Church History: An Introduction?

[Macarius]

I don't know if anyone here has noticed, but I like Church History a lot. Really a lot. We've received several inquiries from people lately asking how to become more informed about the subject matter; would there be any interest in me posting a series of posts in St. Basil's (our subforum for inquiry / education) rotating chronologically through the major events, persons, texts, and themes of Church History, followed by a chance for further inquiry, dissenting opinion, and discussion?

This would mostly be aimed at those seeking an introduction from an Eastern perspective (though I promise to be as objective as I can be); but those who are as or more informed than myself would be free to dissent and offer their contributions (e.g. I'd just be giving my opinion, so anything I write is open to correction). As this would be in St. Basil's, though, outright debate from non-Orthodox who are not engaged in inquiry would be unwelcome (e.g. someone wanting to promote the RCC perspective overtly, as opposed to someone coming from an RCC perspective - who would be welcome to post dissenting questions as prompts for further inquiry).

If so, cool - I'd enjoy doing that, and can "source" what I write (e.g. tell you where I got it, if I can remember ). If not, no big. I just wanted to offer.

 

[Ortho_Cat]

I would be honored to read such

 

[Dorothea]

Sounds good.

 

[Fotina]

Yes!

 

[-Kyriaki-]

That would be *awesome*

 

[Macarius]

**

 

[Gnarwhal]

Rubs hands together... I can't wait!

 

[beardedone]

I'll look forward to it--and hopefully contribute. I've got a bit of study under my belt in Church History and historical theology. Let me know if you need any help with anything.

 

[-Kyriaki-]

Soooo exciting Can't wait!

 

[GBTWC]

Wow that sounds great!

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Anything missing from this list!? Good Lord! This pretty much covers everything dating back to the beginning of time until about an hour ago, Macarius!

Ok - so there's an interest. The next thing to do would be to settle on the topic list and order.

I don't want to overwhelm (though I'm fairly sure this will) as there's a lot of ground to cover. But keep in mind I'd post maybe one or two of these a week (depending on how busy life gets), so this is a long term project. If we go ahead with this, I'll make a post in St. Basil's with the topic list, and then link future posts back to it so one can use the original post as a sort of "table of contents." The following is, more or less, chronologically what I'd cover.

If there's anything MISSING from the list that you'd like me to cover, let me know


• The Apostolic Church (Overview of AD 33-70)
• Pentecost
• The Apostle Paul & Missions to Gentiles
• Judaizers
• Ebionites
• James the Just
• The Council of Jerusalem
• Composition of the New Testament
• Jewish Wars

• The Church under Pagan Rome (Overview of AD 70-313)
• The Didache
• Clement of Rome
• Ignatius of Antioch
• Pliny and the Emperor Trajan
• The Shepherd of Hermas
• Polycarp of Smyrna
• Gonsticism
• Chiliasm
• Docetism
• Encratism
• Apologists (Justin Martyr)
• Marcion of Sinope
• Valentinus
• Gospel of Thomas
• Diatessaron and Peshitta
• Irenaeus of Lyons
• Quartodecimen Controversy
• Epistle to Diognetus
• Montanism
• Perpetua and Felicitas
• Clement of Alexandria
• Origen
• Tertullian
• Hippolytus of Rome
• The "Apostolic Church Orders"
• Persecutions of Nero, Decius, Valerian, and Diocletian
• Novatian
• Cyprian of Carthage
• Confessors
• Lapsi
• Donatism
• Paul of Samosata
• Manichaeism
• "The Great Church"

