HISTORY: Very, Very Truncated.
“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.” Hebrews 1:1
In trying to better understand our Babel mentality, I decided that it was time to dive into an historical study of where the church has been and what the church has built in the last two-thousand years. The rabbit hole was too deep and there were too many tunnels so an in-depth study could become my life-time journey and that is not the intention of this compilation. I did, however, spend much time on the highlights of Christian history. And in just those highlights alone, I have seen Babel builders again and again!
It is essential that we study history because it is through history that we have journeyed. God has always used events in this world to work His divine and powerful will. While reflecting on this thought I was brought back to something that I have heard said by various groups; that they believe themselves to be the first church (ourselves included in this claim). “We are the first church because we believe that we have bypassed all of history and returned entirely to the text to restore that which once was!” I have also spoken with my orthodox relatives and have been apprised emphatically that they are indeed the first church and we are not, to which I ignorantly and youthfully responded, “uh…you’re wrong…I think!” I would like for us to clearly see that History has once and always shaped the church and that we have very much been influenced by it. We know that “nothing is new under the sun” and that “there is a time for everything.” We read passages like Hebrews 1:1 that tells us that God used people in the past and His Son in the present to communicate with His creation. We follow the History of the Jews and see clearly that God lead His people through a scathing and glorious history. Victorious battles, painful captivities, agonizingly immoral leaders and kings, and various prophets. We look to our past to better ourselves for the future, we remember, we try to not repeat the mistakes of the past, we use our experience to gain knowledge and understanding, and we grow through the pains and victories we have undergone.
Annually North America remembers the veterans who have fought or are fighting in many various wars. We have memorials for lives lost, and for history changing events. We celebrate the past, we honor the past, we rejoice in the past, and we weep over the past. It would be offensive for us to ignore what has been spent for our freedom. The past is an essential part of our journey; we cannot say that we bypass it! Church has travelled through history, and has been shaped by its trials, memories, and experiences; to deny this is to deny that God has worked His will through time.
We are creatures of time! How many of us look at a clock at least once per day? How many where a watch? For the most part, we schedule our lives and live by the calendar. You are currently taking time to read with the hope that your time will be well spent. We spend time, we waste time, we know when it’s bed time or lunch time, or even if we are out of time because time flies. Unless we are children waiting for Christmas morning, in which case, time crawls. We know when it’s wake up time, and kids know best when it is home time. If it’s time to go, or time to run, or time to talk, or if we talk all the time, that there is a time for everything under the sun. We hope upon hope that time heals all wounds, that time will tell, and that we find out in the nick of it! Time! Past, present, and future are all that we had, have or will have. Many of us try to suppress the past, pretending that it didn’t happen, or that it is too late for it to make any difference. Many worry about the future, about what kind of things will happen that will shape history. I recently watched a documentary called “2012: Science or Superstition .” The documentary’s soul intention was to produce a question inside of the viewers; “is it possible that something bad will happen in the near future?” The documentary is about the Mayan calendar, how it is saying that December 21, 2012 is the end of the calendar, and thus could well be the end of the world (or at least the end of this cycle of time). I can almost picture the tattered, and dirty transient, wearing his finger gloves, and his fur lined hat standing on the street corner holding his “THE END IS NEAR” sandwich board sign, crying out, “Get ready, the end times are upon us!” How much of our “time” is dedicated to the worry about the future? However, the rare few of us will spend time focused on the present and disregard any fear of the future, or any hope of the better past. What it comes down to is this, past, present and future are so deeply intertwined with one another that we cannot dismiss one for the other. I preached a sermon called “NOW!” once. The primary emphasis of the message was; now is the only time that is real, the rest is gone or not hear yet, so we need only to focus on the now not the then. I believe that I was both right and wrong in my message, the Bible tells us, “do not worry about tomorrow, for today has enough worries of its own!” This passage makes my message at least a little sound, however, I was wrong in that we are also told to “count the cost” which basically means plan well. The other way in which I was mistaken is that, we must also consider the text in our daily lives. The Bible is a historically based canon, that takes us on a journey through the analogous past, “God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. ” If we reject our heritage, bypass it, we do a grand injustice to its capabilities. History is essential for our present and our future, without it, there is neither! A wise person once told me that “History is His-Story!”
