{"title":"Christianity Timeline and Family Tree","description":"A timeline of Christian history from the apostles to the present day, with a family tree of how the churches and denominations branched, linked to works and Great Lives in the library.","note":"Short, neutral notes for students. Dates marked c. are approximate; several dates are traditional. Groups are listed for history, not ranked.","url":"/christianity-timeline/","counts":{"events":124,"branches":42},"eras":[{"id":"early-church","label":"The Early Church","range":"c. 30–313","intro":"From the first followers of Jesus in Jerusalem to the end of the great Roman persecutions."},{"id":"councils","label":"Councils and Creeds","range":"313–600","intro":"Christianity becomes legal in the Roman Empire, and bishops meet in councils to settle what the church believes about Christ and the Trinity."},{"id":"east-west","label":"East and West","range":"600–1054","intro":"Missions reach northern Europe and the Slavic lands while the Greek-speaking East and the Latin-speaking West slowly drift apart."},{"id":"medieval","label":"The Medieval Church","range":"1054–1500","intro":"Monasteries, universities, crusades, cathedrals and reform movements in the Latin West, and the Orthodox East after the fall of Constantinople."},{"id":"reformation","label":"The Reformations","range":"1500–1650","intro":"Protestant reformers and the Catholic Reformation reshape Western Christianity into the families of churches known today."},{"id":"revival","label":"Revival and Mission","range":"1650–1900","intro":"Quakers, Pietists, Methodists and Baptists, the Great Awakenings, new American churches and the modern missionary movement."},{"id":"modern","label":"The Modern Church","range":"1900–today","intro":"Pentecostalism, world missions, two world wars, the ecumenical movement and the Second Vatican Council."}],"events":[{"id":"pentecost","year":30,"yearLabel":"c. 30","era":"early-church","title":"Pentecost in Jerusalem","note":"After the death of Jesus, his followers proclaim that he has risen from the dead. The Book of Acts describes the apostles preaching in Jerusalem at the Jewish feast of Pentecost, and Christians date the beginning of the church to that day.","works":[{"slug":"the-bible","title":"The Bible","url":"/works/the-bible/"},{"slug":"shelley-church-history-in-plain-language","title":"Church History in Plain Language","url":"/works/shelley-church-history-in-plain-language/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"apostle-peter","name":"Peter the Apostle","url":"/great-lives/apostle-peter/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"council-jerusalem","year":49,"yearLabel":"c. 49","era":"early-church","title":"The Council of Jerusalem","note":"Apostles and elders meet in Jerusalem to decide whether Gentile (non-Jewish) believers must keep the Law of Moses, including circumcision. They decide that Gentiles do not need to be circumcised (Acts 15).","works":[{"slug":"the-bible","title":"The Bible","url":"/works/the-bible/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"apostle-paul","name":"Paul the Apostle","url":"/great-lives/apostle-paul/"},{"slug":"apostle-peter","name":"Peter the Apostle","url":"/great-lives/apostle-peter/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"paul-letters","year":50,"yearLabel":"c. 48–60s","era":"early-church","title":"Paul’s journeys and letters","note":"The apostle Paul travels around the eastern Mediterranean founding churches and writes letters to them, such as Romans, Corinthians and Galatians. These letters are among the oldest writings in the New Testament.","works":[{"slug":"the-bible","title":"The Bible","url":"/works/the-bible/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"apostle-paul","name":"Paul the Apostle","url":"/great-lives/apostle-paul/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"nero","year":64,"yearLabel":"64","era":"early-church","title":"Persecution under Nero","note":"After a great fire in Rome, the emperor Nero blames the Christians of the city and has many put to death. The Roman historian Tacitus records the event. Early Christian tradition holds that the apostles Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome in these years.","works":[{"slug":"the-annals-of-imperial-rome","title":"The Annals of Imperial Rome","url":"/works/the-annals-of-imperial-rome/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"tacitus","name":"Tacitus","url":"/great-lives/tacitus/"},{"slug":"apostle-peter","name":"Peter the Apostle","url":"/great-lives/apostle-peter/"},{"slug":"apostle-paul","name":"Paul the Apostle","url":"/great-lives/apostle-paul/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"temple-70","year":70,"yearLabel":"70","era":"early-church","title":"Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem","note":"Roman armies under Titus capture Jerusalem and destroy the Temple during the Jewish revolt. Josephus, a Jewish historian who was present, describes the war.","works":[{"slug":"the-jewish-war","title":"The Jewish War","url":"/works/the-jewish-war/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"flavius-josephus","name":"Flavius Josephus","url":"/great-lives/flavius-josephus/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"apostolic-fathers","year":110,"yearLabel":"c. 95–150","era":"early-church","title":"The Apostolic Fathers","note":"Church leaders of the generation after the apostles write letters and handbooks: Clement of Rome writes to Corinth, Ignatius of Antioch writes seven letters on his way to martyrdom in Rome, and the Didache gives early instructions on baptism, prayer and the Lord’s Supper.","works":[{"slug":"early-christian-writings","title":"Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers","url":"/works/early-christian-writings/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"ignatius-of-antioch","name":"Ignatius of Antioch","url":"/great-lives/ignatius-of-antioch/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"polycarp","year":155,"yearLabel":"c. 155","era":"early-church","title":"Martyrdom of Polycarp","note":"Polycarp, the elderly bishop of Smyrna, is put to death for refusing to offer incense to the emperor. The account of his death is one of the earliest Christian martyr stories outside the New Testament.","works":[{"slug":"early-christian-writings","title":"Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers","url":"/works/early-christian-writings/"}],"lives":[],"branch":null},{"id":"justin","year":155,"yearLabel":"c. 155","era":"early-church","title":"Justin Martyr’s First Apology","note":"Justin, a philosopher who became a Christian, writes to the emperor Antoninus Pius to defend Christians against false charges. His First Apology includes the earliest full description of Christian Sunday worship. He is executed in Rome around 165.","works":[{"slug":"early-christian-writings","title":"Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers","url":"/works/early-christian-writings/"},{"slug":"justin-martyr-first-apology","title":"The First Apology","url":"/works/justin-martyr-first-apology/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"justin-martyr","name":"Justin Martyr","url":"/great-lives/justin-martyr/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"irenaeus","year":180,"yearLabel":"c. 180","era":"early-church","title":"Irenaeus writes Against Heresies","note":"Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon in Gaul, writes against the Gnostic teachers of his day. He appeals to the teaching handed down in churches founded by the apostles and to the four Gospels.","works":[{"slug":"irenaeus-against-heresies","title":"Against Heresies","url":"/works/irenaeus-against-heresies/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"irenaeus","name":"Irenaeus of Lyon","url":"/great-lives/irenaeus/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"perpetua","year":203,"yearLabel":"203","era":"early-church","title":"Perpetua and Felicity","note":"Perpetua, a young mother, and Felicity, an enslaved woman, are put to death with other new Christians in the amphitheatre at Carthage in North Africa. Perpetua’s prison diary, preserved in the Passion of Perpetua and Felicity, is among the earliest writings by a Christian woman.","works":[{"slug":"passion-of-perpetua-and-felicity","title":"The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity","url":"/works/passion-of-perpetua-and-felicity/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"perpetua-and-felicity","name":"Perpetua and Felicity","url":"/great-lives/perpetua-and-felicity/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"origen","year":231,"yearLabel":"c. 220–250","era":"early-church","title":"Origen of Alexandria","note":"Origen, the most learned Christian scholar of his age, sets out the faith as a system in On First Principles, compiles the Hexapla comparing versions of the Old Testament, and moves from Alexandria to Caesarea around 231. About 248 he answers the pagan philosopher Celsus; he is tortured in the persecution under Decius.","works":[{"slug":"origen-de-principiis","title":"On First Principles (De Principiis)","url":"/works/origen-de-principiis/"},{"slug":"origen-against-celsus","title":"Against Celsus (Contra Celsum)","url":"/works/origen-against-celsus/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"origen","name":"Origen","url":"/great-lives/origen/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"persecutions","year":250,"yearLabel":"250–311","era":"early-church","title":"Empire-wide persecutions","note":"The emperor Decius orders everyone to sacrifice to the Roman gods in 250, and Diocletian begins the Great Persecution in 303. Some Christians are killed, and some give in; the church later debates how to receive back those who lapsed.","works":[{"slug":"the-history-of-the-church","title":"The History of the Church","url":"/works/the-history-of-the-church/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"eusebius","name":"Eusebius of Caesarea","url":"/great-lives/eusebius/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"desert","year":270,"yearLabel":"c. 270","era":"early-church","title":"Antony and the desert monks","note":"Antony of Egypt gives away his possessions and goes to live as a hermit in the desert. Athanasius later writes his Life, which makes Antony a model for the monastic movement.","works":[{"slug":"early-christian-lives","title":"Early Christian Lives","url":"/works/early-christian-lives/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"athanasius","name":"Athanasius of Alexandria","url":"/great-lives/athanasius/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"armenia","year":301,"yearLabel":"c. 301","era":"early-church","title":"Armenia becomes a Christian kingdom","note":"By tradition in 301, King Tiridates III of Armenia is baptized by Gregory the Illuminator, and Armenia becomes the first kingdom to adopt Christianity as its official faith.