Histo Christo Mid-Term (All Signif People Only)

Ignatius of Antioch

Age of Growth

• Wrote 7 letters en route to martyrdom in Rome.

• Helped organize the church into a three-tiered organizational structure that included a single Bishop in each city.

Justin Martyr

Age of Growth

• One of the earliest, most important, and most influential of the Apologists

Irenaeus

Age of Growth

• Opponent of Gnosticism.

• First author whose writings put the NT on the same level as OT.

• Was an important link between East & West and Apostolic & Ante-Nicene.

Tertullian

Age of growth

• First theologian to write in Latin.

• Founder of Western theology

• Laid groundwork for the doctrine of the Trinity

Origen

Age of Growth

• 1st professional theologian

• Created the 1st Christian philosophy

• Biblical scholar

• Advocate of allegorical interpretation

• Unorthodox speculations

  • Bio fact: Castrated himself!!

Perpetua & Felicity

Age of Growth

• Their Passion is one of the most famous martyr stories from the Ancient Church Era.

• Earliest known Christian writing by a woman.

Cyprian of Carthage

Age of Growth

• Second most important early Latin leader

• Strong advocate of Church unity

• First writer in West to advocate infant Baptism

James the Just

Age of Growth

• Regarded as the 1st Bishop of Jerusalem

• Key player in the Council of Jerusalem

• Martyr

Apostle Thomas

Age of Growth

• One of Jesus’ Twelve Disciples.

• Brought the Gospel message East - to India and beyond

• Martyr

Clement of Rome

Age of Growth

• Wrote one of the earliest surviving Christian writings outside the NT - “The Epistle to the Corinthians”

Polycarp

Age of Growth

• Outside of the NT, the account of Polycarp’s death is the oldest record of a martyrdom.

Clement of Alexandria

Age of Growth

• Addressed the charge that Christianity was a religion for the ignorant.

• A master of Christian philosophy.

Hippolytus

Age of Growth

• Opponent of the pope, whom he accused of being too lax with lapsed Christians. His writings also give an important view of early church catechism.

Catherine of Alexandria

Age of Growth

• Renowned for wisdom and beauty, converted philosophers, soldiers, and the wife of the emperor before being martyred.

• Mystically betrothed to Christ.

Church Mothers

Age of Growth

• Although names and details are lost and forgotten, women played a vital role in the growth and the life of the early church.

Antony of Egypt

Age of Establishment

• Became the model of the monastic life

Athanasius

Age of Establishment

• Greatest theological opponent of Arianism.

• Popularized the ascetic movement by writing The Life of St. Antony.

• First to write an authoritative list of the N.T. canon

Basil the Great

Age of Establishment

• Opponent of Arianism.

• “Father of Eastern Monasticism”

• Made important contributions to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit

Jerome

Age of Establishment

Translated the Bible into Latin → the Vulgate.

John Chrystostom (“Golden-mouthed”

Age of Establishment

• Considered to be the greatest preacher in Christian history.

Augustine of Hippo

Age of Establishment

• The single most influential theologian in the Western Church

John Cassian

Age of Establishment

• Transmitted the wisdom of Egyptian monasticism to the West

• Opposed Augustine’s “novel” theology by promoting Semi-Pelagianism (or Semi Augustinianism).

Helena

Age of Establishment

• Supported the Christian Cause by influencing her son (Constantine).

• Built churches in the Holy Land.

Gregory the Illuminator

Age of Establishment

• Converted the King of Armenia, who established the first Christian state.

• Underwent torture and then imprisoned in a pit for 12+ years.

Gregory of Nazianzus

Age of Establishment

• “The Theologian” presided over the Council of Constantinople.

Macrina the Younger

Age of Establishment

• Awakened her brother Basil to the spiritual life.

• Influenced the thought & spiritual life of the Great Cappadocians.

• Founded a religious community.

Gregory of Nyssa

Age of Establishment

• Important mystical theologian

• A founder of apophatic spirituality

Ambrose of Milan

Age of Establishment

• “Father of Latin Hymnody”

• Influenced Augustine through his sermons

• Tried to maintain the independence of the Church from the civil power

Monica

Age of Establishment

• Monica, the model of a praying mother, was very influential in her son, Augustine’s, long journey to conversion

Paula

Age of Establishment

• Supported and assisted Jerome in his biblical studies

Patrick

Age of Transition

• “Apostle to the Irish”

• He established the Church in Ireland

Leo the Great

Age of Transition

• Articulated the Christological doctrine of “two natures united in one person”

• Was the first to assert the primacy of the Roman bishop.

