Professional Documents
Culture Documents
History of Christianity
BY
CHARLES W RISHELL, M A.
/
THE NEW VO
?'J3l:C iJBFA
490(>11
A8T0R, '.ENO-'' •
TILDEN FOU'.D-TiO
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PREFACE
39, 53, 54, 55, 56, are all additional, as also the
§ 8. Jewish Christianity, 32
'i
9. Heathen Christianity, 36
§ 10. The Constitution of the Church and Ca-
tholicism, . . 41
SECOND CHAPTER.
THE MIDDLE AGES.
PAGE.
§ 19. Introduction, 105
First Division: The Kixgdom of the Franks.
g 20. The Primitive German Tribes, 112
^21. The Merovingians, 114
?22. The Prankish Reformation, 118
§ 23. The Empire of Charlemagne, 123
'i
30. The Mendicant Orders and the Third Order, 161
§31. Excesses of Papal Power — Abuses, 164
§ 32. The Babylonian Exile — Schism, 170
§ 33. Degeneration of Monasticisjn, 172
§34. Reformatory Agencies, 174
§35. The Reform Councils 178
§ 36. The Authority of the State, 180
§ 37. Scholasticism,' 182
§ 38. Christian Life and Morals, 189
§ 39. Benevolent Activity, 200
THIRD CHAPTER.
PERIOD OF THE REFORMATION.
First Division The Reformation.
:
FOURTH CHAPTER.
THE CHURCH IN GREAT BRITAIN AND AMERICA.
? 54. The Church in Great Britain, 293
, § 55. The Church in the united States, 306
§ 56. Methodism, 316
APPENDICES.
Appendix I: Supplementary and Explanatory
Notes, 329
Appendix II: Chronological Tables.
1. Spread of Christianity, Persecutions, Crusades, 362
2. Bishops and Popes of Rome, 366
3. Ecumenical Councils (as reckoned by Roman
Catholics), 369
THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
First Chapter.
ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY AND ITS INSTITU-
TIONS.
I N T R O D XJ C X I O rsT.
§ 2. Chiustianity.
KIRST DIVISION.
THE PERSECUTIONS.
§ o. AND ClIKTSTIANITY.
JuT)AIs:\r
* Compare 1 18.
26 CUR IS TIA NIT Y A ND ITS INS TIT UTIONS.
SECOND DIVISION.
inner development.
§ 8. Jewish Christianity.
The persecutions which attacked the Church
from without, constituted her slightest dangers far ;
power.
This was the case first of all witli Judaism, and
afterward with heathenism. Pharisaic influences
were not long in making themselves perceptible in
the youthful Church. Not every Pharisee, in pass-
ing over to Christianity, "met with the change
which so completely transformed the apostle Paul.
Hence there arose a Pharisaic tendency in the
Church, known as Jewish Christianity, whose ob-
ject was to Judaize Christianity. The Pharisaic
Christians believed that Jesus, the Crucified, was
the INIessiah, but asserted that salvation through
him was only for the Jews. Whoever would
be-
come a Christian must first become a Jew by
cir-
§ 9. Heathen Christianity.
Phil, i, 1.)
Thus at the head of the Church was an office
THIRD DIVISION.
THE CHURCH ESTABLISHED.
§ 11. State and Church.
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost
represented only different and temporary revealed
'
conflicts ?
And now, when Rome felt itself justified in un-
dertaking the government of the entire Church, an
upstart, the bishop of Constantinople, and he in the
§ 16. Augustine.
Along with monasticism, which in the fifth cen-
tury was preparing to conquer the Occident, arose
at the same time an individual personality, likewise
destined to rule intellectually the development of
the Church in the West. It was Augustine, wh(j
died as bishop of Hippo, in Africa (430). To him
it was given to measure in himself the depths and
heights of spiritual experience, to prove in his in-
most soul the power of the gospel, and, like Paul
and Luther, to pass from sin and anxiety of con-
science into blessed fellowship with God. The lust
of the world and the lust of the flesh had fastened
their chains upon him. But he early sought, with
giant eflbrt, to attain his freedom from the burden
of sin, and to find favor with God. He had ex-
plored, one after another, the religious systems
which then prevailed in the world. He became a
84 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
*See Note 8 lo p. U.
AUGUSTINE. 85
49 E
98 CHRISTIANITY ÄND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
»Since then the Church has been mute, and, with the
extinction of its intellectual life, it fell into a final
position of dependence upon the power of the State.
The Byzantine emperors conquered, notwithstanding
the outcome of the contest with the authorities of
the Church concerning the images. The Greek
Church had been able to maintain its essential char-
acter, its dogmas, and its forms of worship but its ;
RIRSX DIVISION.
the kingdom of the franks.
SECOND DIVISION.
the german middle ages.
§ 24. The German Emperoes.
