# Dates in Church History that are Important



## C. Matthew McMahon (Apr 6, 2004)

I thought this would be helpful:

[b:aafe706152]The Age of Jesus and the Apostles[/b:aafe706152]
30 Crucifixion of Jesus; Pentecost 
35 Stephen martyred; Paul converted 
46 Paul begins missionary journeys 
48 Council of Jerusalem 
57 Paul's Letter to the Romans 
64 Fire of Rome; Nero launches persecutions 
65 Peter and Paul executed 

[b:aafe706152]The Age of Early Christianity[/b:aafe706152]
70 Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus 
110 Ignatius of Antioch martyred 
150 Justin Martyr dedicates his First Apology 
155 Polycarp martyred
172 Montanist movement begins 
180 Irenaeus writes Against Heresies 
196 Tertullian begins writing 
215 Origen begins writing 
230 Earliest known public churches built 
248 Cyprian elected bishop of Carthage 
250 Decius orders empire-wide persecution 
270 Anthony takes up life of solitude 
303 "Great Persecution" begins under Diocletian 

[b:aafe706152]The Age of the Christian Empire[/b:aafe706152]
312 Conversion of Constantine 
312 Donatist Schism begins 
313 "Edict of Milan" 
323 Eusebius completes Ecclesiastical History 
325 First Council of Nicea 
341 Ulphilas, translator of Gothic Bible, becomes bishop 
338 Basil the Great founds monastic community 
367 Athanasius's letter defines New Testament canon 
381 Christianity made state religion of Roman Empire 
381 First Council of Constantinople 
386 Augustine converts to Christianity 
390 Ambrose defies emperor 
398 Chrysostom consecrated bishop of Constantinople 
405 Jerome completes the Vulgate 
410 Rome sacked by Visigoths 
431 Council of Ephesus 
432 Patrick begins mission to Ireland 
440 Leo the Great consecrated bishop of Rome 
445 Valentinian's Edict strengthens primacy of Rome 
451 Council of Chalcedon 
500 Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite writes 
524 Boethius completes Consolation of Philosophy 
529 Justin publishes his legal Code 
540 Benedict writes his monastic Rule 
563 Columba establishes mission community on Iona

[b:aafe706152]The Christian Middle Ages[/b:aafe706152]
590 Gregory the Great elected Pope 
597 Ethelbert of Kent converted 
622 Muhammad's hegira: birth of Islam 
663 Synod of Whitby 
698 Lindisfarne Gospels
716 Boniface begins mission to the Germans 
726 Controversy over icons begins in Eastern church 
731 Bede's Ecclesiastical History published 
732 Battle of Tours 
750 Donation of Constantine written about this time 
754 Pepin IIi's donation helps found papal states 
781 Alcuin becomes royal adviser to Charles 
787 2nd Council of Nicea settles icon controversy 
800 Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor 
843 Treaty of Verdun divides Carolingian Empire 
861 East-West conflict over Photius begins 
862 Cyril and Methodius begin mission to Slavs 
909 Monastery at Cluny founded 
988 Christianization of "Russia" 
1054 East-West Split 
1077 Emperor submits to Pope over investiture 
1093 Anselm becomes archbishop of Canterbury 
1095 First Crusade launched by Council of Clermont 
1115 Bernard founds monastery at Clairvaux 
1122 Concordat of Worms ends investiture controversy 
1141 Hildegard of Bingen begins writing 
1150 Universities of Paris and Oxford founded 
1173 Waldensian movement begins 
1208 Francis of Assisi renounces wealth 
1215 Magna Carta 
1215 Innocent III assembles Fourth Lateran Council 
1220 Dominican Order established 
1232 Gregory IX appoints first "inquisitors" 
1272 Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae
1302 Unam Sanctam proclaims papal supremacy 
1309 Papacy begins "Babylonian" exile in Avignon 
1321 Dante completes Divine Comedy
1370 Catherine of Siena begins her Letters
1373 Julian of Norwich receives her revelations 
1378 Great Papal Schism begins 
1380 Wyclif supervises English Bible translation 
1414 Council of Constance begins 
1413 Hus burned at stake 
1418 Thomas &agrave; Kempis writes &amp;#65279;The Imitation of Christ
1431 Joan of Arc burned at stake 
1453 Constantinople falls; end of Eastern Roman Empire 
1456 Gutenberg produces first printed Bible 
1479 Establishment of Spanish Inquisition 
1488 First complete Hebrew Old Testament 
1497 Savonarola excommunicated 
1506 Work begins on new St. Peter's in Rome 
1512 Michelangelo completes Sistine Chapel frescoes 
1516 Erasmus publishes Greek New Testament 

