Polycarp (A.D. 69 – A.D.

155) (Ancient Greek: Πολύκαρπος) was a second century Christian

bishop of Smyrna[1]. According to the Martyrdom of Polycarp, he died a martyr, bound and
burned at the stake then stabbed when the fire failed to touch him.[2]. Polycarp is regarded as a
saint in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox , Anglican, and Lutheran
Churches.

It is recorded by Irenaeus, who heard him speak in his youth, and by Tertullian,[3] that he had
been a disciple of John the Apostle.[4]

The early tradition that expanded upon the Martyrdom to link Polycarp in competition and
contrast with John the Apostle who, though many people had tried to kill him, was not martyred
but died of old age after being exiled to the island of Patmos, is embodied in the Sahidic Coptic
fragentary papyri (the "Harris fragments"), now in the British Library, dating to the third to sixth
centuries.[5] Frederick Weidmann, their editor, interprets the "Harris fragments" as Smyrnan
hagiography addressing Smyrna-Ephesus church rivalries, which "develops the association of
Polycarp and John to a degree unwitnessed, so far as we know, either before or since."[6] The
fragments echo the Martyrology and diverge from it.

Polycarp has remained figured as a disciple of John the Apostle[7]

With Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp is regarded as one of three chief
Apostolic Fathers. The sole surviving work attributed to his authorship is his Letter to the
Philippians; it is first recorded by Irenaeus of Lyons.

The sole surviving work attributed to him is Polycarp's letter to the Philippians, a mosaic of
references to the Greek Scriptures, preserved/produced in Irenaeus' account of Polycarp's life. It,
and an account of The Martyrdom of Polycarp that takes the form of a circular letter from the
church of Smyrna to the churches of Pontus, form part of the collection of writings Roman
Catholics term "The Apostolic Fathers" to emphasize their particular closeness to the apostles in
Church traditions. Outside of the Book of Acts which contains the death of Saint Stephen, the
Martyrdom is considered one of the earliest genuine[1] accounts of a Christian martyrdom, and is
one of the very few genuine accounts from the actual age of the persecutions.

Clement of Alexandria (to distinguish him from Clement of Rome), was a Christian theologian
and the head of the noted Catechetical School of Alexandria. Clement is best remembered as the
teacher of Origen. He united Greek philosophical traditions with Christian doctrine and valued
gnosis that with communion for all people could be held by common Christians specially chosen
by God.[citation needed] vide, e.g., Stromata, VI.106.4f. Though he constantly opposes the concept of
gnosis as defined by the Gnostics, he used the term "gnostic" for Christians who had attained the
deeper teaching of the Logos.[1] He developed a Christian Platonism.[2] He presented the goal of
Christian life as deification, identified both as Platonism's assimilation into God and the biblical
imitation of God.[1]

Like Origen, he arose from Alexandria's Catechetical School and was well versed in pagan
literature.[2] Origen succeeded Clement as head of the school.[2] Alexandria had a major Christian
community in early Christianity, noted for its scholarship and its high-quality copies of
Scripture.

Clement is counted as one of the early Church Fathers. He advocated a vegetarian diet and
claimed that the apostles Peter, Matthew, and James the Just were vegetarians.[3][4][5]

Because Early Alexandrian Church fathers wrote their works in Greek, later scholars proposed
they were not all Egyptians. Clement's birthplace is not known with certainty. Other than being
Egyptian, Athens is proposed as his birthplace by the sixth-century Epiphanius Scholasticus,
supported by the classical quality of his Greek. His parents seem to have been wealthy pagans of
some social standing. The thoroughness of his education is shown by his constant quotation of
the Greek poets and philosophers. He travelled in Greece, Italy, Palestine, and finally Egypt. He
became the colleague of Pantaenus, the head of the Catechetical School of Alexandria, and
finally succeeded him in the direction of the school. One of his most popular pupils was Origen.
During the persecution of Christians by Septimius Severus (202 or 203) he sought refuge with
Alexander, then bishop (possibly of Flaviada) in Cappadocia, afterward of Jerusalem, from
whom he brought a letter to Antioch in 211.

The trilogy into which Clement's principal remains are connected by their purpose and mode of
treatment is composed of:

 the Protrepticus ("Exhortation to the Greeks")

 the Paedagogus ("Instructor")
 the Stromata ("Miscellanies")

 Ignatius of Antioch (Ancient Greek: Ἰγνάτιος, also known as Theoforus from Greek

Θεοφόρος "God-bearer") (ca. 35 or 50-between 98 and 117)[1] was among the Apostolic
Fathers, was the third Bishop and Patriarch of Antioch, and was a student of John the
Apostle[2][3]. En route to his martyrdom in Rome, Ignatius wrote a series of letters which
have been preserved as an example of very early Christian theology. Important topics
addressed in these letters include ecclesiology, the sacraments, and the role of bishops.

 Ignatius' feast day is observed on 20 December in the Eastern Orthodox Church. In the
Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, he is commemorated, according to its
Synaxarium, on the 24th of the Coptic Month of Kiahk (which currently falls on January
2, but is equivalent to December 20 in the Gregorian Calendar due to the current 13-day
Julian-Gregorian Calendar offset).

 In Western and Syriac Christianity his feast is celebrated on 17 October.[4] He is

celebrated on 1 February by those following the General Roman Calendar of 1962.

 St. Ignatius was Bishop of Antioch after Saint Peter and St. Evodius (who died around
AD 67). Eusebius[5] records that St. Ignatius succeeded St. Evodius. Making his apostolic
succession even more immediate, Theodoret (Dial. Immutab., I, iv, 33a) reported that
Peter himself appointed Ignatius to the see of Antioch.
  Besides his Latin name, Ignatius, he also called himself Theophorus ("God Bearer"), and
tradition says he was one of the children Jesus took in His arms and blessed.[2] St.
Ignatius is one of the Apostolic Fathers (the earliest authoritative group of the Church
Fathers). He based his authority on being a bishop of the Church, living his life in the
imitation of Christ. It is believed that St. Ignatius, along with his friend Polycarp, with
great probability were auditors of the Apostle St. John.[6].

The seven letters considered to be authentic are:

 To the Ephesians
 To the Magnesians
 Letter to the Trallians
 To the Romans
 To the Philadelphians
 To the Smyrnaeans
 To Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna

 Marcion of Sinope (Greek: Μαρκίων Σῐνώπην, ca. 85-160) was one of the most
prominent heretics in early Christianity.[1] His theology, which juxtaposed two distinct
deities of the Old and the New Testament, was denounced by the Church Fathers and he
was excommunicated. His rejection of many books contemporarily considered scripture
prompted the church to develop a Christian biblical canon.

 Study of the Jewish Scriptures, along with received writings circulating in the nascent
Church (the majority of which were eventually incorporated into the New Testament
canon) led Marcion to conclude that many of the teachings of Christ are incompatible
with the actions of the God of the Old Testament. Marcion responded by developing a
dualist system of belief around the year 144.[6] This dual-God notion allowed Marcion to
reconcile supposed contradictions between Old Covenant theology and Jesus' Gospel
message.

 Marcion affirmed Jesus Christ as the savior sent by the Heavenly Father, and Paul as His
chief apostle. In contrast to the nascent Christian church, Marcion declared that
Christianity was distinct from and in opposition to Judaism. Not only did Marcion reject
the entire Hebrew Bible, he also argued for the existence of two Gods.

 God of the Old Testament, the Demiurge, creator of the material universe is a jealous
tribal deity of the Jews, whose law represents legalistic reciprocal justice and who
punishes mankind for its sins by suffering and death. The God who Jesus Christ preached
about was an altogether different being, a universal God of compassion and love, who
looks upon humanity with benevolence and mercy.
 Marcion held Jesus Christ to be the son of the Heavenly Father but understood the
incarnation in a docetic manner, i.e. that Christ's body was only an imitation of a material
body. He held that Christ in his crucifixion paid the debt of sin that humanity owed,
absolving humanity and allowing it to inherit eternal life.[7]

 Marcion was the first to propose a canon of the bible. However, his canon only consisted
of eleven books grouped in two sections, the Gospel, a version of the Gospel of Luke[8],
and ten letters of the Apostle, i.e. Apostle Paul, whom he considered the correct
interpreter and transmitter of Jesus' gospel message. Both sections were purged of
elements relating to the Christ's childhood, the Jewish religion and other material which
challenged Marcion's dualist theology. Marcion also produced the Antitheses which
contrasted the Demiurge with the Heavenly Father.

 Marcion is sometimes described as a Gnostic philosopher. In some essential respects,

Marcion proposed ideas which would have aligned well with Gnostic thought. Like the
Gnostics, he argued that Jesus was essentially a spirit appearing to men, and not fully
human himself.[7]

 Marcion was among the first renowned heretics in the history of the early church. His
alternative interpretation of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ helped inspire the notion
that certain theologies should be sanctioned as orthodox, while others should be
condemned as heresy – a previously unknown term within ecclesial circles. Reacting to
the popularity of Marcion's newfound sect, the Catholic Church set out to systematize a
set of beliefs that encompassed the entirety of orthodox Christianity. Marcionism is thus
viewed[citation needed] as a catalyst for the development of the New Testament canon, the
establishment of church law, and the structuring of the Catholic Church with its orthodox
dogmas in general which remained a relatively unchallenged mainstay in Christendom
until the Protestant Reformation.

 Marcion was the first Christian leader to propose and delineate a canon (a list of officially
sanctioned religious works). In so doing, he established a particular way of viewing
religious texts that persists in Christian thought today. After Marcion, Christians began to
divide texts into those that aligned well with the "measuring stick" (Greek kanōn literally
means measuring stick) of accepted theological thought, and those that promoted heresy.
This essential bifurcation played a major role in finalizing the structure of the collection
of works called the Bible. An initial impetus for finalizing the Biblical canon stemmed
from opposition to Marcion's canon.

 Some ideas similar to those of Marcion's reappeared among the Bulgarian Bogomils of
the 10th century and the Cathars of southern France in the 13th century.

Justin Martyr (also Justin the Martyr, Justin of Caesarea, Justin the Philosopher,
Latin Iustinus Martyr or Flavius Iustinus) (103–165) was an early Christian apologist
and saint. His works represent the earliest surviving Christian "apologies" of notable size.
Most of what is known about the life of Justin Martyr comes from his own writings. He was born
at Flavia Neapolis (ancient Shechem in Judaea/Palaestina, now modern-day Nablus). According
to the traditional accounts of the church, Justin suffered martyrdom at Rome under the Emperor
Marcus Aurelius when Junius Rusticus was prefect of the city (between 162 and 168).

Eusebius of Caesarea deals with him at some length[6], and names the following works:

1. The First Apology addressed to Antoninus Pius, his sons, and the Roman Senate;
2. a Second Apology addressed to the Roman Senate;
3. the Discourse to the Greeks, a discussion with Greek philosophers on the character of
their gods;
4. a Hortatory Address to the Greeks;
5. a treatise On the Sovereignty of God, in which he makes use of pagan authorities as well
as Christian;
6. a work entitled The Psalmist;
7. a treatise in scholastic form On the Soul; and
8. the Dialogue with Trypho.
9. Justin had, like others, the idea that the Greek philosophers had derived, if not borrowed,
the most essential elements of truth found in their teaching from the Old Testament. But
at the same time he adopted the Stoic doctrine of the "seminal word," and so philosophy
was to him an operation of the Word—in fact, through his identification of the Word with
Christ, it was brought into immediate connection with him.

10. Thus he does not scruple to declare that Socrates and Heraclitus were Christians (Apol., i.
46, ii. 10). His aim, of course, is to emphasize the absolute significance of Christ, so that
all that ever existed of virtue and truth may be referred to him. The old philosophers and
law-givers had only a part of the Logos, while the whole appears in Christ.

11. Justin's use of the idea of the logos has always attracted attention. It is probably too much
to assume a direct connection with Philo of Alexandria in this particular. The idea of the
Logos was widely familiar to educated men, and the designation of the Son of God as the
Logos was not new to Christian theology. The significance is clear, however, of the
manner in which Justin identifies the historical Christ with the rational force operative in
the universe, which leads up to the claim of all truth and virtue for the Christians and to
the demonstration of the adoration of Christ, which aroused so much opposition, as the
only reasonable attitude. It is mainly for this justification of the worship of Christ that
Justin employs the Logos-idea, though where he explicitly deals with the divinity of the
Redeemer and his relation to the Father, he makes use of the Old Testament, not of the
Logos-idea, which thus can not be said to form an essential part of his Christology.
 12. On the other hand, Justin sees the Logos as a separate being from God and subordinate to
him:

While the English translation of Chapter 128 suggest the appellation of "God" when referring to
Christ, the rest of the chapter confirms the beliefs held by Martyr are not in line with this
translation:

 The pre-human Christ is called an Angel, or messenger of God.

 Christ's existence is the same as that of other angels, separate from God and unique -
"numerically distinct".

In fact, in Chapter 128 of his Dialogue with Trypho, Justin directly refutes the trinitarian
explanation, later offered by Tertullian, that Jesus is connected to the Father in the same manner
as a sunbeam is to the sun. Justin instead believes Christ's relationship to his Father, God, is
more like that of fire. The source fire (God) retains it's size and glory, and the offspring fire it
creates (the Son) is an entirely new fire, separate and distinct.

Eusebius of Caesarea, c. 263–339 AD, called Eusebius Pamphili, became the Bishop of
Caesarea in Palestine about the year 314. Eusebius, historian, exegete and polemicist is one of
the more renowned Church Fathers. He (with Pamphilus) was a scholar of the Biblical canon. He
wrote Demonstrations of the Gospel, Preparations for the Gospel, and On Discrepancies
between the Gospels, studies of the Biblical text. As "Father of Church History" he produced the
Ecclesiastical History, On the Life of Pamphilus, the Chronicle and On the Martyrs.

In his Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius writes of Dionysius of Alexandria as his contemporary. If

this is true, Eusebius' birth must have been before Dionysius' death in autumn 264; most modern
scholars date the birth to some point in the five years between 260 and 265.[3] He was presumably
born in the town which he lived most of his adult life, Caesarea Maritima.[4] He was baptized and
instructed in the city,[5] and lived in Palestine in 296, when Diocletian's army passed through the
region (in the Life of Constantine, Eusebius recalls seeing Constantine traveling with the army).[6]
Eusebius was made presbyter by Agapius of Caesarea.[5] Some, like theologian and ecclesiastical
historian John Henry Newman, understand Eusebius' statement that he had heard Dorotheus of
Tyre "expound the Scriptures wisely in the Church" to indicate that Eusebius was Dorotheus'
pupil while the priest was resident in Antioch; others, like the scholar D. S. Wallace-Hadrill,
deem the phrase too ambiguous to support the contention.[7]

Eusebius' Preparation for the Gospel bears witness to the literary tastes of Origen: Eusebius
quotes no comedy, tragedy, or lyric poetry, but makes reference to all the works of Plato and to
an extensive range of later philosophic works, largely from Middle Platonists from Philo to the
late second century.[28] Whatever its secular contents, the primary aim of Origen and Pamphilus'
school was to promote sacred learning. The library's biblical and theological contents were more
impressive: Origen's Hexapla and Tetrapla, a copy of (it was claimed) the original Aramaic
version of the Gospel of Matthew, and many of Origen's own writings.[19] Marginal comments in
extant manuscripts note that Pamphilus and his friends and pupils, including Eusebius, corrected
and revised much of the biblical text in their library.[19] Their efforts made the hexaplaric
Septuagint text increasingly popular in Syria and Palestine.[29] Soon after joining Pamphilus'
school, Eusebius started helping his master expand the library's collections and broaden access to
its resources. At about this time Eusebius compiled a Collection of Ancient Martyrdoms,
presumably for use as a general reference tool.[19]

In the 290s, Eusebius began work on his magnum opus, the Ecclesiastical History, a narrative
history of the Church and Christian community from the Apostolic Age to Eusebius' own time.
At about the same time, Eusebius worked on his Chronicle, a universal calendar of events from
Creation to Eusebius' own time. Eusebius completed the first editions of the Ecclesiastical
History and Chronicle before 300.[30]

Of the extensive literary activity of Eusebius, a relatively large portion has been preserved.
Although posterity suspected him of Arianism, Eusebius had made himself indispensable by his
method of authorship; his comprehensive and careful excerpts from original sources saved his
successors the painstaking labor of original research. Hence, much has been preserved, quoted by
Eusebius, which otherwise would have been destroyed.

The literary productions of Eusebius reflect on the whole the course of his life. At first, he
occupied himself with works on Biblical criticism under the influence of Pamphilus and
probably of Dorotheus of Tyre of the School of Antioch. Afterward, the persecutions under
Diocletian and Galerius directed his attention to the martyrs of his own time and the past, and
this led him to the history of the whole Church and finally to the history of the world, which, to
him, was only a preparation for ecclesiastical history.

Then followed the time of the Arian controversies, and dogmatic questions came into the
foreground. Christianity at last found recognition by the State; and this brought new problems—
apologies of a different sort had to be prepared. Lastly, Eusebius wrote eulogies in praise of
Constantine. To all this activity must be added numerous writings of a miscellaneous nature,
addresses, letters, and the like, and exegetical works that extended over the whole of his life and
that include both commentaries and treatises on Biblical archaeology.

Onomasticon

Eusebius' Onomasticon (more properly On the Place-Names in the Holy Scripture, the name
Eusebius gives to it) is a work that moderns would recognize as a gazetteer, a directory of place
names, but which ancients had no category for. It sits uneasily between the ancient genres of
geography and lexicography, taking elements from both but a member of neither.[34] Eusebius'
description of his own method—"I shall collect the entries from the whole of the divinely
inspired Scriptures, and I shall set them out grouped by their initial letters so that one may easily
perceive what lies scattered throughout the text"[35]—implies that he had no similar type of book
to work from; his work was entirely original, based only on the text of the Bible.[36] As he
describes, Eusebius organizes his entries into separate categories according to their first letters.
Under each letter, the entries are organized first by the book they are found in, and then by their
place in that book. The entries for Joshua under Tau, for example, read as follows:[37]

Tina (15:22): of the tribe of Judah.

Telem (15:24): of the tribe of Judah.
Tessam (15:29): of the tribe of Judah.
Tyre (19:35): of the tribe of Naphthali.

Where there is a contemporary town at the site or nearby, Eusebius notes it in the corresponding
entry. "Terebinth", for example, describes Shechem as "near Neapolis", modern Nablus, and
"Tophet" is located "in the suburbs of Jerusalem".[38] The Onomasticon has traditionally been
dated before 324, on the basis of its sparse references to Christianity, and complete absence of
remarks on Constantine's buildings in the Holy Land. The work also describes traditional
religious practices at the oak of Mamre as though they were still happening, while they are
known to have been suppressed soon after 325, when a church was built on the site.[39] Eusebius
references to the encampment of the Legio X Fretensis at Aila (in southern Israel, near modern
Aqaba and Eilat); the X Fretensis was probably transferred from Jerusalem to Aila under
Diocletian.[40]

[edit] Biblical text criticism

Pamphilus and Eusebius occupied themselves with the textual criticism of the Septuagint text of
the Old Testament and especially of the New Testament. An edition of the Septuagint seems to
have been already prepared by Origen, which, according to Jerome, was revised and circulated
by Eusebius and Pamphilus. For an easier survey of the material of the four Evangelists,
Eusebius divided his edition of the New Testament into paragraphs and provided it with a
synoptical table so that it might be easier to find the pericopes that belong together. These canon
tables or "Eusebian canons" remained in use throughout the Middle Ages, and illuminated
manuscript versions are important for the study of early medieval art. Eusebius detailed in
Epistula ad Carpianum how to use his canons.

