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Timeline 0 - 2024

35
b.Ignatius. His letters to churches and to Polycarp are widely quoted in the early church
51
The Jewish persecution of Christians in Rome becomes so disruptive that the Jews are expelled from the city
60
b. Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis in Asia Minor. "He was a man of long ago and the disciple of one 'John' and a companion of Polycarp," according to Irenaeus
64
Emperor Nero (reign 54–68) blames the fire that destroys much of Rome on the Christians. He persecutes the church ruthlessly, and uses Christians as candles to light his garden. It is likely that both Peter and Paul were executed during this persecution
Head of  Nero, Wikimedia Commons

Head of Nero, from an oversized statue, about 2.40 m height.

69
b. Polycarp, in Smyrna. He was a strong defender of the faith in Asia Minor combating the Marcionites and the Valentinians. Irenaeus reported that Polycarp had communication with John the Apostle and 'others who had seen the Lord'
81 - 96
Reign of Domitian. As Emperor, he persecuted both Jews and Christians
c. 96 - 101
d. Clement of Rome. He wrote influential epistles to Corinth
Martyrdom of St. Clement by Bernardino Fungai, between 1498 and 1501.

According to tradition, Clement was martyred by drowning with an anchor. He is associated with anchors in art, and is often depicted in Papal garb, because he was a very early bishop of Rome.

98 - 117
Reign of Trajan. Trajan eventually instituted a policy toward Christians that staid in effect until the time of Aurelius. His policy was not to seek Christians out, but if they were brought before the authorities they were to be punished, usually executed, for being Christians
99
By the end of the first century it is possible to document congregations in almost every city that Paul visited on his three missionary journeys. There are also a few churches in Egypt and along the coast of Northern Africa
107
Ignatius led to Rome and martyred
115
b. Ireneaus, the first great Catholic theologian and author of Against Heresies, a treatise against the gnostics
130
d. Papias
130
Conversion of Justin Martyr. Justin loved philosophy, and had studied many philosophies and pagan religions in his search for truth. He was an apologist, and taught that the seeds of truth (logos) could be found in all religions, but that only Christianity taught the whole truth
Saint Justin dans André Thevet, Les Vrais Pourtraits et Vies Hommes Illustres

Saint Justin dans André Thevet, Les Vrais Pourtraits et Vies Hommes Illustres

144
Marcion excommunicated for rejecting the Old Testament, rejecting most of the New Testament, and teaching that Christ only appeared to be human (Docetism). His challenge helps the church realize the necessity of formally recognizing the canon
150
b. Clement of Alexandria. He was an apologist who used Plato to support Christianity, and tried to reach gnostics by showing that only the Christian had real "gnosis." He helped establish the allegorical method of interpreting scripture. His works make up a large proportion of The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. II
155
Polycarp was martyred in Smyrna by being burned to death. Polycarp declared, "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?" The only known writings to survive are parts of letters he wrote to the Philippians
156
Possibly the beginning of the Montanist movement. They were an aescetic movement with apocalyptic visions. They claimed the Spirit spoke directly through their prophets and prophetesses
160
b. Tertullian. He objected to Justin's use of philosophy to defend Christianity, saying "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?." Late in life he became a Montanist and wrote Against Praxeas, which helped the church understand the Trinity
161
Marcus Aurelius becomes emperor. He abandoned Trajan's passive approach and actively sought Christians to persecute them throughout the empire
165
Justin is martyred
180
The end of Aurelius's reign
185
b. Origen. Pupil of Clement of Alexandria, he further develops the allegorical method. This and his desire to relate to the Neoplatonists in Alexandria led him away from orthodoxy in some matters. But he is still important to the church. On First Principles is the first systematic theology
202
Septimus Severus tries to unite the empire under one religion, the worship of the Unconquered Sun. Both Jews and Christians refuse and are vehemently persecuted
c. 202
d.Irenaeus, possibly martyred
Icon of Saint Irenaeus or Lyons. Quote from Against Heresies.

Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies

202
Clement of Alexandria flees to Syria until his death in 215
216
b. Mani, founder of Manichaeism. He fused Persian, Christian, and Buddhist elements into a major new heresy
225
d. Tertullian
245
Conversion of Cyprian
247
Cyprian becomes Bishop of Carthage
249 - 251
The reign of Decius. He ordered everyone in the empire to burn incense to him. Those who complied were issued a certificate. Those who did not have a certificate were persecuted. Many Christians bought forged certificates, causing a great controversy in the church. Cyprian went into hiding during the persecution and ruled the church by letters
251
b. Anthony. One of the earliest monks. He sold all his possessions and moved to the desert. Athanasius later wrote his biography
"Saint Anthony" engraving from 1564. From the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

“Actions speak louder than words; let your words teach and your actions speak.” - St. Anthony

253 - 256
254
d. Origen
254
The Novatian schism develops concerning the treatment of the lapsed. (The Novatians, or Cathari, last until about 600. Read the Catholic view of the schism.) Cyprian refuses to accept the validity of baptism by schismatic priests. The church in Rome is critical of Cyprian's view, and sends him scathing letters
258
Cyprian is martyred before the issue is settled
263
b. Eusebius of Caesarea. He was the first church historian. Many works of the early church survive only as fragments in Eusebius's writing
284
The beginning of the Diocletian persecution
286
b. Pachomius, Egyptian pioneer of cenobitic (communal rather than solitary) monasticism
c. 297
b. Athanasius, the defender of Orthodoxy during the Arian controversy of the fourth century.
305
The end of the Diocletian persecution
310
b. Apollinaris, the heretic who said that Jesus had a human body but not a human mind; He had the divine mind. Gregory of Nazianzus' reply: "What has not been assumed cannot be restored"
311
b. Ulfilas
312
Constantine defeats Maxentius at the battle of Milvian Bridge and becomes Emperor of the West. Constantine had had a vision, and used the letters chi and rho (the first two letters in "Christ") as his symbol during the battle
Late Renaissance Flemish painting based on an engraving based on a painting in the Vatican, whose subject is Constantine the Great at the Milvian Bridge

Late Renaissance Flemish painting based on an engraving based on a painting in the Vatican, whose subject is Constantine the Great at the Milvian Bridge.