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":"armenian","branchLabel":"Armenian Apostolic Church"},{"id":"milan","year":313,"yearLabel":"313","era":"councils","title":"The Edict of Milan","note":"The emperors Constantine and Licinius agree to tolerate Christianity and return church property. Eusebius of Caesarea, who lived through the persecutions, writes the first full history of the church.","works":[{"slug":"the-history-of-the-church","title":"The History of the Church","url":"/works/the-history-of-the-church/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"constantine-the-great","name":"Constantine the Great","url":"/great-lives/constantine-the-great/"},{"slug":"eusebius","name":"Eusebius of Caesarea","url":"/great-lives/eusebius/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"nicaea","year":325,"yearLabel":"325","era":"councils","title":"First Council of Nicaea","note":"Constantine calls bishops to Nicaea to settle a dispute over the teaching of Arius, a priest who taught that the Son was created. The council affirms that the Son is “of one substance” with the Father and issues the first form of the Nicene Creed. It is counted as the first ecumenical (general) council.","works":[{"slug":"early-christian-creeds","title":"The Early Christian Creeds","url":"/works/early-christian-creeds/"},{"slug":"athanasius-on-the-incarnation","title":"On the Incarnation of the Word","url":"/works/athanasius-on-the-incarnation/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"constantine-the-great","name":"Constantine the Great","url":"/great-lives/constantine-the-great/"},{"slug":"athanasius","name":"Athanasius of Alexandria","url":"/great-lives/athanasius/"},{"slug":"eusebius","name":"Eusebius of Caesarea","url":"/great-lives/eusebius/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"canon-367","year":367,"yearLabel":"367","era":"councils","title":"The New Testament list","note":"In a letter for Easter, Athanasius of Alexandria lists the twenty-seven books of the New Testament that churches use today. Councils in North Africa approve the same list a few decades later.","works":[{"slug":"the-bible","title":"The Bible","url":"/works/the-bible/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"athanasius","name":"Athanasius of Alexandria","url":"/great-lives/athanasius/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"martin","year":371,"yearLabel":"c. 361–397","era":"councils","title":"Martin of Tours","note":"Martin, a former Roman soldier remembered for sharing his cloak with a beggar, founds one of the first monasteries in Gaul and becomes bishop of Tours in 371. Sulpicius Severus writes his Life.","works":[{"slug":"life-of-st-martin","title":"Life of St. Martin","url":"/works/life-of-st-martin/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"martin-of-tours","name":"Martin of Tours","url":"/great-lives/martin-of-tours/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"thessalonica","year":380,"yearLabel":"380","era":"councils","title":"Christianity becomes the state religion","note":"The emperor Theodosius I declares the faith of the Nicene Creed the official religion of the Roman Empire.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":null},{"id":"constantinople-381","year":381,"yearLabel":"381","era":"councils","title":"First Council of Constantinople","note":"The second ecumenical council confirms the faith of Nicaea and expands the creed, affirming that the Holy Spirit is “worshipped and glorified” with the Father and the Son. The Cappadocian Fathers, Basil the Great and the two Gregories, had shaped this teaching.","works":[{"slug":"early-christian-creeds","title":"The Early Christian Creeds","url":"/works/early-christian-creeds/"},{"slug":"on-the-making-of-man","title":"On the Making of Man","url":"/works/on-the-making-of-man/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"basil-the-great","name":"Basil the Great","url":"/great-lives/basil-the-great/"},{"slug":"gregory-of-nyssa","name":"Gregory of Nyssa","url":"/great-lives/gregory-of-nyssa/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"augustine","year":397,"yearLabel":"c. 397–426","era":"councils","title":"Augustine’s Confessions and City of God","note":"Augustine, bishop of Hippo in North Africa, writes the Confessions, the story of his conversion told as a prayer, and later the City of God after the sack of Rome in 410. His writings shape Western theology for centuries.","works":[{"slug":"confessions","title":"Confessions","url":"/works/confessions/"},{"slug":"city-of-god","title":"City of God","url":"/works/city-of-god/"},{"slug":"homilies-on-the-gospel-of-john","title":"Homilies on the Gospel of John","url":"/works/homilies-on-the-gospel-of-john/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"augustine-of-hippo","name":"Augustine of Hippo","url":"/great-lives/augustine-of-hippo/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"chrysostom","year":398,"yearLabel":"398","era":"councils","title":"John Chrysostom in Constantinople","note":"John, a famous preacher from Antioch later nicknamed Chrysostom (“golden mouth”), becomes archbishop of Constantinople. His sermons and the liturgy that bears his name are still used in Orthodox churches.","works":[{"slug":"homilies-on-the-statues","title":"Homilies on the Statues","url":"/works/homilies-on-the-statues/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-chrysostom","name":"John Chrysostom","url":"/great-lives/john-chrysostom/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"ephesus","year":431,"yearLabel":"431","era":"councils","title":"Council of Ephesus","note":"The third ecumenical council rejects the teaching of Nestorius and affirms that Mary may be called Theotokos, “God-bearer,” because her son is one person who is truly God. The Church of the East, in the Persian Empire, does not accept the council and develops separately.","works":[{"slug":"early-christian-creeds","title":"The Early Christian Creeds","url":"/works/early-christian-creeds/"}],"lives":[],"branch":"church-of-the-east","branchLabel":"Church of the East"},{"id":"patrick","year":432,"yearLabel":"c. 432","era":"councils","title":"Patrick in Ireland","note":"Patrick, a Briton once carried off to Ireland as a slave, returns as a missionary bishop. His Confession and Letter are the earliest writings from the Irish church.","works":[{"slug":"st-patricks-writings","title":"St. Patrick's Writings","url":"/works/st-patricks-writings/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"saint-patrick","name":"Saint Patrick","url":"/great-lives/saint-patrick/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"chalcedon","year":451,"yearLabel":"451","era":"councils","title":"Council of Chalcedon","note":"The fourth ecumenical council teaches that Christ is one person “in two natures,” fully God and fully human, drawing on a letter (the Tome) of Pope Leo I. Many Christians in Egypt, Syria and Armenia do not accept the council; their churches become the Oriental Orthodox family.","works":[{"slug":"early-christian-creeds","title":"The Early Christian Creeds","url":"/works/early-christian-creeds/"}],"lives":[],"branch":"oriental-orthodox","branchLabel":"Oriental Orthodox churches"},{"id":"rome-476","year":476,"yearLabel":"476","era":"councils","title":"The end of the Western Roman Empire","note":"The last emperor in the West is removed from power. In the West, bishops and monasteries keep learning alive, while the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire continues from Constantinople. In Italy the Christian philosopher Boethius writes The Consolation of Philosophy in prison (c. 524).","works":[{"slug":"wickham-the-inheritance-of-rome","title":"The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000","url":"/works/wickham-the-inheritance-of-rome/"},{"slug":"the-consolation-of-philosophy","title":"The Consolation of Philosophy","url":"/works/the-consolation-of-philosophy/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"boethius","name":"Boethius","url":"/great-lives/boethius/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"benedict","year":529,"yearLabel":"c. 529","era":"councils","title":"Benedict and Monte Cassino","note":"Benedict of Nursia founds the monastery of Monte Cassino in Italy. His Rule, built around prayer, work and study, becomes the standard guide for monks in the Latin West.","works":[{"slug":"the-rule-of-st-benedict","title":"The Rule of St Benedict","url":"/works/the-rule-of-st-benedict/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"benedict-of-nursia","name":"Benedict of Nursia","url":"/great-lives/benedict-of-nursia/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"hagia-sophia","year":537,"yearLabel":"537","era":"councils","title":"Hagia