Church History Study Guide: Early Church to the Twentieth Century

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the major figures, concepts, theological terms, and historical developments from the Early Church through the Twentieth Century.

Luke

Individual believed to have written the book of Acts.

Emperor Trajan (98-117)

Roman Emperor during whose reign the Roman Empire reached its peak.

Pliny the Younger

Official who wrote a letter to Emperor Trajan in 112AD asking how to deal with Christians refusing to worship the emperor.

Thecla of Iconium

Early church leader and "stay at home" aristocrat who was inspired by Paul's preaching to leave her fiancé and travel with Paul.

Emperor Galerius

Roman ruler who temporarily halted persecution, possibly convinced by Christians that an illness was punishment from God.

Emperor Constantine

Leader who became sole Emperor over the East and West after victory over Emperor Licinius and removed all barriers to Christians practicing their faith.

Emperor Worship

Mandatory form of "civil religion" imposed on all Roman citizens.

Didache

A manual from the late 1st to early 2nd centuries that first indicated Christians gathered on Sunday (the first day of the week).

Edict of Milan

Decree that proclaimed freedom of religion in Eastern and Western parts of the Roman Empire.

Monastic

Term originating from the Greek meaning "solitary" or "alone."

Metropolitan Bishop

A bishop who leads all the churches in a city rather than a single community.

Monasticism

Movement characterized by Christians withdrawing from "population" centers and settling in the desert, living either a solitary, ascetic life or a communal religious life.

Fall of the Western Roman Empire

Event in 476 AD when Odoacer overthrew Romulus Augustus (the last Western Roman Emperor); recognized as the beginning of the Middle Ages.

Mohammed (570-632)

Founder of Islam, believed to have spread Islam through military conquest.

St Patrick (390-460)

Missionary who served in Ireland after earlier being taken captive there.

Gregory the Great (540-604)

Founder of the medieval papacy who sent missionaries to England, helping lead its conversion.

Peter Abelard (1079-1142)

Theologian who used reason and logic to debate theological issues and introduced the idea of "limbo" as an afterlife condition for those who died in sins but were not sent to hell.

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

Italian priest, theologian, and philosopher who wrote "Summa Theologia" as a comprehensive rational defense of the Christian faith and wrote proofs for God's existence.

Pope Innocent III

Pope who established a policy of subordinating the state to the church.

Byzantine Empire

The Eastern Roman Empire, which lasted from 330 to 1453.

Scholasticism

A medieval European intellectual movement that used rigorous logic and dialectical reasoning to reconcile Christian theology with classical philosophy.

Dialectic

A method of reasoning and philosophical argument that uncovers truth by examining and resolving contradictions between two opposing ideas.

Cult

Specific ritual practices or branches of worship.

Veneration

Deep respect, awe, or reverence inspired by a person's dignity or sacred character.

Celtic Christianity

A version of Christianity emerging in Northern Europe (Ireland, Scotland, Cornwall, Brittany, and Wales).

Order of St Benedict

Monastic order that established large monastic libraries, centered on three elements of spirituality: liturgical prayer, manual labor, and lectio divina (divine reading).

Great Schism Between East and West (1054)

Division between the Eastern Church (Eastern Orthodox) and the Western Church (Rome) over theological disputes, unleavened vs. leavened bread in the Eucharist, and power struggles.

Crusades (1071-1270)

Eight military campaigns conducted by the Western church against Muslim Turks.

Conciliarist Movement

Movement that argued ecclesiastical power should be decentralized and dispersed to representative or general councils.

Fall of Constantinople (1453)

The end of the Eastern Roman Empire, which fell to the Ottoman Turks after being weakened by the Fourth Crusade of 1204 and the mid-fourteenth-century black plague.

Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536)

Scholar who produced the first printed edition of the Greek New Testament.

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

German reformer, monk, and professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg concerned with the doctrine of justification.

Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531)

Swiss reformer critical of clerical corruption who was influenced by the humanist movement and Erasmus.

John Calvin (1509-1564)

Reformed church leader famous for authoring the Christian theology textbook "Institutes of the Christian Religion."

