Through the Ages

In Britain, its impulse came largely through the evangelical efforts of the Wesley’s and Whitefield, the rise of Methodism and creation of the evangelical party in the Church of England. Thus, the beginning of the  “Evangelical Revival,” as this awakening was called in England, are usually traced to a Moravian watch Night  service at Fetter Lane on Dec. 31. 1739. About three o’clock in the morning, the sixty young men who had  gathered to pray experienced what George white field later described as “A Pentecostal season” John and  Charles Wesley’s ministers in the Church of England, were also present at the meeting. Within months,  Whitefield and stirring the hearts of thousands of coal miners thought by many to be beyond the reach of the  gospel. John Wesley possessed the organizational skills necessary to harness the energy of revival into an  evangelistic movement which became the Methodist church. John Wesley stated open-air preaching, declaring the...

Pietism was the turning point for evangelism/ evangelical movement. 18th -20th centuries is known as the age of revivals. The Late Middle period was the age of Roman Catholic Scholasticism while 17th century was the age of Protestant scholasticism, i.e., giving much emphasis on intellectual, dogmas, etc. and not in personal experiences. The scholastic Lutheranism emphasis fixed dogmatic interpretation and rigid and demanding intellectual conformity doctrines. Pietism was a break with this scholastic tendency (Karl Barth, he was a pastor and his intellectual preaching cannot satisfy the spiritual needs of the people. So, he began to learn the Bible and that was the turning point of the whole world. The Pietist also reemphasizes the importance of the new birth, personal faith in the Lord, Christian experience and missionary concern.  First Phase of Pietism Philip Jacob Spener (1635-1705) : he was the founder of Lutheran Pietism in Germany. He reemphasizes new birth, personal faith, e...

What is revival? Charles Finney explains revival in the following points: Revival is the return of the church from her backsliding and the conversion of sinners. Revivals always include conviction of sins. Backsliders cannot come to the church without deep searching of heart. In the revivals backsliders will be brought to repentance, i.e., breaking down of the heart and confusion. In the revivals Christians will have their faith renewed. Revivals break the power of the world and sin over Christians. Revivals awaken and reform the Christians. According to Finney, there are four agents employed in the conversion: God, Preacher, Sinner, Gospel. The Roots of the Revivals  17th and 18th centuries were an age of reasoning, were also the age of renewal that spread throughout the churches in America and England.  Pietism was the first root of revival The Moravians were another root, who were famous in the Pietist group under the leadership of Zinzendorf. He emphasizes traditional, als...

Bible Only (Sola Scriptura):  The Reformers declared the Bible to be the only rule of faith and practice.   They believed that God had made a revelation in written form to men in the Bible. They taught that the Bible was inspired by God and authoritative, and that it took precedence over the declarations of popes, church tradition and church councils. They asserted that men, under the illumination of the Holy Spirit, are to study the  Bible to learn about God, Christ, salvation, and church government and practices. They encouraged Christians to read and study their Bibles in a scholarly way so as to form a biblical theology based on the authority of the  Scriptures alone. The Bible, hitherto written in Latin and read only by the clergy, was translated anew into the vernacular tongues of Europe and made a book of the people. Christ Only (Solo Christo):  Salvation is located not in the church, an organization, but in the person Jesus  Christ. Jesus Chris...

The Counter Reformation (also the Catholic Revival or Catholic Reformation) denotes the period of Catholic  revival beginning with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648  as a response to the Protestant Reformation. It is the name given to the reformed the medieval catholic  churches. It was traded as a counter to the Protestant and the reformation. The Counter Reformation was to  fight back the Protestants. The Roman Catholic Church was unhappy drifting away many Protestants Roman  Catholic Church. They want to avoid the evils of the church, reform the monasteries, and reform the  ecclesiastical from within. The Counter Reformation was both a religious and political movement. This  movement tried to end the abuses of the church. There are three aspects or three pillars to the Counter  Reformation. 1st Pillar Council of Trent:  Council of Trent met at a frequent interval in a total 25 Sessions ...