[b:aafe706152]The Age of the Reformation[/b:aafe706152]
1517 Luther posts his &amp;#65279;Ninety-Five Theses
1518 Ulrich Zwingli comes to Zurich 
1521 Diet of Worms 
1524 The Peasants' Revolt erupts 
1525 Tyndale's New Testament published 
1525 Anabaptist movement begins 
1527 Schleitheim Confession of Faith 
1529 Colloquy of Marburg 
1530 Augsburg Confession 
1534 Act of Supremacy; Henry VIII heads Eng. church 
1536 Calvin publishes first edition of &amp;#65279;Institutes
1536 Menno Simons baptized as Anabaptist 
1540 Loyola gains approval for Society of Jesus 
1545 Council of Trent begins 
1549 Book of Common Prayer released 
1549 Xavier begins mission to Japan 
1555 Peace of Augsburg 
1555 Latimer and Ridley burned at stake 
1559 John Knox makes final return to Scotland 
1563 First text of Thirty-Nine Articles issued 
1563 Foxe's Book of Martyrs published 
1565 Teresa of Avila writes The Way of Perfection
1572 St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre 
1577 Formula of Concord 
1582 Ricci and Ruggieri begin mission in China 
1589 Moscow becomes independent patriarchate 
1598 Edict of Nantes (revoked 1685) 
1609 Smyth baptizes self and first Baptists 
1611 King James Version of Bible published 
1618 Synod of Dort begins 
1618 Thirty Years' War begins 
1620 Mayflower Compact drafted 
1633 Galileo forced to recant his theories 
1636 Harvard College founded 
1636 Roger Williams founds Providence, R.I. 
1647 George Fox begins to preach 
1646 &amp;#65279;Westminster Confession drafted 
1648 Peace of Westphalia ends Thirty Years' War 

[b:aafe706152]The Age of Reason and Revival[/b:aafe706152]
1649 Cambridge Platform 
1653 Cromwell named Lord Protector 
1654 Pascal has definitive conversion experience 
1667 Milton's &amp;#65279;Paradise Lost
1668 Rembrandt paints Return of the Prodigal Son
1675 Spencer's Pia Desideria advances Pietism 
1678 Bunyan writes &amp;#65279;The Pilgrim's Progress
1682 Penn founds Pennsylvania 
1687 Newton publishes Principia Mathematica
1689 Toleration Act in England 
1707 Bach publishes first work 
1707 Watts publishes Hymns and Spiritual Songs
1729 Jonathan Edwards becomes pastor at Northampton 
1732 First Moravian missionaries 
1735 George Whitefield converted 
1738 John and Charles Wesley's evangelical conversions 
1740 Great Awakening peaks 
1742 First production of Handel's Messiah
1759 Voltaire's Candide
1771 Francis Asbury sent to America 
1773 Jesuits suppressed (until 1814) 
1779 Newton and Cowper publish Olney Hymns 
1780 Robert Raikes begins his Sunday school 
1781 Kant publishes Critique of Pure Reason 

