Church history is the heart of His story, God’s kingdom work on earth. This course explores the development of the Christian church from Pentecost to the present day. It covers key people and events that God used throughout history to bolster His Church and also those negative influences that infected her.
Legacy CollectionThis course is part of a collection of courses taught by world-class evangelical professors from across the globe on a variety of topics. The lessons are presented on an intermediate to college or seminary level and provide a wealth of information for those who want to dig deeper into their faith. Select courses in the collection are from the Institute of Theological Studies (ITS), which was acquired by Our Daily Bread University.
Objectives
- Discuss the connection between the Jewish faith and the Christian faith particularly in terms of the early development of the church and its theology.
- Understand the development of leadership structures within the organized church of the Western world, beginning with New Testament teachings and leading to the present time.
- Assess the impact of persecution on the church from early days to the present day.
- Discuss the effect on the church and its relationship with government, citing specifc historical examples world wide from Christ to the present day.
- Identify the major contributions made by Augustine to the church’s theology of salvation, redemption, and grace.
- Develop a personal philosophy of war based on study of the Crusades and teachings of historical theologians.
- Practice a biblical theology of knowing God based upon the study of the historical approaches of both mystics and scholars.
- Understand the Reformers including their relationship to the Catholic Church, their purpose, their theology, and the results of their actions.
- Evaluate the impact of denominationalism on the unity of the church particularly in the North American church.
- Develop a personal theology of missions based in part on the positive and negative aspects of the mission movements of the past two centuries.
- Discuss aspects of church histories that are specifc to areas of the world outside of North America.
- Examine and evaluate western Christian trends of the 20th century including Fundamentalism, Modernism, Evangelicalism, and Catholicism.
- Discuss the growth of the Christian church in the world today and identify challenges facing ministry in the new millennium.
- Oxford and Cambridge, sabbatical studies
- Fuller Seminary and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, graduate studies
- University of Minnesota, PhD
- Princeton Theological Seminary, MDiv and ThM
- Wheaton College, BA