[edit] Chronicle

Main article: Chronicon (Eusebius)

The Chronicle (Παντοδαπὴ Ἱστορία (Pantodape historia)) is divided into two parts. The first
part, the Chronography (Χρονογραφία (Chronographia)), gives an epitome of universal history
from the sources, arranged according to nations. The second part, the Canons (Χρονικοὶ Κανόνες
(Chronikoi kanones)), furnishes a synchronism of the historical material in parallel columns, the
equivalent of a parallel timeline.[41]

The work as a whole has been lost in the original Greek, but it may be reconstructed from later
chronographists of the Byzantine school who made excerpts from the work, especially George
Syncellus. The tables of the second part have been completely preserved in a Latin translation by
Jerome, and both parts are still extant in an Armenian translation. The loss of the Greek originals
has given an Armenian translation a special importance; thus, the first part of Eusebius'
Chronicle, of which only a few fragments exist in the Greek, has been preserved entirely in
Armenian, though with lacunae. The Chronicle as preserved extends to the year 325.[42]

[edit] Church History

Main article: Church History (Eusebius)

In his Church History or Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius wrote the first surviving history of the
Christian Church as a chronologically-ordered account, based on earlier sources, and complete
from the period of the Apostles to his own epoch. He also wrote that Matthew composed the
Gospel according to the Hebrews. The time scheme correlated the history with the reigns of the
Roman Emperors, and the scope was broad. Included were the bishops and other teachers of the
Church; Christian relations with the Jews and those deemed heretical; and the Christian martyrs.

[edit] Life of Constantine

Eusebius' Life of Constantine (Vita Constantini) is a eulogy or panegyric, and therefore its style
and selection of facts are affected by its purpose, rendering it inadequate as a continuation of the
Church History. As the historian Socrates Scholasticus said, at the opening of his history that
was designed as a continuation of Eusebius, "Also in writing the life of Constantine, this same
author has but slightly treated of matters regarding Arius, being more intent on the rhetorical
finish of his composition and the praises of the emperor, than on an accurate statement of facts."
The work was unfinished at Eusebius' death.

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian (ca. 160 – ca. 220 A.D.),[1]
was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa.[2] He is the
first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature. He also was a
notable early Christian apologist and a polemicist against heresy. Tertullian has been called "the
father of Latin Christianity".[3] Though conservative, he did originate and advance new theology
to the early Church. He is perhaps most famous for being the oldest extant Latin writer to use the
term Trinity (Latin trinitas),[4] and giving the oldest extant formal exposition of a Trinitarian
theology.[5] Other Latin formulations that first appear in his work are "three Persons, one
Substance" as the Latin "tres Personae, una Substantia" (itself from the Koine Greek "treis
Hypostases, Homoousios").[citation needed][verification needed][dubious – discuss] Some of Tertullian's ideas were not
acceptable to the orthodox Church; in later life he became a Montanist.

His conversion to Christianity perhaps took place about 197–198 (cf. Adolf Harnack,
Bonwetsch, and others), but its immediate antecedents are unknown except as they are
conjectured from his writings. The event must have been sudden and decisive, transforming at
once his own personality. He said of himself that he could not imagine a truly Christian life
without such a conscious breach, a radical act of conversion: "Christians are made, not born"
(Apol, xviii).

Two books addressed to his wife confirm that he was married to a Christian wife.

In middle life (about 207) he was attracted to the "New Prophecy" of Montanism, and seems to
have split from the mainstream church. In the time of Augustine, a group of "Tertullianists" still
had a basilica in Carthage which, within that same period, passed to the orthodox Church. It is
unclear whether the name was merely another for the Montanists[13] or that this means Tertullian
later split with the Montanists and founded his own group.
Jerome[14] says that Tertullian lived to a great age, but there is no reliable source attesting to his
survival beyond the estimated year 220. In spite of his schism from the orthodox Church, he
continued to write against heresy, especially Gnosticism. Thus, by the doctrinal works he
published, Tertullian became the teacher of Cyprian and the predecessor of Augustine, who, in
turn, became the chief founder of Latin theology.

The chronology of these writings is difficult to fix with certainty. It is in part determined by the
Montanistic views that are set forth in some of them, by the author's own allusions to this
writing, or that, as antedating others (cf. Harnack, Litteratur ii.260–262), and by definite historic
data (e.g., the reference to the death of Septimius Severus, Ad Scapulam, iv). In his work against
Marcion, which he calls his third composition on the Marcionite heresy, he gives its date as the
fifteenth year of the reign of Severus (Adv. Marcionem, i.1, 15) --which would be approximately
the year 208.

The writings may be divided with reference to the two periods of Tertullian's Christian activity,
the Catholic and the Montanist (cf. Harnack, ii.262 sqq.), or according to their subject-matter.
The object of the former mode of division is to show, if possible, the change of views Tertullian's
mind underwent. Following the latter mode, which is of a more practical interest, the writings
fall into two groups. Apologetic and polemic writings, like Apologeticus, De testimonio animae,
Adv. Judaeos, Adv. Marcionem, Adv. Praxeam, Adv. Hermogenem, De praescriptione
hereticorum, and Scorpiace were written to counteract Gnosticism and other religious or
philosophical doctrines. The other group consists of practical and disciplinary writings, e.g., De
monogamia, Ad uxorem, De virginibus velandis, De cultu feminarum, De patientia, De pudicitia,
De oratione, and Ad martyras.

Among his apologetic writings, the Apologeticus, addressed to the Roman magistrates, is a most
pungent defense of Christianity and the Christians against the reproaches of the pagans, and an
important legacy of the ancient Church, proclaiming the principle of freedom of religion as an
inalienable human right and demands a fair trial for Christians before they are condemned to
death.

Tertullian was the first to break the force of such charges as that the Christians sacrificed infants
at the celebration of the Lord's Supper and committed incest. He pointed to the commission of
such crimes in the pagan world and then proved by the testimony of Pliny that Christians pledged
themselves not to commit murder, adultery, or other crimes. He adduced also the inhumanity of
pagan customs such as feeding the flesh of gladiators to beasts. He argued that the gods have no
existence and thus there is no pagan religion against which Christians may offend. Christians do
not engage in the foolish worship of the emperors. They do better: they pray for them. Christians
can afford to be put to torture and to death, and the more they are cast down the more they grow;
"the blood of the martyrs is seed" (Apologeticum, 50). In the De Praescriptione he develops as
its fundamental idea that, in a dispute between the Church and a separating party, the whole
burden of proof lies with the latter, as the Church, in possession of the unbroken tradition, is by
its very existence a guarantee of its truth.

The five books against Marcion, written 207 or 208, are the most comprehensive and elaborate
of his polemical works, invaluable for gauging the early Christian view of Gnosticism. Of the
moral and ascetic treatises, the De patientia and De spectaculis are among the most interesting,
and the De pudicitia and De virginibus velandis among the most characteristic.

Tertullian's main doctrinal teachings are as follows:

1. The soul was not preexistent, as Plato affirmed, nor subject to metempsychosis or
reincarnation, as the Pythagoreans held. In each individual it is a new product, proceeding
equally with the body from the parents, and not created later and associated with the body
(De anima, xxvii). This position is called traducianism in opposition to 'creationism', or
the idea that each soul is a fresh creation of God. For Tertullian the soul is, however, a
distinct entity and a certain corporeity and as such it may be tormented in Hell (De
anima, lviii).
2. The soul's sinfulness is easily explained by its traducian origin (De anima, xxxix). It is in
bondage to Satan (whose works it renounces in baptism), but has seeds of good (De
anima, xli), and when awakened, it passes to health and at once calls upon God (Apol.,
xvii.) and is naturally Christian. It exists in all men alike; it is a culprit and yet an
unconscious witness by its impulse to worship, its fear of demons, and its musings on
death to the power, benignity, and judgment of God as revealed in the Christian's
Scriptures (De testimonio, v-vi).
3. God, who made the world out of nothing through his Son, the Word, has corporeity
though he is a spirit (De praescriptione, vii.; Adv. Praxeam, vii.). However Tertullian
used 'corporeal' only in the stoic sense, to mean something with actual existence, rather
than the later idea of flesh. In the statement of the Trinity, Tertullian was a forerunner of
the Nicene doctrine, approaching the subject from the standpoint of the Logos doctrine,
though he did not state the immanent Trinity. His use of trinitas (Latin: 'Threeness')
emphasised the manifold character of God. In his treatise against Praxeas, who taught
patripassianism in Rome, he used the words, " Trinity and economy, persons and
substance." The Son is distinct from the Father, and the Spirit from both the Father and
the Son (Adv. Praxeam, xxv). "These three are one substance, not one person; and it is
said, 'I and my Father are one' in respect not of the singularity of number but the unity of
the substance." The very names "Father" and "Son" indicate the distinction of personality.
The Father is one, the Son is one, and the Spirit is one (Adv. Praxeam, ix). As regards the
question whether the Son was coeternal with the Father, many believe that Tertullian did
not teach that. The Catholic Encyclopedia comments that for Tertullian, "There was a
time when there was no Son and no sin, when God was neither Father nor Judge.".[15][16]
Similarly J.N.D. Kelly has stated: "Tertullian followed the Apologists in dating His
“perfect generation” from His extrapolation for the work of creation; prior to that
moment God could not strictly be said to have had a Son, while after it the term “Father”,
which for earlier theologians generally connoted God as author of reality, began to
acquire the specialized meaning of Father and Son.".[17] As regards the subjects of
subordination of the Son to the Father, the New Catholic Encyclopedia has commented:
"In not a few areas of theology, Tertullian’s views are, of course, completely
unacceptable. Thus, for example, his teaching on the Trinity reveals a subordination of
Son to Father that in the later crass form of Arianism the Church rejected as heretical."[18]
4. In soteriology Tertullian does not dogmatize, he prefers to keep silence at the mystery of
the cross (De Patientia, iii). The sufferings of Christ's life as well as of the crucifixion are
efficacious to redemption. In the water of baptism, which (upon a partial quotation of
John 3:5) is made necessary (De baptismo, vi.), we are born again; we do not receive the
Holy Spirit in the water, but are prepared for the Holy Spirit. We little fishes, after the
example of the ichthys, fish, Jesus Christ, are born in water (De baptismo, i). In
discussing whether sins committed subsequent to baptism may be forgiven, he calls
baptism and penance "two planks" on which the sinner may be saved from shipwreck —
language which he gave to the Church (De penitentia, xii).
5. With reference to the 'rule of faith', it may be said that Tertullian is constantly using this
expression, and by it means now the authoritative tradition handed down in the Church,
now the Scriptures themselves, and, perhaps, a definite doctrinal formula. While he
nowhere gives a list of the books of Scripture, he divides them into two parts and calls
them the instrumentum and testamentum (Adv. Marcionem, iv.1). He distinguishes
between the four Gospels and insists upon their apostolic origin as accrediting their
authority (De praescriptione, xxxvi; Adv. Marcionem, iv.1–5); in trying to account for
Marcion's treatment of the Lucan Gospel and the Pauline writings he sarcastically queries
whether the "shipmaster from Pontus" (Marcion) had ever been guilty of taking on
contraband goods or tampering with them after they were aboard (Adv. Marcionem, v.1).
The Scripture, the rule of faith, is for him fixed and authoritative (De corona, iii-iv). As
opposed to the pagan writings they are divine (De testimonio animae, vi). They contain
all truth (De praescriptione, vii, xiv) and from them the Church drinks (potat) her faith
(Adv. Praxeam, xiii). The prophets were older than the Greek philosophers and their
authority is accredited by the fulfilment of their predictions (Apol., xix-xx). The
Scriptures and the teachings of philosophy are incompatible, insofar as the latter are the
origins of sub-Christian heresies. "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" he exclaims,
"or the Academy with the Church?" (De praescriptione, vii). Philosophy as pop-
paganism is a work of demons (De anima, i); the Scriptures contain the wisdom of
heaven. However Tertullian was not averse to using the technical methods of Stoicism to
discuss a problem (De anima). The rule of faith, however, seems to be also applied by
Tertullian to some distinct formula of doctrine, and he gives a succinct statement of the
Christian faith under this term (De praescriptione, xiii).
6. Tertullian was a defender of the necessity of apostolicity. In his Prescription Against
Heretics, he explicitly challenges heretics to produce evidence of the apostolic succession
of their communities.[19] "Let them produce the original records of their churches; let
them unfold the roll of their bishops, running down in due succession from the beginning
in such a manner that [that first bishop of theirs] bishop shall be able to show for his
ordainer and predecessor some one of the apostles or of apostolic men, — a man,
moreover, who continued steadfast with the apostles. For this is the manner in which the
apostolic churches transmit their registers: as the church of Smyrna, which records that
Polycarp was placed therein by John; as also the church of Rome, which makes Clement
to have been ordained in like manner by Peter. In exactly the same way the other
churches likewise exhibit (their several worthies), whom, as having been appointed to
their episcopal places by apostles, they regard as transmitters of the apostolic seed."
 7. Fornicators and Murderers should never be admitted into the church under any
circumstances. In de pudicitia, Tertullian condemns Pope Callixtus I for allowing such
people in when they show repentance.

Apologetic
 Apologeticus pro Christianis.
 Dissertatio Mosheim in Apol.

 Libri duo ad Nationes.

 De Testimonio animae.
 Ad Martyres.
 De Spectaculis.
 De Idololatria.
 Accedit ad Scapulam liber.
 Dissertatio D. Le Nourry in Apologet. libr. II ad Nat. et libr. ad Scapulam.

Polemical
 De Oratione.
 De Baptismo.

 De Poenitentia.
 De Patientia.
 Ad Uxorem libri duo.
 De Cultu Feminarum lib. II.

Dogmatic
 De Corona Militis.
 De Fuga in Persecutione.

 Adversus Gnosticos Scorpiace.

 Adversus Praxeam.
 Adversus Hermogenem.
 Adversus Marcionem libri V.
 Adversus Valentinianos.
 Adversus Judaeos.
 De Anima.
  De Carne Christi.
 De Resurrectione Carnis.

On morality
 De velandis Virginibus.
 De Exhortatione Castitatis.

 De Monogamia.
 De Jejuniis.
 De Pudicitia.
 De Pallio.

Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus[3] (c. 27 February 272[2] – 22 May 337), commonly
known as Constantine I, Constantine the Great, or Saint Constantine,[4][5] was Roman
Emperor from 306 to 337. Best known for being the first Christian Roman emperor,[notes 1]
Constantine reversed the persecutions of his predecessor, Diocletian, and issued the Edict of
Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of Christians throughout the empire.

 The foremost general of his time, Constantine defeated the emperors Maxentius and
Licinius during civil wars. He also fought successfully against the Franks, Alamanni,
Visigoths, and Sarmatians during his reign – even resettling parts of Dacia which had
been abandoned during the previous century. Constantine also transformed the ancient
Greek colony of Byzantium into a new imperial residence, Constantinople, which would
be the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire for over one thousand years.
 John Chrysostom (c. 349–407, Greek: Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος), Archbishop of
Constantinople, was an important Early Church Father. He is known for his eloquence in
preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both
ecclesiastical and political leaders, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and his
ascetic sensibilities. After his death (or, according to some sources, during his life) he
was given the Greek surname chrysostomos, meaning "golden mouthed", rendered in
English as Chrysostom.[2][3]

 The Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches honor him as a saint and count him among
the Three Holy Hierarchs, together with Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzus. He is
recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church as a saint and as a
Doctor of the Church. Churches of the Western tradition, including the Roman Catholic
Church, some Anglican provinces, and parts of the Lutheran Church, commemorate him
on 13 September. Some Lutheran and many Anglican provinces commemorate him on
the traditional Eastern feast day of 27 January. The Coptic Orthodox Church of
 Alexandria also recognizes John Chrysostom as a saint (with feast days on 16 Thout and
17 Hathor).[4]

 John is known in Christianity chiefly as a preacher, theologian and liturgist, particularly

in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Among his sermons, eight directed against Judaizing
Christians remain controversial for their impact on the development of Christian
antisemitism.[5][6][7] He was also active in destruction of pagan symbols and places of
worship, including the temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

 Jerome (c. 347 – 30 September 420) (formerly Saint Hierom) (Latin: Eusebius
Sophronius Hieronymus; Greek: Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; Albanian: Shën
Jeronimi) was an Illyrian Christian priest [1] and apologist. He was the son of Eusebius, of
the city of Stridon, which was on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia. He is best known
for his translation of the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate), and his list of writings is
extensive.[2]

 He is recognized by the Catholic Church as a saint and Doctor of the Church, and the
Vulgate is still an important text in Catholicism. He is also recognized as a saint by the
Eastern Orthodox Church, where he is known as St. Jerome of Stridonium or Blessed
Jerome

 Jerome is the second most voluminous writer (after St. Augustine) in ancient Latin
Christianity. In the Roman Catholic Church, he is recognized as the patron saint of
translators, librarians and encyclopedists.

 He acquired a knowledge of Hebrew by studying with a Jew who converted to

Christianity, and took the unusual position (for that time) that the Hebrew, and not the
Septuagint, was the inspired text of the Old Testament. The traditional view is that he
used this knowledge to translate what became known as the Vulgate, and his translation
was slowly but eventually accepted in the Catholic Church.[23] The later resurgence of
Hebrew studies within Christianity owes much to him.

 He showed more zeal and interest in the ascetic ideal than in abstract speculation. It was
this strict asceticism that made Martin Luther judge him so severely. In fact, Protestant
readers are not generally inclined to accept his writings as authoritative. The tendency to
recognize a superior comes out in his correspondence with Augustine (cf. Jerome's letters
numbered 56, 67, 102-105, 110-112, 115-116; and 28, 39, 40, 67-68, 71-75, 81-82 in
Augustine's).

 Despite the criticisms already mentioned, Jerome has retained a rank among the western
Fathers. This would be his due, if for nothing else, on account of the great influence
exercised by his Latin version of the Bible upon the subsequent ecclesiastical and
theological development.
 Pelagius (ca. AD 354 – ca. AD 420/440) was an ascetic who denied the doctrine of
original sin as developed by Augustine of Hippo, and was declared a heretic by the
Council of Carthage. His interpretation of a doctrine of free will became known as
Pelagianism. He was well educated, fluent in both Greek and Latin, and learned in
theology. He spent time as an ascetic, focusing on practical asceticism, which his
teachings clearly reflect. He was certainly well known in Rome, both for the harsh
asceticism of his public life as well as the power and persuasiveness of his speech. His
reputation in Rome earned him praise early in his career even from such pillars of the
Church as Augustine, who referred to him as a "saintly man." However, he was later
accused of lying about his own teachings in order to avoid public condemnation. Most of
his later life was spent defending his doctrine against theologians teaching the Catholic
Faith. They held that Catholicism came from the apostles and that Pelagius was spreading
novelties in the Faith unknown to the apostolic tradition.
 Due to his status as a heretic, little of his work has come down to the present day except
in the quotes of his opponents. However, more recently some have defended Pelagius as a
misunderstood orthodox:[1]
 Recent analysis of his thinking suggests that it was, in fact, highly orthodox,
following in the tradition established by the early fathers and in keeping with the
teaching of the church in both the East and the West. ... From what we are able to
piece together from the few sources available... it seems that the Celtic monk held
to an orthodox view of the prevenience of God's grace, and did not assert that
individuals could achieve salvation purely by their own efforts

Augustine of Hippo (/ɒˈɡʌstɨn/;[1] Latin: Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis;)[2]

(November 13, 354 – August 28, 430), also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St.
Austin,[3] Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed,[4] was Bishop of Hippo
Regius. He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman
Africa Province. His writings were very influential in the development of Western
Christianity.