• The Classical Church of Late Antiquity (Overview of AD 313-602)
• Eusebius of Caesarea
• Athanasius of Alexandria
• Arius
• Anthony the Great
• Gregory the Illuminator and Tiridates III
• Constantine I
• "Edict of Milan"
• Council of Nicaea 325
• Pachomius
• Ephrem the Syrian
• "The Desert Fathers"
• School of Edessa-Nisibis
• Ulfilas the Goth
• Ethiopian Orthodoxy
• Nubian Orthodoxy
• Arabic Christianity
• Julian the Apostate
• Aphrahates
• Homoousians
• Homoiousians
• Homoeans
• Anomoeans
• Miaphysitism
• Nestorianism
• Aphthartodocetism
• Prosopon
• Hypostasis
• Physis
• Ousia
• Basil the Great
• Gregory of Nyssa
• Gregory the Theologian
• Apollinarius of Alexandria
• Eunomius and the Neo-Arians
• Origenist Controversies
• Cunctos Populos
• Melitius of Antioch (the Meletian schism)
• Council of Constantinople 381
• Ambrose of Milan
• John Chrysostom
• Augustine of Hippo
• Pelegius
• John Cassian
• Martin of Tours
• Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon 410
• Theodore of Mopsuestia
• Diodore of Tarsus
• Theodoret of Cyr
• Nestorius
• Cyril of Alexandria
• John of Antioch
• Council of Ephesus 431
• Eutyches
• Dioscorus of Alexandria
• "Robber Council" 449
• Leo the Great
• Council of Chalcedon 451
• Benedict of Nursia
• Gelasius
• Acacian Schism
• Pentarchy
• Justinian
• Severus of Antioch
• Jacob Baradaeus
• Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon 486
• Indian Orthodoxy
• Council of Dvin 506
• Gregory the Great
• Three Chapters
• Vigilius of Rome
• "Byzantine Papacy"
• Council of Constantinople 553
• Columban
• Isidore of Seville
• Babai the Great

• The Church of the Early Middle Ages (Overview 602-1054 AD)
• Byzantine Persian Wars 602-628
• Heraclius (Herakleios)
• Monoenergism
• Monothelitism
• Honorius of Rome
• Sergius of Constantinople
• Sophronius of Jerusalem
• Arab Conquests 630s to 730s
• Dhimmi
• Maximus the Confessor
• Pope Martin of Rome
• Lateran Synod 649
• Synod of Whitby 664
• Constans II and the Typos
• Council of Constantinople III (680-81)
• East Syrian Stele at Xian (East Syrian Missions)
• Synod in Trullo 691
• Bede the Venerable
• Boniface, Apostle to Germany
• Emperor Leo III
• John of Damascus
• The Umayads and Abbasids
• Constantine V "Copronymous" and the Peuseis
• The Synod of Hiereia 754
• Paulicans
• Empress Irene
• Council of Nicaea II 787
• Libri Carolini and the Synod of Frankfurt 794
• Theodore the Studite
• The Moechian Affair
• The Monastery of Studios and the Studite Reforms
• Catholicos Timothy I
• Pope Leo III
• Charlemagne and the Carolingians
• Alcuin & the Renovatio
• Paschasius Radbertus and Eucharistic Controversy
• Gottschalk of Orbais and Predestination Controversy
• John Scottus Eriugena
• Triumph of Orthodoxy and the Synodikon 843
• Benedict of Aniane
• Patriarch Methodius
• Sts. Methodius and Cyril
• Ratislav and Greater Moravia
• Trilingual Heresy
• Patriarch Photius
• Donation of Constantine
• Pope Nicholas I
• Khan Boris of Bulgaria
• First Bulgarian Empire
• Tsar Symeon of Bulgaria
• Bulgarian Archbishopric / Patriarchate
• Leo VI and the Tetragamy Affair
• St. Olga of Kiev
• St. Vladimir of Kiev
• The Great Lavra and Athonite Monasticism
• Pseudo-Isidorean Forgeries (the Decretals)
• Nilus of Rossan
• Gregory of Narek
• Proprietary Churches (Eigenkirchen)
• Clunaic Reforms
• Filioque
• Azymes
• Gregory VII and Papal Reforms
• Cardinal Humbert
• Patriarch Michael Cerularius