Sophia dedicated","note":"The emperor Justinian dedicates the great church of Hagia Sophia (“Holy Wisdom”) in Constantinople. It is the largest church in the Christian world for nearly a thousand years.","works":[{"slug":"herrin-byzantium","title":"Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire","url":"/works/herrin-byzantium/"},{"slug":"kaldellis-the-new-roman-empire","title":"The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium","url":"/works/kaldellis-the-new-roman-empire/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"justinian-i","name":"Justinian I","url":"/great-lives/justinian-i/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"gregory-597","year":597,"yearLabel":"590–597","era":"councils","title":"Gregory the Great sends missionaries to England","note":"Gregory I becomes bishop of Rome in 590. In 597 the monks he sent, led by Augustine of Canterbury, arrive in Kent. Bede later tells the story in his history of the English church.","works":[{"slug":"bede-ecclesiastical-history","title":"Ecclesiastical History of the English People","url":"/works/bede-ecclesiastical-history/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"gregory-the-great","name":"Gregory the Great","url":"/great-lives/gregory-the-great/"},{"slug":"bede","name":"Bede","url":"/great-lives/bede/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"east-mission","year":635,"yearLabel":"635","era":"east-west","title":"Christianity reaches China","note":"A missionary of the Church of the East named Alopen arrives at the Tang court in Chang’an (modern Xi’an). A stone monument set up there in 781 records the mission.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":"church-of-the-east","branchLabel":"Church of the East"},{"id":"whitby","year":664,"yearLabel":"664","era":"east-west","title":"Synod of Whitby","note":"Church leaders in Northumbria decide to follow the Roman way of dating Easter rather than the Irish custom. At nearby Whitby Abbey the cowherd Cædmon composes the earliest known English Christian poem, and other Old English religious poems such as The Dream of the Rood follow.","works":[{"slug":"bede-ecclesiastical-history","title":"Ecclesiastical History of the English People","url":"/works/bede-ecclesiastical-history/"},{"slug":"caedmons-hymn","title":"Cædmon's Hymn","url":"/works/caedmons-hymn/"},{"slug":"the-dream-of-the-rood","title":"The Dream of the Rood","url":"/works/the-dream-of-the-rood/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"bede","name":"Bede","url":"/great-lives/bede/"},{"slug":"caedmon","name":"Cædmon","url":"/great-lives/caedmon/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"icons","year":787,"yearLabel":"726–843","era":"east-west","title":"The icon controversy","note":"Byzantine emperors order icons (holy images) removed from churches. The Second Council of Nicaea in 787, the seventh ecumenical council, affirms that icons may be honored. The dispute ends in 843, a day Orthodox churches still keep as the Triumph of Orthodoxy.","works":[{"slug":"herrin-byzantium","title":"Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire","url":"/works/herrin-byzantium/"},{"slug":"john-of-damascus-exact-exposition","title":"An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith","url":"/works/john-of-damascus-exact-exposition/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-of-damascus","name":"John of Damascus","url":"/great-lives/john-of-damascus/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"charlemagne","year":800,"yearLabel":"800","era":"east-west","title":"Charlemagne crowned emperor","note":"Pope Leo III crowns the Frankish king Charlemagne emperor in Rome on Christmas Day. Charlemagne supports schools, copying of manuscripts and church reform across his empire.","works":[{"slug":"two-lives-of-charlemagne","title":"Two Lives of Charlemagne","url":"/works/two-lives-of-charlemagne/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"charlemagne","name":"Charlemagne","url":"/great-lives/charlemagne/"},{"slug":"einhard","name":"Einhard","url":"/great-lives/einhard/"},{"slug":"notker-the-stammerer","name":"Notker the Stammerer","url":"/great-lives/notker-the-stammerer/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"cyril-methodius","year":863,"yearLabel":"863","era":"east-west","title":"Cyril and Methodius go to the Slavs","note":"Two brothers from Thessalonica begin a mission to Great Moravia. They create an alphabet for the Slavic language and translate Scripture and the liturgy into it.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"cyril-and-methodius","name":"Cyril and Methodius","url":"/great-lives/cyril-and-methodius/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"rus","year":988,"yearLabel":"988","era":"east-west","title":"The baptism of Kievan Rus’","note":"Prince Vladimir of Kiev is baptized and brings Byzantine Christianity to his people. This is the starting point of the Orthodox churches of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":"eastern-orthodox","branchLabel":"Eastern Orthodox Church"},{"id":"schism-1054","year":1054,"yearLabel":"1054","era":"east-west","title":"The Great Schism","note":"Envoys of the pope and the patriarch of Constantinople exchange excommunications. The deeper disagreements concern the authority of the pope and the word filioque (“and the Son”) added to the creed in the West. The break between Catholic and Orthodox churches hardens in the centuries after.","works":[{"slug":"herrin-byzantium","title":"Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire","url":"/works/herrin-byzantium/"},{"slug":"kaldellis-the-new-roman-empire","title":"The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium","url":"/works/kaldellis-the-new-roman-empire/"}],"lives":[],"branch":"catholic","branchLabel":"Roman Catholic Church"},{"id":"crusade-1","year":1095,"yearLabel":"1095–1099","era":"medieval","title":"The First Crusade","note":"Pope Urban II calls on Western knights to aid the Byzantine Empire and take Jerusalem. Crusaders capture the city in 1099. The Byzantine princess Anna Komnene describes the crusaders’ arrival in her history, and the Syrian Muslim nobleman Usama ibn Munqidh later writes about life alongside the crusader states.","works":[{"slug":"anna-komnene-alexiad","title":"The Alexiad","url":"/works/anna-komnene-alexiad/"},{"slug":"usama-ibn-munqidh-memoirs","title":"Memoirs of Usama ibn Munqidh","url":"/works/usama-ibn-munqidh-memoirs/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"anna-komnene","name":"Anna Komnene","url":"/great-lives/anna-komnene/"},{"slug":"usama-ibn-munqidh","name":"Usama ibn Munqidh","url":"/great-lives/usama-ibn-munqidh/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"anselm","year":1098,"yearLabel":"1078–1098","era":"medieval","title":"Anselm and faith seeking understanding","note":"Anselm, a monk of Bec and later archbishop of Canterbury, writes the Proslogion and Why God Became Man, using careful reasoning to explain Christian belief.","works":[{"slug":"anselm-proslogion","title":"Proslogion","url":"/works/anselm-proslogion/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"anselm-of-canterbury","name":"Anselm of Canterbury","url":"/great-lives/anselm-of-canterbury/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"cistercians","year":1115,"yearLabel":"1115","era":"medieval","title":"Bernard and the Cistercians","note":"Bernard founds the abbey of Clairvaux, and the Cistercian order of monks, devoted to a strict keeping of Benedict’s Rule, spreads across Europe. Bernard is also a famous preacher and writer. In Germany the Benedictine abbess Hildegard of Bingen writes on her visions, music and medicine.","works":[{"slug":"sermons-on-the-song-of-songs","title":"Sermons on the Song of Songs","url":"/works/sermons-on-the-song-of-songs/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"bernard-of-clairvaux","name":"Bernard of Clairvaux","url":"/great-lives/bernard-of-clairvaux/"},{"slug":"hildegard-of-bingen","name":"Hildegard of Bingen","url":"/great-lives/hildegard-of-bingen/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"becket","year":1170,"yearLabel":"1170","era":"medieval","title":"Thomas Becket killed at Canterbury","note":"Archbishop Thomas Becket is killed in his cathedral after a long quarrel with King Henry II over the rights of the church. His shrine becomes the goal of pilgrims like those in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.","works":[{"slug":"st-thomas-becket-and-canterbury-miracles","title":"St. Thomas Becket and the Canterbury Miracles","url":"/works/st-thomas-becket-and-canterbury-miracles/"},{"slug":"the-canterbury-tales","title":"The Canterbury Tales","url":"/works/the-canterbury-tales/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"thomas-becket","name":"Thomas Becket","url":"/great-lives/thomas-becket/"},{"slug":"geoffrey-chaucer","name":"Geoffrey Chaucer","url":"/great-lives/geoffrey-chaucer/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"waldensians","year":1173,"yearLabel":"c. 1173","era":"medieval","title":"Valdes and the Waldensians","note":"Valdes, a merchant of Lyon, gives away his wealth and begins preaching in the language of the people. His followers, the Waldensians, are condemned but survive in the Alps and later join the Reformed churches.