Conrad Grebel (1498-1526)

Anabaptist leader who argued that Zwingli was not faithful to his own reforming principles.

Henry VIII (1491-1547)

English monarch who fostered the Reformation in England by establishing a national church under his authority instead of the pope's.

Renaissance

Term meaning "rebirth," describing the literary and artistic revival of the 15th and 16th centuries.

Humanism

A philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and potential of human beings.

Ad Fontes

Latin phrase meaning "Back to the Sources."

Indulgences

A remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven.

Anabaptism

Movement whose name means "Second baptism" or "Rebaptism."

Jesuits (Society of Jesus)

Order founded by Ignatius Loyola emphasizing a disciplined life organized along military lines, known for significant missionary work in Asia and South America.

Elizabethan Settlement

Agreement that established a national church in England combining broadly Protestant articles of faith with a Catholic liturgy.

Council of Trent (1545-1563)

Catholic Reformation council that clarified teachings, affirmed communion in one kind (bread alone), upheld the Vulgate and seven sacraments, and eliminated church abuses.

Puritan Movement

Group that opposed Catholic practices in the Church of England, separated from the national church, and settled in the Netherlands and America.

Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648)

Conflict triggered by anti-Protestant riots in Central Europe caused by the spread of Calvinism.

Philipp Spener (1635-1705)

Author who wrote "Pious Wishes" in 1675, an act believed to have begun the Pietist Movement.

Nikolaus Zinzendorf (1700-1760)

Founder of the Pietist community of Herrnhut who stressed an intimate, personal relationship between Christ and the believer.

John Wesley (1703-1791)

Founder of the Methodist movement who experienced conversion at Aldersgate Street under the influence of Pietism.

John Eliot (1604-1690)

Early missionary to Native Americans who learned the local "Natic" language to preach to them.

George Whitefield (1714-1770)

Preacher who established the practice of "itinerant preaching" in open fields and towns across the American colonies without church attachment.

John Locke (1632-1704)

English philosopher who argued for religious toleration in response to the wars of religion.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1846)

American president who advocated separating religious and civil realms to maintain domestic peace and prevent oppression from an established religion.

Robespierre (1758-1794)

French lawyer and statesman who led the Reign of Terror, executed Louis XVI, and sanctioned the cult of Goddess Reason.

Concordat of 1801

Treaty negotiated by Napoleon Bonaparte with Pope Pius VII to heal religious divisions in France.

Biblical Criticism

The disciplined, scholarly study of the Bible using historical, literary, linguistic, and scientific methods, often reading the text like any other book.

Pietism

A movement emphasizing the "religion of the heart" over "dry orthodoxy," derived from the Latin pietas (piety or godliness).

First Vatican Council

Nineteenth-century council that asserted the harmony of faith and reason with faith's supremacy and established the doctrine of papal infallibility.

Charles Parham (1873-1929)

Founder of Bethel Bible College whose students investigated New Testament activity of the Holy Spirit and experienced the "gift of tongues."

William J. Seymour (1870-1922)

Leading figure in the Pentecostal movement who opened the Apostolic Faith Mission on Azusa St. in Los Angeles.

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Political philosopher who characterized religion as the "opiate of the people" that discourages social and political action.

John Scopes (1900-1970)

High school science teacher convicted and fined $100$ for teaching evolution in a Tennessee public school.

Pentecostalism

A uniquely American movement and inclusive denomination begun on Azusa St., characterized by spiritual revival and glossolalia (speaking in tongues).

Fundamentalism

Movement reacting against 1920s materialism and liberal theology by defending biblical orthodoxy against higher biblical criticism and evolution.

Barmen Declaration

A theological declaration stating that the church could not conform its ideals to "prevailing ideological and political convictions."

Second Vatican Council

Twentieth-century council that reaffirmed bishop collegiality, promoted lay participation, recognized non-Catholic churches, acknowledged past anti-Jewish prejudice, and translated liturgy into the vernacular.

American Civil Rights Movement

Movement rooted in Southern Black churches fighting discrimination to secure civil liberties, broadly understood as a religious struggle.