• The Church of the High Middle Ages (Overview 1054 AD-1453 AD)
• Bogomils
• St. Symeon the New Theologian
• John Italus
• The Investiture Controversy
• Crusades (1st and 4th), including Reconquista (Spain, Italy) and Teutonic Knights (Lithuania, Russia)
• Debate of Anselm of Havelberg and Niketas of Nikomedia
• St. Theophylact of Ohrid
• Anselm of Canterbury
• Peter Lombard
• Scholasticism
• Thomas Aquinas
• Medieval Universities
• 12th c. Byzantine Theological Debates
• Gratian
• Gothic Architecture and Art
• Byzantine Successor States (1204-1261) esp. Ecclesiastical structures
• Zagwe and the Solomonic Dynasties (Ethiopia)
• The Mongolian Conquests
• The Fall of East Syrian Christianity
• Maronites (reunion with Rome)
• Innocent III
• Council of Lyon 1274
• The Cistercians
• The Mendicant Orders
• Arsenite Schism
• Metropolitanate of Kiev
• Metropolitan Cyprian (of Russia)
• Council of Blachernae 1285
• Medieval "mystics"
• Boniface VIII and Philip IV of France
• The "Babylonian Captivity"
• The Great Papal Schism and Conciliarism
• Sts. Stephne / Simeon and Sava Nemanja
• Tsar Stephan Dushan
• Second Bulgarian Empire
• Patriarchate of Trnovo
• Patriarchate of Pec
• Hesychasm
• St Sergius of Radonezh
• Metropolitan Isidore
• St. Gregory Palamas, Barlaam of Calabria and Palamite Councils
• Council of Ferrara-Florence 1438-1441
• Latinophrones (e.g. Demetrios Cydones)
• Nicholas Cabasilas
• Patriarch Philotheos
• George Gemistos Plethon
• Cardinal Bessarion
• St. Mark of Ephesus (Eugenicus)
• Autocephaly of the Russian Church (1448)
• Kingdom and Catholicosate of Cilicia

• The Church of the Renaissance and Reformation (Overview 1453-1776 AD)
• Erasmus
• Martin Luther
• John Calvin
• Ulrich Zwingli
• Henry VIII and the Church of England
• Anabaptists
• Council of Trent
• "Counter Reformation" or "Catholic Reformation"
• Jesuits
• Synod of Diamper 1599
• The Uniate Movement
• "Third Rome" ideology
• Possessors and Non-possessors
• "Tubingen Dialogues" with Patriarch Jeremiah II
• Francis Xavier
• Bartolome de Las Casas
• Thirty Years War and Peace of Westphalia
• Patriarch Gennadius (Scholarius)
• Patriarch Cyril I (Lucaris)
• Metropolitan Peter (Moghila) of Kiev
• Kiev Academy
• Patriarch Dositheus (Notaras) of Jerusalem
• Synod of Jassy 1642, Synod of Jerusalem 1672
• Patriarch Cyril V and the baptism of converts
• St. Nikodemos the Haghiorite
• St. Maxim the Greek
• Patriarchate of Moscow
• Russian "Zealots for Piety"
• Patriarch Nikon of Moscow
• Old Believers
• Councils of Moscow 1551 ("Stoglav") and 1666-1667
• Likhoudes brothers (Joannikos and Sophronios)
• Peter the Great and the "Spiritual Regulation" (Duchovny Reglament)
• St. Paisius Velichkovsky
• Coonan Cross Oath 1653
• Puritans
• George Fox and the Quakers
• Portuguese Latinizing Efforts in India
• John Wesley and the Methodists
• Jonathan Edwards
• The Great Awakening(s)
• The Rise of Secularism and Rationalism
• Suppression of the Jesuits
• Religious Foundations of American Colonies (Penn, Balt, Mass)
• Herman of Alaska
• Innocent of Alaska

• The Church and Modernity (Overview 1776-1945 AD)
• The American and French Revolution
• Romanticism
• Greek Independence
• Imperial Russia
• The Rise of Autocephaly and Nationalism
• Italian Nationalism
• Vatican I
• The Restorationist Movement
• The Rise of Evangelicalism
• Communism
• Liberation Theology
• The Russian Revolution
• Persecution of Christians and New Martyrdom
• Pentecostalism and the Charismatic Movement
• Scientism and Fundamentalists
• The Two World Wars

• The Church Today (Overview 1945-2012 AD)
• Existentialism and Post-Modernity
• The Fall of Imperialism in Africa and Asia
• Humanitarian Movement and New Missions
• Ecumenism
• Old Calendarists
• Vatican II
• "Liturgical Theology"
• "Systematic Theology"
• "Contextual Theology" (Feminist and Race Criticism)
• Open Theology and Liberal Theology
• Historicism and the "Historical Jesus" movement
• The OCA Autocephaly Controversy and "Jurisdictionalism"
• The Neo-Patristic Synthesis
• Overthrow of Communism and Church Revival
• Militant Islam and the Middle-East Churches
• Monastic Renewal East and West
• Environmentalism and the Churches
• The New Atheists
• The Rise of the African, Asian, and Latin Churches

 

[Protoevangel]

Hey Mac, would you be interested in doing this using moodle, or another Virtual Learning Environment? I have some webspace, and would take care of the technical aspects, all you would have to do is post the content.

