under Shapur II.
313 Edict of Milan legalizes Christianity.
325 Council of Nicaea condemns Arianism.
330 Constantinople founded as the Christian capital of the Roman empire.
c. 330 Pachomius writes the first Rule for a Christian monastery.
381 Council of Constantinople condemns Arianism again.
380s Emperor Theodosius effectively establishes Christianity as the official religion of Rome.
393 A council at Hippo establishes the canon of the Bible.
417 Pope Innocent I condemns Pelagius.
c. 426 Augustine of Hippo completes City of God .
431 Council of Ephesus condemns Nestorius.
c. 433 Patrick lands in Ireland and converts King Laoghaire.
451 Council of Chalcedon condemns Eutyches.
484 Roman synod excommunicates Acacius of Constantinople over the Henoticon , marking the first official break between the two churches.
c. 500 Pseudo-Dionysius writes The mystical theology .
c. 530 Benedict of Nursia writes his Rule.
537 Dedication of new cathedral of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople.
553 Second Council of Constantinople condemns the Three Chapters .
590 Gregory the Great becomes Pope.
627 Emperor Heraclius conquers Ctesiphon and restores the True Cross to Jerusalem.
630s Persia, Egypt, Armenia, and Levant conquered by Muslims.
652 Christian Makuria and Muslim Egypt agree the baqt treaty.
664 Synod of Whitby decrees that England will use Roman, not Celtic, rites.
680 Third