 Augustine, a Latin church father, is one of the most important figures in the development
of Western Christianity. He "established anew the ancient faith" (conditor antiquae
rursum fidei), according to his contemporary, Jerome.[5] In his early years he was heavily
influenced by Manichaeism and afterward by the Neo-Platonism of Plotinus.[6] After his
conversion to Christianity and baptism (387), Augustine developed his own approach to
philosophy and theology, accommodating a variety of methods and different
perspectives.[7] He believed that the grace of Christ was indispensable to human freedom,
and he framed the concepts of original sin and just war.
 When the Western Roman Empire was starting to disintegrate, Augustine developed the
concept of the Church as a spiritual City of God (in a book of the same name), distinct
from the material Earthly City.[8] His thought profoundly influenced the medieval
worldview. Augustine's City of God was closely identified with the church, the
community that worshipped God.[9]

 In the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, he is a saint and pre-eminent
Doctor of the Church, and the patron of the Augustinian religious order; his memorial is
 celebrated 28 August, the day of his death. He is the patron saint of brewers, printers,
theologians, sore eyes, and a number of cities and dioceses.[citation needed] Many Protestants,
especially Calvinists, consider him to be one of the theological fathers of Reformation
due to his teaching on salvation and divine grace. In the Eastern Orthodox Church he is
blessed, and his feast day is celebrated on 15 June.[10] Among the Orthodox, he is called
"Blessed Augustine", or "St. Augustine the Blessed".

Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist (1090 – August 20, 1153) was a French abbot and the primary
builder of the reforming Cistercian order.

 After the death of his mother, Bernard sought admission into the Cistercian order. Three
years later, he was sent to found a new abbey at an isolated clearing in a glen known as
the Val d'Absinthe, about 15 km southeast of Bar-sur-Aube. According to tradition,
Bernard founded the monastery on 25 June 1115, naming it Claire Vallée, which evolved
into Clairvaux. There Bernard would preach an immediate faith, in which the intercessor
was the Virgin Mary.[citation needed] In the year 1128, Bernard assisted at the Council of
Troyes, at which he traced the outlines of the Rule of the Knights Templar, who soon
became the ideal of Christian nobility.
 On the death of Pope Honorius II a schism broke out in the Church. Louis VI of France
convened a national council of the French bishops at Étampes, and Bernard was chosen
to judge between the rivals for pope. In 1139, Bernard assisted at the Second Council of
the Lateran. Bernard denounced the teachings of Peter Abelard to the Pope, who called a
council at Sens in 1141 to settle the matter. Bernard soon saw one of his disciples,
Bernard of Pisa, elected Pope. Having previously helped end the schism within the
Church, Bernard was now called upon to combat heresy. In June 1145, Bernard traveled
in Southern France and his preaching there helped strengthen support against heresy.

 Following the Christian defeat at the Siege of Edessa, the Pope commissioned Bernard to
preach the Second Crusade. The last years of Bernard's life were saddened by the failure
of the crusaders, the entire responsibility for which was thrown upon him. Bernard died at
age 63, after 40 years spent in the cloister. He was the first Cistercian monk placed on the
calendar of saints, and was canonized by Pope Alexander III on 18 January 1174. Pope
Pius VIII bestowed upon him the title "Doctor of the Church".

 Bernard's theology and Mariology continue to be of major importance,

particularly within the Cistercian and Trappist orders.[16] Bernard led to the
foundation of 163 monasteries in different parts of Europe. At his death, they
numbered 343. His influence led Pope Alexander III to launch reforms that would
lead to the establishment of canon law.[17] He was the first Cistercian monk placed
on the calendar of saints and was canonized by Pope Alexander III January 18,
1174. Pope Pius VIII bestowed on him the title of Doctor of the Church. He is
fondly remembered as the "Mellifluous Doctor," (the Honey-Sweet Doctor), for
his eloquence. The Cistercians honour him as only the founders of orders are
honoured, because of the widespread activity which he gave to the order.[7]
 Pope Gregory I (Latin: Gregorius I) (c. 540 – 12 March 604), better known in English as
Gregory the Great, was pope from 3 September 590 until his death. Gregory is well-
known for his writings, which were more prolific than those of any of his predecessors as
pope.[1]

 He is also known as St. Gregory the Dialogist in Eastern Orthodoxy because of his
Dialogues. For this reason, English translations of Orthodox texts will sometimes list him
as "Gregory Dialogus". He was the first of the popes to come from a monastic
background. Gregory is a Doctor of the Church and one of the six Latin Fathers. He is
considered a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican
Communion, and some Lutheran churches. Immediately after his death, Gregory was
canonized by popular acclaim.[2] John Calvin admired Gregory and declared in his
Institutes that Gregory was the last good pope.[3] He is the patron saint of musicians,
singers, students, and teachers.[4]
 Although Gregory was resolved to retire into the monastic lifestyle of contemplation, he
was unwillingly forced back into a world that, although he loved, he no longer wanted to
be a part of.[36] In texts of all genres, especially those produced in his first year as pope,
Gregory bemoaned the burden of office and mourned the loss of the undisturbed life of
prayer he had once enjoyed as monk.[37] When he became Pope in 590, among his first
acts was writing a series of letters disavowing any ambition to the throne of Peter and
praising the contemplative life of the monks. At that time, for various reasons, the Holy
See had not exerted effective leadership in the West since the pontificate of Gelasius I.
The episcopacy in Gaul was drawn from the great territorial families, and identified with
them: the parochial horizon of Gregory's contemporary, Gregory of Tours, may be
considered typical; in Visigothic Spain the bishops had little contact with Rome; in Italy
the territories which had de facto fallen under the administration of the papacy were beset
by the violent Lombard dukes and the rivalry of the Jews in the Exarchate of Ravenna
and in the south.

 Gregory is credited with re-energizing the Church's missionary work among the barbarian
peoples of northern Europe. He is most famous for sending a mission, often called the
Gregorian mission, under Augustine of Canterbury, prior of Saint Andrew's, where he
had perhaps succeeded Gregory, to evangelize the pagan Anglo-Saxons of England. The
mission was successful, and it was from England that missionaries later set out for the
Netherlands and Germany. The preaching of the true Catholic faith and the elimination of
all deviations from it was a key element in Gregory's worldview, and it constituted one of
the major continuing policies of his pontificate.[38]

 According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, he was declared a saint immediately after his
death by "popular acclamation".[39]
Saint Francis of Assisi (Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone; 1181/1182 – October 3, 1226)[2]
was a Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the Franciscan Order, the woman’s Order of St.
Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis.[3] St. Francis is one of the most venerated
religious figures in Roman Catholic history.[3]

Francis was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant in Assisi, and he lived the high-spirited life
typical of a wealthy young man, even fighting as a soldier for Assisi.[4] While going off to war in
1204, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, where he lost his taste for his worldly
life.[4] On a pilgrimage to Rome, Francis begged with the beggars at St. Peter's.[4] The experience
moved him to live in poverty.[4] Francis returned home, began preaching on the streets, and soon
amassed a following. He and his followers lived a simple life of poverty and wandered
throughout Umbria, always cheerful and full of songs, while making a deep impression upon
their hearers. His order was endorsed by the Pope in 1210. He then founded the Order of Poor
Ladies, which was an order for old women, as well as the Third Order of Brothers and Sisters of
Penance. In 1219 he went to Egypt, where crusaders were besieging Damietta. Francis achieved
personal rapprochement with the Muslim sultan. By this point, the Franciscan Order had grown
to such an extent that its primitive organizational structure was no longer sufficient. He returned
to Italy to organize the order. Once his organization was endorsed by the Pope, he withdrew
increasingly from external affairs. Suffering from illness, Francis was brought back to a hut
where his order began and he spent the last days of his life dictating his spiritual testament. He
died in 1226 while singing Psalm 141.

On July 16, 1228, he was pronounced a saint by Pope Gregory IX. He is known as the patron
saint of animals, the environment and one of the two patrons of Italy (with Catherine of Siena),
and it is customary for Anglican and Roman Catholic churches to hold ceremonies blessing
animals on his feast day of 4 October.[5] It has been argued that no one in history was as
dedicated as Francis to imitate the life, and carry out the work, of Christ in Christ’s own way.

Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033 – 21 April 1109), also called of Aosta for his birthplace, and of
Bec for his home monastery, was a Benedictine monk, a philosopher, and a prelate of the church
who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109. Called the founder of
scholasticism, he is famous as the originator of the ontological argument for the existence of
God.

Born into the noble family of Candia, he entered the Benedictine order at the Abbey of Bec at the
age of twenty-seven, where he became abbot in 1079. He became Archbishop of Canterbury
under William II of England, and was exiled from England from 1097 to 1100, and again from
1105 to 1107 under Henry I of England as a result of the lay investiture dispute.

Anselm was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1720 by Pope Clement XI.

First exile

As an exile, in October 1097 Anselm set out for Rome. William immediately seized the revenues
of the see and retained them until his death, though Anselm retained the archbishopric.[26]
Anselm went into exile to defend his vision of the universal Church, displaying William's sins
against that vision.[20] Though he had done homage to William, Anselm qualified that homage by
his higher duty towards God and the papacy. Anselm was received with high honour by Urban at
the Siege of Capua, where he garnered high praise from the Saracen troops of Roger I of Sicily.
The pope, however, did not wish to become deeply involved in Anselm's dispute with the king.

At a large provincial council held at Bari in 1098, which 183 bishops attended, Anselm was
asked to defend, against representatives of the Greek Church, the Filioque and the practice of
using unleavened bread for the Eucharist.

In 1099 Urban renewed the ban on lay investiture and on clerics doing homage.[20] That year
Anselm moved to Lyon.

Second exile

Exiled from England, Anselm withdrew to Lyon after this ruling and awaited further action from
Paschal. On 26 March 1105 Paschal excommunicated Henry's chief advisor (Robert of Meulan)
for urging Henry to continue lay investiture,[32] as well as prelates invested by Henry and other
counselors,[33] and threatened Henry with the same.[34] In April Anselm threatened to
excommunicate Henry himself, probably to force Henry's hand in their negotiations.[35] In
response Henry arranged a meeting with Anselm, and they managed a compromise at Laigle on
22 July 1105. Part of the agreement was that Robert's (and his associates') excommunication be
lifted (given that they counsel the king to obey the papacy); Anselm lifted the excommunications
on his own authority, an act which he later had to justify to Paschal.[36][37] Other conditions of the
agreement were that Henry would forsake lay investiture if Anselm obtained Paschal's
permission for clerics to do homage for their nobles; that the revenues of his see be given back to
Anselm; and that priests not be allowed to marry. Anselm then insisted on having the Laigle
agreement sanctioned by Paschal before he would consent to return to England. By letter Anselm
also asked that the pope accept his compromise on doing homage to the king, because he had
secured a greater victory in Henry's forsaking lay investiture.[38] On 23 March 1106 Paschal
wrote Anselm accepting the compromise, though both saw this as a temporary compromise, and
intended to later continue pushing for the Gregorian reform, including the custom of homage.[39]

Even after this, Anselm still refused to return to England.[40] Henry traveled to Bec and met with
him on 15 August 1106. Henry made further concession, restoring to Anselm all the churches
that had been seized by William; he promised that nothing more would be taken from the
churches; prelates who had paid his controversial tax (which had started as a tax on married
clergy)[41] would be exempt from taxes for three years; and he promised to restore all that had
been taken from Canterbury during Anselm's exile, even giving Anselm security for this
promise. These compromises on Henry's part strengthened the rights of the Church against the
king. Anselm returned to England following this.

By 1107, the long dispute regarding investiture was finally settled. The Concordat of London
announced the compromises that Anselm and Henry had made at Bec.[42] The final two years of
Anselm's life were spent in the duties of his archbishopric. As archbishop, Anselm maintained
his monastic ideals, which included stewardship, prudence, and fitting instruction to his flock, as
well as prayer and contemplation.[43] During his service as archbishop, Anselm maintained a
habit of pressing on his monarchs at expedient times (when they needed his help, and when he
would have public support) to advance his Church reforms.[20] Anselm died on Holy Wednesday,
21 April 1109.

[edit] Motivation

Vaughn reads Anselm's motivation in the lay investiture conflict as advancing the interests of the
see of Canterbury, rather than those of the Church at large.[44] Other historians had seen Anselm
as aligned with the papacy against the English monarchs, but Vaughn asserts that he acted on his
own, as a third pole in the controversy, his aim being to promote the primacy of the archdiocese
of Canterbury. His view of Canterbury's primacy is demonstrated in his charter of c. 3 September
1101, in which he called himself "Archbishop of Canterbury and primate of Great Britain and
Ireland and vicar of the High Pontiff Paschal".[30] By the end of his life he had secured the
primatial status of Canterbury in relation to the papacy, and he had freed Canterbury from
submission to the English king.[42] In addition to securing the archbishop of Canterbury's role as
primate of the English bishops, Anselm also initiated Canterbury's permanent control over the
Welsh bishops, and gained strong authority over the Irish bishops during his lifetime.[45]

Anselm is the first scholastic philosopher of Christian theology. His great predecessor, Johannes
Scotus Eriugena, was more speculative and mystical in his writings. Anselm's writings represent
a recognition of the relationship of reason to revealed truth, and an attempt to elaborate a rational
system of faith.

Saint Thomas Aquinas, O.P., also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino; (Aquino, 1225 – Fossanova, 7
March 1274) was an Italian priest of the Catholic Church in the Dominican Order, and an
immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as
Doctor Angelicus (the Angelic Doctor) and Doctor Communis or Doctor Universalis (the
Common or Universal Doctor).[1] He is frequently referred to as Thomas because "Aquinas"
refers to his residence rather than his surname. He was the foremost classical proponent of
natural theology, and the father of the Thomistic school of philosophy and theology. His
influence on Western thought is considerable, and much of modern philosophy was conceived as
a reaction against, or as an agreement with, his ideas, particularly in the areas of ethics, natural
law and political theory.

Aquinas is held in the Eastern Orthodox Church to be the model teacher for those studying for
the priesthood.[2] The works for which he is best-known are the Summa Theologica and the
Summa Contra Gentiles. One of the 33 Doctors of the Church, he is considered the Church's
greatest theologian and philosopher. Pope Benedict XV declared: "The Church has declared
Thomas' doctrine to be her own."[3]

Epistemology

Aquinas believed "that for the knowledge of any truth whatsoever man needs divine help, that
the intellect may be moved by God to its act."[52] However, he believed that human beings have
the natural capacity to know many things without special divine revelation, even though such
revelation occurs from time to time, "especially in regard to [topics of] a faith."[53]
Aquinas viewed theology, or the sacred doctrine, as a science,[35] the raw material data of which
consists of written scripture and the tradition of the Catholic Church. These sources of data were
produced by the self-revelation of God to individuals and groups of people throughout history.
Faith and reason, while distinct but related, are the two primary tools for processing the data of
theology. Aquinas believed both were necessary — or, rather, that the confluence of both was
necessary — for one to obtain true knowledge of God. Aquinas blended Greek philosophy and
Christian doctrine by suggesting that rational thinking and the study of nature, like revelation,
were valid ways to understand truths pertaining to God. According to Aquinas, God reveals
himself through nature, so to study nature is to study God. The ultimate goals of theology, in
Aquinas’ mind, are to use reason to grasp the truth about God and to experience salvation
through that truth.

Goal of human life

In Aquinas's thought, the goal of human existence is union and eternal fellowship with God.
Specifically, this goal is achieved through the beatific vision, an event in which a person
experiences perfect, unending happiness by seeing the very essence of God. This vision, which
occurs after death, is a gift from God given to those who have experienced salvation and
redemption through Christ while living on earth.

This ultimate goal carries implications for one's present life on earth. Aquinas stated that an
individual's will must be ordered toward right things, such as charity, peace, and holiness. He
sees this as the way to happiness. Aquinas orders his treatment of the moral life around the idea
of happiness. The relationship between will and goal is antecedent in nature "because rectitude of
the will consists in being duly ordered to the last end [that is, the beatific vision]." Those who
truly seek to understand and see God will necessarily love what God loves. Such love requires
morality and bears fruit in everyday human choices.[82]

John Wycliffe (pronounced /ˈwɪklɪf/; also spelled Wyclif, Wycliff, Wiclef, Wicliffe, or
Wickliffe) (c. 1324 – 31 December 1384) was an English theologian, lay preacher,[1] translator,
reformist and university teacher who was known as an early dissident in the Roman Catholic
Church during the 14th century. His followers are known as Lollards, a somewhat rebellious
movement, which preached anticlerical and biblically-centered reforms. He is considered the
founder of the Lollard movement,[1] a precursor to the Protestant Reformation (for this reason, he
is sometimes called "The Morning Star of the Reformation"). He was one of the earliest
opponents of papal authority influencing secular power.[2]

Wycliffe was also an early advocate for translation of the Bible into the common tongue. He
completed his translation directly from the Vulgate into vernacular English in the year 1382, now
known as Wyclif's Bible.[3] It is probable that he personally translated the Gospels of Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John; and it is possible he translated the entire New Testament, while his
associates translated the Old Testament.[4] Wyclif's Bible appears to have been completed by
1384,[4] with additional updated versions being done by Wycliffe's assistant John Purvey and
others in 1388 and 1395.[5]

Believed in Predestination (No visible church), and the Bible alone.

Jan Hus also known as Jan Huss, John Hus, John Huss (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjan ˈɦus]  (
listen); ca. 1369 Husinec, Bohemia – 6 July 1415 Constance (today Konstanz, Germany)), often
referred to in English as John Huss or variations thereof, was a Czech priest, philosopher,
reformer, and master at Charles University in Prague.

