Church History: Eras, AD 30–2000

This course will use the following scheme for eras.

It is a synthetic scheme summarizing the good points in various books and is also simple.

Early Church (AD 30–600) Era 1: Early Church (1): Persecutions (AD 30–300) Era 2: Early Church (2): Stability (AD 300–600)

Medieval Church (AD 600–1500) Era 3: Medieval Church (1): Expansion & Conflicts (AD 600–1000) Era 4: Medieval Church (2): Growth & Decline of the Papacy (AD 1000–1500)

Modern Church (AD 1500–2000) Era 5: Modern Church (1): Reformation & Struggles (AD 1500–1700) Era 6: Modern Church (2): Revival & Missions (AD 1700–1900) Era 7: Modern Church (3): Ecumenism & Adaptations (AD 1900–2000)

Each of the 8 reference books has a different scheme.

[Elements borrowed are in bold type.]

Cairns		Dowley
30–590	Ancient church	1–325	Beginnings
	[Gregory I]	325–600	Acceptance and conquest
590–1517	Medieval church	600–1500	A Christian society
	[Martin Luther]	1500–1650	Reform
1517–2000	Modern church	1650–1789	Reason, revival & revolution
		1789–1914	Cities and empires
		1914–present	Towards 2000

Eubanks		Gonzalez
30–100	Apostolic Age	30–313	Early church
100–325	Ante Nicene Age	313–410	Imperial church
325–600	Nicene Age	410–1500	Medieval Christianity
600–1500	The middle or Dark Ages	1500–1600	Reformation
1500–1600	The reformation age	1600–1800	Orthodoxy, rationalism & pietism
1600–2000	The modern Age	1800–2000	Modern church

Hannah		Larkin (the 7 churches of Revelation)
33–500	Early Church	70–170	Ephesus
500–1500	Medieval Church	170–312	Smyrna
1500–1650	Early Modern Church	312–606	Pergamum
1650–1900	Late Modern Church	606–1520	Thyatira
1900–present	Postmodern Church	1520–1750	Sardis
		1750–1900	Philadelphia
		1900–	Laodicea

Latourette		Schaff
1–500	Christianity takes shape	1–100	Apostolic Christianity
500–950	Great Recession	100–311	Ante–Nicene Christianity
950–1350	Resurgence & advance	311–590	Nicene & Post Nicene Period
1350–1500	Confusion & corruption	590–1049	Among Barbarians
1500–1750	Reform and expansion	1049–1294	Papal theocracy
1750–1815	Repudiation & revival	1294–1517	Decline of the papacy
1815–1914	Repudiation & expansion	1517–1648	Reformation
1914–1952	Vigour amidst storm	1648–1790	Confessionalism & Reaction
1952–1975	Diversity, growth and vitality	1790–1900	Revival & Missions

References

Cairns, Earle E. (1981): Christianity through the centuries: a history of the Christian church.

Dowley, Tim, ed. (1977): Eerdmans’ handbook to the history of Christianity.

Eubanks, Gary (2000?): Church History: A Biblical View. [website]

Gonzalez, Justo L. (1985): The story of Christianity, 2 volumes.

Hannah, John D. (2000): The Kregel pictorial guide to Church history.

Larkin, Clarence (1919): The Book of Revelation. [website]

Latourette, Kenneth Scott (1953,1975): A history of Christianity, 2 volumes.

Schaff, Philip (1892): History of the Christian Church, 8 volumes.