scholarly journals Early African Christianity–A Thematic Analysis

2020 ◽  
pp. 264-273
Author(s):  
Aidan Kwame Ahaligah
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Church History ◽  
Religious Culture ◽  
Early Church ◽  
African Theology ◽  
African Christianity ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
The Church

This article is devoted to a thematic analysis of early or ancient African Christianity and its influence on ecclesial practices and thinking in contemporary Africa. Drawing on literature in the history of the church in antiquity this paper re-tells the story of how Africa and Africans in the first millennium developed and shaped World Christianity. Specifically, it discusses the contributions made to the early Church by the African Fathers of the faith, Origen and Augustine. The paper contest sentiments and perceptions that Christianity is a “white mans” religion and to reclaim African Christianity’s identity as a global religious culture which has existed since antiquity. Moreover, it argues that a lot is lost, with its attendant misinterpretations, when Christianity in Africa is only viewed as a result of the fruits of the nineteenth-century missionary activities. The paper contributes to the study of African Church history, the contextualisation/inculturation of the gospel, and African theology.

Lamennais

1947 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waldemar Gurian
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Early Church ◽  
The Third ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Papal Infallibility ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

The history of the Catholic Church includes men who, after brilliant services to the Church, died outside her fold. Best known among them is Tertullian, the apologetic writer of the Early Church; less known is Ochino, the third vicar-general of the Capuchins, whose flight to Calvin's Geneva almost destroyed his order. In the nineteenth century there were two famous representatives of this group. Johann von Doellinger refused, when more than seventy years old, to accept the decision of the Vatican Council about papal infallibility. He passed away in 1890 unreconciled, though he had been distinguished for years as the outstanding German Catholic theologian. Félicité de la Mennais was celebrated as the new Pascal and Bossuet of his time before he became the modern Tertullian by breaking with the Church because Pope Gregory XVI rejected his views on the relations between the Church and die world. As he lay deathly ill, his niece, “Madame de Kertanguy asked him: ‘Féli, do you want a priest? Surely, you want a priest?’ Lamennais answered: ‘No.’ The niece repeated: ‘I beg of you.’ But he said with a stronger voice: ‘No, no, no.

Joseph Milner and his Editors: Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Evangelicals and the Christian Past

2017 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAUL GUTACKER
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
English Language ◽  
Church History ◽  
Church Of Christ ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

Joseph Milner's ‘History of the Church of Christ’ (1794–1809) was the most popular English-language church history for half a century, yet it remains misunderstood by many historians. This paper argues that Milner's Evangelical interpretation of church history subverted Protestant historiographical norms. By prioritising conversion over doctrinal precision, and celebrating the piety of select medieval Catholics, Milner undermined the historical narratives that undergirded Protestant exceptionalism. As national religious identities became increasingly contested in the 1820s and 1830s, this subversive edge was blunted by publishers who edited the ‘History’ to be less favourable toward pre-Reformation Christianity.

scholarly journals Migration history in South Africa as a lens for interpreting God’s mission: Towards a challenge for churches to embrace migrants

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Magezi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Church History ◽  
Early Church ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Migration History ◽  
God's Mission ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

This article challenges the church to embrace migrants by presenting migration history in South Africa during the era of European explorers as a lens for interpreting God’s mission. In avowing the aforementioned, it argues for migration history of the European explorers to South Africa as the way God has used in establishing the church in South Africa. However, in view of the subsequent colonialism and slave trade in South Africa that emerged from the period of European explorers, this article recognises the conception of slave trade and colonialism during the era of European explorers as an evil act. Notably, in bringing Joseph’s forced migration to Egypt as a theological lens to interpret some sinful acts that were embedded in the migration of European explorers to South Africa that also resulted in the establishment of the early church in South Africa, it contends that God’s purpose and plans are not frustrated or thwarted by human sin. God, in his grace and love to reach his remnant people with the gospel, utilises various migrations of European explorers to South Africa (regardless of how sinful they are) to advance his kingdom to South Africa. The notion of migration history in South Africa as a lens for interpreting God’s mission is utilised to challenge the churches to embrace migrants because God uses migration or migrants to advance his kingdom to all the earth. The article concludes by calling the church to embrace all migrants because humankind are usually unacquainted with the particular migrants that God is utilising to advance his kingdom.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article outlines theological research agenda for migration history in South Africa as a lens to interpret God’s mission. It considers migration history in South Africa during the era of European explorers as a tool that God used to advance his kingdom. As such, it is a theological interdisciplinary article integrating church history and mission. The contribution of this article lies in establishing the emergence of the early church in South Africa as a result of migration, which it utilises as a challenge for churches to embrace migrants.