He is famed for having been burned at the stake for heresy against the doctrines of the Catholic
Church, including those on ecclesiology (the branch of theology concerned with the nature,
constitution and functions of a church), the Eucharist (a Christian sacrament commemorating the
Last Supper by consecrating bread and wine), and other theological topics. Hus was a key
predecessor to the Protestant movement of the 16th century, and his teachings had a strong
influence on the states of Europe, most immediately in the approval for the existence of a
reformist Bohemian religious denomination, and, more than a century later, on Martin Luther
himself.[1]

Between 1420 and 1431, the Hussite forces defeated five consecutive papal crusades against
followers of Hus. Their defense and rebellion against Roman Catholics became known as the
Hussite Wars.[2]

Condemnation of indulgences and Crusade

Hus spoke out against indulgences, but he could not carry with him the men of the university. In
1412, a dispute took place, on which occasion Hus delivered his address Quaestio magistri
Johannis Hus de indulgentiis. It was taken literally from the last chapter of Wycliffe's book, De
ecclesia, and his treatise, De absolutione a pena et culpa. The pamphlet stated that no pope or
bishop had the right to take up the sword in the name of the Church; he should pray for his
enemies and bless those that curse him; man obtains forgiveness of sins by true repentance, not
money. The doctors of the theological faculty replied, but without success. A few days afterward,
some of Hus' followers, led by Vok Voksa z Valdštejna, burnt the Papal bulls. Hus, they said,
should be obeyed rather than the Church, which they considered a fraudulent mob of adulterers
and Simonists.[citation needed]

Writings of Hus and Wycliffe

Of the writings occasioned by these controversies, those of Hus on the Church, entitled De
Ecclesia, were written in 1413 and have been most frequently quoted and admired or criticized,
and yet their first ten chapters are but an epitome of Wycliffe's work of the same title, and the
following chapters are but an abstract of another of Wycliffe's works (De potentate papae) on the
power of the pope. Wycliffe had written his book to oppose the common, but mistaken (from a
Catholic point of view) position that the Church consisted only of the clergy, and Hus now found
himself making the same point. He wrote his work at the castle of one of his protectors in Kozí
Hrádek, and sent it to Prague, where it was publicly read in the Bethlehem chapel. It was
answered by Stanislav ze Znojma and Páleč with treatises of the same title. After the most
vehement opponents of Hus had left Prague, his adherents occupied the whole ground. Hus wrote
his treatises and preached in the neighborhood of Kozí Hrádek. Bohemian Wyclifism was carried
into Poland, Hungary, Croatia, and Austria. In January 1413, a general council assembled in
Rome which condemned the writings of Wycliffe and ordered them to be burned.[citation needed]
TEACHINGS

Hus left only a few reformatory writings in the proper sense of the word, most of his works being
polemical treatises against Stanislav ze Znojma and Štěpán Páleč. He translated the Trialogus,
and was very familiar with his works on the body of the Lord, on the Church, on the power of the
pope, and especially with his sermons. There are reasons to suppose that Wycliffe's doctrine of
the Lord's Supper had spread to Prague as early as 1399, with strong evidence that students
returning from England had brought the work back with them. It gained an even wider
circulation after it had been prohibited in 1403, and Hus preached and taught it, although it is
possible that he simply repeated it without advocating it. But the doctrine was seized eagerly by
the radical party, the Taborites, who made it the central point of their system. According to their
book, the Church is not that hierarchy which is generally designated as Church; the Church is the
entire body of those who from eternity have been predestined for salvation. Christ, not the pope,
is its head. It is no article of faith that one must obey the pope to be saved. Neither internal
membership in the Church nor churchly offices and dignities are a surety that the persons in
question are members of the true Church.[citation needed]

To some, Hus' efforts were predominantly designed to rid the Church of its ethical abuses, rather
than a campaign of sweeping theological change. To others, the seeds of the reformation are
clear in Hus' and Wycliffe's writings. In explaining the plight of the average Christian in
Bohemia, Hus wrote, “One pays for confession, for mass, for the sacrament, for indulgences, for
churching a woman, for a blessing, for burials, for funeral services and prayers. The very last
penny which an old woman has hidden in her bundle for fear of thieves or robbery will not be
saved. The villainous priest will grab it.” (Macek, 16) After Hus' death, his followers, then
known as Hussites, split off into several groups including the Utraquists, Taborites and Orphans.
Nearly six centuries later in 1999, Pope John Paul II expressed "deep regret for the cruel death
inflicted" on Hus. Cardinal Miloslav Vlk of the Czech Republic was instrumental in crafting
John Paul II's statement.[6]

William Tyndale (sometimes spelled Tindall, Tindill, Tyndall; c. 1494 – 1536) was a 16th
century scholar and translator who became a leading figure in Protestant reformism towards the
end of his life. He was influenced by the work of Desiderius Erasmus, who made the Greek New
Testament available in Europe, and Martin Luther.[1] Tyndale was the first to translate
considerable parts of the Bible into English, for a public, lay readership. While a number of
partial and complete translations had been made from the seventh century onward, particularly
during the 14th century, Tyndale's was the first English translation to draw directly from Hebrew
and Greek texts, and the first to take advantage of the new medium of print, which allowed for its
wide distribution. This was taken to be a direct challenge to the hegemony of both the Catholic
church and the English church and state. Tyndale also wrote, in 1530, The Practyse of Prelates,
opposing Henry VIII's divorce on the grounds that it contravened scriptural law.

In 1535, Tyndale was arrested by church authorities and jailed in the castle of Vilvoorde outside
Brussels for over a year. He was tried for heresy, strangled and burnt at the stake. The Tyndale
Bible, as it was known, continued to play a key role in spreading Reformation ideas across
Europe.
The fifty-four independent scholars who revised extant English bibles, drew significantly on
Tyndale's translations to create the King James Version (or final "Authorised Version") of 1611
(still in mainstream use today). One estimation suggests the King James New Testament is
83.7 % Tyndale's and the Old Testament 75.7 %.[2]

Martin Luther (10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest and professor of
theology who initiated the Protestant Reformation.[1] Strongly disputing the claim that freedom
from God's punishment of sin could be purchased with money, he confronted indulgence
salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. His refusal to retract all of his
writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the
Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the pope and condemnation as an
outlaw by the emperor.

Luther taught that salvation is not earned by good deeds but received only as a free gift of God's
grace through faith in Jesus as redeemer from sin. His theology challenged the authority of the
pope of the Roman Catholic Church by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely
revealed knowledge[2] and opposed sacerdotalism by considering all baptized Christians to be a
holy priesthood.[3] Those who identify with Luther's teachings are called Lutherans.

His translation of the Bible into the language of the people (instead of Latin) made it more
accessible, causing a tremendous impact on the church and on German culture. It fostered the
development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of
translation,[4] and influenced the translation into English of the King James Bible.[5] His hymns
influenced the development of singing in churches.[6] His marriage to Katharina von Bora set a
model for the practice of clerical marriage, allowing Protestant priests to marry.[7]

In his later years, Luther became strongly anti-semitic, writing that Jewish homes should be
destroyed, their synagogues burned, money confiscated and liberty curtailed. These statements
have made Luther a controversial figure among many historians and religious scholars.[8]

Philipp Melanchthon (February 16, 1497 – April 19, 1560), born Philipp Schwartzerdt, was a
German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the
Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and an influential
designer of educational systems. He stands next to Luther and Calvin as a reformer, theologian,
and molder of Protestantism. As much as Luther, he is the primary founder of Lutheranism.[1]
They both denounced what they saw as the exaggerated cult of the saints, justification by works,
and the coercion of the conscience in the sacrament of penance that nevertheless could not offer
certainty of salvation. Melanchthon made the distinction between law and gospel the central
formula for Lutheran evangelical insight. By the "law" he meant the Papacy and rigid rituals
controlled by priests; the "gospel" meant an individual directly confronting Christ through Bible
reading, hymns and prayer.

The composition now known as the Augsburg Confession was laid before the Diet of Augsburg
in 1530, and would come to be considered perhaps the most significant document of the
Protestant Reformation. While the confession was based on Luther's Marburg and Schwabach
articles, it was mainly the work of Melanchthon. Although commonly thought of as a unified
statement of doctrine by the two reformers, Luther did not conceal his dissatisfaction with the
irenic tone of the confession. Indeed, some would criticize Melanchthon's conduct at the Diet as
unbecoming of the principle he promoted, implying that faith in the truth of his cause would
logically have inspired Melanchthon to a more firm and dignified posture. Others point out that
he had not sought the part of a political leader, suggesting that he seemed to lack the requisite
energy and decision for such a role and may simply have been a lackluster judge of human
nature. Melanchthon's subsequent Apology of the Augsburg Confession reveals further doctrinal
strains with Luther.[citation needed]

Melanchthon then settled into the comparative quiet of his academic and literary labors. His most
important theological work of this period was the Commentarii in Epistolam Pauli ad Romanos
(Wittenberg, 1532), noteworthy for introducing the idea that "to be justified" means "to be
accounted just," whereas the Apology had placed side by side the meanings of "to be made just"
and "to be accounted just." Melanchthon's increasing fame gave occasion for several honorable
calls to Tübingen (Sept., 1534), to France, and to England, but consideration of the elector
caused him to refuse them.

[edit] Discussions on Lord's Supper and Justification

He took an important part in the discussions concerning the Lord's Supper which began in 1531.
He approved fully of the Wittenberg Concord sent by Bucer to Wittenberg, and at the instigation
of the Landgrave of Hesse discussed the question with Bucer in Kassel, at the end of 1534. He
eagerly labored for an agreement, for his patristic studies and the Dialogue (1530) of
Œcolampadius had made him doubt the correctness of Luther's doctrine. Moreover, after the
death of Zwingli and the change of the political situation his earlier scruples in regard to a union
lost their weight. Bucer did not go so far as to believe with Luther that the true body of Christ in
the Lord's Supper is bitten by the teeth, but admitted the offering of the body and blood in the
symbols of bread and wine. Melanchthon discussed Bucer's views with the most prominent
adherents of Luther; but Luther himself would not agree to a mere veiling of the dispute.
Melanchthon's relation to Luther was not disturbed by his work as a mediator, although Luther
for a time suspected that Melanchthon was "almost of the opinion of Zwingli"; nevertheless he
desired to "share his heart with him."

During his sojourn in Tübingen in 1536 Melanchthon was severely attacked by Cordatus,
preacher in Niemeck, because he had taught that works are necessary for salvation. In the second
edition of his Loci (1535) he abandoned his earlier strict doctrine of determinism which went
even beyond that of Augustine, and in its place taught more clearly his so-called Synergism. He
repulsed the attack of Cordatus in a letter to Luther and his other colleagues by stating that he
had never departed from their common teachings on this subject, and in the Antinomian
Controversy of 1537 Melanchthon was in harmony with Luther.

Huldrych (or Ulrich[1]) Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a leader of the
Reformation in Switzerland. Born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing
criticism of the Swiss mercenary system, he attended the University of Vienna and the
University of Basel, a scholarly centre of humanism. He continued his studies while he served as
a pastor in Glarus and later in Einsiedeln where he was influenced by the writings of Erasmus.
In 1517 , Zwingli became the pastor of the Grossmünster in Zürich where he began to preach
ideas on reforming the Catholic Church. In his first public controversy in 1522, he attacked the
custom of fasting during Lent. In his publications, he noted corruption in the ecclesiastical
hierarchy, promoted clerical marriage, and attacked the use of images in places of worship. In
1525, Zwingli introduced a new communion liturgy to replace the mass. Zwingli also clashed
with the Anabaptists, which resulted in their persecution.

The Reformation spread to other parts of the Swiss Confederation, but several cantons resisted,
preferring to remain Catholic. Zwingli formed an alliance of Reformed cantons which divided
the Confederation along religious lines. In 1529, a war between the two sides was averted at the
last moment. Meanwhile, Zwingli’s ideas came to the attention of Martin Luther and other
reformers. They met at the Marburg Colloquy and although they agreed on many points of
doctrine, they could not reach an accord on the doctrine of the presence of Christ in the eucharist.
In 1531 Zwingli’s alliance applied an unsuccessful food blockade on the Catholic cantons. The
cantons responded with an attack at a moment when Zürich was badly prepared. Zwingli was
killed in battle at the age of 47. His legacy lives on in the confessions, liturgy, and church orders
of the Reformed churches of today.

John Calvin (Middle French: Jean Cauvin) (10 July 1509 – 27 May 1564) was an influential
French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the
development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a
humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530. After religious
tensions provoked a violent uprising against Protestants in France, Calvin fled to Basel,
Switzerland, where in 1536 he published the first edition of his seminal work Institutes of the
Christian Religion.

In that year, Calvin was invited by William Farel to help reform the church in Geneva. The city
council resisted the implementation of Calvin and Farel's ideas, and both men were expelled. At
the invitation of Martin Bucer, Calvin proceeded to Strasbourg, where he became the minister of
a church of French refugees. He continued to support the reform movement in Geneva, and was
eventually invited back to lead its church.

Following his return, Calvin introduced new forms of church government and liturgy, despite the
opposition of several powerful families in the city who tried to curb his authority. During this
period, Michael Servetus, a Spaniard known for his heretical views, and the first European to
describe the function of pulmonary circulation, arrived in Geneva. He was denounced by Calvin
and executed by the city council. Following an influx of supportive refugees and new elections to
the city council, Calvin's opponents were forced out. Calvin spent his final years promoting the
Reformation both in Geneva and throughout Europe.

Calvin was a tireless polemic and apologetic writer who generated much controversy. He also
exchanged cordial and supportive letters with many reformers, including Philipp Melanchthon
and Heinrich Bullinger. In addition to the Institutes, he wrote commentaries on most books of the
Bible, as well as theological treatises and confessional documents. He regularly preached
sermons throughout the week in Geneva. Calvin was influenced by the Augustinian tradition,
which led him to expound the doctrine of predestination and the absolute sovereignty of God in
salvation of the human soul from death and eternal damnation.

Calvin's writing and preachings provided the seeds for the branch of theology that bears his
name. The Reformed and Presbyterian churches, which look to Calvin as a chief expositor of
their beliefs, have spread throughout the world.

John Knox (c. 1510 – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish clergyman and a leader of the
Protestant Reformation who is considered the founder of the Presbyterian denomination in
Scotland. He was believed to have been educated at the University of St Andrews and worked as
a notary-priest. Influenced by early church reformers such as George Wishart, he joined the
movement to reform the Scottish church. He was caught up in the ecclesiastical and political
events that involved the murder of Cardinal Beaton in 1546 and the intervention of the regent of
Scotland, Mary of Guise. He was taken prisoner by French forces the following year and exiled
to England on his release in 1549.

While in exile, Knox was licensed to work in the Church of England, where he quickly rose in
the ranks to serve King Edward VI of England as a royal chaplain. In this position, he exerted a
reforming influence on the text of the Book of Common Prayer. In England he met and married
his first wife, Marjorie. When Mary Tudor ascended the throne and re-established Roman
Catholicism, Knox was forced to resign his position and leave the country.

Knox first moved to Geneva and then to Frankfurt. In Geneva, he met John Calvin, from whom
he gained experience and knowledge of Reformed theology and Presbyterian polity. He created a
new order of service, which was eventually adopted by the reformed church in Scotland. He left
Geneva to head the English refugee church in Frankfurt but he was forced to leave over
differences concerning the liturgy, thus ending his association with the Church of England.

On his return to Scotland, he led the Protestant Reformation in Scotland, in partnership with the
Scottish Protestant nobility. The movement may be seen as a revolution, since it led to the
ousting of Mary of Guise, who governed the country in the name of her young daughter, Mary,
Queen of Scots. Knox helped write the new confession of faith and the ecclesiastical order for
the newly created reformed church, the Kirk. He continued to serve as the religious leader of the
Protestants throughout Mary's reign. In several interviews with the queen, Knox admonished her
for supporting Catholic practices. Eventually, when she was imprisoned for her alleged role in
the murder of her husband, Lord Darnley, and James VI enthroned in her stead, he openly called
for her execution. He continued to preach until his final days.

The Covenanters were a Scottish Presbyterian movement that played an important part in the
history of Scotland, and to a lesser extent in that of England and Ireland, during the 17th century.
Presbyterian denominations tracing their history to the Covenanters and often incorporating the
name continue the ideas and traditions in Scotland and internationally.

They derive their name from the Scots term covenant for a band or legal document. There were
two important covenants in Scottish history, the National Covenant and the Solemn League and
Covenant.
Beginnings

The Covenanters are so named because in a series of bands or covenants they bound themselves
to maintain the Presbyterian doctrine and polity as the sole religion of their country. The first
"godly band" is dated December 1557; but more important is the covenant of 1581, drawn up by
John Craig in consequence of the strenuous efforts that the Roman Catholics were making to
regain their hold upon Scotland, and called the King's Confession or National Covenant. Based
on the Confession of Faith of 1560, this document denounced the Pope and the doctrines of the
Roman Catholic Church in no measured terms. It was adopted by the General Assembly of the
Church of Scotland, signed by King James VI and his household, and enjoined on persons of all
ranks and classes, and was again subscribed in 1590 and 1596.

Jacobus Arminius was a Dutch pastor and theologian in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He
was taught by Theodore Beza, Calvin's hand-picked successor, but he rejected his teacher's
theology that it is God who unconditionally elects some for salvation. Instead Arminius proposed
that the election of God was of believers, thereby making it conditional on faith. Arminius's
views were challenged by the Dutch Calvinists, especially Franciscus Gomarus, but Arminius
died before a national synod could occur.[citation needed]

Arminius's followers, not wanting to adopt their leader's name, called themselves the
Remonstrants. When Arminius died before he could satisfy Holland's State General's request for
a 14-page paper outlining his views, the Remonstrants replied in his stead crafting the Five
articles of Remonstrance. After some political maneuvering, the Dutch Calvinists were able to
convince Prince Maurice of Nassau to deal with the situation. Maurice systematically removed
Arminian magistrates from office and called a national synod at Dordrecht. This Synod of Dort
was open primarily to Dutch Calvinists (Arminians were excluded) with Calvinist
representatives from other countries, and in 1618 published a condemnation of Arminius and his
followers as heretics. Part of this publication was the famous Five points of Calvinism in
response to the five articles of Remonstrance. The Remonstrants were inconsistent with the
soteriological thought of Arminius.

Arminians across Holland were removed from office, imprisoned, banished, and sworn to
silence. Twelve years later Holland officially granted Arminianism protection as a religion,
although animosity between Arminians and Calvinists continued.

Arminianism is a school of soteriological thought within Protestant Christianity based on the

theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609)[1] and his
historic followers, the Remonstrants. The doctrine's acceptance stretches through much of
Christianity from the early arguments between Athanasius and Origen, to Augustine of Hippo's
defense of "original sin."

Since the sixteenth century, Christians of many sects including the Baptists (See A History of the
Baptists Third Edition by Robert G. Torbet) have been influenced by Arminian views. So have
the Methodists, (See John Wesley's views of salvation); the Congregationalists of the early New
England colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; and the Universalists and
Unitarians in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, (See Unitarian Universalist Biography
website.)

Arminianism holds to the following tenets:

 Humans are naturally unable to make any effort towards salvation (see also prevenient
grace). They possess free will to accept or reject salvation.
 Salvation is possible only by God's grace, which cannot be merited.
 No works of human effort can cause or contribute to salvation - known as predestination.
 God's election is conditional on faith in the sacrifice and Lordship of Jesus Christ.
 Christ's atonement was made on behalf of all people.
 God allows his grace to be resisted by those who freely reject Christ.
 Believers are able to resist sin but are not beyond the possibility of falling from grace
through persistent, unrepented-of sin.[2]

Amyraldism (or sometimes Amyraldianism, also known as the School of Saumur,

Hypothetical universalism,[1] Post Redemptionism,[2] Moderate Calvinism,[3] or Four-point
Calvinism primarily refers to a modified form of Calvinist theology. It rejects one of the Five
points of Calvinism, the doctrine of limited atonement, in favour of an unlimited atonement
similar to that of Hugo Grotius. Simply stated, Amyraldism holds that God has provided Christ's
atonement for all alike, but seeing that none would believe on their own, he then elected those
whom he will bring to faith in Christ, thereby preserving the Calvinist doctrine of unconditional
election.