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":"waldensian","branchLabel":"Waldensians"},{"id":"crusade-4","year":1204,"yearLabel":"1204","era":"medieval","title":"Crusaders sack Constantinople","note":"Knights of the Fourth Crusade capture and plunder Constantinople, a Christian city. The event deepens the divide between Eastern and Western Christians.","works":[{"slug":"villehardouin-conquest-of-constantinople","title":"Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and the Conquest of Constantinople","url":"/works/villehardouin-conquest-of-constantinople/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"geoffrey-de-villehardouin","name":"Geoffrey de Villehardouin","url":"/great-lives/geoffrey-de-villehardouin/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"friars","year":1209,"yearLabel":"1209–1216","era":"medieval","title":"Francis, Dominic and the friars","note":"Pope Innocent III approves the way of life of Francis of Assisi and his brothers, who live in poverty and preach. Dominic founds the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) in 1216. Bonaventure later leads the Franciscans.","works":[{"slug":"early-franciscan-sources","title":"Early Franciscan Sources","url":"/works/early-franciscan-sources/"},{"slug":"golden-legend-popular-saints","title":"The Golden Legend: Popular Saints","url":"/works/golden-legend-popular-saints/"},{"slug":"the-journey-of-the-mind-into-god","title":"The Journey of the Mind into God","url":"/works/the-journey-of-the-mind-into-god/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"francis-of-assisi","name":"Francis of Assisi","url":"/great-lives/francis-of-assisi/"},{"slug":"bonaventure","name":"Bonaventure","url":"/great-lives/bonaventure/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"aquinas","year":1265,"yearLabel":"1265–1274","era":"medieval","title":"Thomas Aquinas writes the Summa","note":"Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican friar and teacher at the University of Paris, writes the Summa Theologica, joining Christian teaching with the philosophy of Aristotle. It becomes a standard text of Catholic theology.","works":[{"slug":"summa-theologica","title":"Summa Theologica","url":"/works/summa-theologica/"},{"slug":"de-regno","title":"De Regno","url":"/works/de-regno/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"thomas-aquinas","name":"Thomas Aquinas","url":"/great-lives/thomas-aquinas/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"dante","year":1320,"yearLabel":"c. 1308–1321","era":"medieval","title":"Dante’s Divine Comedy","note":"Dante Alighieri writes his poem of a journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, a summary in verse of the medieval Christian picture of the world.","works":[{"slug":"the-divine-comedy","title":"The Divine Comedy","url":"/works/the-divine-comedy/"},{"slug":"dante-de-monarchia","title":"De Monarchia (with R. W. Church's essay on Dante)","url":"/works/dante-de-monarchia/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"dante-alighieri","name":"Dante Alighieri","url":"/great-lives/dante-alighieri/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"western-schism","year":1378,"yearLabel":"1378–1417","era":"medieval","title":"The Western Schism","note":"After the popes return to Rome from Avignon, rival claimants to the papacy are elected, and for a time three men claim the office. The Council of Constance ends the division in 1417. Catherine of Siena had urged the pope’s return to Rome.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"catherine-of-siena","name":"Catherine of Siena","url":"/great-lives/catherine-of-siena/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"wycliffe","year":1382,"yearLabel":"1380s","era":"medieval","title":"Wycliffe and the English Bible","note":"John Wycliffe, an Oxford teacher, criticizes the wealth and power of the clergy. His followers produce the first complete Bible in English, translated from Latin.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"john-wycliffe","name":"John Wycliffe","url":"/great-lives/john-wycliffe/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"hus","year":1415,"yearLabel":"1415","era":"medieval","title":"Jan Hus burned at Constance","note":"The Czech preacher Jan Hus, influenced by Wycliffe, is condemned by the Council of Constance and burned. His followers in Bohemia later form the Unity of the Brethren (1457), the ancestor of the Moravian Church.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"jan-hus","name":"Jan Hus","url":"/great-lives/jan-hus/"}],"branch":"moravian","branchLabel":"Moravian Church (Unity of the Brethren)"},{"id":"imitation","year":1418,"yearLabel":"c. 1418–1427","era":"medieval","title":"The Imitation of Christ","note":"In the Netherlands, followers of the Devotio Moderna (Modern Devotion) seek a simple, practical inner life of prayer. The Imitation of Christ, traditionally credited to Thomas à Kempis, becomes one of the most widely read Christian books.","works":[{"slug":"imitation-of-christ","title":"The Imitation of Christ","url":"/works/imitation-of-christ/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"thomas-a-kempis","name":"Thomas à Kempis","url":"/great-lives/thomas-a-kempis/"}],"branch":"catholic","branchLabel":"Roman Catholic Church"},{"id":"joan","year":1431,"yearLabel":"1431","era":"medieval","title":"The trial of Joan of Arc","note":"Joan of Arc is tried by a church court and executed. A later inquiry overturns the verdict in 1456, and she is declared a saint in 1920.","works":[{"slug":"the-trial-of-joan-of-arc","title":"The Trial of Joan of Arc","url":"/works/the-trial-of-joan-of-arc/"},{"slug":"shaw-saint-joan","title":"Saint Joan","url":"/works/shaw-saint-joan/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"joan-of-arc","name":"Joan of Arc","url":"/great-lives/joan-of-arc/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"constantinople-1453","year":1453,"yearLabel":"1453","era":"medieval","title":"The fall of Constantinople","note":"Ottoman forces under Sultan Mehmed II capture Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire. Hagia Sophia becomes a mosque. The Orthodox Church continues under Ottoman rule, and Moscow later becomes a leading Orthodox center.","works":[{"slug":"fall-of-constantinople-1453-eyewitness-accounts","title":"The Fall of Constantinople, 1453: Eyewitness Accounts","url":"/works/fall-of-constantinople-1453-eyewitness-accounts/"},{"slug":"runciman-the-fall-of-constantinople-1453","title":"The Fall of Constantinople, 1453","url":"/works/runciman-the-fall-of-constantinople-1453/"}],"lives":[],"branch":null},{"id":"gutenberg","year":1455,"yearLabel":"c. 1455","era":"medieval","title":"The Gutenberg Bible","note":"Johannes Gutenberg prints a Latin Bible with movable metal type at Mainz. Printing will soon spread Bibles, sermons and pamphlets across Europe.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"johannes-gutenberg","name":"Johannes Gutenberg","url":"/great-lives/johannes-gutenberg/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"erasmus-nt","year":1516,"yearLabel":"1516","era":"reformation","title":"Erasmus publishes the Greek New Testament","note":"The humanist scholar Erasmus publishes the first printed Greek New Testament, with a new Latin translation. Reformers such as Luther and Tyndale use it for their own translations.","works":[{"slug":"erasmus-on-free-will","title":"On Free Will (De Libero Arbitrio)","url":"/works/erasmus-on-free-will/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"desiderius-erasmus","name":"Desiderius Erasmus","url":"/great-lives/desiderius-erasmus/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"theses","year":1517,"yearLabel":"1517","era":"reformation","title":"Luther’s Ninety-five Theses","note":"On 31 October 1517 Martin Luther, a monk and professor at Wittenberg, sends his Ninety-five Theses against the sale of indulgences. The debate that follows begins the Protestant Reformation.","works":[{"slug":"luther-selected-sermons-and-treatises","title":"Selected Sermons and Reformation Treatises","url":"/works/luther-selected-sermons-and-treatises/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"martin-luther","name":"Martin Luther","url":"/great-lives/martin-luther/"}],"branch":"lutheran","branchLabel":"Lutheran churches"},{"id":"leipzig","year":1519,"yearLabel":"1519","era":"reformation","title":"The Leipzig Disputation","note":"Luther and Andreas Karlstadt debate Johann Eck at Leipzig. Luther argues that popes and councils can err.","works":[{"slug":"leipzig-disputation","title":"The Leipzig Disputation","url":"/works/leipzig-disputation/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"martin-luther","name":"Martin Luther","url":"/great-lives/martin-luther/"},{"slug":"johann-eck","name":"Johann Eck","url":"/great-lives/johann-eck/"},{"slug":"andreas-karlstadt","name":"Andreas Karlstadt","url":"/great-lives/andreas-karlstadt/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"worms","year":1521,"yearLabel":"1521–1522","era":"reformation","title":"The Diet of Worms and Luther’s German Bible","note":"Luther refuses to take back his writings before the emperor Charles V at Worms. While in hiding at the Wartburg castle, he translates the New Testament into German; it is published in 1522.","works":[{"slug":"luther-selected-sermons-and-treatises","title":"Selected Sermons and Reformation Treatises","url":"/works/luther-selected-sermons-and-treatises/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"martin-luther","name":"Martin Luther","url":"/great-lives/martin-luther/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"zwingli","year":1523,"yearLabel":"1523","era":"reformation","title":"Zwingli’s reform in Zurich","note":"Huldrych Zwingli, a priest in Zurich, wins the city council’s support for reform at a public disputation. This is a starting point of the Reformed tradition.