I think it important to begin with the fact that Christianity began as a sect of the Jews. In Acts 2 we read of the start of the church, how they met daily together in the temple courts. Among them, there was an air of contentment, love and harmony. All the believers “were together and had everything in common,” they sold their possessions and gave to anyone as they had need. It was a beautiful time for the church, however short-lived it may have been. As a predominantly Jewish sect, we can conclude that much of their Jewish tradition followed them. Peter and James were going to the temple for the hour of prayer when they healed the man at the “Beautiful Gate.” And when Paul returned to Jerusalem after His missionary Journey, he took a Jewish vow. He called himself a Jew regularly, and called his fellow Jewish believers brothers. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that Judiasm did not cease to exist the moment the church was born, but that the new baby Christian followers were also Jews. It is likely that they attended temple events, offered sacrifices and even took vows. If this is indeed the case, then it is not a far stretch to assume that much of the Jewish temple/synagogue patternism was applied to the early church. Rabbi Scheinerman gives the following history on his website:
During those 70 years in Babylonia, Jews settled and built homes, started businesses and raised families. They faced an unprecedented religious crisis: Exiled from their homeland and unable to offer sacrifices to God, since offering could only be made in the central sanctuary in Jerusalem, the Jews in Babylonia wrestled with whether their covenant with God was still operative. The prophet Ezekiel, who had preached before the Destruction and who had gone into Exile with them, assured them the covenant was eternal, and that God would some day return them to their Land. He shared with them a vision of valley of dry bones which God would bring back to life, covered with muscles, sinews, and flesh, a divine sign that the nation Israel would one day be resurrected from exile to live again as a nation in her own Land. In the meantime, to preserve their traditions, it seems that the Jews in Babylonia gathered together on market days (Mondays and Thursdays) and participated in some combination of worship and study. Some scholars believe that these gatherings gave rise to worship services, and that prayers were composed for use at this time which were eventually brought back to the Land of Israel
Encyclopedia Britannica describes it as follows:
At the heart of synagogal worship is the public reading of Scriptures. This takes place at the morning service on Sabbaths, holy days, and festivals, on Monday and Thursday mornings, and on Sabbath afternoons. The readings from the Pentateuch are currently arranged in an annual cycle so that, beginning with Genesis 1:1 on the Sabbath following the autumnal festivals, the entire five books are read through the rest of the year. The texts for festivals, holy days, and fasts reflect the particular significance of those occasions. In addition, a second portion from the prophetic writings (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, as well as the three major and 12 minor Prophets, but not Daniel) is read on many of these occasions. The readings take place within the structure of public worship and are incorporated into ceremonies in which the Sefer Torah (“Book of the Torah”), the pentateuchal scroll, is removed from the ark (cabinet) at the front of the synagogue and carried in procession to the reading desk; from it, the pertinent text is chanted by the reader. The text for the service is divided into subsections varying from seven on the Sabbath to three at the weekday morning service, and individuals are called forward to recite the blessings eulogizing God as Giver of Torah before and after each of these. The order of worship is composed of the preparatory blessings and prayers, to which are added passages recalling the Temple sacrificial cult (thus relating the present form of worship to the past); the recitation of a number of Psalms and biblical prayers; the Shema and its accompanying benedictions, introduced by a call to worship that marks the beginning of formal public worship; the prayer (tefilla) in the strict sense of petition; confession and supplication (taḥanun) on weekdays; the reading of Scripture; and concluding acts of worship. This general structure of the morning service varies somewhat, with additions and subtractions for the afternoon and evening services and for Sabbath, holy days, and festivals.
In former times the duties of the Jewish ḥazzan ranged over a broad area: he had overall care of the synagogue, announced the beginning and the end of the sabbath, removed the Torah scrolls from the ark of the Law and replaced them after the service, cared for the sick and the needy, and saw to the religious education of children. His knowledge of music and Hebrew gradually transformed his role of assistant to the reader into that of director of the chanting during liturgical services.
Much of what we see in Synagogue liturgy was carried through in the practice of the first century church. It is no surprise then, that throughout history much of the church division and conflict is attributed to liturgical dichotomy. In many respects, what we call an assembly today still bares many of the roots of the aged practices of the Jews. Their “style of worship” was very tangible, and obligatory; offering sacrifices to God with the intention of receiving forgiveness for their immoral or unclean actions. They would pray, three times daily, in the synagogue or in their homes or even in their temple. They offered up tithes, giving to God from the first-fruits of their crop or livestock. They were familiar with congregational reading, praying, chanting, and feasting. It is no surprise that this would become a part of our Christian heritage! From as early as 60 AD, we have discovered liturgies, one in particular attributed to James the Just . It is generally thought that his lengthy book of prayer, song, and reading (not all from the canon we now have) was for congregational use. It is in much the same style as what was synagogue worship, and was likely done in synagogues if, indeed, it was a document used for congregations. But it is not solely the patternism of the early church that we have gleaned our modern/postmodern practices from, but only springboard from which the church bounded.