Named after its formulator Moses Amyraut, this doctrine is still viewed as a variety of Calvinism
in that it maintains the particularity of sovereign grace in the application of the atonement.
However, detractors like B. B. Warfield have termed it "an inconsistent and therefore unstable
form of Calvinism."[4]

Moses Amyraut, originally a lawyer, but converted to the study of theology by the reading of
Calvin's 'Institutes,' an able divine and voluminous writer, developed the doctrine of hypothetical
or conditional universalism, for which his teacher, John Cameron (1580–1625), a Scot, and for
two years Headmaster of Saumur Academy, had prepared the way. His object was not to set
aside, but to moderate Calvinism by ingrafting this doctrine upon the particularism of election,
and thereby to fortify it against the objections of Roman Catholics, by whom the French
Protestants, or Huguenots, were surrounded and threatened. Being employed by the Reformed
Synod in important diplomatic negotiations with the government, he came in frequent contact
with bishops, and with Cardinal Richelieu, who esteemed him highly. His system is an approach,
not so much to Arminianism, which he decidedly rejected, as to Lutheranism, which likewise
teaches a universal atonement and a limited election.
Jonathan Edwards (October 5, 1703 – March 22, 1758) was a preacher, theologian, and
missionary to Native Americans. Edwards "is widely acknowledged to be America's most
important and original philosophical theologian,"[3] and one of America's greatest intellectuals.[4]
Edwards's theological work is very broad in scope, but he is often associated with his defense of
Reformed theology, the metaphysics of theological determinism, and the Puritan heritage. Recent
studies have emphasized how thoroughly Edwards grounded his life's work on conceptions of
beauty, harmony, and ethical fittingness, and how central The Enlightenment was to his mindset.
[5]

Edwards played a critical role in shaping the First Great Awakening, and oversaw some of the
first fires of revival in 1733–1735 at his church in Northampton, Massachusetts.[6] Edwards
delivered the sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", a classic of early American
literature, during another wave of revival in 1741, following George Whitefield's tour of the
Thirteen Colonies.[7] Edwards is widely known for his many books: The End For Which God
Created the World; The Life of David Brainerd, which served to inspire thousands of
missionaries throughout the nineteenth century; and Religious Affections, which many Reformed
Evangelicals read even today.[8]

Edwards died from a smallpox inoculation shortly after beginning the presidency at the College
of New Jersey (later to be named Princeton University), and was the grandfather of Aaron Burr.
[9]

On July 7, 1731, Edwards preached in Boston the "Public Lecture" afterwards published under
the title "God Glorified — in Man's Dependence," which was his first public attack on
Arminianism. The emphasis of the lecture was on God's absolute sovereignty in the work of
salvation: that while it behooved God to create man pure and without sin, it was of his "good
pleasure" and "mere and arbitrary grace" for him to grant any person the faith necessary to
incline him or her toward holiness; and that God might deny this grace without any
disparagement to any of his character.

In 1733, a religious revival began in Northampton and reached such intensity in the winter of
1734 and the following spring as to threaten the business of the town. In six months, nearly three
hundred were admitted to the church. The revival gave Edwards an opportunity for studying the
process of conversion in all its phases and varieties, and he recorded his observations with
psychological minuteness and discrimination in A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of
God in the Conversion of Many Hundred Souls in Northampton (1737). A year later, he
published Discourses on Various Important Subjects, the five sermons which had proved most
effective in the revival, and of these, none, he tells us, was so immediately effective as that on
the Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners, from the text, "That every mouth may be
stopped." Another sermon, published in 1734, on the Reality of Spiritual Light set forth what he
regarded as the inner, moving principle of the revival, the doctrine of a special grace in the
immediate, and supernatural divine illumination of the soul.

Richard Baxter (12 November 1615 – 8 December 1691) was an English Puritan church leader,
poet, hymn-writer,[1] theologian, and controversialist. Dean Stanley called him "the chief of
English Protestant Schoolmen". After some false starts, he made his reputation by his ministry at
Kidderminster, and at around the same time began a long and prolific career as theological
writer. After the Restoration he refused preferment, while retaining a non-separatist presbyterian
approach, and became one of the most influential leaders of the nonconformists, spending time in
prison.

Baxter's theology was set forth most elaborately in his Latin Methodus theologiæ Chriatianæ
(London, 1681); the Christian Directory (1673) contains the practical part of his system; and
Catholic Theology (1675) is an English exposition. His theology made Baxter very unpopular
among his contemporaries and caused a split among the Dissenters of the eighteenth century. As
summarized by Thomas W. Jenkyn, it differed from the Calvinism of Baxter's day on four
points:

1. The atonement of Christ did not consist in his suffering the identical but the equivalent
punishment (i.e., one which would have the same effect in moral government) as that
deserved by mankind because of offended law. Christ died for sins, not persons. While
the benefits of substitutionary atonement are accessible and available to all men for their
salvation; they have in the divine appointment a special reference to the subjects of
personal election.
2. The elect were a certain fixed number determined by the decree without any reference to
their faith as the ground of their election; which decree contemplates no reprobation but
rather the redemption of all who will accept Christ as their Savior.
3. What is imputed to the sinner in the work of justification is not the righteousness of
Christ but the faith of the sinner himself in the righteousness of Christ.
4. Every sinner has a distinct agency of his own to exert in the process of his conversion.
The Baxterian theory, with modifications, was adopted by many later Presbyterians and
Congregationalists in England, Scotland, and America (Isaac Watts, Philip Doddridge,
and many others).

Baxter is best understood as an eclectic scholastic covenantal theologian for whom the
distinction between God's conditional covenant (the voluntas de debito) and his absolute will (the
voluntas de rerum eventu) is key to the entire theological enterprise. Despite the difficulty in
classifying Baxter, his emphasis on the conditionality of the covenant of grace and therefore on
the necessity of faith and works for our standing before God is undeniable.

Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf, Imperial Count of Zinzendorf and
Pottendorf, (May 26, 1700 – May 9, 1760), German religious and social reformer and bishop of
the Moravian Church, was born at Dresden.

Zinzendorf had a naturally alert and active mind, and an enthusiastic temperament that made his
life one of ceaseless planning and executing. Like Martin Luther, he was often influenced by
strong and vehement feelings, and he was easily moved both by sorrow and joy. He was an eager
seeker after truth, and could not understand men who at all costs kept to the opinions they had
once formed; yet he had an exceptional talent for talking on religious subjects even with those
who differed from him. Few men have been more solicitous for the happiness and comfort of
others, even in little things. His activity and varied gifts sometimes landed him in oddities and
contradictions that not infrequently looked like equivocation and dissimulation, and the courtly
training of his youth made him susceptible about his authority even when no one disputed it. He
was a natural orator, and though his dress was simple his personal appearance gave an
impression of distinction and force. His projects were often misunderstood, and in 1736 he was
even banished from Saxony, but in 1749 the government rescinded its decree and begged him to
establish within its jurisdiction more settlements like that at Herrnhut. He is commemorated as a
hymnwriter and a renewer of the church by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on their
Calendar of Saints and on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on May 9.

Zinzendorf was a very eclectic theologian. He called his group the "Church of God in the Spirit"
or the "Congregation of God in the Spirit." Zinzendorf's theology is very relational and
profoundly Christ-centered. Rather than focusing on doctrine or belief, it emphasizes the growth
of the spiritual relationship between the believer and the Savior. As reflected in the communities
he established, he believed in Christians living lives of radical love and harmony, and believed
that every Christian needed to live in a faith community, or gemien (congregation). He taught
that the Savior had a relationship with each believer, but a different level of relationship with the
gemein. Decisions on interpetation of Scripture were to be made communally, not individually.
He believed it was the gemein, not the ecclesiastical and political institution, that was truly the
Church of Jesus Christ.[10]

Zinzendorf's theology strongly included the emotional life of the believer as well as the
intellectual. He criticized the coldly intellectual approach common in his day, and built a great
deal of practice around the transformation of the emotions. He referred to this as the "religion of
the heart."

Zinzendorf's thought and practice was radically ecumenical in a world of rigidly defined
religious/political boundaries. He believed that each denomination had a unique perception of
Christ, and a unique gift to offer the world. He met and had profound personal relationships with
religious leaders ranging from Cardinal Louis Antoine de Noailles, the Catholic Archbishop of
Paris to John Potter, the Anglican (Episcopalian) Archbishop of Canterbury, both of whom
became members of Zinzendorf's Order of the Grain of Mustard Seed, pledging to use their
positions of power to serve Christ. Others who were members of the Order included Christian
VI, King of Denmark, General James Oglethorpe, Governor of Georgia, Tomochichi, Chief of
the Creek nation of native American Indians, and Erskine, a Scottish member of the British
Parliament.

Zinzendorf often worked to have denominations work together and respect one another. In 1742
he advocated respect for the Saturday Sabbath keeping among the German speaking Christians in
Philadelphia citing the use of that day by the Ephrata Cloister, thus promoting the first practice
of the two-day weekend in America. He also used Sunday for preaching the Gospel.

George Whitefield (December 16, 1714 – September 29, 1770) was an Anglican Protestant
minister who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain and, especially, in the British North
American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement
generally.[1] He became perhaps the best-known preacher in Britain and America in the 18th
century, and because he traveled through all of the American colonies and drew great crowds and
media coverage, he was one of the most widely recognized public figures in colonial America.

In terms of theology, Whitefield, unlike John Wesley, was a supporter of Calvinism. The two
differed on eternal election, final perseverance, and sanctification, but were reconciled as friends
and co-workers, each going his own way. Whitefield was not primarily an organizer like Wesley;
rather he was a man of profound experience, which he could communicate to his audiences
through clear expression infused with passion. Late in life Whitefield was patronized by the
Countess of Huntingdon (1707–1791), who was the center of a group of Calvinistic Methodists
known as the "Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion".

Evangelism

Whitefield preached his first sermon in the Crypt Church in his home town of Gloucester a week
after his ordination. He had earlier become the leader of the Holy Club at Oxford when the
Wesley brothers departed for Georgia. He adopted the practice of Howell Harris of preaching in
the open-air at Hanham Mount, near Kingswood, Bristol. In 1738, before going to America,
where he became parish priest of Savannah, Georgia he invited John Wesley to preach in the
open-air for the first time at Kingswood and then Blackheath, London. After a short stay in
Georgia he returned home in the following year to receive priest's orders, resuming his open-air
evangelistic activities.

Whitefield accepted the Church of England doctrine of predestination but disagreed with the
Wesley brothers views on slavery and of the doctrine of Arminianism. As a result the Wesley
brothers pursued their own religious movement.[citation needed] Whitefield formed and was the
president of the first Methodist conference. At an early date Whitefield decided to concentrate on
evangelistic work and relinquished the position.

Three churches were established in England in his name: one in Bristol and two others, the
"Moorfields Tabernacle" and the "Tottenham Court Road Chapel", in London. Later the society
meeting at the second Kingswood School at Kingswood, a town on the eastern edge of Bristol,
was also called Whitefield's Tabernacle. Whitefield acted as chaplain to Selina, Countess of
Huntingdon and some of his followers joined the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion, whose
chapels were paid for at her sole expense and where a form of Calvinistic Methodism similar to
Whitefield's could be spread. Many of these chapels were built in the English counties and
Wales, and one was erected in London — the Spa Fields Chapel.

In 1739 Whitefield returned to England to raise funds to establish the Bethesda Orphanage,
which is the oldest extant charity in North America. On returning to North America he preached
a series of revivals that came to be known as the Great Awakening of 1740. He preached nearly
every day for months to large crowds of sometimes several thousand people as he traveled
throughout the colonies, especially New England. His journey on horseback from New York
City to Charleston was the longest then undertaken in North America by a white man.
Like his contemporary and acquaintance, Jonathan Edwards, Whitefield preached with a
staunchly Calvinist theology that was in line with the "moderate Calvinism" of the Thirty-nine
Articles.[4] While explicitly affirming God's sole agency in salvation, Whitefield would freely
offer the Gospel, saying near the end of most of his published sermons something like: "Come
poor, lost, undone sinner, come just as you are to Christ."[5]

[edit] Revival meetings

The Anglican Church had not assigned him pulpit so he began preaching in parks and fields in
England on his own, reaching out to people who normally did not attend church. Like Jonathan
Edwards, he developed a style of preaching that elicited emotional responses from his audiences.
However, Whitefield had charisma, and his voice (which according to many accounts, could be
heard over vast distances), his small stature, and even his cross-eyed appearance (which some
people took as a mark of divine favor) all served to help make him one of the first celebrities in
the American colonies. Thanks to the widespread use of print media perhaps as many as half of
all colonists, heard about, read about, or read something written by Whitefield. He used print
systematically, sending advance men to put up broadsides and to distribute handbills announcing
his sermons. He also arranged to have his sermons published.[6]

He first took to preaching in the open air on Hanham Mount, Kingswood, in southeast Bristol. A
crowd of 20,000 people gathered to hear him. Even larger crowds—Whitefield estimated 30,000
—met him in Cambuslang in 1742.

John Wesley (pronounced /ˈwɛslɪ/) (28 June [O.S. 17 June] 1703 – 2 March 1791) was a Church
of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother
Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air
preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield. In contrast to George Whitefield's
Calvinism, Wesley embraced the Arminian doctrines that were dominant in the 18th-century
Church of England. Methodism in both forms was a highly successful evangelical movement in
the United Kingdom, which encouraged people to experience Jesus Christ personally.

Wesley's writing and preachings provided the seeds for both the modern Methodist movement
and the Holiness movement, which encompass numerous denominations across the world. In
addition, he refined Arminianism with a strong evangelical emphasis on the Reformed doctrine
of justification by faith.

WESLEY'S ARMINIANISM

Wesley entered controversies as he tried to enlarge church practice. The most notable of his
controversies was that on Calvinism. His father was of the Arminian school in the church.
Wesley came to his own conclusions while in college and expressed himself strongly against the
doctrines of Calvinistic election and reprobation.

Whitefield inclined to Calvinism. In his first tour in America, he embraced the views of the New
England School of Calvinism. When in 1739 Wesley preached a sermon on Freedom Of Grace,
attacking the Calvinistic understanding of predestination as blasphemous, as it represented "God
as worse than the devil," Whitefield asked him not to repeat or publish the discourse, as he did
not want a dispute. Wesley published his sermon anyway. Whitefield was one of many who
responded. The two men separated their practice in 1741. Wesley wrote that those who held to
unlimited atonement did not desire separation, but "those who held 'particular redemption' would
not hear of any accommodation."[18]

Whitefield, Harris, Cennick, and others, became the founders of Calvinistic Methodism.
Whitefield and Wesley, however, were soon back on friendly terms, and their friendship
remained unbroken although they travelled different paths.

In 1770 the controversy broke out anew with violence and bitterness, as people's view of God
related to their views of men and their possibilities. Augustus Montague Toplady, Rowland,
Richard Hill, and others were engaged on the one side, and Wesley and Fletcher on the other.
Toplady was editor of The Gospel Magazine, which had articles covering the controversy.

In 1778 Wesley began the publication of The Arminian Magazine, not, he said, to convince
Calvinists, but to preserve Methodists. He wanted to teach the truth that "God willeth all men to
be saved." A "lasting peace" could be secured in no other way.

Sanctification he described in 1790 as the "grand depositum which God has lodged with the
people called `Methodists'." Wesley taught that sanctification was obtainable after justification
by faith, between justification and death. He did not contend for "sinless perfection"; rather, he
contended that a Christian could be made "perfect in love". (Wesley studied Eastern Orthodoxy
and particularly the doctrine of Theosis). This love would mean, first of all, that a believer's
motives, rather than being self-centred, would be guided by the deep desire to please God. One
would be able to keep from committing what Wesley called, "sin rightly so-called." By this he
meant a conscious or intentional breach of God's will or laws. A person could still be able to sin,
but intentional or willful sin could be avoided.

Secondly, to be made perfect in love meant, for Wesley, that a Christian could live with a
primary guiding regard for others and their welfare. He based this on Christ's quote that the
second great command is "to love your neighbor as you love yourself." In his view, this
orientation would cause a person to avoid any number of sins against his neighbour. This love,
plus the love for God that could be the central focus of a person's faith, would be what Wesley
referred to as "a fulfillment of the law of Christ."

The Marrow Controversy was a Scottish ecclesiastical dispute occasioned by the republication
in 1718 of The Marrow of Modern Divinity by E. F. (The Marrow was originally published in 2
parts in London in 1645 and 1649). E. F. is generally believed to be a pseudonym for Edward
Fisher, an English Calvinist of the seventeenth century noted for his spirituality and learning.
The work consists of religious dialogues which discuss the doctrine of the atonement and aim to
guide the reader safely between Antinomianism and Neonomianism.

In 1700, while making a pastoral visit in the small country parish of Simprin, in the course of his
work as a Church of Scotland minister, Thomas Boston saw and borrowed a copy of the Marrow
of Modern Divinity. He greatly appreciated the book and while a member of the 1717 General
Assembly, commended it to a fellow minister. As a consequence of this conversation, in 1718
arrangements were made to have the Marrow reprinted, with a preface by James Hog.

The book displeased those who comprised the majority in the Church of Scotland, who were
inclined to the legalism prevalent in the late 17th century. James Hadow, Professor of Divinity
and Principal of St. Mary's College in the University of St Andrews, took the lead in opposing
the Marrow, assailing it in his opening sermon at the Synod of Fife in April 1719. This was
published shortly thereafter as The Record of God and Duty of Faith Therein required. An
interchange of pamphlets with Hog ensued, with Hadow accusing the Marrow of the Antinomian
heresy and Hog asserting that Hadow was misrepresenting the Marrow.

At the May 1719 General Assembly, an existing "Committee for Purity of Doctrine" was
instructed to "enquire into the publishing and spreading of Books and Pamphlets, tending" to the
spread of doctrines "inconsistent with our Confession of Faith" and to call such authors to
account. The committee's report, submitted in May 1720, strongly condemned the book as
Antinomian. The Assembly overwhelmingly approved this report, prohibited all ministers of the
Church of Scotland from recommending the Marrow in any way, and instructed them to warn
their people against reading it. This, of course, had the effect of advertising a previously obscure
book to people throughout Scotland and many proceeded to buy a copy and to read it carefully.

At the Assembly in 1721 twelve men, including Boston, Hog and Ralph and Ebenezer Erskine,
submitted a 'Representation and Petition', arguing that in condemning the Marrow the Assembly
had condemned propositions which were Scriptural, and other expressions which were plainly
taught both by many orthodox divines and in the doctrinal standards of the Church of Scotland.
They also argued that the report had misrepresented the book’s teaching, taking various
expressions out of context. Their petition was rejected. In the Assembly of 1722 the Marrow's
condemnation was reaffirmed and the twelve Representers were rebuked.

Subsequently every effort was made by the men who had opposed The Marrow to prevent
ministers holding Marrow doctrines from obtaining more influential pastoral charges, but no
effective disciplinary action was taken against them. The ecclesiastical controversy thus
gradually drew to an end, but theological disagreement continued. In the 1730's, though over a
different issue, some of the proponents of Marrow theology left the Church of Scotland to form
the Associate Presbytery, with the distinctive doctrines of the Marrow forming the theological
basis for the new church.

In 1726 a new edition of the Marrow was published, with a preface and extensive annotations by
Thomas Boston, defending and expounding the Marrow’s teaching as Scriptural. In this form the
Marrow has been frequently reprinted over the last nearly 300 years and has been widely
influential.