Slavery in the Early Church

2020 ◽  
pp. 38-63
Author(s):  
Mary E. Sommar
Keyword(s):  
Church History ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Early Church ◽  
General Reader ◽  
History Of ◽  
Specialist Knowledge ◽  
Church Law ◽  
The Church ◽  
Historical Periods ◽  
Insight Into

This is the story of how the church sought to establish norms for slave ownership on the part of ecclesiastical institutions and personnel and for others’ behavior toward such slaves. Chronicles, letters, and other documents from each of the various historical periods, along with an analysis of the various policies and statutes, provide insight into the situations of these unfree ecclesiastical dependents. Although this book is a serious scholarly monograph about the history of church law, it has been written in such a way that no specialist knowledge is required of the reader, whether a scholar in another field or a general reader interested in church history or the history of slavery. Historical background is provided, and there is a short Latin lexicon. This chapter discusses slavery in the first three centuries of Christianity.

History and Theology of Call

2021 ◽  
pp. 49-112
Author(s):  
Donna Giver-Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Church History ◽  
Social Gospel ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Protestant Reformation ◽  
Social Convention ◽  
Priesthood Of All Believers ◽  
Women Preachers ◽  
The Church

Chapter 2 examines the scriptural text through word definition and interpretation and traces the concept of call throughout, with attention to nuances of meaning. Next, this chapter explores the theological tradition of how call has been interpreted and articulated from the time of Jesus to the nineteenth century, in theological doctrines of call and vocation and in ecclesial practice and social convention. By identifying theological themes of call throughout Church history—from “sacrifice” in the Early Church to “monasticism” in the Middle Ages, from “priesthood of all believers” during the Protestant Reformation to “spiritual revelation” and “extraordinary call” of the Revival–Social Gospel era—this chapter traces the development of the institutionalized call from inclusive to more exclusive of women preachers. Then, in the rhetorical and homiletical witness of the church, this chapter uncovers how a prejudiced trope has restricted women’s call and place in the pulpit. And, finally, it reveals how women utilized rhetorical techniques and tactics in order to challenge convention and claim their call to preach.

Using the Past against the Papacy: Luther’s appeal to Church History in his Anti-Papal Writings

2013 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 132-143
Author(s):  
Charlotte Methuen
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Church History ◽  
Early Church ◽  
The Past ◽  
Church Life ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

It is well known that Martin Luther found ultimate authority sola scriptura. The evangelical endeavour which he initiated and exemplified focused on the return to the gospel and the rediscovery of a church modelled according to scriptural lines. For the Reformers, the truly catholic church was that church which adhered most closely to the church established by Scripture. The early church, being chronologically closest to that established in Scripture, was more authentic, not yet affected by innovation. But how were the details of that church to be discovered? Scripture was not always informative on practical questions of church life and ecclesiastical order, and for these an appeal to church history was necessary. Drawing particularly on Scott Hendrix’s study of Luther’s attitude towards the papacy, and the studies by John Headley and others of Luther’s view of, and appeal to, church history, this essay explores the ways in which Luther used his knowledge of church history to define and support his developing critique of the papacy. It focuses on his early writings to 1521, but will also consider the later work Von den Consiliis und Kirchen (1539), a testimony to Luther’s growing interest in the history of the church.

Henry Boynton Smith and Church History in Nineteenth-Century America

2016 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette G. Aubert
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Church History ◽  
Church Of Christ ◽  
Central Position ◽  
Nineteenth Century America ◽  
German Education ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Doctrine ◽  
American Society ◽  
The Church

Henry Boynton Smith (1815–1877) was one of the few nineteenth-century American scholars committed to disseminating German methods of ecclesiastical historiography to a country known for its anti-historical tendencies. However, modern scholars have generally overlooked his significant contributions in this area. Hence exploring his scholarly reception and specifically his History of the Church of Christ, in Chronological Tables will fill a niche in the historiography of church history.Philip Schaff (1819–1893), the renowned church historian and founder of the American Society of Church History, was one of the few contemporaries of Smith who understood that Smith's scholarship was on a par with that being produced in Germany. Schaff specifically praised Smith's chronological tables—evidence of Smith's German education among some of the best German historians of the period, including Leopold von Ranke and August Neander. This essay reviews Smith's History of the Church of Christ, in Chronological Tables in the context of the newly emerging scientific history and describes his contribution to nineteenth-century American scholarship. Smith is worthy of attention for establishing a central position for the history of doctrine and for promoting the field of church history and the use of chronological tables in nineteenth-century America.