Throughout history, there have been significant events that have been strong indicators to us that not all was splendid like it was during that first few weeks of the baby church. From the many persecutions to the varying divisions and disputes, we can see that the church faced many a tumultuous time over the last two millennia. Here is a brief rundown of the history:
144 AD Marcion has a conflict with the existing church and begins something called Docetism. He rejects the Old Testament as an authorized text, is excommunicated and bolsters the already present Gnostic movement.
156 AD A New Charismatic movement springs up in response to the current church structure called the Montanist movement. This movement is characterized by visions and claims that the Holy Spirit has empowered them. This is the root of the later Anabaptist movement
By 251 AD a Priest named Anthony sells all of his possessions, gives his money to the poor and leaves the general population of the church to begin the monastic (monk) movement. Keeping some ties with the church, many people follow Anthony into the new, exciting monastic life. Others, inspired by him develop a different branch of monasticism that is more closely tied to the general population of the church.
255 AD A huge schism called the Novation Schism occurs. During the previous persecution under Marcus Auralius in 161 AD many Christians lapsed in their faith, but when the persecution ended they returned to the church. Many in the church did not want the “Lapsi” to be allowed pardon and would not accept them as Christians, so another version of the same Christianity began.
256 AD Arius starts teaching that Jesus was not divine, but that He was God’s greatest creation. Debates ensued about whether or not he came in the flesh or the spirit, and the Arian movement was birthed. Now there is no less than five new movements surrounding the church, and much fighting.
From 280 AD to 312 AD the church is deeply persecuted by Diocletian and his Tetrarchy, but a new force enters into the seat of Emperor when Constantine takes over. Constantine was not a Christian, but was tolerant to them. He claims that he had a vision from heaven that he should build an army and mark them with the cr (chi rho- the first two letters in Christ: crivstoV). This new army, bearing the Christian mark then marched into Rome and overthrew the Tetrarchy, making Constantine the only emperor. He then stopped the persecution of Christians, legalized Christianity, and called a council in Nicaea to get to the bottom of all of the varying beliefs. Of the 1800 bishops from the known world who were invited, only 300 showed up. It was here that they formalized the church; they decided whether or not Arius and his beliefs were acceptable, addressed the Novation schism, and officially were declared the authorities of Christianity. Constantine then implemented bi-annual synods of the bishops, making them get together in each of their regions to discuss the arising issues and to develop canons (rules) to govern the church.
382 AD the Bible is officially canonized. 66 books are agreed upon and become what we now have as our text.
In 389 AD a man named Nestorius begins a new movement called Nestorianism. He teaches that Jesus was two: Human as a baby and God as a man. His teaching gathers a following, and synods are called to deal accordingly with the new teaching.
In 390 AD Emperor Theodosius makes Christianity the official religion of the Roman world.
Later on in 622 AD Mohammad births Islam, and Seven Crusades and a 100 year war take place right through until 1337 AD.
Meanwhile in 1024 AD there is another significant division called the East/West Schism takes place. A battle over the papacy ensues and for a short time, there are two popes disputing over whether the Vatican should be in Rome or in Avignon. There are still factions of this division today Eastern Orthodoxy and Western Roman Catholicism
Then in 1174 Peter Waldo began to change his thinking about the liturgical style and legal thinking of the Catholic (Universal) church. He disagreed with some of the practices of the church, the purchase of indulgences in around 1160 he began living a radical Christian life and gave his real estate to his wife, and the remainder of his belongings he distributed as alms to the poor. Waldo also began to preach and teach on the streets, based on his ideas of simplicity and poverty, notably that "No man can serve two masters, God and mammon." By 1170 he had gathered a number of followers and they started to be called the Poor of Lyon, the Poor of Lombardy, or the Poor of God. They were also referred to as the Waldensians (or Waldenses), after their leader. They were distinct from the Albigensians or Cathars. The Waldensian movement was characterized from the beginning by lay preaching, voluntary poverty and sticking to the "Word of God", the Bible. Peter Waldo commissioned a cleric from Lyons around 1180 to translate the Bible, or parts of it, into the vernacular, the Arpitan (Franco-Provençal) language. He was later excommunicated for some if his more radical teachings against the apparent affluence of the current church. Many of the Waldensians are still around today, they have merged with the Methodist and Presbyterian churches.
After the Crusades in 1410 AD Jan Huss followed the reform of Peter Waldo and John Wycliffe. He rejected much of the Catholic tradition and embraced Grace alone for salvation, no works, no indulgences, no penance. His belief in Grace alone resulted in his being excommunicated and ultimately burned at the stake. The Moravian church (Hussites) are still around today.