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"huldrych-zwingli","name":"Huldrych Zwingli","url":"/great-lives/huldrych-zwingli/"}],"branch":"reformed","branchLabel":"Reformed churches"},{"id":"free-will","year":1524,"yearLabel":"1524–1525","era":"reformation","title":"Erasmus and Luther on free will","note":"Erasmus writes On Free Will, and Luther replies with The Bondage of the Will. The debate shows the gap between Catholic humanists and the Protestant reformers.","works":[{"slug":"erasmus-on-free-will","title":"On Free Will (De Libero Arbitrio)","url":"/works/erasmus-on-free-will/"},{"slug":"luther-bondage-of-the-will","title":"The Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio)","url":"/works/luther-bondage-of-the-will/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"desiderius-erasmus","name":"Desiderius Erasmus","url":"/great-lives/desiderius-erasmus/"},{"slug":"martin-luther","name":"Martin Luther","url":"/great-lives/martin-luther/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"anabaptists","year":1525,"yearLabel":"1525","era":"reformation","title":"The first Anabaptists","note":"On 21 January 1525, a group of Zwingli’s former students in Zurich baptize one another as adults, believing baptism should follow a personal confession of faith. Opponents call them Anabaptists (“re-baptizers”). Their Schleitheim Confession follows in 1527.","works":[{"slug":"martyrs-mirror-selections","title":"Martyrs Mirror: Selections","url":"/works/martyrs-mirror-selections/"}],"lives":[],"branch":"anabaptist","branchLabel":"Anabaptists"},{"id":"tyndale","year":1526,"yearLabel":"1526","era":"reformation","title":"Tyndale’s English New Testament","note":"William Tyndale’s English New Testament, translated from Greek, is printed at Worms and smuggled into England. Tyndale is executed near Brussels in 1536; much of his wording later passes into the King James Version.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"william-tyndale","name":"William Tyndale","url":"/great-lives/william-tyndale/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"augsburg-1530","year":1530,"yearLabel":"1530","era":"reformation","title":"The Augsburg Confession","note":"Lutheran princes present a statement of their faith, written mainly by Philip Melanchthon, to the emperor at Augsburg. It remains the chief confession of Lutheran churches.","works":[{"slug":"augsburg-confession","title":"The Augsburg Confession","url":"/works/augsburg-confession/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"philip-melanchthon","name":"Philip Melanchthon","url":"/great-lives/philip-melanchthon/"}],"branch":"lutheran","branchLabel":"Lutheran churches"},{"id":"supremacy","year":1534,"yearLabel":"1534","era":"reformation","title":"Henry VIII and the Church of England","note":"After the pope refuses to annul his marriage, Henry VIII has Parliament name the king Supreme Head of the Church in England. Thomas More refuses to accept this and is executed in 1535.","works":[{"slug":"utopia","title":"Utopia","url":"/works/utopia/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"henry-viii","name":"Henry VIII","url":"/great-lives/henry-viii/"},{"slug":"thomas-more","name":"Thomas More","url":"/great-lives/thomas-more/"}],"branch":"anglican","branchLabel":"Anglican churches"},{"id":"calvin","year":1536,"yearLabel":"1536–1559","era":"reformation","title":"Calvin in Geneva","note":"John Calvin publishes the first edition of his Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536 and leads the church in Geneva. His final Latin edition appears in 1559. Geneva becomes a center for Reformed churches across Europe.","works":[{"slug":"calvin-institutes","title":"Institutes of the Christian Religion","url":"/works/calvin-institutes/"},{"slug":"calvin-selected-sermons","title":"Selected Sermons","url":"/works/calvin-selected-sermons/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-calvin","name":"John Calvin","url":"/great-lives/john-calvin/"}],"branch":"reformed","branchLabel":"Reformed churches"},{"id":"menno","year":1536,"yearLabel":"1536","era":"reformation","title":"Menno Simons joins the Anabaptists","note":"Menno Simons, a Dutch priest, leaves the Catholic Church and becomes a leader of the peaceful Anabaptists of the Netherlands and northern Germany, who come to be called Mennonites.","works":[{"slug":"martyrs-mirror-selections","title":"Martyrs Mirror: Selections","url":"/works/martyrs-mirror-selections/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"menno-simons","name":"Menno Simons","url":"/great-lives/menno-simons/"}],"branch":"mennonite","branchLabel":"Mennonites"},{"id":"jesuits","year":1540,"yearLabel":"1540","era":"reformation","title":"The Society of Jesus","note":"Pope Paul III approves the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), founded by Ignatius of Loyola. Jesuits become known for their schools and for missions in Asia and the Americas.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"ignatius-of-loyola","name":"Ignatius of Loyola","url":"/great-lives/ignatius-of-loyola/"}],"branch":"catholic","branchLabel":"Roman Catholic Church"},{"id":"trent","year":1545,"yearLabel":"1545–1563","era":"reformation","title":"The Council of Trent","note":"The Catholic Church meets at Trent in northern Italy to answer the Protestant reformers and reform its own life. The council defines Catholic teaching on Scripture and tradition, justification and the sacraments, and calls for seminaries to train priests.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":"catholic","branchLabel":"Roman Catholic Church"},{"id":"bcp","year":1549,"yearLabel":"1549","era":"reformation","title":"The Book of Common Prayer","note":"Archbishop Thomas Cranmer prepares the first Book of Common Prayer, putting the worship of the Church of England into English. A revised edition of 1662 is still used today.","works":[{"slug":"book-of-common-prayer-1662","title":"The Book of Common Prayer (1662): Selections","url":"/works/book-of-common-prayer-1662/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"thomas-cranmer","name":"Thomas Cranmer","url":"/great-lives/thomas-cranmer/"}],"branch":"anglican","branchLabel":"Anglican churches"},{"id":"oxford-martyrs","year":1555,"yearLabel":"1555","era":"reformation","title":"Latimer and Ridley burned at Oxford; the Peace of Augsburg","note":"Under Queen Mary I, the Protestant bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley are burned at Oxford. In Germany the Peace of Augsburg lets each prince choose whether his lands will be Lutheran or Catholic.","works":[{"slug":"latimer-selected-sermons","title":"Selected Sermons","url":"/works/latimer-selected-sermons/"},{"slug":"foxe-book-of-martyrs","title":"Foxe's Book of Martyrs","url":"/works/foxe-book-of-martyrs/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"hugh-latimer","name":"Hugh Latimer","url":"/great-lives/hugh-latimer/"},{"slug":"thomas-cranmer","name":"Thomas Cranmer","url":"/great-lives/thomas-cranmer/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"elizabeth","year":1559,"yearLabel":"1559","era":"reformation","title":"The Elizabethan Settlement","note":"Elizabeth I restores a Protestant Church of England with a revised Prayer Book. The Thirty-Nine Articles (final form 1571) set out its teaching, Richard Hooker later defends its laws and worship, and Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene tells a Protestant allegory of holiness.","works":[{"slug":"hooker-laws-of-ecclesiastical-polity","title":"Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (Preface and Book I)","url":"/works/hooker-laws-of-ecclesiastical-polity/"},{"slug":"elizabeth-speech-at-tilbury","title":"Speech to the Troops at Tilbury","url":"/works/elizabeth-speech-at-tilbury/"},{"slug":"the-faerie-queene","title":"The Faerie Queene, Book I","url":"/works/the-faerie-queene/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"elizabeth-i","name":"Elizabeth I","url":"/great-lives/elizabeth-i/"},{"slug":"edmund-spenser","name":"Edmund Spenser","url":"/great-lives/edmund-spenser/"},{"slug":"richard-hooker","name":"Richard Hooker","url":"/great-lives/richard-hooker/"}],"branch":"anglican","branchLabel":"Anglican churches"},{"id":"scotland","year":1560,"yearLabel":"1560","era":"reformation","title":"The Scottish Reformation","note":"The Scottish Parliament adopts a Reformed confession of faith prepared by John Knox and others. The Church of Scotland is governed by elders and assemblies rather than bishops, the pattern called Presbyterian.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"john-knox","name":"John Knox","url":"/great-lives/john-knox/"}],"branch":"presbyterian","branchLabel":"Presbyterian churches"},{"id":"teresa","year":1562,"yearLabel":"1562","era":"reformation","title":"Teresa of Ávila’s reform","note":"Teresa of Ávila founds a small convent of Carmelite nuns devoted to prayer and simplicity. With John of the Cross she reforms the Carmelite order, and her writings become classics of prayer.","works":[{"slug":"life-of-st-teresa-of-jesus","title":"The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus","url":"/works/life-of-st-teresa-of-jesus/"},{"slug":"dark-night-of-the-soul","title":"The Dark Night of the Soul","url":"/works/dark-night-of-the-soul/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"teresa-of-avila","name":"Teresa of Ávila","url":"/great-lives/teresa-of-avila/"},{"slug":"john-of-the-cross","name":"John of the Cross","url":"/great-lives/john-of-the-cross/"}],"branch":"catholic","branchLabel":"Roman Catholic Church"},{"id":"heidelberg","year":1563,"yearLabel":"1563","era":"reformation","title":"The Heidelberg Catechism","note":"A catechism in question-and-answer form is written for the Palatinate in Germany. It becomes one of the most widely used teaching documents of the Reformed churches.","works":[{"slug":"heidelberg-catechism","title":"The Heidelberg Catechism","url":"/works/heidelberg-catechism/"}],"lives":[],"branch":"reformed","branchLabel":"Reformed churches"},{"id":"smyth","year":1609,"yearLabel":"1609","era":"reformation","title":"The first Baptist church","note":"English Separatists in Amsterdam led by John Smyth and Thomas Helwys begin baptizing believers only. Helwys returns to found the first Baptist church in England in 1612.