312
Caecilian elected bishop of Carthage. He was lax toward the Traditores, who had saved themselves by handing over scriptures during the Diocletian persecution. And he seemed unenthusiastic about the martyrs. A group in Carthage rejected Caecilian's election on the grounds that he was ordained by a traditore. They elected a rival bishop named Majorinus
313
Edict of Milan gives Christians equal rights. It is issued by Constantine in the West and Licinius in the East, but Licinius soon withdraws his committment to it
314
By this date, there is a significant number of Christians in Britain
315
Majorinus dies, Donatus is his successor. This party becomes known as the Donatist party
316
The Donatists appeal to Constantine, but he rules against them. Then he outlaws them and banishes them in an effort to unite the church
324
Constantine defeats Licinius and becomes Emperor of both East and West. Constantine favored Christianity, which effects the face of the church even today
325
Council of Nicea condemns Arianism. Arius, in Alexandria, taught that Christ was the first created being, that there was a time when He was not. The council declared that Jesus was begotten, not made, and that He is Homoousios, of the same substance as the Father
328
Athanasius becomes bishop of Alexandria
328
Constantine revokes the sentence against Arius
329
b. Basil the Great of Cappadocia, the monk who created the basic Rule for the Eastern Orthodox monks that is still in use today. Basil taught communal monasticism that serves the poor, sick, and needy. One immediate effect of the disappearance of persecution is the rise of monasticism to replace the old martyr witness
335
b. Martin of Tours, a great monk who is famous for his compassion for the poor
337
d. Constantine
339
b. Ambrose the Churchman, who fought Arianism and the revival of paganism, and promoted the power of the Church.
340
d. Eusebius of Caesarea
340
Ulfilas converted to Arian Christianity. He takes it to the Germanic tribes, gives them an alphabet, and translates the Bible into their language. Most of the Germanic tribes became Arian Christians
345
b. John Chrysostom, "Golden Mouthed." He was a bold and reforming preacher, who used the Historical-grammatical method of exegesis. This was unusual, because exegetes had been looking at the allegorical interpretation ever since Clement of Alexandria and Origen
346
d. Pachomius
347
b. Jerome, the great Bible scholar and translator, author of the Vulgate
353
Emperor Constantius releases his pro-Arian campaign and drives Athanasius from Alexandria
354
356
d. Anthony, at a very old age
361 - 363
Reign of Julian the Apostate, who converted from Christianity to paganism and restored paganism in Rome
361
Julian the Apostate removes the restrictions against the Donatists
367
A letter of Athanasius names the 66 books of the canon
369
b. Pelagius
373
d. Athanasius
379
d. Basil the Great of Cappadocia
379 - 395
The reign of Theodosius, who establishes Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire
381
Council of Constantinople. The Nicene position becomes dominant again, and the legal religion of the Empire. Jesus Christ is truly human, contrary to Apollinarianism, which held that Jesus had a human body but a divine mind. The Great
381
Cappadocians are the inspiration behind the defeat of Arianism at this council. They are St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, and St. Gregory of Nyssa
382
A council in Rome affirms the authority of the New Testament canon. It is important to remember that the content of the canon was not a conciliar decision. The church recognized, or discovered, the canon. The church did not determine the canon
383
d. Ulfilas
386
Augustine was converted in a garden in Milan after hearing a child saying "Take up and read!" He took up Romans 13: 13-14.
387
Augustine baptized by Ambrose
c. 389
b. St. Patrick. He was a British Romanized Christian who established Christianity in Ireland
390
d. Apollinaris
390
b. Leo the Great, an outstanding pope. He was influential in Chalcedon. He also argued for papal supremacy and showed political leadership in his negotiations with Attila the Hun
391
Augustine ordained a priest in Hippo, North Africa
393
The Council of Hippo recognizes the canon. To be recognized as canonical, a book had to be Apostolic, fit in with the other scriptures, and have been of fruitful use throughout the church up to that time
395
Augustine becomes bishop of Hippo
397
d. Martin of Tours
397
The Council of Carthage agrees with the Council of Hippo
397 - 401
Augustine writes Confessions
398
John Chrysostom becomes bishop of Constantinople
400
d. Nestorius, the heretic who said that Mary was the bearer of Christ (christokos), but not the bearer of God (theotokos). He could not call a three month old Jesus God. So he said that Jesus Christ was two persons, whose only union was a moral one
407
d. Chrysostom
410
The Fall of Rome to Alaric and the Visigoths
411 - 430
Augustine's Anti-Pelagian writings. Pelagius rejected the idea that we all fell in Adam (Federal Headship), original sin, and the sin nature. We could earn our salvation by works, so grace is not necessary.
Augustine insisted that we all sinned in Adam, and spiritual death, guilt, and our diseased nature is the result. God's grace is necessary not only to be able to choose to obey God's commands, but to be able to choose to turn to God initially for salvation.
413 - 426
Augustine writes The City of God. Some people blamed the fall of Rome on the Christians, saying it happened because Rome abandoned paganism. This is Augustine's responce, along with many diversions.
418
The Council of Carthage anathematized the teachings of Pelagius.
420
d. Jerome
420
d. Pelagius
429
Arian Vandals cross into Africa. After this, Western Emperors became puppets of Germanic generals
430
d. Augustine
431
Council of Ephesus. Jesus Christ is one person, contrary to Nestorianism, which held that Christ was two persons, one divine and one human
448
Leo writes an epistle to Flavian, The Tome of Leo, to encourage him. It encapsulates the Christology of the church, drawing from Augustine and Tertullian
449
The Latrocinium (Robber's) Council. Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria, presided. This Council declared Eutychianism, which held that Christ had only one nature, to be orthodox. According to this heresy, His humanity was not like ours. This would make redemption impossible. The council deposed Flavian, the orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople
451
Council of Chalcedon. Eutychianism is condemned, Dioscorus is deposed, The Tome of Leo is confirmed. Jesus Christ is "two natures, the Divine of the same substance as the Father (against Arianism), the human of the same substance as us (against Eutychianism), which are united unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably(against Nestorianism)." The church remains divided over these issues for the next 200 years
c. 461
d. St. Patrick
461
d. Leo the Great
476
The last Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, is deposed by Odoacer, a German general
480
b. Boethius, a significant thinker who influences the Middle ages. In The Consolation of Philosophy he tries to find comfort in reason and philosophy. He doesn't quote scripture
480
b. Benedict of Nursia, who wrote the normal Rule for Western monks to the present
521
b. Columba, Irish missionary to Scotland working from the isle of Iona.
J. R. Skelton (Joseph Ratcliffe Skelton; 1865–1927) (illustrator), erroneously credited as John R. Skelton, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Columba banging on the gate of Bridei, son of Maelchon, King of Fortriu. J. R. Skelton (Joseph Ratcliffe Skelton; 1865–1927) (illustrator), erroneously credited as John R. Skelton, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons


525
d. Boethius
529
The Council of Orange approves the Augustinian doctrine of sin and grace, but without absolute predestination
540
b. Gregory the Great
540
b. Columban, Irish missionary to the continent when it was struggling with a resurgence of paganism
550
d. Benedict of Nursia
560
b. Isidore of Seville, whose Book of Sentences was the key book of theology until the twelfth century
575
Gregory the Great becomes a monk
590
Gregory the Great becomes pope. He was a very effective and popular pope during a time when the government was weak. He fed the peasants and protected farms and villages from Lombard invasion. His development of the doctrine of purgatory was instrumental in establishing the medieval Roman Catholic sacramental system
596
Gregory sends Augustine of Canterbury to convert the pagans in England. He imposed the Roman liturgy on the old British Christians
597
d. Columba, missionary to Scotland
602
Through Gregory's influence and his baptism of a Lombard King's child, the Lombards begin converting from Arianism to Orthodoxy
604
d. Gregory the Great
613
d. Augustine of Canterbury
615
d. Columban, missionary to the continent
622
Mohammed's flight from Mecca to Medina, the beginning of Islam
635
The Nestorian church did not disappear after the council of Ephesus in 431. They evangelized east. By 635 Nestorian Christianity had reached the heart of China, but it disappeared after two hundred years
636
d. Isidore of Seville
637
b. Wilfrid, British missionary to Belgium
663
Synod of Whitby reconciles the old British liturgy and the Roman liturgy
675
b. John of Damascus, an important Eastern Orthodox mystic
680
b. Boniface, who brought Anglo-Saxon Christianity to the pagans in Germany. He cut down the pagan's sacred tree and built a church out of it
c. 700
8th Century Composition of Be Thou My Vision
709
d. Wilfrid
711
Islam has spread from India to North Africa. All of North Africa is under Islamic control
720
Muslims take Spain
726 - 787
The iconoclastic controversy. Emperor Leo III attacked the use of images. John of Damascus defended the use of icons in worship by differentiating between veneration and worship. He also argued that the use of images is an affirmation of Christ's humanity, because a real person can be depicted. The opposition responds that images of Christ are not valid depictions because they can only represent his humanity, but not his divinity
732
Europeans turn back the Muslims at the Battle of Tours
749
d. John of Damascus
754
d. Boniface
787
Council of Nicea supports the decision of John of Damascus concerning icons. This decision was not well recieved in the West because John's words for veneration and worship were difficult to translate
800
Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne head of the Holy Roman Empire (a.k.a. the Nominally Christian Germanic Kingdom). His dynasty is called the Carolingian Empire. His reign is the cultural high point of the Early Middle Ages
875 - 950
The Dark Ages. The Carolingian Empire was weakened and was assailed by new invaders. This period also marks the low point of the papacy
1014
Pope Benedict VIII officially added filioque to the Nicene Creed. It means that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. He did this to insist on the equality of the deity. But the Eastern Church insists that the Holy Spirit came from the Father through the Son. They are offended that the West altered the Creed without an ecumenical council
1033
b. Anselm, father of scholasticism. He proposed the ontological argument for the existence of God. He argued for the necessity of the Incarnation and Redemption of Christ
1054
Pope Leo IX's delegate, Cardinal Humbert, laid a sentence of anathema on the alter of St. Sophia, the most prestigous Eastern Orthodox church. The two churches are permanently separated
1073
Pope Gregory VII excommunicated Emporor Henry IV. The high point of papal supremacy
1079
b. Peter Abelard, the Refiner of Scholasticism. He came to some heretical conclusions. For example, he believed that the death of Christ was just a moral example for us to follow. His autobiography is called A History of Calamities, in part because he was emasculated for having an affair with his young neice
1079
Under the Seljuk Turks, the Muslims are more determined than previously to keep the Christians from making pilgrimages to the Holy Land
1093
b. Bernard of Clairvaux, the most influential person of his day. He helped reform the monastaries. He was a great preacher, in spite of his allegorical exegesis. And he was Augustinian in his doctrines of grace, which later gave Calvin and the other reformers an anchor in the High Middle Ages
1096 - 1099
The First Crusade fought for lofty ideals. The pope wanted to save Constantinople, save the Byzantine Empire, and thus heal the breech between the Eastern and Western Church. They were able to temporarily regain the Holy Land
1100
b. Peter Lombard, scholastic author of Four Books on the Sentences, the standard theological text for 200 years. It influenced Calvin's Institutes
1109
d. Anselm
1140
b. Peter Waldo in Lyons, France. He is the founder of an old, old protestant church (300 years before Luther). The Waldensian church still exists in some parts of the world today, but in most countries it merged with the Methodists and Presbyterians. Waldensians stress the authority of scripture and lay preaching. They also come to reject salvation by sacraments
1143
d. Peter Abelard
c. 1147
The Second Crusade. Bernard of Clairvaux was the chief motivator of this crusade, but somehow his reputation survives it. It was a disastrous failure. The failure was blamed by the Westerners on the lack of committment of the Eastern Church. The wedge is driven deeper
1153
d. Bernard of Clairvaux
1174
Peter Waldo converted
1179
Two of Waldo's followers (called Waldensians) are laughed out of the Third Lateran Council after being tricked into saying that Mary was the mother of Christ. They didn't know they were agreeing with Nestorius
