Session 12 - History Pt. 1 - The Early Church

Video

First Pause

The Nicene Creed:

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is,
seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven,
was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.

How does this creed state biblical truth?
Can you see the wording directly addressing Arianism (the belief that Jesus wasn’t God)?
What Bible verses can you think of that would back up this creed?
Do you think that it is important that this Creed is held to by all major branches of Christianity the world over?

Second Pause

What do you think of the worldview Augustine puts forward in The City of God?
How important should we consider the views and works of the “church fathers”?

Third Pause

What is your general impression of the state of the Western Church at the beginning of the Renaissance?
How does the situation the Catholic Church ended up in show the importance of not blindly following Church tradition?

Final Pause

Do you think you would have been brave enough to be a dissenter, like a Lollard or a Hussite, in this period immediately before the reformation?
How does can it inspire us that, despite its failings, the Church survived for 1400 and the truth of the gospel was preserved to be rediscovered?

The Timeline thus far

~70 AD – The Death of the Last Apostle
Mid-2nd Century – The Earliest Canons of the New Testament are written
312 AD – Constantine the Great’s “Conversion”
313 AD – Edict of Milan legalises Christianity in the Roman Empire
325 AD – The Council of Nicaea and the Nicene Creed
354-430 AD – Augustine of Hippo
381 AD – (Not mentioned in video) The Council of Constantinople reaffirms the Nicene Creed and expands it to its modern form (technically now the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed)
405 AD – The Bible is translated from Greek into Latin, known today as the Vulgate Bible (an edited form of which was still used by the Catholic Church until at least 1979)
451 AD – The Council of Chalcedon on the nature(s) of Christ and the breaking away of the Coptic Church
5th Century onwards – The Greek East and the Latin West begin to split ways
8th Century – The Gospel reaches China
1054 AD – Official date of “the Great Schism” which separated the Western (Roman Catholic) and Eastern (Orthodox) churches.
1225-1274 AD – Thomas Aquinas
1328-1384 AD – John Wytcliffe
1369-1415 AD – Jan Hus
1453 AD – Constantinople Falls