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":"baptist","branchLabel":"Baptists"},{"id":"kjv","year":1611,"yearLabel":"1611","era":"reformation","title":"The King James Version","note":"Scholars appointed under James I complete a new English translation of the Bible. The King James (Authorized) Version shapes English-speaking churches and literature for centuries.","works":[{"slug":"the-bible","title":"The Bible","url":"/works/the-bible/"},{"slug":"psalm-23","title":"Psalm 23","url":"/works/psalm-23/"}],"lives":[],"branch":null},{"id":"dort","year":1618,"yearLabel":"1618–1619","era":"reformation","title":"The Synod of Dort","note":"A Reformed synod in the Dutch Republic answers the followers of Jacobus Arminius, who had questioned Calvinist teaching on predestination. The debate between Calvinist and Arminian views continues among Protestants.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":"reformed","branchLabel":"Reformed churches"},{"id":"pilgrims","year":1620,"yearLabel":"1620–1630","era":"reformation","title":"Pilgrims and Puritans in New England","note":"Separatist Pilgrims sign the Mayflower Compact before landing at Plymouth in 1620. Ten years later John Winthrop leads Puritans to Massachusetts Bay, describing their colony as “a city upon a hill.”","works":[{"slug":"mayflower-compact","title":"The Mayflower Compact","url":"/works/mayflower-compact/"},{"slug":"a-model-of-christian-charity","title":"A Model of Christian Charity","url":"/works/a-model-of-christian-charity/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-winthrop","name":"John Winthrop","url":"/great-lives/john-winthrop/"}],"branch":"congregational","branchLabel":"Congregationalists"},{"id":"donne-herbert","year":1633,"yearLabel":"1620s–1630s","era":"reformation","title":"Poets of the English church","note":"John Donne, dean of St Paul’s in London, preaches and writes religious poems. George Herbert, a country parson, writes the poems of The Temple, published in 1633 after his death.","works":[{"slug":"donne-sermons-and-devotions","title":"Sermons and Devotions upon Emergent Occasions","url":"/works/donne-sermons-and-devotions/"},{"slug":"death-be-not-proud","title":"Holy Sonnet X: \"Death, be not proud\"","url":"/works/death-be-not-proud/"},{"slug":"the-collar","title":"The Collar","url":"/works/the-collar/"},{"slug":"walton-lives","title":"The Lives of Richard Hooker, George Herbert and Robert Sanderson","url":"/works/walton-lives/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-donne","name":"John Donne","url":"/great-lives/john-donne/"},{"slug":"george-herbert","name":"George Herbert","url":"/great-lives/george-herbert/"},{"slug":"izaak-walton","name":"Izaak Walton","url":"/great-lives/izaak-walton/"}],"branch":"anglican","branchLabel":"Anglican churches"},{"id":"westminster","year":1646,"yearLabel":"1646–1648","era":"reformation","title":"The Westminster Confession; the end of the religious wars","note":"An assembly at Westminster writes a confession and catechisms that become the standards of Presbyterian churches. In the same years John Milton argues for a free press in Areopagitica (1644), and in 1648 the Peace of Westphalia ends the Thirty Years’ War.","works":[{"slug":"areopagitica","title":"Areopagitica","url":"/works/areopagitica/"},{"slug":"westminster-shorter-catechism","title":"The Westminster Shorter Catechism","url":"/works/westminster-shorter-catechism/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-milton","name":"John Milton","url":"/great-lives/john-milton/"}],"branch":"presbyterian","branchLabel":"Presbyterian churches"},{"id":"quakers","year":1652,"yearLabel":"1652","era":"revival","title":"George Fox and the Quakers","note":"George Fox gathers followers in the north of England who seek the “inward light” of Christ and worship in silence without clergy. They call themselves the Religious Society of Friends. William Penn, a Quaker, founds Pennsylvania in 1681.","works":[{"slug":"journal-of-john-woolman","title":"The Journal of John Woolman","url":"/works/journal-of-john-woolman/"},{"slug":"journal-of-george-fox","title":"The Journal of George Fox","url":"/works/journal-of-george-fox/"},{"slug":"penn-no-cross-no-crown","title":"No Cross, No Crown","url":"/works/penn-no-cross-no-crown/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-woolman","name":"John Woolman","url":"/great-lives/john-woolman/"},{"slug":"george-fox","name":"George Fox","url":"/great-lives/george-fox/"},{"slug":"william-penn","name":"William Penn","url":"/great-lives/william-penn/"}],"branch":"quaker","branchLabel":"Quakers (Religious Society of Friends)"},{"id":"pascal","year":1660,"yearLabel":"1650s–1670","era":"revival","title":"Pascal’s Pensées","note":"The French mathematician Blaise Pascal leaves notes for a defense of Christianity, published after his death as the Pensées.","works":[{"slug":"pensees","title":"Pensees","url":"/works/pensees/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"blaise-pascal","name":"Blaise Pascal","url":"/great-lives/blaise-pascal/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"milton-bunyan","year":1667,"yearLabel":"1667–1678","era":"revival","title":"Paradise Lost and The Pilgrim’s Progress","note":"John Milton publishes Paradise Lost. John Bunyan, a Baptist preacher, is imprisoned for preaching without a license and writes The Pilgrim’s Progress, published in 1678.","works":[{"slug":"paradise-lost","title":"Paradise Lost","url":"/works/paradise-lost/"},{"slug":"grace-abounding","title":"Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners","url":"/works/grace-abounding/"},{"slug":"the-pilgrims-progress","title":"The Pilgrim's Progress","url":"/works/the-pilgrims-progress/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-milton","name":"John Milton","url":"/great-lives/john-milton/"},{"slug":"john-bunyan","name":"John Bunyan","url":"/great-lives/john-bunyan/"}],"branch":"baptist","branchLabel":"Baptists"},{"id":"pietism","year":1675,"yearLabel":"1675","era":"revival","title":"German Pietism","note":"Philipp Jakob Spener’s Pia Desideria calls Lutherans to Bible study in small groups and a warmer personal faith. Pietism influences the Moravians and, through them, John Wesley.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":"pietist","branchLabel":"Pietism"},{"id":"brother-lawrence","year":1692,"yearLabel":"1692","era":"revival","title":"The Practice of the Presence of God","note":"The conversations and letters of Brother Lawrence, a lay brother who worked in a Paris monastery kitchen, are published after his death.","works":[{"slug":"practice-of-the-presence-of-god","title":"The Practice of the Presence of God","url":"/works/practice-of-the-presence-of-god/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"brother-lawrence","name":"Brother Lawrence","url":"/great-lives/brother-lawrence/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"amish","year":1693,"yearLabel":"1693","era":"revival","title":"The Amish","note":"Jakob Ammann leads a group that separates from the Swiss Brethren over church discipline. His followers, the Amish, later settle in Pennsylvania.","works":[{"slug":"wisconsin-v-yoder","title":"Wisconsin v. Yoder","url":"/works/wisconsin-v-yoder/"}],"lives":[],"branch":"amish","branchLabel":"Amish"},{"id":"watts","year":1707,"yearLabel":"1707","era":"revival","title":"Isaac Watts’s hymns","note":"Isaac Watts, an English Congregationalist minister, publishes Hymns and Spiritual Songs. His hymns, such as When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, help change church singing in English from metrical psalms to new hymns.","works":[{"slug":"watts-hymns-and-spiritual-songs","title":"Hymns and Spiritual Songs","url":"/works/watts-hymns-and-spiritual-songs/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"isaac-watts","name":"Isaac Watts","url":"/great-lives/isaac-watts/"}],"branch":"congregational","branchLabel":"Congregationalists"},{"id":"herrnhut","year":1727,"yearLabel":"1727","era":"revival","title":"The Moravian renewal at Herrnhut","note":"Refugees descended from the old Unity of the Brethren settle on Count Zinzendorf’s estate at Herrnhut in Saxony. After a renewal in 1727 they begin sending missionaries around the world.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":"moravian","branchLabel":"Moravian Church (Unity of the Brethren)"},{"id":"aldersgate","year":1738,"yearLabel":"1738","era":"revival","title":"John Wesley and the Methodists","note":"On 24 May 1738 John Wesley, an Anglican priest, feels his “heart strangely warmed” at a meeting in Aldersgate Street, London. He and his brother Charles organize Methodist societies inside the Church of England.","works":[{"slug":"wesley-sermons-and-primitive-physick","title":"Sermons on Several Occasions and Primitive Physick","url":"/works/wesley-sermons-and-primitive-physick/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-wesley","name":"John Wesley","url":"/great-lives/john-wesley/"},{"slug":"george-whitefield","name":"George Whitefield","url":"/great-lives/george-whitefield/"},{"slug":"charles-wesley","name":"Charles Wesley","url":"/great-lives/charles-wesley/"}],"branch":"methodist","branchLabel":"Methodists"},{"id":"awakening","year":1740,"yearLabel":"1734–1745","era":"revival","title":"The Great Awakening","note":"Revivals spread through the American colonies and Britain. Jonathan Edwards preaches “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in 1741, and George Whitefield preaches to huge outdoor crowds on both sides of the Atlantic.","works":[{"slug":"sinners-and-the-surprising-work-of-god","title":"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God and A Faithful Narrative","url":"/works/sinners-and-the-surprising-work-of-god/"},{"slug":"whitefield-selected-sermons","title":"Selected Sermons","url":"/works/whitefield-selected-sermons/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"jonathan-edwards","name":"Jonathan Edwards","url":"/great-lives/jonathan-edwards/"},{"slug":"george-whitefield","name":"George Whitefield","url":"/great-lives/george-whitefield/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"handel-bach","year":1742,"yearLabel":"1720s–1742","era":"revival","title":"Bach’s Passions and Handel’s Messiah","note":"Johann Sebastian Bach, a Lutheran church musician in Leipzig, composes the St John and St Matthew Passions in the 1720s. Handel’s oratorio Messiah, with words from Scripture, is first performed in Dublin in 1742.