c. 1181
b. Francis of Assisi
1184
Waldensians are declared heretical
1187
Muslims retake Jerusalem
1189 - 1192
The Third Crusade is an ineffective attempt to recover Jerusalem
1200 - 1204
The Fourth Crusade. The Crusaders finished this crusade by looting Constantinople, the seat of the Eastern Orthodox church. So much for the lofty ideals of the First Crusade
1209
Innocent III proclaims a "crusade", a papal inquisition, against the Waldensians
1212
The Children's Crusade. The children felt they could take the Holy Land supernaturally because they were pure in heart. Most of them were drowned, murdered, or sold into slavery
1215
Fourth Lateran Council requires annual communion for salvation. Also condemns the Waldensians. They are persecuted for the next 600 years. They sought refuge in the Alps, and thus were not directly involved in the Reformation of Luther until later
1216
Papal approval for the Dominicans, the Order of Preachers. Their purpose was to oppose heresy with piety, learning and zeal
1219 - 1221
The Fifth Crusade. The crusaders temporarily held Damietta in Egypt. Francis of Assisi went with the crusaders. But where they stopped, Francis kept going. He went unarmed into the presence of the sultan and preached to him
1224
St. Francis's Stigmata, a mystical experience of the wounds of Christ
c. 1224
b. Thomas Aquinus, the chief teacher of the Catholic Church. Author of Summa Contra Gentiles, an apologetic handbook for Dominican missionaries to Jews, Muslims, and heretics in Spain, and Summa Theologica, the theological textbook that supplanted Lombard's Sentences as the chief theological work of the Middle Ages
1225
Francis writes "The Canticle of the Sun", which we know as "All Creatures of Our God and King"
1226
d. Francis
1229
The Sixth Crusade. Frederick II temporarily gained Jerusalem by making a treaty with the sultan
1232
b. Raymund Lull, first missionary to the Muslims
1248
The Seventh Crusade. St. Louis IX of France is defeated in Egypt. This was the last crusade. The final result of the crusades is that the western Christians drove a wedge between the Church and the Jews, between the Church and the Muslims, and between the Western and Eastern Church.
c. 1300 - 1400
The Black Death. 1/3 of the population from India to Iceland is wiped out, including about 1/2 of Britain
1309
The beginning of the "Babylonian Captivity of the Church." For 70 years the papacy was in Avignon and under the thumb of the King of France. The papacy was pro-France, and Britain was at war with France
1316
Raymund Lull stoned to death
1330
b. John Wycliffe, the most important theologian in Oxford, the most important university in Europe. He taught that we must rely altogether on the sufferings of Christ. "Beware of seeking to be justified in any other way than by His righteousness"
1337
Beginning of the Hundred Years' War
1349
d. Thomas Bradwardine, who influenced Wycliffe to adopt Augustine's doctrine of grace and to reject the Semi-Pelagianism of the Roman Catholic church
1371
b. John Huss, Bohemian pre-reformer. He was greatly influenced by Wycliffe. He rejected indulgences and said Christ is the head of the Church, not the pope
1377
The end of the "Babylonian Captivity"
1378
The Great Schism. Pope Gregory XI moves the papacy back to Rome. France declares Clement VII pope in Avignon. There are two competing popes for close to 40 years
1380
b. Thomas a Kempis, author of Imitation of Christ
1381
The Peasant's Revolt. 30,000 angry peasants descend on London
1381
Because of his sympathy for the peasants, Wycliffe is suspected of involvement with the revolt. He is banished from Oxford. During this period, he and his followers translate the Bible from the Vulgate into English
1384
d. Wycliffe, of natural causes
1415
Council of Constance condemns Wycliffe
Jul 6, 1415
Council of Constance burns John Huss, in violation of the Emperor's promise of safe conduct. The Emperor is told "It is not necessary to keep one's word to a heretic."
1417
The Council of Constance deposes both popes and elects a new one. This ends the Great Schism. It is a high point for Conciliarism, the idea that the councils are superior to the papacy
1428
The Catholic Church burned the bones of Wycliffe and threw them in the Swift river
1452
b. Savonarola, the great preacher. He taught the authority of scripture and understood the shortcomings of the Church
1453
End of the Hundred Years' War
1483
b. Martin Luther
1492
Erasmus ordained. Erasmus's Humanist movement was beginning to stir some members of the church to moral reform
1492
Columbus sails. Repercussions ensue
1497
b. Philip Melanchthon
1498
d. Savonarola
1504
b. Heinrich Bullinger
1507
Luther is ordained as a preist at Erfurt
1507
Henry VIII becomes King of England in 1509
1509
b. John Calvin
1510
Luther sent to Rome on monastic business. He saw the corruption of the church
1513
Leo X becomes Pope
1514
b. John Knox
1515
While teaching on Romans, Luther realizes faith and justification are the work of God
1517
Zwingli's reform is also underway
Oct 31, 1517
Luther nails his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg. It is the first public act of the Reformation
1519
Charles V becomes Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
Jan 3, 1521
Luther is excommunicated. Wikipedia entry...
Apr 17, 1521
“Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. [Here I stand. I can do no other.] God help me. Amen.” - Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms. The bracketed part probably wasn’t actually spoken, but it has long been associated with the speech, and is often quoted. Think of it as a famous, almost contemporary, summary of the actual speech.
1525
The Bondage of the Will. Many of the essays, discourses, treatises, conversations, etc. that Luther had over the years are collected in his Table Talk
Martin Luther by Lucas Cranach der Ältere

