Photo of the Week

 

Magnificent, marvelous, matchless love,

Too vast and astounding to tell,

Forever existing in worlds above,

Now offered and given to all.

Oh, fountain of beauty eternal:

The Father, the Spirit, the Son,

Sufficient and endlessly generous--

Magnificent, marvelous, matchless love!

Creation is brimming with thankfulness,

The mountains, exultant they stand;

The seasons rejoice in Your faithfulness,

All life is sustained by Your hand.

You crown every meadow with color;

You paint every shade in the sky;

Each day the dawn wakes as an encore of

Magnificent, marvelous, matchless love.

- from a hymn by Matt Papa

Quote of the Week

"Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind."

- Cicero

A Prayer from Martin Luther

Behold, Lord,

An empty vessel that needs to be filled.

My Lord, fill it.

I am weak in faith;

Strengthen thou me.

I am cold in love;

Warm me and make me fervent

That my love may go out to my neighbor.

I do not have a strong and firm faith;

At times I doubt and am unable to trust thee altogether.

O Lord, help me.

Strengthen my faith and trust in thee.

In thee I have sealed the treasures of all I have.

I am poor;

Thou art rich and didst come to be merciful to the poor.

I am a sinner;

Thou art upright.

With me there is an abundance of sin;

In thee is the fullness of righteousness.

Therefore, I will remain with thee of who I can receive

But to whom I may not give.

Amen.

Church History: The Apostolic Fathers and Apologists (2nd-3rd centuries)

(Click here for the church history series page)

Lecture audio: The Apostolic Fathers and Apologists

(click here to listen or right-click to download)

Lecture Notes Outline

The Apostolic Fathers and Apologists (2nd-3rd centuries)

- The Apostolic Fathers (late 1st - mid-2nd century)
     - Clement of Rome
     - Ignatius of Antioch
     - Polycarp of Smyrna

- Rapid Christian growth in lower classes of urban areas
     - Martyrdom (“witnessing”)
     - Attractive morality   
     - Compassion in action

- The Apologists (mid-2nd - mid-3rd century)
     - Justin Martyr
     - Irenaeus of Lyons
     - Clement of Alexandria
     - Origen
     - Tertullian

- Combating early heresies:
     - Gnosticism
     - Ebionism
     - Marcionism
     - Montanism

Photo of the Week

Sow righteousness for yourselves,

reap the fruit of unfailing love,

and break up your unplowed ground;

for it is time to seek the Lord,

until he comes

and showers his righteousness on you.

- Hosea 10:12

Quote of the Week

"The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good,

but that God will make us good because He loves us."

- C. S. Lewis

A Prayer from Horatius Bonar

Jesus, Sun and Shield art Thou,

Sun and Shield forever!

Never canst Thou cease to shine,

Cease to guard us, never.

Cheer our steps as on we go:

Come between us and the foe.

Church History: The Apostolic Era (1st century)

(Click here for the church history series page)

Lecture audio: The Apostolic Era (1st century)

(click here to listen or right-click to download)

Lecture Notes Outline

From the Gospels to the Apostles’ Successors (1st century)

- Jesus & the Gospels
     - The Gospels as reliable historical documents
     - “The quest for the historical Jesus”
     - Jesus’ message: apocalyptic gospel or institutional church?
     - Assessing gnostic gospels and pseudepigrapha

- Acts & the Apostles
     - Church structure begins to develop
     - Tensions between catholicity and diversity
     - Local persecution & global expansion

- The Post-Apostolic Church
     - Major early areas of rapid Christian growth:
          - Palestine (the Patriarchate of Jerusalem)

          - Syria & upper Mesopotamia (the Patriarchate of Antioch)
          - Egypt (the Patriarchate of Alexandria)
          - Central Italy & North Africa (the Patriarchate of Rome)
          - Asia Minor (later organized under the Patriarchate of Constantinople)
     - Further development of church structure
     - The “parting of ways” between Jews and Christians
     - Persecution by the Imperial state
     - Early Christian worship & practice

Photo of the Week

Spring up my soul, with ardent flight,

Nor let this earth delude thy sight

With glittering trifles, vain and bright;

Wisdom divine directs thy view

To objects ever grand and new, 

To faithful pathways, good and right.

- adapted from a hymn by Philip Doddridge

Quote of the Week

"For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ, 

[and] live much in the smiles of God."

- Robert Murray M'Cheyne

Church History Series

 The Apostolic Era (1st century)

Apostolic Fathers & Apologists (2nd-3rd centuries)

From Persecution to Christian Empire (3rd-4th centuries)

Trinitarian Debates (4th century)

Of Heresies and Councils (4th-5th centuries)

Monasticism & the West (4th-6th centuries)

Eastern Christianity in the Early Middle Ages

Light in the "Dark Ages"

Schisms & Crusades

The Medieval Catholic Church

The Reformation's First Wave (early 16th century)

The Reformation's Second Wave (mid-16th century)

The English Reformation (mid/late 16th century)

The Catholic Counter-Reformation

The Age of Reason and Awakenings, Part 1

The Age of Reason and Awakenings, Part 2

From Europe to the World: Nineteenth-Century Movements

American Christianity in the Nineteenth Century

Global Expansion of the Church in the Twentieth Century

The Challenge of the Present Moment

Update

The busyness of my final PhD push and marketing for my book are catching up with me again, so my apologies for the hit-and-miss nature of my blog posting lately. I've also been wrapping up a lecture course in church history which I did for my local denominational conference, so I hope to be posting those audio files to the blog in the Thursday spot going forward. If you're interested, keep an eye out for some of my podcast interviews that will be hitting the airwaves soon, from Our Urban Voices podcast and the Gospel Mobilization podcast.

Photo of the Week

Pure and holy I would be,

Jesus, Savior, dwell in me,

Seal Thy image on my heart,

Make me perfect as Thou art.

Fount of mercy, life and rest,

King exalted, ever blest,

Thou, on whom I cast my care,

Hear, O hear, and grant my prayer.

- from a hymn by Fanny Crosby

Quote of the Week

"How many there are ... who imagine that because Jesus paid it all, they need pay nothing, forgetting that the prime object of their salvation was that they should follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ in bringing back a lost world to God."

- Lottie Moon, missionary