William Carey was born on Aug. 17, 1761, in a village in Northamptonshire, where he spent his
childhood in poverty. He first was a shoemaker's apprentice. Although without formal education,
Carey was an avid reader and a precocious linguist. He became a Baptist preacher and worked as
a schoolmaster and was already on his way to becoming the leader who, in spite of the general
reluctance of the Protestant churches of his day, devised new ways to obey the great commission
"to go and evangelize the nations."

In one of the most surprising publications of missionary history, Carey expounded some practical
guidelines "to use means for the conversions of the Heathens" (Enquiry, 1788). In a sermon to
his colleagues (1791) he first used the words which would become the creed of modern missions:
"Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God." In 1792 the first modern-style
missionary society was founded: The Baptist Missionary Society. It was a model for the
hundreds of societies to follow in the 19th century.

In 1793 Carey arrived in India, where he was confronted with the antimissionary attitude of the
British colonial government. He settled in the Danish colony of Serampore, near Calcutta, where
he inspired the teamwork of the "Serampore Trio" (Carey, William Ward, and Joshua
Marshman). This "commune" attempted to translate the universality of the Christian faith into
terms of practical involvement in all aspects of Indian life.

The basic principle of communal life was that every member should be, as far as possible, self-
supporting. Carey paid for his missionary work (among other things) by acting as a director of an
indigo factory and as a professor of languages in a secular institution. The objective of the
community was to disseminate the gospel in all possible ways: by preaching, by teaching (in
schools), and by literature (translating the Bible into more than 30 languages). Carey's translation
service was noteworthy. He also made available some of the Indian classics and was
instrumental in the renaissance of Hindu culture in the 19th century.

Carey believed that Indians could be authentically evangelized only by their own countrymen.
He set out, therefore, to prepare converts for this task and broadened the scope of education in
the mission schools. Serampore College was conceived not as a seminary but as a liberal arts
college for Christians and non-Christians.

Carey died in Serampore on June 9, 1834, an internationally honored figure.

George Müller (German - born as : Johann Georg Ferdinand Müller) (September 27, 1805 –
March 10, 1898), a Christian evangelist and Director of the Ashley Down orphanage in Bristol,
England, cared for 10,024[1] orphans in his life.[2] He was well-known for providing an education
to the children under his care, to the point where he was accused of raising the poor above their
natural station in life. He also established 117 schools which offered Christian education to over
120,000 children, many of them being orphans.

Early work

In 1828, Müller offered to work with Jews in England through the London Society for Promoting
Christianity Amongst the Jews, but upon arriving in 1829, he fell ill, and did not think that he
would survive. He was sent to Teignmouth to recuperate and, whilst there, met Henry Craik, who
became his life-long friend[9]. When he recovered, however, he dedicated himself to doing the
will of God. He soon left the London Society, convinced that God would provide for his needs as
he did Christian work. Craik invited him to become a minister with him in Teignmouth and he
became the pastor of Ebenezer Chapel in Devon and soon after, married Mary Groves, the sister
of Anthony Norris Groves. During his time as the pastor of the church, he refused a regular
salary, believing that the practice could lead to church members giving out of duty, not desire.
He also eliminated the renting of church pews, arguing that it gave unfair prestige to the rich[10].

Müller moved to Bristol in 1832 to begin working at Bethesda Chapel. Along with Henry Craik,
he continued preaching there until his death, even while devoted to his other ministries. In 1834,
he founded the Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and Abroad, with the goal of aiding
Christian schools and missionaries; distributing the Bible and Christian tracts; and providing
Day-schools, Sunday-schools and Adult-schools, all upon a Scriptural foundation[11]. By the end
of February 1835, there were five Day-schools - two for boys and three for girls[12]. Not receiving
government support and only accepting unsolicited gifts, this organisation received and
disbursed £1,381,171[1] ( approximately $2,718,844 USD) - around £90 million in today's
terms[13] - by the time of Müller's death, primarily using the money for supporting the orphanages
and distributing about 285,407 Bibles,[1] 1,459,506 New Testaments,[1] and 244,351 other
religious texts[1], which were translated into twenty other languages[14]. The money was also used
to support other "faith missionaries" around the world, such as Hudson Taylor.[15] The work
continues to this day.[16]

[edit] Orphanages

The work of Müller and his wife with orphans began in 1836 with the preparation of their own
home at 6 Wilson Street, Bristol for the accommodation of thirty girls. Soon after, three more
houses in Wilson Street were furnished, growing the total of children cared for to 130. In 1845,
as growth continued, Müller decided that a separate building designed to house 300 children was
necessary, and in 1849, at Ashley Down, Bristol, that home opened. The architect commissioned
to draw up the plans asked if he might do so gratuitously.[17] By 26 May 1870, 1,722 children
were being accommodated in five homes, although there was room for 2,050 (No 1 House - 300,
No 2 House - 400, Nos 3, 4 and 5 - 450 each). By the following year, there were 280 orphans in
No 1 House, 356 in No 2, 450 in Nos 3 and 4, and 309 in No 5 House.[18]

Through all this, Müller never made requests for financial support, nor did he go into debt, even
though the five homes cost over £100,000 to build. Many times, he received unsolicited food
donations only hours before they were needed to feed the children, further strengthening his faith
in God. For example, on one well-documented occasion, they gave thanks for breakfast when all
the children were sitting at the table, even though there was nothing to eat in the house. As they
finished praying, the baker knocked on the door with sufficient fresh bread to feed everyone.[19]

Although he never asked any person (other than God) for anything, Müller asked those who did
support his work to give a name and address in order that a receipt might be given. The receipts
were printed with a request that the receipt be kept until the next annual report was issued, in
order that the donor might confirm the amount reported with the amount given. The wording in
the image reads: "Owing to the great increase of my work, I have found it necessary to authorize
two of my assistants (Mr. Lawford and Mr. Wright) to sign receipts for donations, if needful, in
my stead.-Donors are requested, kindly to keep the receipts and to compare them with the
"Supplement" to the Report, which records every donation received, so that they may be satisfied
that their donations have been properly applied.-The "Supplement" is sent with the Report to
every Donor who furnishes me with his or her name and address.-I would earnestly request all
Donors (even those who feel it right to give anonymously) to put it in my power to acknowledge
their donations at the time they come to hand; and should any Donor, after having done this, not
receive a printed receipt within a week, they would much oblige me by giving me information at
once. This interval must, of course, be extended in the case of Donors who send from places out
of the United Kingdom. George Müller". Every single gift was recorded, whether a single
farthing, £3,000 or an old teaspoon[20]. Accounting records were scrupulously kept and made
available for scrutiny[21].

Every morning after breakfast there was a time of Bible reading and prayer, and every child was
given a Bible upon leaving the orphanage, together with a tin trunk containing two changes of
clothing. The children were dressed well and educated - Müller even employed a schools
inspector to maintain high standards. In fact, many claimed that nearby factories and mines were
unable to obtain enough workers because of his efforts in securing apprenticeships, professional
training, and domestic service positions for the children old enough to leave the orphanage[22]

Theology

The theology that guided George Müller's work is not widely known, but was shaped by an
experience in his mid twenties when he "came to prize the Bible alone as [his] standard of
judgement".

He records in his Narratives that "That the word of God alone is our standard of judgment in
spiritual things; that it can be explained only by the Holy Spirit; and that in our day, as well as in
former times, he is the teacher of his people. The office of the Holy Spirit I had not
experimentally understood before that time. Indeed, of the office of each of the blessed persons,
in what is commonly called the Trinity, I had no experimental apprehension. I had not before
seen from the Scriptures that the Father chose us before the foundation of the world; that in him
that wonderful plan of our redemption originated, and that he also appointed all the means by
which it was to be brought about. Further, that the Son, to save us, had fulfilled the law, to satisfy
its demands, and with it also the holiness of God; that he had borne the punishment due to our
sins, and had thus satisfied the justice of God. And, further, that the Holy Spirit alone can teach
us about our state by nature, show us the need of a Saviour, enable us to believe in Christ,
explain to us the Scriptures, help us in preaching, etc. It was my beginning to understand this
latter point in particular which had a great effect on me; for the Lord enabled me to put it to the
test of experience, by laying aside commentaries, and almost every other book, and simply
reading the word of God and studying it. The result of this was, that the first evening that I shut
myself into my room, to give myself to prayer and meditation over the Scriptures, I learned more
in a few hours than I had done during a period of several months previously. But the particular
difference was, that I received real strength for my soul in doing so. I now began to try by the
test of the Scriptures the things which I had learned and seen, and found that only those
principles which stood the test were really of value."[31]

Müller also wrote of how he came to believe in the doctrines of election, particular redemption,
and final persevering grace while staying in Teignmouth, Devon in 1829[32]. George Müller was a
founding member of the Plymouth Brethren movement. Doctrinal differences arose in the 1840s
and Müller was determined to determine the truth by the "infallible standard of the Holy
Spirit"[33]. At the time, he and Craik were pastors of the Bethesda and Gideon fellowships in
Bristol. Membership at Gideon was open to all believers, while only believers who had been
baptised could claim full membership of Bethesda, although all believers were welcome at
Communion. Müller consulted Robert C Chapman on the issue of accepting unbaptised
believers, and Chapman stated that distinction should be made between unbaptised believers who
"walked disorderly" and those who lived according to the Bible[34]. Müller and Craik
independently contemplated the issue and decided that unbaptised believers, who otherwise lived
according to Scriptural principles, should not be denied membership.

Dissention arose at Gideon regarding the presence of unbelievers at Communion and the view
held by some that pews were private property, and eventually Müller and Craik withdrew from
this fellowship, concentrating thereafter on the Bethesda Chapel[35].

John Nelson Darby and Benjamin Wills Newton became opposed concerning certain matters or
doctrine and a discussion was held in Plymouth on 5 December 1845. A document entitled The
Principles of Open Brethren stated: "Certain tracts issued by Mr Newton were judged to contain
error regarding the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the question arose whether it was
sufficient to exclude from fellowship those who held the erroneous teaching, or whether all who
belonged to a gathering where the error was tolerated were to be put outside the pale, even if
they themselves had not embraced it. One party, led by Mr Darby, took the latter view. Others, in
particular the Bethesda Church, in which Messrs Müller and Craik ministered, refused to admit
any who were convicted of holding the evil doctrine themselves, but did not exclude those who
came from Mr Newton's meeting. The exclusive party thereupon declined to have any further
fellowship with members of the Bethesda Church or others like-minded. The latter soon came to
received the title of 'Open Brethren'."[36] The more exclusive side of the brethren movement
became known as the Exclusive Brethren and was led by Darby[37]. Darby called on Müller in
July 1849 to discuss the split, but Müller had many prior engagements and could only receive
Darby for 10 minutes. It was impossible to fully discuss the problem in such a short time, and the
two men never met again[38].

Though the pre-tribulational rapture doctrine gained momentum as a result of the literature of the
Brethren movement, Müller's church was wary of such teachings. George Müller held to a Post
Tribulation Rapture doctrine along with others such as Benjamin Wills Newton and Samuel
Prideaux Tregelles,[39] and said that "scripture declares plainly that the Lord Jesus will not come
until the Apostasy shall have taken place, and the man of sin shall have been revealed..."[40]

Matthew Chapter 6 v 3-4 states: "But when you do merciful deeds, do not let your left hand
know what your right hand does, so that your merciful deeds may be in secret. And your Father
who sees in secret Himself shall reward you openly". In 1886, Müller started to record both his
income and the amounts that he gave away, from 1831 to 1885. This would appear to be in
contradiction of the teaching in Matthew. However, Müller's over-riding desire was to prove that
God answers prayer and, looking at his life as a whole, no-one could accuse him of seeking the
praise of man. He wrote frequently about the stewardship of money and the non-reliance on
earthly riches, and how God would bless the man who kept to these prinicples, and now felt that
laying his own experiences bare would prove the truth of his claims. His personal income, from
unsolicited gifts (he refused any kind of salary) rose from £151 in 1831 to more than £2,000 in
1870. However, he retained only around £300 a year for himself and his family, the rest he gave
away[41].

William Henry Harding said, 'The world, dull of understanding, has even yet not really grasped
the mighty principle upon which he [Müller] acted, but is inclined to think of him merely as a
nice old gentleman who loved children, a sort of glorified guardian of the poor, who with the
passing of the years may safely be spoken of, in the language of newspaper headlines, as a
"prophet of philanthropy." To describe him thus, however, is to degrade his memory, is to miss
the high spiritual aim and the wonderful spiritual lesson of his life. It is because the carnal mind
is incapable of apprehending spiritual truth that the world regards the orphan Houses only with
the languid interest of mere humanitarianism, and remains oblivious of their extraordinary
witness to the faithfulness of God.'[42]

Charles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon (June 19, 1834 – January 31, 1892) was a British Particular
Baptist preacher who remains highly influential among Christians of different denominations,
among whom he is still known as the "Prince of Preachers". This despite the fact that he was a
strong figure in the Reformed Baptist tradition, defending the Church in agreement with the 1689
London Baptist Confession of Faith understanding, against liberalism and pragmatic theological
tendencies even in his day.

In his lifetime, Spurgeon preached to around 10,000,000 people,[1] often up to 10 times each
week at different places. His sermons have been translated into many languages. Spurgeon was
the pastor of the congregation of the New Park Street Chapel (later the Metropolitan Tabernacle)
in London for 38 years.[2] He was part of several controversies with the Baptist Union of Great
Britain and later had to leave that denomination.[3] In 1857, he started a charity organization
called Spurgeon's which now works globally. He also founded Spurgeon's College, which was
named after him posthumously.

Spurgeon was a prolific author of many types of works including sermons, an autobiography, a
commentary, books on prayer, a devotional, a magazine, poetry,[4] hymnist,[5] and more. Many
sermons were transcribed as he spoke and were translated into many languages during his
lifetime.

Downgrade Controversy

A controversy among the Baptists flared in 1887 with Spurgeon's first "Down-grade" article,
published in The Sword & the Trowel. In the ensuing "Downgrade Controversy," the
Metropolitan Tabernacle became disaffiliated from the Baptist Union, effectuating Spurgeon's
congregation as the world's largest self-standing church. Contextually the Downgrade
Controversy was British Baptists' equivalent of hermeneutic tensions which were starting to
sunder Protestant fellowships in general. The Controversy took its name from Spurgeon's use of
the term "Downgrade" to describe certain other Baptists' outlook toward the Bible (i.e., they had
"downgraded" the Bible and the principle of sola scriptura).[13] Spurgeon alleged that an
incremental creeping of the Graf-Wellhausen hypothesis[citation needed], Charles Darwin's theory of
evolution by natural selection, and other concepts was weakening the Baptist Union and
reciprocally explaining the success of his own evangelistic efforts. In the standoff, which even
split his pupils trained at the College, each side accused the other of raising issues which did not
need to be raised.[14][15]

Charles Hodge (born Dec. 27, 1797, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S. died June 19, 1878, Princeton, N.J.)
was the principal of Princeton Theological Seminary between 1851 and 1878. He is considered
to be one of the greatest exponents and defenders of historical Calvinism in America during the
19th century.

Character and significance

Though always honorable in debate, one would not gain a correct idea of Hodge's character
through judging him only by the polemic relations in which his writings reveal him. Controversy
does not emphasize the amiable side of a man's nature.

Hodge was a man of warm affection, of generous impulses, and of John-like piety. Devotion to
Christ was the salient characteristic of his experience, and it was the test by which he judged the
experience of others. Hence, though a Presbyterian and a Calvinist, his sympathies went far
beyond the boundaries of sect. He refused to entertain the narrow views of church polity which
some of his brethren advocated. He repudiated the unhistorical position of those who denied the
validity of Roman Catholic baptism. He gave his sympathy to all good agencies.

He was conservative by nature, and his life was spent in defending the Reformed theology as set
forth in the Westminster Confession of Faith and Larger and Westminster Shorter Catechisms.
He was fond of saying that Princeton had never originated a new idea; but this meant no more
than that Princeton was the advocate of historical Calvinism in opposition to the modified and
provincial Calvinism of a later day. And it is true that Hodge must be classed among the great
defenders of the faith, rather than among the great constructive minds of the Church. He had no
ambition to be epoch-making by marking the era of a new departure. But he earned a higher title
to fame in that he was the champion of his Church's faith during a long and active life, her
trusted leader in time of trial, and for more than half a century the most conspicuous teacher of
her ministry. Hodges' understanding of the Christian faith and of historical Protestantism is given
in his Systematic Theology.

Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (November 5, 1851 – February 16, 1921) was professor of
theology at Princeton Seminary from 1887 to 1921. Some conservative Presbyterians[who?]
consider him to be the last of the great Princeton theologians before the split in 1929 that formed
Westminster Seminary and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

Ministry

For a short time in 1876 he preached in Presbyterian churches in Concord, Kentucky and
Dayton, Ohio as a "supply pastor" — the latter church calling him to be their ordained minister
(which he politely refused). In late 1876 Warfield and his new wife moved to Germany where he
studied under Ernst Luthardt and Franz Delitzsch. Warfield was the assistant pastor of First
Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland for a short time. Then he became an instructor at
Western Theological Seminary, which is now called Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He was
ordained on April 26, 1879.

In 1881 Warfield wrote a joint article with A. A. Hodge on the inspiration of the Bible. It drew
attention because of its scholarly and forceful defense of the inerrancy of the Bible. In many of
his writings, Warfield attempted to demonstrate that the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy was
simply orthodox Christian teaching, and not merely a concept invented in the nineteenth century.
His passion was to refute the liberal element within Presbyterianism and within Christianity at
large. Throughout his life, he continued to write books and articles, which are still widely read
today.

Princeton and death

In 1887 Warfield was appointed to the Charles Hodge Chair at Princeton Theological Seminary,
where he succeeded Hodge's son A. A. Hodge. Warfield remained there until his death. As the
last conservative successor to Hodge to live prior to the re-organization of Princeton Seminary,
Warfield is often regarded[by whom?] as the last of the Princeton theologians. He died on February
16, 1921.[1]

Bible

During his tenure, his primary thrust (and that of the seminary) was an authoritative view of the
Bible. This view was held in contrast to the emotionalism of the revival movements, the
rationalism of higher criticism, and the heterodox teachings of various New religious movements
that were emerging. The seminary held fast to the Reformed confessional tradition — that is, it
faithfully followed the Westminster Confession of Faith.

Warfield believed that modernist theology was problematic, since it relied upon the thoughts of
the Biblical interpreter rather than upon the divine author of Scripture. He therefore preached and
believed the doctrine of sola scriptura — that the Bible is God's inspired word and is sufficient
for the Christian to live his or her faith.

Much of Warfield's work centered upon the Bible's "inspiration" by God — that while the
authors of the Bible were men, the ultimate author was God himself. The growing influence of
modernist theology denied that the Bible was inspired, and alternative theories of the origin of
the Christian faith were being explored.

After comparing grammatical and linguistic styles found within the Bible itself, modernist
scholars suggested that because the human authors had clearly contributed to the writing of the
biblical text, the Bible was written by people alone, not God. Warfield was a central figure in
responding to this line of thinking by arguing that the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit did
not lead to a form of "mechanical" inspiration (whereby the human authors merely wrote down
what God dictated to them, similar to the story of the Qur'an's inspiration) but one in which the
human author's intellect was fully able to express itself linguistically, while at the same time
being supervised by the Holy Spirit to ensure its inspiration. This approach is essential to
understanding the view of inspiration held by many Reformed and Evangelical Christians today.