Martin Luther by Lucas Cranach der Ältere, painted in 1526 - a portrait that is considered the one that bears the closest resemblance to Martin Luther

1529
The Colloquy of Marburg Luther and Zwingli met, but could not iron out their differences on the theology of the Lord's Supper. Wikipedia entry...
1531
d. Ulrich Zwingli
c. 1532
Calvin's conversion
1534
Henry VIII declares himself "The only supreme head in earth of the Church of England"
1535
Anabaptists take over Muenster
1536
d. Erasmus
1536
Menno Simons rejects Catholicism, becomes an Anabaptist, and helps restore that movement back to pacifism
1536
William Tyndale strangled and burned at the stake. He was the first to translate the Bible into English from the original languages
1536
First edition of Calvin's Institutes
1540
Jesuit order is founded. The Catholic Reformation is under way
c. 1543
Knox converted
1545
The Council of Trent begins
1546
d. Luther
1547
The young Edward VI becomes King of England. The Duke of Somerset acts as regent, and many reforms take place
1549
Consensus Tigurinus brings Zwinglians and Calvinists to agreement about communion
1553
Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary) begins her reign. Many protestants who flee Mary's reign are deeply impacted by exposure to a more true reformation on the continent. John Knox is among them
1558
Elizabeth is crowned, the Marian exiles return
1559
Last edition of the Institutes
1559
The Act of Uniformity makes the 1559 Book of Common Prayer the standard in the Church of England and penalizes anyone who fails to use it. It is not reformed enough for the Puritans
1560
b. Jacobus Arminius
1560
Parliament approves the Scot's Confession, penned by the six Johns (including Knox)
1561
d. pacifist Anabaptist leader Menno Simons
1563
The Council of Trent is finished
1564
d. John Calvin
1566
1567 - 1568
The Vestments Controversy. Puritans did not want the ceremony and ritual symbolized by the robes of the Church of England
1571
Thirty Nine Articles are finalized
1572
d. John Knox
1572
b. John Donne, devout Anglican minister and poet
1572
Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, the worst persecution of Huguenots
1575
d. Bullinger
1582
The General Assembly in Scotland, with Andrew Melville as moderator, ratifies the "Second Book of Discipline." It has been called the Magna Carta of Presbyterianism
1593
b. George Herbert, Anglican country parson and poet
1596
b. Moses Amyrald, founder of Amyraldianism, which is basically Calvinism minus limited atonement. Amyraldianism became the theology of the School of Saumer in France
1596
b. Descartes, founder of rationalism
1598
Edict of Nantes grants Huguenots greater religious freedom
1603
Arminius takes the position that predestination is based on fore-knowledge
1603
James I becomes King
1604
The Puritans meet James at Hampton Court. Their hopes are dashed
1609
d. Jacobus Arminius
1610
b. Brother Lawrence
1610
The Arminians issue the Remonstrance containing 5 articles
1611
The King James Version, the most influential English translation of the Bible
1615
b. Puritan Richard Baxter, author of The Reformed Pastor
1616
b. Puritan John Owen, called the Calvin of England
1618
The Book of Sports is published. It contradicts the Puritan view of the Sabbath, but Puritans are forced to read it
1618 - 1619
The Synod of Dort is called in the Netherlands to answer the Arminians. The response forms 5 point Calvinism
1620
Plymouth, Massachusetts colony founded by Puritans
1623
b. Blaise Pascal
1623
b. Francis Turretin
1625
Charles I becomes King. He too is against the Puritans
1628
William Laud becomes Bishop of London and steps up oppression of the Puritans
1628
b. Puritan John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's Progress among many other works of poetry and prose
1629
Charles I dismisses Parliament
1630
John Winthrop and many Puritans migrate to America
1632
b. Locke, founder of empiricism
1633
The Book of Sports is renewed
1636
Harvard founded by Puritans
1638
The National Covenant
1640
Charles I summons Parliament. They curtail his power
1643
The Solemn League and Covenant
1643 - 1646
1646
Cromwell's army defeats the King at the Battle of Naseby
1647
George Fox founds the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
1649
Charles I is executed. Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector
c. 1650
Brother Lawrence became a monk, and "walk(ed) with God around a kitchen for forty years" (Great Christian Books, 57) But he did it to glorify God