Then in 1492 AD, A fellow named Erasmus began to call the church to Moral Reform and he began the Humanist movement.
In 1505 another reformation group ensues in Scotland called the Scottish reform this new reformation found roots in Jan Huss, John Wycliffe, Peter Waldo and even as far back as the Montanist movement. This church is the seed that would later spring into the Presbyterian movement and ultimately the restoration movement.
Martin Luther enters the scene on 1517 when he nails his 95 theses to the door of the church. He disagrees with much of the Catholic church doctrine and practice, primarily with the sale of indulgences, and he along with a fellow named Zwingli begin the full swing of the reformation. Significant things happen from this point of history on.
At the same time as Luther c. 1535 AD another movement springing from the Montanist, perhaps even the original church begins. The Anabaptist movement ensues and springboards off of Luther’s reformation. Battle begins between the three with Luther in the centre. The Catholics completely reject the Anabaptists, and Luther, Luther rejects the Anabaptist and Catholicism, and the Anabaptist reject Catholicism. Not a nice situation, to say the least.
1536 AD Menno Simmons joins the Anabaptist movements and ultimately makes way for the Mennonite church.
Then the Catholic church responds with a reformation of their own called the Jesuit order in 1540AD.
c. 1559 AD The Puritans rise up possibly from the Anabaptists proclaiming the need for us to find purity of doctrine and life. They then migrate to North America in 1630 AD.
Then in 1582 AD the Presbyterian movement sprouts from the Scottish reform. And then by 1706 AD, the first Presbytery is founded.
A mere 20 years later the Hussites/Moravian church has a revival, setting the tone for the first Great awakening which happened in 1734 AD to 1737 AD. It was during this Awakening that rapid and dramatic religious revival happened. “the Awakening was strikingly ecumenical. Additionally, pastoral styles began to change. In the late colonial period, most pastors read their sermons, which were theologically dense and advanced a particular theological argument or interpretation. Leaders of the Awakening such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield had little interest in merely engaging parishioners minds; they wanted far more to elicit an emotional response from their audience, one which might yield the workings and evidence of saving grace. Some have argued that these new ministers eschewed logical or rational sermons, but this was patently not the case the vast majority of the time. Edwards, for instance, continued to preach an ardent and intellectual vision of Calvinism, with both sermons was his "transparent emotion, heartfelt sincerity,...[and] inexorable logic," which along with a sustained theme, could create quite the "cumulative impact."
Resulting from the new Ecumenical Mindset a new Parachurch organization developed. In 1739 AD the Methodist Church began with the intention of unifying all of the various reformation protestant groups. They were not considered a church until 1789 AD when John Wesley separated them from the church of England (Anglican)
In 1773 AD to 1792 AD the Baptist church formalized springing up from the age old Anabaptist even Montanist movements.
Prevailing beliefs in the world were Catholic and Protestant reformers, and there were still many varying beliefs. In 1800 the First Kentucky Camp meeting gave birth to a brand new restoration movement. Wanting to break free of much of the conflict and denominational dissolution, the camp meeting called people from every avenue of reform to meeting.
Then in 1812 AD the second Great Awakening happened. Preachers who were rejected by the Presbyterian church banded together to host a series of meetings, among these preachers was none other than Barton W. Stone. They disagreed with the hiring practices of the Presbytery and were rejected because of their disagreements. As a result they came together in Cane Ridge Kentucky and began the restoration movement. It was initial called the Springfield Presbytery, but after discussing things they decided to put to death the Springfield presbytery and write up her last will and testament. This document is foundational for the beginnings of the Christian/Church of Christ/Disciples of Christ movement. The document contained such items as; “we will that this body die, be dissolved, and sink into union with the Body of Christ…” and “we will that our power of making laws for government of the church and executing them by delegated authority, forever cease.” And “We will that…ministers henceforth study the Holy Scriptures with fervent prayer, and obtain license from God to preach the simple Gospel, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, without philosophy, vain deceit, traditions of men, or the rudiments of the world.” This document contains twelve items of testament that have become unspoken principles and tenets for the restoration movement. Its composers were Robert Marshall, John Dunlavy, and Richard M’Nemar. It was witnessed by Barton W. Stone, John Thompson, and David Purviance.