Germany first succeeded in producing a new
national order. While France, Burgundy, and
Italy were in process of dissolution, Henry I
labored for the regeneration of Germany, which
was finally secured under his great son, Otto I.
was free to fill the place with one who suited his
mind. Indeed, the property of the spiritual princes
passed as a kind of property of the kingdom.
Thus what was joined for the religious foundations
diiiiiities.
THE REF0R3I OF 310 NASIICISM. 135
ears, not only for the singing of songs, but also for
the melodies of the heroic legends of Germany
for eyes, not only for the letters which conveyed
ideas to the mind, but also for that which adorned
life ; for art in painting, as well as for nature ; for
a heart, not only for the Latin of Virgil, but also
for the then almost undiscovered German tongue.
It was a monasticism which, giving and receiving,
intellectually ruling the then existing world, stood
in the midst of the stream of the national life.
But was it then the task of monasticism to rule
the world, enjoy the benefits of life, and, with
others, to live the national life ? Was it not rather
the ideal of monasticism to flee from the world, to
count the noblest good which this earth aifords as
of no account and unworthy the immortal soul,
and even to hold these things dangerous and as a
part of the world, which is in and of itself wicked-
ness, sin, and ruin?
The destruction or chastening, not only of the
evil passions, but of every earthly impulse of hu-
manity ; not the development, but the destruction,
of every earthly gift of the human mind, — this was
138 THE MIDDLE AGES,
former value.
The empire asserted itself in the eleventh and
twelfth centuries in opposition to the Gregorian
ideas, and would not allow the Imperial power to
be degraded to an empire controlled by priests.
§ 37. Scholasticism.
The Scholastic theology spent its chief strength
in attempting to solve the relation between faith
and knowledge. The great question then, as to-day,
was, *'
What is reality?" The NoiiuiudUts, following
• See tlie section oii the History of the Chureb iu England.
SCHOLASTICISM. 183
the sick.
Besides these more religious organizations for
purposes of benevolence, there were also many
of a more secular kind which assisted in caring
for the sick and poor. These were the guilds
204 TRE MIDDLE AGES,
KIRSX DIVISION.
THE REFORMATION.
209
210 PERIOD OF THE REFORMATION.
Italian tyrant.
The interests of the renaissance were, in their
final analysis, opposed to the interests of the Church ;
§ 41. Luther.
The help came from the circles of monasticism,
(Schmalcald Articles ;
''
Of the Power of the Pope.")
Thus the spiritual power belongs to the Churches;
that is, to the entire body of believers whether it
be large or small (** where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there am I in the midst of
them"), assembled for the sake of the Word and
the sacraments. But the power of the Church is
ordinarily exercised by means of the ministry.
Only in case of necessity, when the ministry fails
to perform its duty (for *' nothing dare receive more
power or respect than the Word of God") is the
power of the keys (the spiritual authority) exercised
by the Churches themselves, "as, in case of neces-
sity, even a sinful layman may absolve another and
SECOND DIVISION.
COUNTER-REFORMATION.
THIRD DIVISION.
pietism and rationalism.
§ 48. Pietism.
The great struggle of tbe period of the Keforraa-
tion for the re-establishment of the gospel of justifi-
cation by faith produced two powerful movements,
which, partly co-operating, partly in antagonism to
one another, controlled the next succeeding period,
from the close of the sixteenth into the first half of
the eighteenth century.
The one movement was directed toward the
working out of a doctrinal system which should give
perfect self-consciousness to the newly recognized
evangelical truth in its scientific form, and thereby
to the Church. This tendency was especially con-
trolling in the Lutheran Church. It connected
itself with the work which Melanchthon had already
begun. Its result was the Lutheran dogmatics of
the seventeenth century, the creation of a Lutheran
theology which found its most important expression
in the writings of John Gerhard (after 1616 profes-
sor of theology in Jura; died 1637), and the influ-
ence of which extended over the entire domain of
Protestantism. With this development of the sys-
tematic theological teachings of the Church was con-
nected the danger of pushing the truly life-giving
truths of salvation into the background in the inter-
est of the in part exceedingly subtle questions of
258 PERIOD OF THE REFORMATION.
to rule not only the science, but also the life of the
Church. And the Lutheran theology of the seven-
teenth century entered upon the path marked out
by the Formula of Concord, and it was in this way
that it exercised such a powerful influence upon the
Church. The fruit of a socially dogmatically subtle
movement was, as the Lutheran theologians of that
period themselves testified (e. g., John Arndt, cele-
§ 49. Rationalism.
sary and
; that vast numbers of voluntary workers
in this cause can be supported and employed with-
out the re-establishment of the monasteries and
nunneries of the olden time. To all these hin-
BENE VOLENT ACTI VITY. 287
§ 56. Methodism.