1654
Conversion of Pascal. He started collecting notes for an Apology for the Christian Religion. It was unfinished, but his notes were published posthumously as Pensees
1658
d. Cromwell
1660
Charles II becomes King of England
1661 - 1663
John Eliot publishes the Bible in Algonkian, a Native American language. Over the course of his life he also helped plant at least 14 Native American churches
1662
d. Pascal
1662
New Act of Uniformity, over two thousand Puritan pastors resign or are forced out
1675
Philip Jacob Spener's Pia Desideria helps begin the pietist movement
1675
Edict of Nantes is revoked, making Protestantism illegal again in France. Many huguenots emigrated, some stayed and met in secret
1685
b. J.S.Bach, called the fifth evangelist
1687
d. Turretin. His Institutes of Elentic Theology were published the next year
1688
William and Mary take the throne. Puritans are free to preach and establish their own churches
1691
d. Brother Lawrence
1703
b. Jonathan Edwards
1706
Francis Makemie founds the first Presbytery in America in Philadelphia
1714
b. Immanuel Kant, a leader of the Romantic movement. He said knowledge is not what is, but only what our minds can grasp
1714
b. George Whitefield
c. 1720
During the 1720's, revival breaks out as Theodore Frelinghuysen preaches in New Jersey. Revival spreads through Gilbert Tennant to New Brunswick. It is the first stirrings of the First Great Awakening
1727
The Golden Summer. A revival broke out among Count Nikolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf and the Hussite Moravian refugees he had taken in. Many Moravian missionaries were sent overseas
1734 - 1737
The Great Awakening continues as Jonathan Edwards preaches in Massachusettes. Revival spreads to Connecticut
1739 - 1741
George Whitefield joins Edwards. He traveled diligently, traveling between England and America 13 times, and was able to reach about 80% of the colonists with the gospel
1739
The Methodists begin as a parachurch society in London
1741
The conservative Old Side/ pro-revival New Side controversy in American Presbyterianism
1746
Princeton founded by the Presbyterians
1754
Dartmouth founded for Native Americans
1758
Old Side/New Side schism healed
1759
b. Charles Simeon, founder of low-church party of Church of England
1759
b. William Wilberforce, an evangelical in the Church of England, who fought against slavery and wrote Real Christianity
1761
b. William Carey
1764
Brown founded by Baptists
1766
Rutgers founded by Dutch Reformed. All these new colleges were fruit of the Great Awakening
1768
Lady Huntingdon, who brought Methodism to the upper classes and founded "The Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion", opened Trevecca House as a Methodist Seminary
1770
d. Whitefield.
1772
b. Archibald Alexander, who would organize Princeton Theological Seminary
c. 1773 - 1775
Founded, the first black Baptist church in America, Silver Bluff, South Carolina
1779
Olney Hymns produced by John Newton and William Cowper. It includes "How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds" and "Amazing Grace"
1783
b. Asahel Nettleton
1784
John Wesley baptizes Thomas Coke, making Methodism a denomination separate from the Church of England
1787
Archibald Alexander at Hampton Sydney College. May be considered the first early stirrings of the Second Great Awakening
1791
d. Lady Huntingdon
1792
Particular Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen founded, later called the Baptist Missionary Society
1792
b. Charles Finney, inventor of modern revivalism
1792
William Carey preaches "Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God."
1795
London Missionary Society founded
1797
b. Charles Hodge
1799
Church Missionary Society founded
1799
Friedrich Schleiermacher's On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers presented Christianity in a Romantic, subjective light. Precursor to Liberalism
1800
The first camp meeting in Kentucky is presided over by Calvinist James McGready
1801
William Carey's Bengali New Testament published
1801
The Cane Ridge Revival in Kentucky is an early stirring of the Second Great Awakening
1808
Henry Martyn publishes the New Testament in Hindustani
1809
Harvard having been lost to Unitarianism, Andover Seminary is founded
1812
Princeton Seminary founded
1812
b. James Henley Thornwell, the great Southern Presbyterian mind whose influence is still felt in the PCA. Sadly, he defended slavery.