 

[Macarius]

Hey Mac, would you be interested in doing this using moodle, or another Virtual Learning Environment? I have some webspace, and would take care of the technical aspects, all you would have to do is post the content.

Is that video or text based? I would assume I can readily post images and / or link other materials.

Honestly, I'd probably do it both here in addition to there (as opposed to an either / or). I've been wanting to have more materials available here for posters to reference.

 

[Jesus4Madrid]

Macarius,

I for one would read it thoroughly and with delight, although I am a bit of a Church Fathers nerd.

I loved your informative post a few months back about the different loci that Christian denominations have as reference point. That was new for me and seems exactly right. Maybe you should repost that as a framework for viewing Church history.

Have you thought of writing a book? I think there is a desperate need for a comprehensive Orthodox view of Christian history, including heterodox developments, as your outline suggests.

 

[tapi]

Please do realize this idea, your posts are always very helpful and are written with great clarity.

 

[Macarius]

Macarius,

I for one would read it thoroughly and with delight, although I am a bit of a Church Fathers nerd.

I loved your informative post a few months back about the different loci that Christian denominations have as reference point. That was new for me and seems exactly right. Maybe you should repost that as a framework for viewing Church history.

Have you thought of writing a book? I think there is a desperate need for a comprehensive Orthodox view of Christian history, including heterodox developments, as your outline suggests.

I've considered going into the field (e.g. earning a PhD), at which point I'd feel comfortable writing something more extensive / publishable. In the meantime, for the particular interest you just suggested (an Eastern Church perspective on the total narrative of Christian history), the "Church In History" series by St. Vladimir's Seminary Press is superb, though incomplete (it covers only up through the fall of Constantinople).

They're trying really hard to find someone who can write the final two volumes, but unfortunately the history gets SO complex (and so lopsidedly western focused) that all there are are regional specialists or topical specialists. There are few (if any) Eastern-focused scholars who could legitimately do a 'birds eye' view of Christian history in the last 500 years. Such a person would need to know something like a dozen languages (if not more), since they'd be working off of primary source documents and untranslated specialists' works. Finding a contemporary church historian who is Eastern Orthodox and writes in English who speaks Greek, Russian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Latin, French, German, Spanish, Serbian, Arabic, etc... well that's challenging.

 

[rusmeister]

I'm always willing to learn and know there is an absolute ton of stuff there that my knowledge is either sketchy or blank on.

(I wish there was this kind of interest in my fields)

I'm in the middle of moving, but hope I don't miss out on anything good here...

 

[Protoevangel]

Is that video or text based? I would assume I can readily post images and / or link other materials.

Honestly, I'd probably do it both here in addition to there (as opposed to an either / or). I've been wanting to have more materials available here for posters to reference.

These VLE's are generally pretty flexible. I am sure that multimedia (video, audio, images, etc) would be fully supported as well as text, of course.

I'd be honored to be able to help you with this project. I'll look at a couple of VLE's tomorrow, to compare features.

 

[Macarius]

These VLE's are generally pretty flexible. I am sure that multimedia (video, audio, images, etc) would be fully supported as well as text, of course.

I'd be honored to be able to help you with this project. I'll look at a couple of VLE's tomorrow, to compare features.

I've used Edline before, and found it rather slow and clunky. The seminary makes some use of Moodle; it seems functional, but I don't know how many screens one has to navigate to add or move documents / features (something which edline is horribly inefficient in terms of number of "clicks" or screens one has to navigate to do basic things; in a web browser, every click takes time and creates a bottleneck).

But yeah - I'll do it both here and in a VLE if that's what people are interested in. I've got lots of maps and images, as well as good discussion questions, from when I taught the subject.

 

[ProScribe]

Couldn't seem to find the Iconclastic period or the Iconoclast revolt on the list.