[b:aafe706152]The Age of Progress[/b:aafe706152]
1789 French Revolution begins 
1789 Bill of Rights 
1793 William Carey sails for India 
1793 Festival of Reason (de-Christianization of France) 
1799 Schleiermacher publishes Lectures on Religion
1801 Concordat between Napoleon and Pius VII 
1804 British and Foreign Bible Society formed 
1806 Samuel Mills leads Haystack Prayer Meeting 
1807 Wilberforce leads abolition of slave trade 
1810 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions 
1811 Campbells begin Restoration Movement 
1812 Adoniram Judson begins mission trip 
1816 Richard Allen elected bishop of new AME church 
1817 Elizabeth Fry organizes relief in Newgate Prison 
1819 Channing issues Unitarian Christianity
1827 J. N. Darby founds the Plymouth Brethren 
1833 John Keble's sermon launches Oxford Movement 
1834 Mueller opens Scriptural Knowledge Institute 
1835 Finney's Lectures on Revivals
1840 Livingstone sails for Africa 
1844 First Adventist churches formed 
1844 Kierkegaard writes Philosophical Fragments 
1845 John Henry Newman becomes Roman Catholic 
1845 Phoebe Palmer writes The Way of Holiness
1848 Marx publishes Communist Manifesto
1851 Harriet Beecher Stowe releases Uncle Tom's Cabin 
1854 Immaculate Conception made dogma 
1854 Spurgeon becomes pastor of New Park St. Church 
1855 D. L. Moody converted 
1857 Prayer Meeting Revival begins in New York 
1859 Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species
1859 Japan reopens to foreign missionaries 
1860 U.S. Civil War begins 
1864 Syllabus of Errors issued by Pope Pius IX 
1865 J. Hudson Taylor founds China Inland Mission 
1870 First Vatican Council declares papal infallibility 
1878 William and Catherine Booth found Salvation Army 
1879 Frances Willard becomes president of WCTU 
1880 Abraham Kuyper starts Free University 
1885 Berlin Congress spurs African independent churches 
1885 Wellhausen's documentary hypothesis 
1886 Student Volunteer Movement begins 
1895 Freud publishes first work on psychoanalysis 
1896 Billy Sunday begins leading revivals 
1901 Speaking in tongues at Parham's Bible School 
1906 Azusa Street revival 
1906 Schweitzer's Quest of the Historical Jesus
1908 Federal Council of Churches forms 
1910 International Missionary Conference begins 
1910 The Fundamentals begin to be published 
1912 Social Creed of the Churches adopted 

[b:aafe706152]The Age of Ideologies[/b:aafe706152]
1914 World War I begins 
1919 Karl Barth writes Commentary on Romans 
1924 First Christian radio broadcasts 
1931 C. S. Lewis comes to faith in Christ 
1934 Barmen Declaration 
1934 Wycliffe Bible Translators founded 
1938 Kristallnacht accelerates Holocaust 
1939 World War II begins 
1940 First Christian TV broadcasts 
1941 Bultmann calls for demythologization 
1941 Niebuhr's Nature and Destiny of Man
1942 National Association of Evangelicals forms 
1945 Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima 
1947 Dead Sea Scrolls discovered 
1948 World Council of Churches organized 
1949 Los Angeles Crusade catapults Billy Graham 
1950 Missionaries forced to leave China 
1950 Assumption of Mary made dogma 
1950 Mother Teresa founds Missionaries of Charity 
1951 Bonhoeffer's Letters and Papers from Prison
1960 Bennett resigns; charismatic renewal advances 
1962 Vatican II opens 
1963 King leads March on Washington 
1966 Chinese Cultural Revolution 
1968 Medellin Conference advances liberation theology 
1974 Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization 
1979 John Paul Ii's first visit to Poland 
1985 Gorbachev General Secretary of Soviet Communist Party 

[b:aafe706152]The Age of Neo-Puritanism[/b:aafe706152]
1998 A Puritan's Mind is started
2002 Puritanboard takes it first post
2004 Semperreformanda website is created

Reactions: Informative 1


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## SolaScriptura (Apr 6, 2004)

Just a few that I think you missed:

1. 1st London Baptist Confession drafted
2. 2nd London Baptist Confession drafted
3. Scofield Reference Bible published

Also, if you're going to include such secular events as the civil war, the bombing of Hiroshima and Gorbechav, etc...
I think the following secular events are worthy of inclusion:
1. Columbus discovers the new world.
2. The declaration of Independence
3. The Ratification of the US Constitution
4. Man walks on the moon.


[Edited on 4-6-2004 by SolaScriptura]


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## alwaysreforming (Apr 6, 2004)

You missed the dates of each book of the &quot;Left Behind&quot; series being released!!!

Actually,
Thanks for the post! I copied it into a Word doc. to keep forever.


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## SolaScriptura (Apr 6, 2004)

[quote:1d0949fd66][i:1d0949fd66]Originally posted by joshua[/i:1d0949fd66]
[quote:1d0949fd66][i:1d0949fd66]Originally posted by SolaScriptura[/i:1d0949fd66]
3. Scofield Reference Bible published [/quote:1d0949fd66]

I think we're all trying to forget this one. [/quote:1d0949fd66]

There are a lot of things in that list that we would [i:1d0949fd66]like[/i:1d0949fd66] to forget about... but the fact remains that the Scofield Reference Bible has had MUCH influence in the 20th century.