1813
b. David Livingston, missionary and explorer in Africa
1813
b. Soren Kierkegaard
1816
African Methodist Episcopal Church founded by Richard Allen, a freedman who had been the first black Methodist to be ordained as a deacon
1824
Charles Finney leads revivals from Wilmingham to Boston. The Second Great Awakening is underway
1825
Charles Hodge founds the Princeton Review
1833 - 1841
The Oxford Movement, or the Tractarian Movement, attempts to bring the Church of England closer to Catholicism. Tried to popularize the Via Media. Led by John Henry Newman
1834
d. William Carey, called "the Father of Modern Missions"
1834
1835
Hodge's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans
1835
Finney's Lectures on Revivals
1835 - 1837
Adoniram Judson translates the Bible into Burmese
1837
b. Abraham Kuyper
1837
Old School/New School controversy splits American Presbyterianism
1843
The Disruption of the church in Scotland
1844
d. Asahel Nettleton, Calvinist leader who opposed Finney's formulaic view of revivalism during the Second Great Awakening
1845
John Henry Newman converts to Roman Catholicism
1848
b. Mary Slessor, who the Africans she would minister to called "The Mother of All of Life"
1851
d. Archibald Alexander
1851
b. B.B.Warfield, Princeton theologian who would defend inerrancy
1852
b. Adolf Schlatter, a respected conservative voice in liberal Germany
1854
Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary
1855
d. Kierkegaard
1857
Finney's Lectures to Professing Christians written to influence the practice of "Christian Perfection"
1859
Origen of Species, Darwin
1860
Essays and Reviews published. A liberal manifesto by 7 Church of England priests
1861
Spurgeon moves to the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Soon he is preaching to over 6,000 per week
1864
Old School/New School schism healed in the South
1869
Old School/New School schism healed in the North
1870
Vatican I, and the declaration of Papal Infallibility when speaking ex cathedra
1870
Fifty year celebration of Friedrich August Tholuck's professorship at Halle. Tholuck was the spiritual father of thousands of students, and mentored Charles Hodge
1873
d. David Livingston
1874
The Christian Doctrine of Justification and Reconciliation by Albrecht Ritschl reduces Christianity to a social gospel
1875
d. Charles Finney
Dec 19, 1875
b. Carter G. Woodson, author of the classic "The History of the Negro Church".
1878
1879
John Henry Newman made a Cardinal
1881
1886
Abraham Kuyper leads a major sucession in the Dutch Reformed Church
1886
The Student Volunteer Movement
1886
b. Karl Barth
1890
d. John Henry Newman, who became one of the most influential Roman Catholic thinkers of his time
1892
d. C.H.Spurgeon
1898
Kuyper's Stone Lectures urge the development of a Christian worldview encompassing all of life
1900
What is Christianity by Adolf Harnack reduces Christianity to the personality of Jesus in the synoptics, without any supernatural elements
1905
d. George MacDonald, Christian novelist and Poet
1906
Azusa St. Revival, a major catalyst to the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches
1921
d. B.B.Warfield
1922
Shall the Fundamentalists Win? sermon by Harry Emerson Fosdick
1922
Shall Unbelief Win? sermon by Clarence Edward Macartney
1923
Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen
1925
Scope's Monkey Trial brings national attention to Fundamentalism
1929
Machen and others found Westminster Seminary after Princeton is lost to the liberals
1934
Conversion of Billy Graham
1936
d. G.K. Chesterson
1941 - 1943
Rienhold Niebuhr's The Nature and Destiny of Man
1945
Dietrich Bonhoeffer hanged by the Nazis
1945
d. Charles Williams, who wrote Christian metaphysical thriller fantasy novels and hung out with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien
1950
Doctrine of the Assumption of Mary
1950
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first of The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
1951
Richard Niebuhr's Christ and Culture
1955
L'Abri Fellowship founded by Francis Schaeffer
1962 - 1965
Nov 22, 1963
1968
d. Karl Barth
1968
Liberation Theology comes to prominence in the second Conference of Latin American Bishops
1968
The God Who is There by Francis Schaeffer
1973
1999
The twentieth century had more Christian martyrs than all the other centuries combined. Find out more from The Voice of the Martyrs