The English reformation was unique. It cannot be described as a Lutheran, Zwinglian or Calvinist. It stands alone and fantastic compromise. John Wycliffe and his followers (Lolland) prepared the way for reformation. Also, the writing of Luther circulated throughout the land. The common idea of the English reformation is that it began because Henry VIII wanted a new wife, and to gain this he was forced to break with Rome. But while it is true that the reformation might have been delayed for many years and would certainly have followed a different course. The four Phases of English Reformation corresponding four reigns: 1st Phase Henry 8th: Henry longed to have a son and in 1527 after living with Catherin for 18 years he wanted  to divorce his wife and marry another woman, Anne Bolin. But the Pope did not sanction it. Because of Pope’s  refusal of Henry’s appeal on the divorce of Catherin:  (1) Henry broke with Rome and made himself the head of the English church (Now calle...

Geneva was a flourishing city about 13,000 inhabitants on the lovely shores of Lake of Geneva. At the beginning of the 16th century, there were three rival parties in the city, one a bishop, who was also the civil ruler, another won a council of the citizens, and the duke Savoy who asserted his authority over both the bishop and the people. In 1512, the duke’s and the bishop’s parties united. Meanwhile, the people formed an alliance. In 1526, the  people, the help of protestant Bern, won the day and Geneva became an independent city. The Catholic  bishop was expelled.  Calvin and His Life: John Calvin was born as Jean Calvin on 10 July 1509 in the town of Noyon in the Picardy  region of France. Calvin was the son of a lawyer He was the first of four sons who survived infancy. His father,  Gérard Calvin, had a prosperous career as the cathedral notary and a registrar of the ecclesiastical court. He  died in his later years, after suffering two years with tes...

Switzerland was a small country. The people were strong and devoted, and love of freedom dominated their lives. Though Switzerland was nominally a part of the Holy Roman Empire, it was the freed  land in Europe in the time of reformation. There were thirteen cantons and the government of each canton was  in complete charge of local affairs. By this reason the individual canton was free to accept the form of religion  that it would follow. Reformation in Switzerland was mainly the work of Ulrich Zwingli. Ulrich Zwingli: “Ulrich Zwingli” was born in Windaus, Switzerland in 1484. His father was the chief magistrate of  the city and his mother was a sister of a priest. From 1500-1502 he studied at the University of Vienna, which  was the center of classical learning. In 1502 he returns to Basel and taught Latin in the school of St. Martin. In  1506 he acquired MA degree after taking master’s degree; he became a pastor at Glarusant. He was ordained  to the...

There were more than 350 independent political states in Germany. Nearly one sixth of Germany was occupied ecclesiastical states. The heads of these states were the archbishops, abbots and bishops. The  Germane churches were devoted to Rome. The church in Germany was hugely rich. The national sentiments  were also strong in Germany and it needed only a leader capable of organizing the people. Martin Luther was  that man who stood for a reformation. Martin Luther and Reformation: His Early life: He was born on November 10, 1483 at Eisleben. He spent his childhood in Mansfield, a mining  town. His father was a miner. He attended school there till the age of 14. His home was rocky, where discipline  was severe. At home, he was taught creed (faith, doctrine), the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer and  some simple hymns. Discipline was severe even at school, and religion was compulsory. Through the severe  discipline at school and home, he learned a feel...

John Wycliffe, John Hus could be called the forerunners or the morning stars of the Protestant Reformation, because their main interest was the reform of theology of the church, and moral reform took the second place.  John Wycliffe:  John Wycliffe was born between 1320 and 1330, and was famous as the first scholar and  leading man of Oxford. He was popular with the poor where he was a priest in Lutterworth. Thus, the national  spirit of the England prepared the way for the teaching and the work of Wycliffe. By the time he attacked the  papacy in 1375, England had already resisted the pope for three quarters of a century through its kings and  parliaments, even by the bishops of England. However, his first blow at the church was a denial of the pope’s right to collect tribute from England. Because of Schism he now denounced the papacy and entire clerical organization, maintaining that there should not be any distinctions of rank among the clergy. ...

The period between 1300 – 1700A.D (The late medieval and reformation period) involved a series of changes in the west. Though reformation was started with Martin, the reformed movement started long before. Causes of the Reformation: During the 1300s and 1400s, many Christians lost faith in some of the teachings of the Catholic Church and  its religious leadership. The Middle Age is referred to as the Age of Faith because it was a time when most  members of European society believed not only in the Christian concept of God, but in the notion that the only  way to salvation was through the Catholic Church. This fact put the Church in a position of great power, as  few Europeans would dare doubt the institution that could ensure their eternal life, or more ominously, banish  them to damnation. As the Medieval era drew to a close, however, new thinking emerged from the humanist  movement leading reformers from both within and outside the Church to question the ...