I will dispense with the history lesson as it is not the intent of this chapter. Nor is it conclusive by any means, as I did not speak of the birth of the Anglican Church under Henry VIII or of any of the sub-divisions of the Reformation movement. I also did not mention much of the prevailing cultural history that had influence over much of what the church had become. This is a glimpse of the road that we have traveled to get to where we are! Recognizing that we have roots in much that has been is a very important step for us to move forward. In our world today there are reported to be over 44,000 different denominations that have their roots in the reformation, all with varying beliefs over liturgical and moral issues. Just like doing a family tree, if you trace back far enough we are all interconnected in some way, shape, or form. Our lineage goes back to the cross, but it has been a bumpy road from there. From Wars, excommunication, burning people at the stake, schisms and arguments, synods, rules and regulations, to hierarchies, and heretics, we have a tremendous history that has shaped us into who we are today. Unfortunately not everyone likes where they have come from.
In my own past, I have been through things that I wish to forget, even neglect. Perhaps none so prevalent as the time that I was caught shop lifting a Def Leopard Cassette tape from the Bay. I must have been ten years old when my cohort and I decided that we wanted the thrill of danger and debatably good tunes. We went into the Bay store and proceeded to stuff our pockets with cassette tapes still in their security packaging. Success! We made it out of the store and no one was chasing us, that is until I right outside the door of the bay pulled out the spoils of my conquest. A good patron in the store saw my lack of candor and intelligence, and reported it to the security guard who in turn chased me down and caught me. My adrenaline was still going and guilt overtook me, I began weeping loudly as my cohort ran off into the sunset scot-free! I was busted, and very, very broken. What would my mom say, would I go to jail? What will everyone think? Becoming a hardened criminal at the age of ten was not on my short list of life accomplishments, but it was too late for that. The police arrived, dragged me off to the police station and called my mom who was worried sick that I hadn’t returned home for supper. All of my security was gone, I was pale and had dried tears on my cheeks, and when my mom walked in I so badly wanted to just curl up on her lap and take comfort in her security. I knew, however, that she had the whole trip to the police station to build up her anger, so chances were slim. I wished I never stuffed my pocket, I wished that I didn’t even like Def Leopard, I wished it was all over and that it would never rear its hideous head again. Mom arrived and my sentence was doled out, six short hours of community service and drawing a poster about shoplifting, and a mom who was utterly disappointed in her little boy. If I could go back and erase the pain of that moment I would, but as it is, the process worked, I never did it again. I gleaned a modicum of wisdom from my past.
So what do we glean from our colored past as a church? Do we learn that history is full of earth shaking events? Do we learn that the simple truth that Jesus Christ is Lord always prevails? Do we learn that we ought not to repeat the mistakes of our heritage? What do we learn? I believe that this is exactly the history we were meant to have to take us to where he meant to take us, continuously back to the foundation. The reformation was an attempt at getting back to the simple foundation, the monastic period was an attempt at getting back to the core of Jesus Christ, the Montanist wanted to return to the simple truth, Nestorius, Wycliffe, Huss, Erasmus, Knox, Luther, Menno Simmons, Wesley, Barton Stone, Alexander Campbell, all of these wanted nothing more than to return, reform, restore that which matters the most, Christ!
Today, we are faced with a challenge that is not new. People who are thinking differently than others want to change something that others do not want to change. Many thought that the early reformers were heretics and sinners worthy of excommunication or even death. In like manner, today when someone thinks differently than the way people in the past have thought, they are believed to be heretics. We may not use that word, but that is how we often feel. “How dare they challenge the things that we have always known?” The sentiment of separation is present, and hostility prevails when changes ensue, so much so that we are willing to cut one another out of the will, so-to-speak! This is absurd, and far from the intention of Christ and His prayer in the garden. God calls us to unity in spite of our differences, and that can only happen by the truth that only through Jesus Christ do we have life.
In the analogy of a boat out in the harbour, we have people who have vision for the future, and want to move. They could be considered as sails being pushed by the wind that is God. We have people who do not want to move, who want to stay in the harbour that is familiar and safe. They could well be considered as anchors keeping the boat from moving. When we get to the point of hostility within our congregations, the sails are saying cut the anchors and the anchors are saying cut the sails. Throughout history, many an anchor has been cut away, and many a sail has been loosed into the wind. But I believe Jesus final prayer to God on our behalf in the Garden of Eden was such that we should cut no one off. The message of Romans is clearly one of acceptance, particularly the fourteenth and fifteenth chapters. Paul urges the Roman church to “accept one another in love…which is pleasing to God.” I do not believe that Jesus ever intended for us to kill one another, or even fight one another. I do however believe that our struggle, our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Unlike what has happened in the church of our heritage, let us fight, with vigor, our real enemy and not one another. Let us remember that Jesus is our foundation, that He is the message of truth, and that we are being built into Him. Let us live by the mercy of God with sincere love for one another even if we are anchors or sails.
