This video series of six half-hour
programs gives a fast-paced overview of the almost 2,000 year history of the Christian
church. It will be a full curriculum kit that you will find convenient to use. The series
is written and presented by our good colleague, Dr. Timothy George, one of the key
advisors on our William Carey film, Candle in the Dark. This series is a fine
addition to our history collection, and we urge you to plan on using it as a basic
introduction to the fascinating and perplexing pilgrimage across the ages of the Christian
peoples and faith. This is a survey course designed to stimulate further your curiosity by
providing glimpses of some of the pivotal events in the spread Christianity and sketches
of great Christian figures who have significantly affected Christian history thereby
shaping the history of the world.
The six programs include:
PART I - The Early Church
From A.D. 65 - the executions of Peter and Paul at Rome
To A.D. 430 - the death of St. Augustine in North Africa
From the executions of Peter and Paul in Rome to the Death of Augustine in North Africa,
we follow the Early Church as it emerges from the womb of Judaism to survive horrendous
persecution and establish itself in the Roman world. New view of history. Constantine and
monasticism. Clarifying doctrine at Nicea, who is Jesus. Monks The great Augustine,
conversion and work
PART II
The Church in the Middle Ages
The Quest for Order in Medieval Christendom
From 410 - Fall of Rome
To 1483 - Birth of Martin Luther
The Challenge posed by barbarian invaders, the Muslim challenge. How the church survived
the so called "Dark Ages" The role of monastaries in preserving the Gospel and
the scriptures. The role of the great institutions. Cathedrals, universities, monasteries,
the great institutions of the Middle Ages. How the peasants found hope and meaning in
Christian faith. Why Thomas Aquinas stopped writing. Scholasticism, reconciling faith and
reason. Reform movements of Francis and others.
PART III
The Reformation:
Division and Renewal Between Medieval and Modern Times
From 1483 - Birth of Luther
To 1564 - Death of Calvin
It was an age of exploration and discovery, of art and literature. The Medieval Church,
however, had placed too much emphasis on the church as an institution. As a result, the
papacy enjoyed unusual power often coupled with unusual corruption. Cries of reform were
heard all over Europe. The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century was a
tremendous movement of spiritual and ecclesial renewal.
PART IV
The Age of Reason and Piety
From 1543 - The Copernican Revolution
To 1738 - Conversion of John Wesley
The Age of Reason and Piety - During the two centuries between the death of Martin Luther
in 1546 and the conversion of John Wesley in 1738, the Christian world experienced a major
paradigm shift from an "age of faith" to an "age of reason." On the
heels of Copernicus’ discovery that the earth is not the center of the universe, rose
"the Enlightenment" - a movement that shifted the focus away from God and to
human creativity.
PART V
A City Set on a Hill
Christianity in the New World
From 1492 - Columbus Discovers the New World
To 1770 - Death of George Whitfield
America was the land of new beginnings. Europe represented for Americans a corrupt past,
whose contamination they wished to escape. This period includes the study of great
traditions such as the Puritans and Quakers, and great movements such as the First Great
Awakening.
PART VI
Into All the World:
Christian Movement in an Age of Uncertainty
From 1789 - Fall of the Bastille
To 1989 - Fall of the Berlin Wall
Christian Movement in an Age of Uncertainty - From the fall of Bastille in 1789 (marking
the beginning of the French Revolution) to the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 (marking
the end of communism), study the Christian movement in an age of uncertainty. William
Carey, the "father of modern missions" carries the Gospel to India; others
followed to remote regions - people like David Livingstone, Lottie Moon, Henry Martyn, and
Hudson Taylor. Explore the Christian Church as it moves into all the world. [P]