A Plot of Possibilities: Elizabeth Clark's The Fathers Refounded

2020 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 404-408
Author(s):  
Margaret M. Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Church History ◽  
Early Church ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
Pivotal Moments ◽  
Nineteenth Century America ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
History Of ◽  
Protestant Liberalism

Elizabeth A. Clark's immensely learned new book, The Fathers Refounded: Protestant Liberalism, Roman Catholic Modernism, and the Teaching of Ancient Christianity in Early Twentieth-Century America, which follows directly on her examination of the nineteenth century in Founding the Fathers: Early Church History and Protestant Professors in Nineteenth-Century America, is a joy to read and from which to learn about the histories of our discipline, the history of Christianity. Chiefly, the book documents, through in-depth study of three fascinating figures, the severance of the field of “church history” from “theology” and, in particular, its pivotal moments within Protestant and Catholic “modernism.”

The Professionalization of an Elite: The Nineteenth Century Episcopate

1991 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
William T. Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Social History ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Church History ◽  
Ecclesiastical History ◽  
Popular View ◽  
History Of ◽  
Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries ◽  
The Church

A number of Victorian writers identified a change in the episcopate in the nineteenth century: Dean Burgon, for example, believed that a remodeled episcopacy emerged at this time. Historians have advanced the view that the changes were generated by the Whig ecclesiastical reforms of the 1830s. Indeed it is part of the schemata of ecclesiastical history that bishops in the eighteenth century were fundamentally different from those in the nineteenth century. Yet, as C. K. Francis Brown admitted, there has been no attempt to establish a pattern of this in the career and social history of the nineteenth century episcopate. This is all the more surprising since a structuralist analysis of the Caroline and Hanoverian episcopate has existed for some years. The traditional view of Church history, that the ecclesiastical reforms of the 1830s and 1840s were the principal engine of change, have tended to overlook the structural changes in bishops' career patterns and that there was a change in the concept of the episcopal function. The context of this changed concept of episcopal duty is important. Recent work on the professionalization of the clergy has focused on the immediate impact of the Reformation and the development of the Church as a profession up to the early eighteenth century. Rosemary O'Day and Geoffrey Holmes have demonstrated that between 1580 and 1730 the clerical profession became increasingly stratified. The overpopulation of the clergy in the eighteenth century accelerated this trend, establishing a Church in which there were extremes of wealth and poverty. At the same time the clergy were subject to greater lay control than any other emergent profession. This tension between professionalization and institutions of the state has been examined in other occupations, but throughout the nineteenth century it grew stronger in the Church. From patronage of a living to nomination to a see, laity dominated the Church. In spite of Whig reforms of the 1830s and 1840s lay control established strict parameters within which the professionalization of the episcopate occurred. The effect of control from outside the Church was that the paths to the bench of bishops remained more numerous and varied than the limited paths to the elite of other professions like the judiciary. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries also saw functional trends that brought about the professionalization of the clergy. These changes have been thoroughly analyzed by Anthony Russell. The self-conscious spirituality of the Tractarian movement also effected changes in the popular view of the clerical function, and the episcopate was not immune to these changes. By the closing decades of the nineteenth-century bishops were appointed whose careers had been touched by these trends. Equally important were developments within the episcopate that altered the bishops' roles.

scholarly journals Formation of the early Church (beginning from the appointment of the first deacons to the end of the apostolic period)

2015 ◽  
pp. 168-220
Author(s):  
Алексей Иванович Сидоров
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Church History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

Публикация представляет собой продолжение очерка по истории становления первохристианской Церкви. Исследование основано на свидетельствах первоисточников и привлечении широкого спектра мнений отечественных и зарубежных специалистов по истории Древней Церкви. События проповеднической деятельности апостола Павла, возникновение разногласий в первохристианской общине и последовавший за ними Апостольской Собор, который утвердил необязательность соблюдения ветхозаветных постановлений, рассматриваются в контексте появления в среде первых христиан так называемых «эллинистов». Последние вывели проповедь Евангелия за пределы Палестины, а апостол Павел и его сподвижники основали христианские Церкви во многих частях «ойкумены». Кроме того, повествуется о кончине святого Иакова Праведного и судьбе Иерусалимской Церкви, деятельности апостола Петра и Иоанна, как и прочих апостолов, вплоть до завершения апостольского периода в истории древней Церкви. This publication is a continuation of the essay on the history of the formation of the early Christian Church, based on first-hand evidence and engaging a wide range of views of domestic and foreign researchers of early Church history. Both the results of Paul’s preaching, the emergence of differences among early Christians, and the subsequent Apostolic Council, which approved some sort of compliance with the regulations of the Old Testament, are all considered in the context of the emergence among early Christians of the so-called «Hellenists», who brought the preaching of the Gospel beyond Palestine, while Paul and his associates founded Christian communities in many parts of the «Oecumene». Moreover, the article tells the story of the death of St. James the Just, and the fate of the Church of Jerusalem. It describes the activities of Apostle Peter and John, as well as the other apostles, up until the end of the apostolic period in the history of the ancient Church.

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