An Absurdly Short History o f Christianity Part 5 Enthusiasm amp Doubt The story so far Jewish gt Christian identity shift Formation through persecution Institutionalization First signs of official public role ID: 762686
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AnAbsurdlyShortHistoryofChristianityPart 5Enthusiasm & Doubt
The story so farJewish -> Christian identity shiftFormation through persecutionInstitutionalizationFirst signs of official public role Crusades have mixed resultsEast/West unity disruptedChurch practices draw criticism Politicians resist Church influence Protest leads to schism All sides work on doctrine First signs of pluralism State starts to get the upper hand Church wrestles with ideas Conciliar decision-making First cracks in unity Birth of Islam
When we left off last timeDenominations Emerge Safety Valves &New ExperimentsOutside Europe Roman Retrenchment & Secular Challenges
A certain weariness on all sides
On the Protestant sideBourgeois respectabilityExtremists in eclipseRulers show outward piety Enlightenment brings agnosticism and Deism
NonjurorsKnox Calvinist BUT ? Not a Fan ERI Out & out Catholic Nonjuring Bishops
On the Catholic sideLoss of political influenceErastian effectsOrders lose groundPopular piety remains
Stillapowerto bereckoned with
Protestant Churches’ Other Problem
Great AwakeningsSomewhat Pan-Protestant, but mainly in English-speaking countriesDriven by preachingEmphasized personal & emotional faithLittle impact on Anglicans, Lutherans, QuakersShockwave in Calvinist denominations
First Great Awakening (1730-1755)Preaching tours of George WhitefieldJonathan Edwards“Sinners in the Handsof an Angry God”
First Great Awakening (1730-1755)Aimed mainly at reviving the faith of thosealready in the pewsCreated controversy between those who favoredrevival tactics and believed conversion waspossible (New Lights) – and those who stuck withPredestination (Old Lights)Played a role in evangelizing slaves in southern colonies
FalloutEpiscopal Church(Hooray!) CongregationalChurch (Old Light) Congregational Church (New Light)
Meanwhile, back in EnglandJohn & Charles WesleyOxford Holy Club (early 1720s)Methodist as a term of ridiculeCalvinist & Arminian streamsReform movement Denomination(s)
Major Methodist ideasJustification by faithConstant and sustained action of the Holy SpiritNeed to be “born again”Faith produces inward and outward holinessAll need to be saved - All may be saved - All may know themselves saved - All may be saved to the uttermost
In Catholic countriesSyncretism
Also rising in the 18th CenturyDeismThomas Paine: I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.Matthew Tindal: By natural religion, I understand the belief of the existence of a God, and the sense and practice of those duties which result from the knowledge we, by our reason , have of him and his perfections.
Also rising in the 18th CenturyAgnosticismVoltaire: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocitiesHume: The primary religion of mankind arises chiefly from an anxious fear of future events ; and what ideas will naturally be entertained of invisible, unknown powers, while men lie under dismal apprehensions of any kind, may easily be conceived .
Revolutions in Americaand France also alterthe church-state relationship
Second Great Awakening (1790s-1850s)Targeted mainly at non-believersRomantic, rejection of rationalism and DeismPost-Millennialist, reform-mindedBaptists and MethodistsEpiscopalians, Presbyterians, CongregationalistsMajority of converts were women
Second Great Awakening (1790s-1850s)New denominations…
Second Great Awakening (1790s-1850s)…new movements…
Second Great Awakening (1790s-1850s)…and a new faith
Colonies expand – the Church follows
New challenges
Reaction
ReactionVatican I (1869-1870)Rejected modernism, rationalismDeclared papal infallibilityProvidentissimus Deus (1893)Limited Biblical criticism Longinqua oceani (1898)Condemned “Americanism”
ReactionA Protestant exampleCharles Augustus Briggs (1841-1913)Studied Biblical criticism in GermanyFirst Professor of Biblical Theologyat Princeton Theological Seminary(1891)
ReactionBriggsIn his inaugural address (among other things):Moses didn’t write to PentateuchDavid didn’t write the PsalmsScriptural inerrancy is “is a ghost of modern evangelicalism to frighten children"
ReactionBriggsOne Presbyterian faction (Old Schoolers) tried to have himfiredPrinceton faculty refused, left the denomination in 1892Failed heresy trials in 1892 & 1893, defrocked anyway byPresbyterian denominational leadershipBriggs became an Episcopalian and was ordained in 1899!
New political challengesClergy suffered in the French Revolution(s)1840s – Marx and EngelsLate 19th Century NihilismReaches full expression in20th Century revolutions Major impact on Orthodoxy
Century of WarsWWI – All sides claimedto have a holy missionBetween the wars – Theologians take a lead role in opposing fascism WWII – Destruction ona scale that leads somet o doubt the justice ofGod
As the scene fades for this week…Vastly more Christians in 1945 than in 170019th Century enthusiasm has personalized – and to some extent privatized – faith Religion is no longer the dominant intellectualparadigmOrthodoxy seems to be challenged by pragmatism