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"johann-sebastian-bach","name":"Johann Sebastian Bach","url":"/great-lives/johann-sebastian-bach/"},{"slug":"george-frideric-handel","name":"George Frideric Handel","url":"/great-lives/george-frideric-handel/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"olney","year":1779,"yearLabel":"1779","era":"revival","title":"John Newton and the Olney Hymns","note":"John Newton, a former slave-ship captain who became an Anglican clergyman, publishes the Olney Hymns with the poet William Cowper. The collection includes Amazing Grace. Newton later writes against the slave trade.","works":[{"slug":"olney-hymns","title":"Olney Hymns","url":"/works/olney-hymns/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-newton","name":"John Newton","url":"/great-lives/john-newton/"}],"branch":"anglican","branchLabel":"Anglican churches"},{"id":"methodist-1784","year":1784,"yearLabel":"1784","era":"revival","title":"The Methodist Episcopal Church","note":"After American independence, Methodist preachers meet in Baltimore at the Christmas Conference and organize the Methodist Episcopal Church, with Francis Asbury as a leader.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":"methodist","branchLabel":"Methodists"},{"id":"religious-freedom","year":1786,"yearLabel":"1786–1791","era":"revival","title":"Religious freedom in America","note":"Virginia passes Jefferson’s Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786, and the First Amendment (1791) forbids Congress to establish a religion. The American Episcopal Church organizes in 1789.","works":[{"slug":"virginia-statute-for-religious-freedom","title":"The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom","url":"/works/virginia-statute-for-religious-freedom/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"thomas-jefferson","name":"Thomas Jefferson","url":"/great-lives/thomas-jefferson/"}],"branch":"episcopal","branchLabel":"Episcopal Church (United States)"},{"id":"black-church","year":1787,"yearLabel":"1787–1816","era":"revival","title":"Richard Allen, Absalom Jones and the Black church","note":"Richard Allen and Absalom Jones found the Free African Society in Philadelphia in 1787. Jones becomes the first Black Episcopal priest, and Allen founds Bethel Church, which becomes the mother church of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in 1816.","works":[{"slug":"early-black-church-sermons","title":"Early Black Church Sermons and Addresses","url":"/works/early-black-church-sermons/"},{"slug":"narrative-of-yellow-fever-1793","title":"A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Black People During the Late Awful Calamity in Philadelphia","url":"/works/narrative-of-yellow-fever-1793/"},{"slug":"allen-life-experience-and-gospel-labours","title":"The Life, Experience, and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen","url":"/works/allen-life-experience-and-gospel-labours/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"absalom-jones","name":"Absalom Jones","url":"/great-lives/absalom-jones/"},{"slug":"richard-allen","name":"Richard Allen","url":"/great-lives/richard-allen/"}],"branch":"ame","branchLabel":"African Methodist Episcopal churches"},{"id":"carey","year":1792,"yearLabel":"1792","era":"revival","title":"William Carey and the modern missions movement","note":"William Carey, an English Baptist shoemaker and pastor, helps found the Baptist Missionary Society and sails for India in 1793. Many new mission societies follow; the Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone later travels across Africa for the London Missionary Society.","works":[{"slug":"carey-enquiry","title":"An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens","url":"/works/carey-enquiry/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"david-livingstone","name":"David Livingstone","url":"/great-lives/david-livingstone/"},{"slug":"william-carey","name":"William Carey","url":"/great-lives/william-carey/"}],"branch":"baptist","branchLabel":"Baptists"},{"id":"second-awakening","year":1801,"yearLabel":"1801–1835","era":"revival","title":"The Second Great Awakening","note":"A great camp meeting at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, in 1801 begins a wave of American revivals. Charles Finney becomes the best-known revival preacher; Methodists and Baptists grow rapidly.","works":[{"slug":"lectures-on-revivals-of-religion","title":"Lectures on Revivals of Religion","url":"/works/lectures-on-revivals-of-religion/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"charles-finney","name":"Charles Finney","url":"/great-lives/charles-finney/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"wilberforce","year":1807,"yearLabel":"1807–1833","era":"revival","title":"Christians against the slave trade","note":"William Wilberforce, an evangelical member of Parliament, leads the campaign that ends Britain’s slave trade in 1807; slavery is abolished in most of the British Empire in 1833. Quakers such as John Woolman had spoken out earlier.","works":[{"slug":"journal-of-john-woolman","title":"The Journal of John Woolman","url":"/works/journal-of-john-woolman/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"william-wilberforce","name":"William Wilberforce","url":"/great-lives/william-wilberforce/"},{"slug":"john-woolman","name":"John Woolman","url":"/great-lives/john-woolman/"},{"slug":"john-newton","name":"John Newton","url":"/great-lives/john-newton/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"lds","year":1830,"yearLabel":"1830","era":"revival","title":"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints","note":"Joseph Smith organizes a church in New York State in 1830, teaching that the church founded by Jesus had been lost and was being restored. Its members follow the Book of Mormon along with the Bible. It does not accept the creeds of Nicaea and Chalcedon.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":"latter-day-saints","branchLabel":"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints"},{"id":"stone-campbell","year":1832,"yearLabel":"1832","era":"revival","title":"The Stone-Campbell movement","note":"Followers of Barton Stone and of Thomas and Alexander Campbell, who wanted to restore the simple pattern of the New Testament church, unite in 1832. Their movement gives rise to the Churches of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":"stone-campbell","branchLabel":"Stone-Campbell (Restoration) churches"},{"id":"oxford-movement","year":1833,"yearLabel":"1833–1845","era":"revival","title":"The Oxford Movement","note":"Anglican clergy at Oxford, among them John Keble and John Henry Newman, call the Church of England back to its ancient and Catholic roots. Newman becomes a Catholic in 1845 and later a cardinal.","works":[{"slug":"apologia-pro-vita-sua","title":"Apologia Pro Vita Sua","url":"/works/apologia-pro-vita-sua/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-henry-newman","name":"John Henry Newman","url":"/great-lives/john-henry-newman/"}],"branch":"anglican","branchLabel":"Anglican churches"},{"id":"douglass","year":1845,"yearLabel":"1845","era":"revival","title":"Frederick Douglass’s Narrative","note":"The formerly enslaved Frederick Douglass, a licensed preacher in the AME Zion Church, publishes his Narrative and contrasts the Christianity of Christ with the religion of slaveholders. In 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe, daughter of the preacher Lyman Beecher, publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin.","works":[{"slug":"narrative-and-fourth-of-july","title":"Narrative of the Life and What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?","url":"/works/narrative-and-fourth-of-july/"},{"slug":"uncle-toms-cabin","title":"Uncle Tom's Cabin","url":"/works/uncle-toms-cabin/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"frederick-douglass","name":"Frederick Douglass","url":"/great-lives/frederick-douglass/"},{"slug":"harriet-beecher-stowe","name":"Harriet Beecher Stowe","url":"/great-lives/harriet-beecher-stowe/"},{"slug":"harriet-tubman","name":"Harriet Tubman","url":"/great-lives/harriet-tubman/"}],"branch":"ame","branchLabel":"African Methodist Episcopal churches"},{"id":"spurgeon","year":1854,"yearLabel":"1854","era":"revival","title":"Charles Spurgeon in London","note":"Charles Spurgeon becomes pastor of a Baptist church in London at age nineteen. His printed sermons sell around the world.","works":[{"slug":"spurgeon-selected-sermons","title":"Selected Sermons","url":"/works/spurgeon-selected-sermons/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"charles-spurgeon","name":"Charles Spurgeon","url":"/great-lives/charles-spurgeon/"}],"branch":"baptist","branchLabel":"Baptists"},{"id":"adventists","year":1863,"yearLabel":"1863","era":"revival","title":"The Seventh-day Adventist Church","note":"Some who had followed William Miller’s predictions of Christ’s return organize the Seventh-day Adventist Church at Battle Creek, Michigan. They keep Saturday as the Sabbath.