329
330 APPENDIX I.
Note 25,49.p. —
Charismatic gifts were supernatural
abilitiesbestowed upon the early Christians; for
example, profound knowledge, prophecy, power to
work miracles, power to speak languages not learned
by study (the gift of tongues), etc.
—
Note 26, p. 51. The eucharistic feast, or simply the eu-
name for the Lord's Supper. It originally
charist, is a
designated the fact that the Lord's Supper was a
giving of thanks. That meaning is now lost sight of
in the popular use. (See Note 39.)
NOTES TO FIRST CHAPTER. 835
of the bishops ;. and the popes and the papal court for
23
352 APPENDIX L
their luxurious selfishness. Erasmus was at first the
friend, but finally the foe, of the Eeforraation.
Note 6, p. 227.— The most wonderful feature of Ht.
Peter's, Rome, is its magnificent dome. The size of
the church is very great. Yet it is so constructed
within and without, as to leave the impression of
littleness. Hence, except the dome, there is nothing
in the architecture to suggest majesty. The decora-
tions are inapproin-iate. Yet, owing to its history,
the church is frequently and enthusiastically visited.
Note 7, p. 227. — The Fuggers were a family of immense
wealth, which often loaned large sums of money to
the emperors. They were benevolent to the poor,
but bitter enemies of the Reformation. They resided
in Augsburg, and during the famous Diet of Augsburg
in 1530, Emperor Charles V was a guest of Antonius
Fugger, of whom it is related that he astonished the
'*
—
Note 31, p. 298. Henry VIII was six times married.
His first wife was Catharine of x^ragon, whom he di-
vorced. The second was Anne Boleyn, whom he be-
headed. The next morning he married his third wife,
Jane Seymour, wl lo died soon after the birth of Edward
(afterward King Edward VI). He next married Anne
of Cleves, but she was so ugly that he soon divorced
her. His fifth wife was Catharine Howard, whom he
executed because she was unfaithful to him. His
sixth wife was Catharine Parr, who survived him.
—
Note 32, p. 29g. A visitation of the monasteries in 1535
revealed a fearful state of corruption. A part of them
were suppressed in 1536. Various troubles followed,
and it was not until 1539 that they were all sup-
pressed.
Note 33, p. 301. —
The "Five Points" of Calvinism, as de-
fined by the Synod of Dort, are: 1. Of Divine Predesti-
nation, according to w^hich God, in his good pleasure,
chose a definite number to be saved and left all others
to their own obduracy. 2. Of the Death of Christ and
Chronological Tables,
35-
SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 363
Second F*eriod.
further spread of christianity— crusades.
820. Beginning of the conversion of tlie Bulgarians.
822. Ebj)0 ofRheims, missionary to Denmark and
Northern Europe.
826-865. Ausgar (Auschar) apostle of the northern
kingdoms.
848. Cyril preaches among the Chazari.
About 850. The Russians of Constantinox-»ie ask for a
bishop.
FURTHER SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY, 365
^^^^^- Office.
Severiuus, 6SS-640
Jolm IV 6-10-642
Theodoras I, 642-649
St. Martin I, m., . , .649-655
8t. Eu>;eiiius I, . . . .
655-6.")6
St. Vitalianus, .... 657-672
Adeodatus U, . . . . 672-fi'76
Donus I, 676-678
St. Agathen, 678-682
St. Leo II, 682-683
St. Bene.lict II, ... . 684-685
John V, 68.5-686
Conon, 686-687
SI. Sergius 1 687-7U1
John VI 701-705
John VII 705-707
Sisinnius, 708-708
Constantine, 708-715
St. Gregory II, ... . 715-731
St. Gregory III, . . . 731-741
St. Zachiirv, ....741-752
St. Stephen II, ... . 752-752
Stephen III 752-757
St. Paul I, 757-767
Stephen IV, 768-771
Adrian I 771-795
90. St. Leo III 795-816
100. Stephen V, 816-817
101. St. Paschal T, 817-824
102. Eugetiius II, 824-827
103. V'alentiiius, 827-827
104. (iiegorv IV 827-844
10.5. Sergius II, 844-847
106. St. Leo IV, 847-855
(Fabulous, rival Pope Joan.)
107. Benedict III, 855-858
108. St.Nicholas I the Great,858-S67
109. Adrian II 867 872
110. John VIII, 872-S82
111. Marin us I, 882-884
112. Adrian III, 884-885
113. Stephen VI, 885-891
114. Formosus 891-896
(Sergius, rival pope.)
115. Boniface VI, 896-896
116. Stephen VII, 897-898
117. Eomanus, 898-898
118. Theodorus II, ....898-898
119. John IX 898-900
120. Benedict IV 900-903
121. Leo V, 903-903
368 APPENDIX IL
vr -..r. Term of
Nahb. Term of
Name.
.
^^j^gg_ Office.
i
ECUMENICAL COUNCILS. 369