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## C. Matthew McMahon (Apr 6, 2004)

Good idea - what other things would you list here?

Give me a time period (a date) and a short caption like the above and I will add it to the list. After a while I will make an &quot;official&quot; list for A Puritan's Mind and post it.


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## Dan.... (Apr 6, 2004)

Hey, you forgot a couple of important dates:

May 8, 1998 - Jack Hyles preaches &quot;the Second Pentecost&quot; in which more than 15,000 were saved and 5000 baptized!!!

January 10, 1994, the beginning of the &quot;Laughing Revival&quot;, the Toronto Blessing which began at Vineyard Church, Toronto!!!


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## luvroftheWord (Apr 6, 2004)

Since we are Reformed here, I think there are some dates that should be included as part of our heritage.

I would include the founding of the College of New Jersey (a.k.a. Princeton) and maybe something about the Old Princeton tradition.

Also, I believe the fundamentalist movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries is important. Machen wrote [u:f41c67125b]Christianity and Liberalism[/u:f41c67125b] in 1923 to combat the liberal theology of the PCUSA. In 1924, the PCUSA formulated the Auburn Affirmation, which was a rebuke of those who were pushing for a return to the fundamental doctrines of Christianity (i.e., inerrancy, salvation in Christ alone, etc.), and instead favored a more "liberated" approach to doing theology, with freedom to disagree on theological issues in the church.

Also, in 1929, Machen and some others broke away from Princeton, which had become liberal in their theology, and formed Westminster Seminary. This action was not taken as an attempt to split the church, but simply to offer a conservative alternative to Princeton for Christian education.

In 1933, Machen and some others formed the Independent Board of Foreign Missions. This mission board was Presbyterian theologically, but remained independent from the PCUSA. Of course, this was for the purpose of preserving the fundamentals of the Christian faith in the spread of missions. But the PCUSA opposed this Board and in 1936 trials were held to condemn any person who was affiliated with the Independent Mission Board, including Machen. The PCUSA found Machen and the others guilty and they were defrocked, losing all of their credentials as ministers in the PCUSA. As a result, Machen and the others who had been kicked out of the PCUSA (34 ministers, 17 ruling elders) came together and formed the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Machen died of pneumonia less than a year later in 1934.


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## sundoulos (Apr 7, 2004)

And now, with this handy-dandy list, I can throw away my eight volumes of Schaff.

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Len (Apr 7, 2004)

All I wanna know is - will there be a test?


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## C. Matthew McMahon (Apr 7, 2004)

There is only a test for theological divinity students attending seminary. 

More, more, I ahve a few more in mind to put, but give me more input - whatelse needs to be added?


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## sundoulos (Apr 8, 2004)

1830 -- birth of Mormonism, dispensationalism, and the Irvingite movement.

Reactions: Like 1


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## raderag (Apr 8, 2004)

Pretty good list.

Nothing about the PCA, OPC or even the Willow Creek Churuch. :biggrin:


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## raderag (Apr 8, 2004)

1450 Gutenbergin invents Printing Press.


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## wsw201 (Apr 8, 2004)

1747 - The Church of Scotland approve the Westminster Standards.
1729 - American Presbyterians adopt the Westminster Standards.
1788 - American version of the WCF is adopted.
1973 - The Presbyterian Church in America was formed.
1983/84 - The UPCUSA (Northern Presbyterians) and UPCUS (Southern Presbyterians) combine to form the PCUSA.


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## Dan.... (Apr 8, 2004)

1535 - The first complete English Bible printed, the Coverdale Bible, by Myles Coverdale (with Tyndale's New Testament).


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## JasonGoodwin (Aug 25, 2006)

> _Originally posted by joshua_
> 2003-Purpose Driven Phenomena Takes America by Storm


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## JasonGoodwin (Aug 25, 2006)

Matt, under your "Age of Progress" category, you could include the following:

1889 - Charles and Myrtle Fillmore begin Unity School of Christianity (I only mention this because you included the Campbells beginning the "Restoration Movement". USC is a metaphysical cult and has absolutely nothing in common with true Biblical Christianity.)

2006 - Billy Graham preaches his last sermon -- FINALLY!

[Edited on 8-26-2006 by JasonGoodwin]


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