[edit] Studies in religious experience

Warfield was a conservative critic of much religious revivalism that was popular in America at
the time. He believed that the teachings and experience of this movement were too subjective
and therefore too shallow for deep Christian faith. His book Counterfeit Miracles advocated
cessationism over and against miracles after the time of the Apostles. Such attacks did not go
unnoticed, and even today Warfield is criticized by proponents of revivalism in the Pentecostal
and Charismatic movements. For example, Jack Deere wrote Surprised by the Power of the
Spirit with the intention of refuting Counterfeit Miracles. Warfield's book was published before
the worldwide spread of Pentecostalism and addressed the issue of false claims to the possession
of miraculous gifts under the headings, "Patristic and Mediǣval Marvels", "Roman Catholic
Miracles", "Irvingite Gifts", "Faith-Healing" and "Mind-Cure".

His book Perfectionism is a detailed critique of what he saw as false theories of sanctification. It
includes an analysis of the Higher Life movement and the Keswick movement, as well as a
rebuttal of earlier schools of thought, such as that of Asa Mahan and Oberlin College, and in
particular the theology of Charles Grandison Finney.

[edit] Calvinism

Underpinning much of Warfield's theology was his adherence to Calvinism as espoused by the
Westminster Confession of Faith. It is sometimes forgotten that, in his battles against modernism
on the one hand, and against revivalism on the other, he was simply expressing the Reformed
faith when applied to certain situations.

It was Warfield's belief that the 16th century Reformers, as well as the 17th century Confessional
writers, were merely summarizing the content and application of scripture. New revelations,
whether from the minds of celebrated scholars or popular revivalists, were therefore inconsistent
with these confessional statements (and therefore inconsistent with Scripture). Throughout his
ministry, Warfield contended that modern world events and thinking could never render such
confessions obsolete. Such an attitude still prevails today in many Reformed churches and
Christians who embrace Calvinism.

Influence and legacy

Along with Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck, Warfield is acknowledged as one of the
major influences on the thought of Cornelius Van Til. However, that influence was limited to
certain areas. In apologetics, Warfield was a thoroughgoing evidentialist and the most prominent
exponent of the Old Princeton school, whereas van Til, who was the most prominent figure in the
Dutch wing of presuppositionalist apologetics, absolutely rejected the central tenets of Old
Princeton evidentialism and protested violently against the evidentialism of his contemporary J.
Oliver Buswell.
Charles Grandison Finney (August 29, 1792 – August 16, 1875) was a Presbyterian and
Congregationalist figure in the Second Great Awakening. His influence during this period was
enough that he has been called The Father of Modern Revivalism.[1]

Finney was known for his innovations in preaching and religious meetings such as having
women pray in public meetings of mixed gender, development of the "anxious seat", a place
where those considering becoming Christians could come to receive prayer, and public censure
of individuals by name in sermons and prayers.[2] He was also known for his use of
extemporaneous preaching.

Theology

Finney was a primary influence on the "revival" style of theology which emerged in the 19th
century. Though coming from a Calvinistic background, Finney rejected tenets of "Old Divinity"
Calvinism which he felt were unbiblical and counter to evangelism and Christian mission.

Finney's theology is difficult to classify, as can be observed in his masterwork, Religious

Revivals. In this work, he emphasizes the involvement of a person's will in salvation.[17] Whether
he believed the will was free to repent or not repent, or whether he viewed God as inclining the
will irresistibly (as in Calvinist doctrine, where the will of an elect individual is changed by God
so that they now desire to repent, thus repenting with their will and not against it, but not being
free in whether they choose repentance since they must choose what their will is inclined
towards), is not made clear. Finney, like most Protestants, affirmed salvation by grace through
faith alone, not by works or by obedience.[18][19] Finney also affirmed that works were the
evidence of faith. The presence of unrepentant sin thus evidenced that a person did not have
saving faith.

In his Systematic Theology, Finney remarks that "I have felt greater hesitancy in forming and
expressing my views upon this Perseverance of the saints, than upon almost any other question in
theology."[20] At the same time, he took the presence of unrepented sin in the life of a professing
Christian as evidence that they must immediately repent or be lost. Finney draws support for this
position from Peter's treatment of the baptized Simon (see Acts 8) and Paul's instruction of
discipline to the Corinthian church (see 1 Corinthians 5). This type of teaching underscores the
strong emphasis on personal holiness found in Finney's writings.

Finney's understanding of the atonement was that it satisfied "public justice" and that it opened
up the way for God to pardon people of their sin. This was the so-called New Divinity which was
popular at that time period. In this view, Christ's death satisfied public justice rather than
retributive justice. As Finney put it, it was not a "commercial transaction." This view of the
atonement, typically known as the governmental view or moral government view, differs from
the Calvinistic view, known as the satisfaction view where Jesus' sufferings equal the amount of
suffering that Christians would experience in hell.

The governmental view does not view the atonement as "paying" off a debt people owe but
rather as making it possible for sinners to be pardoned without weakening the effect of the Law
of God against sin. The forgiveness of sins, or mercy, is when God sets aside the execution of the
penalty of the law. Since the blood atonement of Jesus Christ substitutes the eternal punishment
of sinners, God is able to set aside their punishment. The atonement did not satisfy God's wrath,
rather the atonement was a governmental condition in order for God to turn from His wrath
without weakening His law in His universe. If the atonement satisfied God's wrath, sinners
would be born saved and they would not be under God's wrath prior to conversion. But if the
atonement was a necessary condition in order for God to turn away from His wrath, then sinners
can be saved from God's wrath when and only when they are converted.

Princeton Theological Seminary Professor Albert Baldwin Dod reviewed Finney's 1835 book
Lectures on Revivals of Religion,[21] and rejected it as theologically unsound from a Calvinistic
perspective, not necessarily from a Christian perspective.[22] Dod was a defender of Old School
Calvinist orthodoxy (see Princeton theologians) and was especially critical of Finney's view of
the doctrine of total depravity.[23]

Dwight Lyman Moody (February 5, 1837 - December 22, 1899), also known as D.L. Moody,
was an American evangelist and publisher who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School
and Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts (now the Northfield Mount Hermon School), the
Moody Bible Institute and Moody Publishers.

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Dwight Lyman Moody

Preacher, evangelist and publisher

Born February 5, 1837

 Northfield, Massachusetts

Died December 22, 1899 (aged 62)

Dwight Lyman Moody (February 5, 1837 - December 22, 1899), also known as D.L. Moody, was an American
Publishers.

Contents
[hide]

 1 Early life
 2 Chicago and the Civil War

 3 England

 4 Works

 5 See also

 6 Notes

 7 References

 8 External links

[edit] Early life

Dwight Moody was born in Northfield, Massachusetts to a large family. His father, a small farmer and stonemaso
His mother struggled to support the family, but even with her best effort, some of her children had to be sent off t
he wanted to eat, she sent him back. Even during this time, she continued to send them to church. Together with h

When Moody turned 17, he moved to Boston to (after many job rejections) work in his uncle's shoe store. One of
Sunday school teacher, Edward Kimball talked to him about how much God loved him. His conversion sparked t
Kimball, stated:

I can truly say, and in saying it I magnify the infinite grace of God as bestowed upon him, that I have seen few pers
“ become a Christian of clear and decided views of Gospel truth, still less to fill any extended sphere of public useful

[edit] Chicago and the Civil War

Moody moved to Chicago, Illinois in September, 1856, where he joined the Plymouth Congregational Church, an
William Reynolds, recalled a few years later:
 The first meeting I ever saw him at was in a little old shanty that had been abandoned by a saloon-keeper. Mr. Mo
“ the Prodigal Son and a great many words he could not read out, and had to skip. I thought, 'If the Lord can ever us
teachers. It became so well known that the just-elected President Lincoln visited and spoke at a Sunday School me

After the Civil War started, he was involved with the U.S. Christian Commission of the YMCA, and paid nine vi
Emma C. Revell, on August 28, 1862, with whom he had a daughter, Emma Reynolds Moody, and two sons, Wil

The growing Sunday School congregation needed a permanent home, so Moody started a church in Chicago, the

In June 1871, Moody met Ira D. Sankey, the Gospel singer, with whom he soon partnered. In October the Great C
rebuilt within three months at a near-by location as the Chicago Avenue Church. His lay follower William Eugen

In the years after the fire, Moody's wealthy Chicago supporter J.A. Farwell attempted to persuade him to make hi
purchased next door to his birthplace in Northfield, MA. He felt he could better recover from his lengthy and exh
attended by prominent Christian preachers and evangelists from around the world. It was also in Northfield where

England

It was while on a trip to England in Spring of 1872 that he became well known as an evangelist.
Some have claimed he was the greatest evangelist of the 19th century.[citation needed] He preached
almost a hundred times and came into communion with the Plymouth Brethren. On several
occasions he filled stadiums of 2,000 to 4,000 capacity. In the Botanic Gardens Palace, a meeting
had between 15,000 to 30,000 people.

This turnout continued throughout 1874 and 1875, with crowds of thousands at all of his
meetings. During his visit to Scotland he was helped and encouraged by Andrew A. Bonar. The
famous London Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon invited him to speak and promoted him as
well. When he returned to the United States, crowds of 12,000 to 20,000 were just as common as
in England.[citation needed] President Grant and some of his cabinet attended a meeting on January 19,
1876. His evangelistic meetings were held from Boston to New York, throughout New England
and as far as San Francisco, and other West coast towns from Vancouver to San Diego.

Moody aided in the work of cross-cultural evangelism by promoting "The Wordless Book", a
teaching tool that had been invented by Charles Spurgeon in 1866. In 1875 he added a fourth
color to the design of the three-color evangelistic device: gold - to "represent heaven". This
"book" has been and is still used to teach uncounted thousands of illiterate people - young and
old - around the globe about the Gospel message.[2]

Dwight L. Moody visited Britain with Ira D. Sankey, Moody preaching and Sankey singing.
Together they published books of Christian hymns. In 1883 they visited Edinburgh and raised
£10,000 for the building of a new home for the Carrubbers Close Mission. Moody later preached
at the laying of the foundation stone for what is one of the few buildings on the Royal Mile
which continues to be used for its original purpose and is now called the Carrubbers Christian
Centre.
Moody greatly influenced the cause of cross-cultural Christian missions after he met the pioneer
missionary to China, Hudson Taylor. He actively supported the China Inland Mission and
encouraged many of his congregation to volunteer for service overseas.

His influence was felt among Swedes despite the fact that he was of English heritage, never
visited Sweden or any Scandinavian country, and never spoke a word of the Swedish language.
Nevertheless, he became a hero revivalist among Swedish Mission Friends in Sweden and
America.[3]

News of Moody’s large revival campaigns in Great Britain from 1873–1875 traveled quickly to
Sweden, making “Mr. Moody” a household name in homes of many Mission Friends. Moody’s
sermons published in Sweden were distributed in books, newspapers, and colporteur tracts, and
led to the spread of Sweden’s “Moody fever” from 1875–1880.

He preached his last sermon on November 16, 1899 in Kansas City, Kansas. Becoming ill, he
returned home by train to Northfield. During the preceding several months, friends had observed
he had added some 30 pounds to his already ample frame. Although his illness was never
diagnosed, it has been speculated that he suffered congestive heart failure. He died on December
22, surrounded by family. Already installed by Moody as leader of his Chicago Bible Institute,
R. A. Torrey succeeded Moody as its president. Ten years after Moody's death, the Chicago
Avenue Church was renamed The Moody Church in his honor, and the Chicago Bible Institute
was likewise renamed Moody Bible Institute.

A Brief History of the Presbyterian Church in

America (PCA)
Dr. Marshall C. St. John

Note: The author makes no claims to originality in the following. He has borrowed lavishly from
denominational brochures, websites, and other internet resources, as well as official Minutes, and other
books about the PCA. Please feel free to copy and reproduce the following information.

WHAT IS THE PCA?

The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) was formed to be a denomination that is --

Faithful to the Scriptures

True to the Reformed Faith
Obedient to the Great Commission

By “Reformed” we mean that we are connected to the teachings of the historic Church, and the
doctrinal beliefs recovered by the Reformation.

By “Presbyterian” we describe our representative form of church government. Local

congregations are govberned by a “Session” of “presbyters” (elders), elected by the members of
the local church. Local churches within a specified geographical area are called a “Presbytery.”
Representatives of all the PCA congregations meet once a year in a “General Assembly.”
By “Obedient to the Great Commission” we mean that we are eager to be busy with the work of
evangelism and church planting, both in North America and around the world. We want every
human being to hear the Gospel and become a believer and follower of Jesus Christ.

The history of the PCA began with the formation of the Presbyterian form of church government,
which may be traced back to the Reformers, especially John Calvin and John Knox.

JOHN CALVIN OF SWITZERLAND

John Calvin (July 10, 1509 – May 27, 1564) was a French Protestant theologian during the
Protestant Reformation and was a central developer of the system of Christian theology called
Calvinism or Reformed theology. In Geneva, he rejected Papal authority,
established a new scheme of civic and ecclesiastical governance, and
created a central hub from which Reformed theology was propagated. He is renowned for his
teachings and writings, in particular for his Institutes of the Christian religion. Calvin's "scheme
of ecclesiastical governance" was later called "Presbyterianism."

The word "Presbyterianism" comes from the New Testament Greek word translated "elder."
Presbyterianism is a system of church government, in which leadership and authority is
centered in a group of elders; not in a bishop; not in the congregation.

If authority flows from a system of bishops, then you have the Episcopal form of church
government.
If authority flows from the congregation, meeting and voting on every issue, then you have the
Congregational form of government.

Presbyterianism is also representative church government. The congregation elects elders,

who seem to be gifted and called by God to their office, who then rule the church. This is very
much like the House of Representatives or Senate, in the government of the USA.

Calvin established the authority of elders in Geneva, and taught his system of church
government to visiting theological students, the most influential of which was John Knox of
Scotland.

JOHN KNOX OF SCOTLAND

John Knox (c. 1514 – November 24, 1572) was a Scottish religious reformer who took the lead
in reforming the Church in Scotland along Calvinist lines. He is widely regarded as the father of
the Protestant Reformation in Scotland and of the Church of Scotland.

Knox returned to Edinburgh May 2, 1559. The time was a critical one. During his absence the
reform party had become more numerous, more self-reliant and aggressive, and better
consolidated. The queen dowager, Mary of Guise, acting as regent for her daughter, the young
Mary I of Scotland, then in France, had become keener to crush the Protestants and determined
to use force. Civil war was imminent, but
each side shrank from the first step. Knox at once became the leader of the reformers. He
preached against "idolatry" with the greatest boldness, with the result that what he called the
"rascal multitude" began the "purging" of churches and the destruction of monasteries. Politics
and religion were closely intertwined; the reformers did not hesitate to seek the help of England.
Knox negotiated with the English government to secure its support, and he approved of the
declaration by the lords of his party in October 1559 suspending their allegiance to the regent.
The death of the latter in June 1560 opened the way to a cessation of hostilities and an
agreement to leave the settlement of ecclesiastical questions to the Scottish estates. The
doctrine, worship, and government of the Roman Church were overthrown by the parliament of
1560 and Protestantism established as the national religion. Knox, assisted by five other
ministers, formulated the confession of faith adopted at this time and drew up the constitution of
the new Church: the First Book of Discipline.

The Church—or Kirk—was organised on something approaching Presbyterian lines. Priests

were replaced by ministers (from the Latin for servants), with each parish governed by the Kirk
Session of elders. John Knox died in Edinburgh on November 24, 1572.

IRISH PRESBYTERIANISM

From Scotland, Presbyterianism spread to Ireland.

Presbyterianism in Ireland dates from the time of the Plantation of Ulster in 1610. During the
reign of James I of Ireland (James VI of
Scotland) a large number of Scottish Presbyterians emigrated to Ireland. The first move away
from the Church of Scotland, of which the Presbyterians in Ireland were part, saw the creation of
the Presbytery of Ulster in 1642 by chaplains of a Scottish army which had arrived to crush the
rising of 1641. Under Cromwell congregations multiplied and new presbyteries were formed.
After the Restoration, nonconforming ministers were removed from parishes of the Established
Church, but the Irish administration could not afford to alienate such a substantial Protestant
population and Presbyterianism was allowed to continue in the country.

AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANISM

The Rev. Francis Makemie (1658-1708)

Makemie was an Irishman, born near Rathmelton, Donegal county, Ireland in 1658. He studied
for the ministry at Glasgow University, where in February, 1676, he was a student in the third
class. In 1680 the Irish Presbytery of Laggan received a letter from Judge William Stevens, a
member of Lord Baltimore's Council, entreating that ministers be sent to Maryland and Virginia.
The next year it licensed Mr. Makemie, and ordained him soon in 1682, as a missionary for the
American colonies.

He preached for a time in Barbados. About 1684 he began his labors on the continent. In 1690
his name figures in the records of Accomac County, Virginia, where he was engaged in the
West India trade, and where in 1692 four hundred and fifty acres of land were granted to him.
Here he married Naomi, daughter of William Anderson, a wealthy merchant.

In the Southeast corner of Maryland there were three or four "meeting houses," and in the one
at Snow Hill he organized a church. An elder and merchant, Adam Spence, had probably signed
the Solemn League and Covenant in Scotland, and a descendant of his, reciting the tradition of
a hundred and thirty years, thus writes of Mr. Makemie: "One generation has uttered his praises
in the ears of its successor, and you may, even yet, hear their echo. Parents made his surname
the Christian name of their children, until, in the neighborhood of Snow Hill,
it has become a common one." This hill was his base of missionary operations.
It was not long before quite a number of congregations were gathered in the region which he
had selected as his field of labor. An itinerant missionary, and in reality the bishop of a primitive
diocese, he journeyed from place to place, sometimes on the eastern shore of Maryland,
sometimes in Virginia, and sometimes extending his
journeys as far as South Carolina. To the extent of his ability he supplied the feeble churches,
but he deeply felt the need of others to assist him.

In 1704 he went to London, and on his return brought back two other missionaries, who, along
with Makemie himself and four others, formed at Philadelphia in the spring of 1706 the first
Presbytery.

Mr. Makemie died at his residence in Accomac Virginia, in the Summer of 1708, leaving a
widow and two daughters. He made liberal bequests to charitable objects, and distributed his
valuable library among his family and two or three other friends.

He is generally regarded as the first regular and thorough Presbyterian in America, and the
father of the American Presbyterian Church.

THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES

A great deal happened in the history of the Presbyterian Church in the United States between
the time of Francis Makemie and the War Between the States. Presbyterians existed in half-a-
dozen different denominations. But the largest was the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. This
denomination became two separate denominations on December 4,1861, when commissioners
from Southern presbyteries met in Augusta, Georgia, to renounce the jurisdiction of the
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (Old School) and to form the Presbyterian Church in the
Confederate States of America. (After the war, the church changed its name to the Presbyterian
Church in the United States.)

In its "Address to All the Churches of Jesus Christ throughout the Earth," the church outlined the
Northern ecclesiastical indiscretions that forced its separation, especially the Gardiner Springs
Resolutions of the previous General Assembly that declared the church's obligation to uphold
the Union and support the federal constitution. In the minds of Southern Presbyterians, this was
a violation of the spirituality of the church by an unwarranted engagement in partisan politics.
Thus we find the PCUS, the mother church of the PCA, coming into existence.

