Restitutio

While scrolling through Facebook, I came across Charles Mathewes’ Washington Post article, “White Christianity is in big trouble. And it’s its own biggest threat.”  At first reading, I was infuriated at what I felt were unfair criticisms, but after I thought about it, I realized what an opportunity this article presented.  It collects together no less than thirteen criticisms against Christianity.  In this episode Dan Fitzsimmons, Rose Rider, and I (Sean Finnegan) respond to the first seven, including:

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Hear the winding tale of early Christian history in the Americas with a special focus on the thirteen colonies.  Right from the start the Americas were full of Christian diversity including Catholicism, the Church of England, Puritans, Baptists, and Quakers.  In this lecture you’ll see how this diversity led to an unprecedented level of religious tolerance and flourishing.  Other significant issues in this period include the horrors of the slave trade and the treatment of native Americans as well as the impressive success of the Great Awakening under the preaching of George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards.

This is lecture 12 of a history of Christianity class called Five Hundred: From Martin Luther to Joel Osteen.

All the notes are available here as a pdf.

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Founding the Colonies

Immorality

Several significant sexual harassment cases have come to light in the last few months.  Now a whole range of behaviors have come under scrutiny as women (and some men) have felt emboldened to make public their experiences.  In this episode we even out our Off Script panel with one more female voice, Terri Crowder, to help us discuss this prevalent phenomenon from street corners to workplaces to churches.  After discussing sexual harassment in some detail, we bring relevant scriptures to light to provide a Christian response.

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Although the focus of this class is on the history of Protestants of various stripes, it’s also important to realize that Catholicism changed a good deal during the last five hundred years.  In this lecture, you’ll get a brief sketch of the history of significant Catholic movements and doctrinal declarations during this period, including the inquisition, Council of Trent, the Jesuits, doctrines about Mary, the first and second Vatican Councils, and much more.

This is lecture 11 of a history of Christianity class called Five Hundred: From Martin Luther to Joel Osteen.

All the notes are available here as a pdf.

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Initial Responses to Reformation

Inquisition

Council of Trent (1545-1563)

Jesuits (Society of Jesus)

Colonialism

Learn about the dissident groups in Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries, including the Puritans, Baptists, Quakers, and Unitarians. In addition, Sean Kelly presents a vignette of John Biddle’s life and influence.

This is lecture 10 of a history of Christianity class called Five Hundred: From Martin Luther to Joel Osteen.

All the notes are available here as a pdf.

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Puritans

English Baptists

Quakers (“Society of Friends”)

British Unitarians

In this sprint through British church history, you’ll learn about King Henry VIII and his staggering Act of Supremacy when he pulled the Church of England out of Catholicism and appointed himself the head of the church.  After Henry’s death, England swayed back and forth as Henry’s successors adopted Protestantism then Catholicism then Protestantism again.  Still none of this tumult compares to the chaos of the English Civil War a century later when a Protestant Parliament executed a too Catholic King Charles I for treason and initiated stringent Puritanical laws throughout the land.  You’ll also learn about the persistent and tenacious John Knox who was instrumental in bringing the Reformation to Scotland.

This is lecture 9 of a history of Christianity class called Five Hundred: From Martin Luther to Joel Osteen.

All the notes are available here as a pdf.

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Henry VIII (1491-1547)

William Tyndale (1495-1536)

“We were better to be without God’s laws than the pope’s.” Master Tyndale, hearing this, full of godly zeal and not bearing that blasphemous saying, replied, “I defy the pope, and all his laws;” and added, “If God spared my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture than thou doest.”

Letter from Tyndale to overseer of the castle in September: “I believe, most excellent Sir, that you are not unacquainted with the decision reached concerning me. On which account, I beseech your lordship, even by the Lord Jesus, that if I am to pass the winter here, to urge upon the lord commissary, if he will deign, to send me from

Did you know that Christianity spread to Asia in the first century?  At one time the Church of the East was bigger than the Roman Catholic Church.  Although often overlooked, this part of the world is critical to our understanding Christianity in the last five hundred years.  Our guest lecturer, Matthew Elton, guides us through an enlightening and helpful survey of the history of Asian Christianity.

This is lecture 8 of a history of Christianity class called Five Hundred: From Martin Luther to Joel Osteen.

All the notes are available here as a pdf.

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Early Christianity (1st Century)

Nestorian Schism (431)

The Church of the East (~431 to Present)

Early Christianity in China (7th Century)

Christianity in Japan: Francis Xavier (active 1541-1552)

The Tokugawa Shogunate (1600-1868)

The Meiji Restoration (1868)

Have you ever thought about what it must have been like for Adam and Eve have that conversation after the Fall, after they had become ashamed of what they had done and they had to come to grips with the new reality.  In this stunning piece of poetry, written by Preston and Jackie Perry, we see the two of them embodying Adam and Eve in a very intense exchange where they blame each other and then come to an understanding and resolution of this issue.  I found this piece to be at once melodic and beautiful, but also deep and profound.

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Eve:

Adam:

Both:

Eve:

Adam:

Eve:

Adam:

Eve:

Both:

Adam:

Eve:

Adam:

Eve:

Both:

Eve:

Adam:

Eve:

Both:

Eve:

Adam:

Zooming out, this episode casts a wide net to summarize how the movement started by Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin affected Europe over the next century. We’ll see how the Reformation took root in Germany, Scandinavia, and the Netherlands while simultaneously failing to find fertile ground in France, especially among those in power. Lastly, we’ll consider the Thirty Year’s War (1618-1648) and how this brutal conflict fundamentally changed the way religion and politics related henceforth.

This is lecture 8 of a history of Christianity class called Five Hundred: From Martin Luther to Joel Osteen.

All the notes are available here as a pdf.

—— Notes ——

Germany

Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark)

Netherlands

France

“The parish pulpits of Paris taught hatred of heretics and suspicion of those—including the magistracy and monarchy—who allowed their continuing existence. Catholic preachers goaded people into a frenzy of fear and hatred of the religious and moral depravity of the ‘Deformed’ that would undermine royal efforts for toleration and produce deadly fruit. …For over the next 30 years Huguenots and Catholics murdered and assassinated each other with increasing barbarity.”[2]

“The streets were covered with dead bodies, the rivers stained, the doors and gates of the palace bespattered with blood. Wagon loads of corpses, men, women, girls, even infants, were thrown into the Seine, while streams of blood ran in many quarters of the city…One little girl was bathed in the blood of her butchered fa

Have you ever noticed that pastors tend to get called to bigger churches over time, usually with better pay.  However, after fifteen years of serving at a church in rural South Carolina, Pastor Alan Cain heard God calling him to move to a smaller church that was having financial difficulty.  Although he took some convincing, Cain moved his wife and children up to Ohio and began serving at the Lawrenceville Church of God.  Over the past thirteen years, they’ve gone from 30 people in attendance on a typical Sunday to 175!  In this interview I ask Cain what his secret is.  The answer he gives may surprise you.

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