• Defended Rome from barbarians

Benedict of Nursia

Age of Transition

• “Father of Western monasticism”

• Founder of the benedectine Order

• Wrote the Rule of Benedict

Gregory the Great

Age of Transition

• Reshaped the papacy into a ministry of service

• Sent missionaries to England

• Simplified and clarified Christian doctrine

Hilda of Whitby

Age of Transition

• Founder of the double monastery at Whitby

• Participant at the Synod of Whitby

Timothy I of Baghdad

Age of Transition

• Ecclesiastical head of "‘Nestarian’ Church stretching as far East as China

• Held a 2-day debate with Muslim Abbasid caliph, al-Mahdi

Symeon the New Theologian

Age of Transition

• Emphasized the idea that God can be known through direct personal experience

• Held together speculative & mystic theology

• Influence Hesychastic (stillness) movement

Columba

Age of Transition

• Set up a missionary community outpost on the island of Iona and evangelized the pagan Scots and Picts

Columbanus

Age of Transition

• Preached a rigorous ascetic Christianity throughout Gaul and northern Italy among pagans, nominal Christians, and Arians.

• Together with disciples found more than 60 monasteries.

Maximus the Confessor

Age of Transition

• Opponent of the monothelite heresy.

• Mystical theologian who consolidated earlier teachings about apophatic spirituality

Boniface (Winfrith)

Age of Transition

• “The Apostle to the Germans”

• Paved the way for the Carolingian Empire

• Martyr

Cyril and Methodius

Age of Transition

• “Apostles to the Slavs”

• Created the alphabet used by almost all Slavonic languages to this day.

Hroswit of Gandersheim

Age of Transition

• First poet of Germany.

• First known playwright of Christianity.

• Was a link between classical drama and the medieval mystery play

Brigit of Kildare

Age of Transition

• Along with Patrick she is the patron saint of Ireland, she is famed especially for her generosity.

• Founder of the monastery at Kildare

Alcuin of York

Age of Transition

• Established the Carolingian Renaissance.

• Defended orthodox theology against adoptionism

Anselm of Canterbury

Age of Rebirth

• “Father of Scholasticism”

• Developed ontological argument for the existence of God.

• Developed satisfaction theory of the Atonement

Bernard of Clairvaux

Age of Rebirth

• Most influential person of the 12th century.

• Helped establish the CIstercian order (scarcely existing to 350 abbeys). Devotional writings.

Hildegard of Bingen

Age of Rebirth

• She was known as the “Sibyl of the Rhine”

• Remembered because of her musical compositions and her writings especially Scivias.

Francis of Assisi

Age of Rebirth

• Founder of the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans).

• One of the first recorded experiences of the Stigmata

Thomas Aquinas

Age of Rebirth

• The greatest medieval theologian

• Wrote Summa Theologica.

• Articulated the “Five Ways” (arguments for the existence of God).

John Wyclif

Age of Rebirth

• “Morning Star of the Reformation”

• Led movement to have the Bible translated into English

• Began Lollard movement.

• Major influence on huss.

Catherine of Siena

Age of Rebirth

• Mystical writings

• Helped bring an end to the Avignon captivity of the Papacy

Thomas Becket

Age of Rebirth

• Martyr

• His shrine became popular destination for pilgrims.

• His life illustrated the struggle between church and state.

Dominic

Age of Rebirth

• Founder of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans)

Gregory Palamas

Age of Rebirth

• Provided a theologial justification for the direct experience of God.

• Helped the East integrate their belief in God as transcendent with their experience of God as imminent

Julian of Norwich

Age of Rebirth

• Revelations of Divine Love

• Earliest surviving English language works by a woman

John Huss

Age of Rebirth

• Many of his ideas anticipated the Reformation.

• Martyr

• His followers, the Hussites evolved into the Bohemian Brethren who evolved into the Moravian Church.

Joan of Arc

Age of Rebirth

• National Hero of France

• In her we see two emerging trends that will impact Church history: Individual experience takes precedent over Church hierarchy; linking Nationalism with Christianity.

Dante Alighieri

Age of Rebirth

• Wrote The Divine Comedy which represents a creative synthesis of Medieval thought.

William of Ockham

Age of Rebirth

• Ockham’s Razor

• Principle of simplicity

• Defender of Nominalism