Let us now move ahead very rapidly over one hundred years, during which the PCUS (and most
American denominations of all persuasions) declined from its spiritual peak into Liberalism.

WHY WAS THE PCA CREATED?

The PCUS (Presbyterian Church in the US) is the mother church of the PCA. When the PCA
was brought into existence in 1973 it was created by churches and elders separating
themselves from the PCUS in order to found a Bible-based truly Christian Church.

There are a number of reasons that these churches and elders left the PCUS:

1. The PCUS denied the authority of the Bible.

2. The PCUS required the ordination of women as elders and deacons.
3. The PCUS defended abortion and funded abortions.
4. The PCUS joined the National and World Council of Churches which support communism
around the world.
5. The PCUS defended Darwinian evolution.
6. The PCUS was promoting sexual immorality to church youth.
7. The PCUS opposed capital punishment of murderers.
8. The PCUS welcomed some ministers who denied the virgin birth, and the deity and
resurrection of Jesus, and refused to accept some ministers who believed in these doctrines.
9. The PCUS was run by a political machine which excluded conservatives from influential
posts.
10. The PCUS redefined missions as social action, and downplayed evangelism and church
planting.

HOW WAS THE PCA CREATED?

Conservatives in the PCUS had fought the growing "Liberalism" in their denomination for
decades.

It became clear that a conspiracy of liberal ministers and seminary professors in the
Presbyterian Church in the United States--the so-called southern Church—were engaged in an
organized effort to gain control of the church. These men led by Dr. Ernest Trice Thompson--a
professor at Richmond Theological Seminary--formed a secret organization which they called
"The Fellowship of St. James." They sought to have the church abandon its belief in the integrity
and authority of the Bible, to water down the Westminster Confession of Faith, and to participate
more actively in the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. Their
primary goal, however, was to unite the PCUS with the far more liberal and three times larger
Presbyterian Church in the United States of America--the Northern Church. They developed a
political machine to control the actions of the church.

SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL

To let the members of the Presbyterian Church U.S. know about this attempt to undermine our
historic faith and to encourage conservatives to resist the efforts of the liberals to gain complete
control, Dr. Bell (recently returned from China, the father of Billy Graham's wife, Ruth; and Dr.
Henry B. Dendy, minister of the Weaverville, North Carolina Presbyterian Church, founded The
Southern Presbyterian Journal. Dr. Bell served as editor and Dr. Dendy as business manager.

By 1964 the secret "Fellowship of St. James" was no longer secret so they replaced it with a
new and larger group which they called "The Fellowship of Concern." They redoubled their
efforts to merge our Southern Church with the far more liberal Northern Church. This group was
in complete control of Assembly's Nominating Committee, many of the synods and presbyteries,
the board and agencies, colleges and seminaries and most of the important committees of the
church.

Dr. Bell and a number of other conservative leaders met in Atlanta and concluded that informing
church members regarding the direction the liberals were taking the church through the
Presbyterian Journal would never return control to Bible-believing Presbyterians. They decided
that an organization was needed to actively combat what the liberals were doing and that it
would be a lay organization because if conservative ministers in liberal presbyteries became
involved they could be defrocked.
CONCERNED PRESBYTERIANS

At the Journal board meeting in August of that year, Kenneth S. Keyes was asked to form and
head such an organization. With $15,000 seed money which the board provided, Concerned
Presbyterians was formed in the fall of 1964 with Col. Roy LeCraw of Atlanta serving as vice
president, W.J. (Jack) Williamson of Greenville, Alabama, as secretary and J. M. Vroon of
Miami as treasurer.

The first bulletin from Concerned Presbyterians listed these reasons for concern:

* because the primary mission of the church-winning people to Jesus Christ and nurturing
them in the faith-is being compromised today by overemphasis on social, economic and
political matters, forgetting the basic necessity for regeneration.

* because the integrity and authority of the Word of God are being questioned by dubious
theories of revelation in some of the literature of the church.

* because some presbyteries no longer require complete loyalty to the Westminster

Confession of Faith and Catechisms.

* because continued membership in the National Council of Churches involves us in

activities, pronouncements and programs of which we strongly disapprove and repeated
protests to that body have been ignored.

* because the plan to establish a central treasurer now approved by the General Assembly
indicates a determination to regiment the benevolence giving of the church's members by
"equalizing" their gifts-in effect actually thwarting the wishes of many donors.

* because another determined effort has been started to effect a union of the Presbyterian
Church U.S. with the United Presbyterian Church U.S.A- which is now engaged in negotiations
to unite with denominations that do not adhere to the Reformed faith.

By this time many conservative members were leaving churches which were pastored by liberal
ministers.

PRESBYTERIAN EVANGELISTIC FELLOWSHIP

When it became evident that those in control of the PCUS were no longer interested in
evangelism, Rev. William P. Hill organized the Presbyterian Evangelistic Fellowship. Starting
with two full-time evangelists they eventually had fifteen evangelists serving the church. Later on
this group became a sending agency for missionaries so that PCUS conservative churches
which had stopped giving to the church's Board of World Missions had missionaries whom they
could support.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHMEN UNITED

In 1969 more than 500 conservative ministers formed Presbyterian Churchmen United and ran
3/4 page statements of their beliefs in 29 or 30 leading newspapers.

Dr. John E. Richards, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Macon, Georgia, headed this
organization and Rev. Paul P. Settle was its field director. They both played a very active role in
speaking at conservative rallies, informing members in the pews regarding what the Liberals
were doing to the church. By this time presbyteries where the Liberals were in control were
receiving ministers who did not believe in the Virgin Birth, the validity of Christ's sacrificial death
on the cross, His bodily resurrection and other cardinal doctrines of the faith.

The Board of World Missions was replacing conservative leading missionaries with men and
women who no longer believed that leading the unsaved to Christ was their primary mission.
The Liberally controlled courts of the church made no effort to discipline a West Virginia minister
who "married" two homosexuals at a church in Washington D. C., and a Louisville, Kentucky,
minister who offered himself for a position as elector in the Communist Party. Some of the
Liberal presbyteries were blocking the efforts of conservative churches to call conservative
ministers.

A NEW SEMINARY WAS NEEDED

Southern Presbyterian conservatives, like their counterparts earlier in the century in the North,
represented a mixture of doctrinal viewpoints that ranged from firmly committed Old School
Presbyterians to fundamentalists who resisted social change. Moreover, there were divisions
between those who sought reform from within and others who urged the need to separate. All
parties seemed to agree, however, that a seminary was needed to provide ministers for the
conservative cause, given their suspicions about the teaching at the four seminaries of the
South (Austin, Columbia, Louisville, and Union). A key step in the promotion of the conservative
cause was taken in 1966, when Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, was
established on explicitly Old School Presbyterian grounds, especially underscoring the
spirituality of the church. (Note: Reformed Theological Seminary never became the "official"
seminary of the PCA, but remains an independent organization, though many of its students do
become PCA pastors.)

THERE WAS CONCERN FOR CHRISTIAN YOUTH

In 1961 the National Council of Churches published and distributed a booklet entitled "The
Meaning of Sex in Christian Life." Its text was a heart-to-heart talk between a church leader and
a teenager.

On one page the church leader told the youth:

"Our culture declares that all sexual activity within marriage is legal, proper and good, while any
such activity outside marriage is illicit, sinful and wrong. We know that there is sexual contact
between unmarried couples that is motivated by love and which is pure and on occasions
beautiful."

In 1969 or 1970 the church's Board of Christian Education joined with the Northern Church and
the United Church of Christ in publishing a monthly magazine called "Colloquy."

Of pre-marital sex it said:

"If kids were made aware of alternatives, they wouldn't have to worry about getting into trouble.
If there were some way you could stop pregnancy, I don't think there would be anything wrong
with sex."
 At the 1971 General Assembly our four conservative organizations decided to make an all-out
effort to elect three conservatives to the Permanent Nominating Committee-probably the most
vital single committee in the church. Our nominees were Dr. C. Darby Fulton who had ably
directed our Board of World Missions for many years, Walter Shepard, a former missionary, and
Ruth Bell Graham (Billy Graham's wife.)

The Liberals nominated the layman from Charleston, West Virginia, who had given the church
$50,000 to start paying for abortions, a minister from San Antonio, Texas, who held a liquor
party in his room every night, invited our youth delegates and got two of them so drunk that they
had to be hospitalized and a liberal woman from Texas. It was the most radical group ever
nominated for this very important committee. All three were elected.

This assembly rejected an overture to withdraw from the National Council of Churches by a vote
of 213 to 189. It condemned the Commission on Overseas Evangelism which the Presbyterian
Evangelistic Fellowship had set up to provide a vehicle by which churches and individuals who
had lost faith in the Board of World Missions could support conservative missionaries. The vote
was 270 to 126.

The assembly rejected a motion to order the Board of Christian Education to stop cooperating in
publishing Colloquy--the blasphemous magazine which was undermining the morality of our
young people.

A few weeks after the General Assembly representatives of Concerned Presbyterians,

Presbyterian Churchman United, Presbyterian Evangelistic Fellowship and the Presbyterian
Journal met in Atlanta to assess the situation. They decided that the time had come to abandon
our efforts to change the Liberal leadership and to start planning for a new church. The vote was
25 to 1.

A steering committee of three members from each organization was appointed. Rev Donald B.
Patterson was elected chairman, Rev. James Baird, vice chairman and Rev. Kennedy Smartt,
secretary. Dr. John E. Richards resigned his pastorate at First Presbyterian Church, Macon.
Georgia to become administrator for the steering committee.

In August 1971 this decision was announced with this statement:

INTOLERABLE SITUATION

We have reached the point where the situation in our beloved church has become intolerable to
thousands of loyal Presbyterians who love the Lord, and want to serve Him in a Presbyterian
church which will be true to His Word.

We feel that we can no longer be a part of a denomination in which the Board of Christian
Education publishes literature which violates our Confession of Faith and encourages our young
people to experiment with sex and drugs;

in a denomination in which the Board of World Missions no longer places its primary emphasis
on carrying out the Great Commission;

in a denomination with seminaries which train ministers who substitute social and political action
for the preaching of the Word;
in a denomination where presbyteries violate our constitution by receiving ministers who refuse
to affirm the Virgin Birth. the bodily resurrection and other cardinal doctrines, while denying
membership to faithful ministers who stand firmly for these doctrines which they vowed to
uphold.

Especially do we feel that we can no longer subject our children and grandchildren to the kind of
youth leaders that those in control have seen fit to place in these sensitive position-young
radicals who seem determined to lead our young people away from their faith in God.

Two years was spent in laying the foundation for the new denomination.

ADVISORY CONVENTION

On page 94 of his history of the PCA (I Am Reminded), Kennedy Smartt records that an
Advisory Committee met in August of 1973 at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina.
160 churches were officially represented by 280 voting delegates, representing 40,000 church
members. The Organizing Committee recommended that the 1933 Book of Church Order of the
PCUS be adopted, with some minor changes, and the addition of an important chapter on
church property. The Convention determined also that ordination to both elder and deacon
offices would be accorded only to men. In How is the Gold Become Dim, Morton Smith states
that the ordination of women to the offices of deacon or elder had been approved in the PCUS
at the 1963-64 General Assemblies, and that the practice was "obviously contrary to the specific
teaching of the Word of God." The denial of the verbal, plenary inspiration of the Bible, lack of
evangelistic emphasis, a Liberal bias in denominational literature, heavy-handed top-down
authority, the World Council of Churches, abortion, female ordination, immorality and evolution
were considered to be major issues in the need to form a new denomination.

THE FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PCA

In December 1973, delegates, representing some 260 congregations with a combined

communicant membership of over 41,000 that had left the PCUS, gathered at Briarwood
Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and organized the National Presbyterian Church,
which later became the Presbyterian Church in America.

CHURCH GROWTH AND MERGERS

In 1982 the PCA received all the member churches of the Reformed Presbyterian Church,
Evangelical Synod. The PCA also received Covenant College and Covenant Theological
Seminary from the RPCES, and they became the “official” denominational college and
seminary. Dozens of Orthodox Presbyterian churches, Bible Presbyterian churches and
PCUSA churches have also left their denominations to become PCA churches.

MISSION TO THE WORLD

Mission to the World (MTW) is the missionary agency of the PCA. The roots of MTW may be
traced back to the Presbyterian Evangelistic Fellowship. PEF created great interest in foreign
missions in the PCUS, which in turn led to the formation of the "Executive Committee for
Overseas Evangelism" in 1971. In 1973 ECOE became MTW, with only six missionaries. In
1982 World Presbyterian Missions, the missions arm of the RPCES, was absorbed by MTW
when the RPCES joined the PCA.
CHURCH GROWTH

The PCA Ministry Buildings Campus in Lawrenceville, Georgia (near Atlanta) is the location
from which most of the ministries of the denomination are coordinated. These ministries are
carried on by four Program committees -- Mission to the World, Mission to North America,
Christian Education and Publication, Reformed University Ministries, and one service
committee, the Administrative Committee, responsible for the administration of the General
Assembly. Additionally, there are five agencies which also minister to the denomination: PCA
Foundation, PCA Retirement & Benefits, Inc. (both located in Lawrenceville), Ridge Haven, (the
PCA conference center located close to Rosman, North Carolina), Covenant College in Lookout
Mountain, Georgia, and Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, (the national
educational institutions of the PCA).

On January 1, 1987 the PCA had 924 churches with 160,827 members. There were 99 groups
in the process of forming churches. Our church became the most rapidly growing Presbyterian
body in America. By the turn of the century the PCA consisted of over 1500 churches and
330,000 members. The PCA is a national Church, with churches in almost every state including
Hawaii, and in three provinces in Canada.

The influence of the PCA extends far beyond the walls of the local church. Mission to the World
has approximately 600 career missionaries in 60 nations of the world, about 430 two-year
missionaries, and over 6500 short term missionaries. Because of the unique relationship
between Mission to the World with over thirty mission organizations with whom some of our
missionaries are working, some consider that the influence is far greater than our size might
indicate. Indeed, PCA churches support an additional 690 career missionaries, covering over
130 nations.

Further, with more than 100 chaplains in the military, Veterans Administration, prisons, and
hospitals, and 45 college and university campus ministers, the Gospel is proclaimed to a rather
large audience around the world not reached through usual outreach channels. Because of the
emphasis on education, there are many members of the PCA who are teachers and professors
at all levels, including a significant number of large universities and theological seminaries.

WHAT DOES THE PCA BELIEVE ABOUT.....?

In the PCA, only the Book of Church Order is binding. In order for the PCA to take an “official”
position on any issue, it is necessary for the denomination to go through the process of
amending the Book of Church Order. This is a lengthy and cumbersome process.

However, each General Assembly of the PCA issues statements on a variety of issues
confronting the Church and Society. These statements are not binding on the churches, pastors
and people of the PCA, however they are indicative of the mind of the Church. Over the years,
the PCA has taken the following positions:

ABORTION

The PCA has always spoken out very clearly against the practice of abortion. “Abortion in
distinction from miscarriage, is the intentional killing of an unborn child between conception and
birth...Is the unborn child a human person in God’s image? Scripture leaves no doubt about the
continuity of personhood which includes the unborn child...It would therefore be a willful act of
defiance against the Creator intentionally to kill an unborn child whose conception is so
intimately a Divine as well as a human act. No child belongs only to man. He is God’s child.
And His Word must govern the protection and care of that child both before and after birth...The
Bible, especially in the Sixth Commandment, gives concrete protection to that life which bears
the image of God. We must uphold that commandment.” (From the Sixth General Assembly,
1978)

SEXUALITY

The 20th General Assembly, meeting in 1992 issued a statement about Divorce and
Remarriage that also spoke to human sexuality in general:

“The PCA reaffirms that sex is a gift from God which should be expressed only in marriage
between a man and a woman. Therefore all sexual intercourse outside marriage, including
homosexuality and lesbianism, is contrary to God’s Word (the Bible), and is sin.”

Homosexuality in particular had already been addressed by the 5th General Assembly (1977):
“In the light of the Biblical view of its sinfulness, a practicing homosexual continuing in this sin
would not be a fit candidate for ordination or membership in the Presbyterian Church in
America.”

FREEMASONRY

In 1988 the 16th General Assembly addressed the issue of Freemasonry, due to its popularity in
the South, and thus in many PCA churches.

The PCA “has serious concerns connected with membership in Freemasonry: Joining
Freemasonry requires actions and vows out of accord with Scripture; participation in Masonry
seriously compromises the Christian faith and testimony, and may lead to a diluting of
commitment to Christ and His Kingdom...Our denomination should adopt a policy of correcting
those who are involved in such organizations, with gentleness, that God may grant them
repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.”

ROMAN CATHOLICISM

In 1995 the 23rd General Assembly addressed the issue of Roman Catholics and Evangelicals
working together on various moral issues confronting the United States. “We ... declare that our
understanding of justification is not compatible with the teaching of the official Roman Catholic
Church. Therefore, we maintain that Biblical unity must be grounded in fidelity to the teaching of
Holy Scripture... (however) The PCA commends the Roman Catholic Church for its principled
opposition to some of our national sins, and believes that it is altogether proper for the members
of this church to be co-belligerents with Roman Catholics in these social and political
endeavors.”

CREATION VS EVOLUTION

In 1999 the 27th General Assembly supported supernatural Creationism as opposed to

“macroevolution.”

"Genesis 1 and 2 are a historic, self-consistent, and true account of God's creation of the universe
and of mankind in six days...Genesis 1 and 2 do not represent a mythical account of creation
without reality in space and time...Genesis 1 and 2 represent one unified account of creation and
not two accounts that are inconsistent with each other...
God made all things directly by His command...the eight fiat acts of creation in Genesis 1 were
discrete, supernatural acts, and describe the creation of all kinds...those things created by these
acts were brought into existence instantaneously and perfectly....God made Adam immediately
from the dust of the ground and not from a lower animal form and that God's in-breathing
constituted man a living soul, in the image of God...God made Eve directly from Adam...the
entire human race, with the exception of our Lord Jesus Christ, descended from Adam and Eve
by ordinary generation...each of the kinds resulted from separate creative acts, and that any
genetic development is only within these kinds, thus denying macroevolution."

WOMEN IN COMBAT

The 29th and 30th General Assemblies of 2001 and 2002 issued statements regarding the role
of women in combat.

“The PCA believes that military service is a just and godly calling; however, that it presents
special and difficult moral challenges in light of the integration of women into the armed
services....The women of the PCA (should be) warned of the many difficulties and moral and
physical dangers involved in serving in the military in secular America, due to their inherent
greater vulnerability...The PCA declares that any policy which intentionally places in harms way
as military combatants women who are, or might be, carrying a child in the womb, is a violation
of God’s Moral Law...This Assembly declares it to be the biblical duty of man to defend woman
and therefore condemns the use of women as military combatants, as well as any conscription
of women into
the Armed Services of the United States...The Thirtieth General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church in America adopts the above as pastoral counsel for the good of the members, the
officers, and
especially the military chaplains of the Presbyterian Church in America. Be it further resolved
that the Presbyterian Church in America supports the decision of any of its members to object
to, as a matter of conscience, the conscription of women or the use of women as military
combatants.”

Much more of the history of the Presbyterian Church in America may be discovered by
researching the archives of the PCA, which are stored and catalogued at the library at Covenant
Theological Seminary, in St. Louis, Missouri.