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":"adventist","branchLabel":"Seventh-day Adventists"},{"id":"salvation-army","year":1865,"yearLabel":"1865","era":"revival","title":"The Salvation Army","note":"William and Catherine Booth, former Methodists, begin a mission in the East End of London. It takes the name Salvation Army in 1878 and becomes known for its work among the poor.","works":[{"slug":"booth-in-darkest-england","title":"In Darkest England and the Way Out","url":"/works/booth-in-darkest-england/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"william-and-catherine-booth","name":"William and Catherine Booth","url":"/great-lives/william-and-catherine-booth/"}],"branch":"salvation-army","branchLabel":"The Salvation Army"},{"id":"vatican-1","year":1870,"yearLabel":"1869–1870","era":"revival","title":"The First Vatican Council","note":"The Catholic Church defines that the pope is kept from error when he formally defines a teaching on faith or morals. Some Catholics in Germany, Switzerland and Austria who reject this form the Old Catholic churches.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":"old-catholic","branchLabel":"Old Catholic churches"},{"id":"moody","year":1873,"yearLabel":"1870s","era":"revival","title":"Dwight L. Moody’s campaigns","note":"The Chicago evangelist Dwight L. Moody leads preaching campaigns in Britain and America and founds schools, including what became the Moody Bible Institute.","works":[{"slug":"moody-selected-sermons","title":"Selected Sermons","url":"/works/moody-selected-sermons/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"dwight-l-moody","name":"Dwight L. Moody","url":"/great-lives/dwight-l-moody/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"jw","year":1879,"yearLabel":"1870s","era":"revival","title":"The Bible Student movement","note":"Charles Taze Russell leads a Bible study group in Pennsylvania and begins publishing Zion’s Watch Tower in 1879. A branch of this movement takes the name Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1931. Like the Latter-day Saints, it does not accept the doctrine of the Trinity.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":"jehovahs-witnesses","branchLabel":"Jehovah’s Witnesses"},{"id":"kuyper","year":1880,"yearLabel":"1880","era":"revival","title":"Abraham Kuyper and the Free University","note":"Abraham Kuyper, a Dutch Reformed pastor, journalist and later prime minister, founds the Free University of Amsterdam, teaching that Christ claims every sphere of life.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"abraham-kuyper","name":"Abraham Kuyper","url":"/great-lives/abraham-kuyper/"}],"branch":"reformed","branchLabel":"Reformed churches"},{"id":"rerum","year":1891,"yearLabel":"1891","era":"revival","title":"Rerum Novarum","note":"Pope Leo XIII’s letter on capital and labor defends private property and the rights of workers. It begins modern Catholic social teaching.","works":[{"slug":"rerum-novarum","title":"Rerum Novarum","url":"/works/rerum-novarum/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"pope-leo-xiii","name":"Pope Leo XIII","url":"/great-lives/pope-leo-xiii/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"therese","year":1897,"yearLabel":"1897","era":"revival","title":"Thérèse of Lisieux","note":"Thérèse, a young Carmelite nun in France, dies at twenty-four. Her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, describes her “little way” of doing small things with great love and is read around the world. She is declared a saint in 1925.","works":[{"slug":"story-of-a-soul","title":"The Story of a Soul","url":"/works/story-of-a-soul/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"therese-of-lisieux","name":"Thérèse of Lisieux","url":"/great-lives/therese-of-lisieux/"}],"branch":"catholic","branchLabel":"Roman Catholic Church"},{"id":"azusa","year":1906,"yearLabel":"1901–1906","era":"modern","title":"The beginnings of Pentecostalism","note":"At Charles Parham’s Bible school in Topeka, Kansas, students report speaking in tongues on 1 January 1901. In 1906 the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles, led by the Black preacher William J. Seymour, draws visitors from around the world.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"william-j-seymour","name":"William J. Seymour","url":"/great-lives/william-j-seymour/"}],"branch":"pentecostal","branchLabel":"Pentecostal churches"},{"id":"seymour","year":1906,"yearLabel":"1906","era":"modern","title":"William J. Seymour at Azusa Street","note":"William J. Seymour, an African American preacher, leads the meetings at 312 Azusa Street in Los Angeles, where people of many races worship together. Visitors carry the Pentecostal movement around the world.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"william-j-seymour","name":"William J. Seymour","url":"/great-lives/william-j-seymour/"}],"branch":"pentecostal","branchLabel":"Pentecostal churches"},{"id":"chesterton","year":1908,"yearLabel":"1908–1952","era":"modern","title":"Chesterton, Lewis and Tolkien","note":"G. K. Chesterton publishes Orthodoxy in 1908 and becomes a Catholic in 1922. C. S. Lewis, an Anglican, gives the wartime radio talks later published as Mere Christianity. His friend J. R. R. Tolkien, a Catholic, writes The Lord of the Rings.","works":[{"slug":"chesterton-orthodoxy","title":"Orthodoxy","url":"/works/chesterton-orthodoxy/"},{"slug":"mere-christianity","title":"Mere Christianity","url":"/works/mere-christianity/"},{"slug":"the-screwtape-letters","title":"The Screwtape Letters","url":"/works/the-screwtape-letters/"},{"slug":"the-lion-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe","title":"The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe","url":"/works/the-lion-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe/"},{"slug":"the-lord-of-the-rings","title":"The Lord of the Rings","url":"/works/the-lord-of-the-rings/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"g-k-chesterton","name":"G. K. Chesterton","url":"/great-lives/g-k-chesterton/"},{"slug":"c-s-lewis","name":"C. S. Lewis","url":"/great-lives/c-s-lewis/"},{"slug":"j-r-r-tolkien","name":"J. R. R. Tolkien","url":"/great-lives/j-r-r-tolkien/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"edinburgh","year":1910,"yearLabel":"1910","era":"modern","title":"The Edinburgh Missionary Conference","note":"Protestant mission leaders from many churches meet in Edinburgh. The conference is often taken as the start of the modern ecumenical movement, which seeks cooperation and unity among churches.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":null},{"id":"aog","year":1914,"yearLabel":"1914","era":"modern","title":"The Assemblies of God","note":"Pentecostal ministers meet at Hot Springs, Arkansas, and form the Assemblies of God, which grows into one of the largest Pentecostal bodies in the world.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":"assemblies-of-god","branchLabel":"Assemblies of God"},{"id":"barmen","year":1934,"yearLabel":"1934–1945","era":"modern","title":"The Confessing Church in Germany","note":"German Protestants who refuse Nazi control of the church issue the Barmen Declaration in 1934. Dietrich Bonhoeffer teaches in the Confessing Church; he is arrested and executed in April 1945. In the Netherlands, Corrie ten Boom’s family hides Jews from the Nazis.","works":[{"slug":"the-cost-of-discipleship","title":"The Cost of Discipleship","url":"/works/the-cost-of-discipleship/"},{"slug":"letters-and-papers-from-prison","title":"Letters and Papers from Prison","url":"/works/letters-and-papers-from-prison/"},{"slug":"metaxas-bonhoeffer","title":"Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy","url":"/works/metaxas-bonhoeffer/"},{"slug":"the-hiding-place","title":"The Hiding Place","url":"/works/the-hiding-place/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"dietrich-bonhoeffer","name":"Dietrich Bonhoeffer","url":"/great-lives/dietrich-bonhoeffer/"},{"slug":"corrie-ten-boom","name":"Corrie ten Boom","url":"/great-lives/corrie-ten-boom/"}],"branch":"lutheran","branchLabel":"Lutheran churches"},{"id":"wcc","year":1948,"yearLabel":"1948","era":"modern","title":"The World Council of Churches","note":"Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox churches form the World Council of Churches at Amsterdam to work together. The Catholic Church is not a member but later works alongside it.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":null},{"id":"auca","year":1956,"yearLabel":"1956","era":"modern","title":"Missionaries in Ecuador","note":"Five American missionaries are killed while trying to contact the Waorani people of Ecuador. Elisabeth Elliot, the widow of one of them, later lives among the Waorani and tells the story in Through Gates of Splendor.","works":[{"slug":"through-gates-of-splendor","title":"Through Gates of Splendor","url":"/works/through-gates-of-splendor/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"elisabeth-elliot","name":"Elisabeth Elliot","url":"/great-lives/elisabeth-elliot/"}],"branch":null},{"id":"charismatic","year":1960,"yearLabel":"1960–1967","era":"modern","title":"The charismatic renewal","note":"Pentecostal-style worship spreads into older churches: an Episcopal parish in California in 1960, and Catholic students at Duquesne University in 1967.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":"charismatic","branchLabel":"Charismatic renewal"},{"id":"vatican-2","year":1962,"yearLabel":"1962–1965","era":"modern","title":"The Second Vatican Council","note":"Catholic bishops from around the world meet in Rome. The council allows the Mass in local languages, encourages Bible reading and dialogue with other Christians, and declares the right to religious freedom.","works":[{"slug":"dignitatis-humanae","title":"Dignitatis Humanae","url":"/works/dignitatis-humanae/"},{"slug":"we-hold-these-truths","title":"We Hold These Truths","url":"/works/we-hold-these-truths/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-courtney-murray","name":"John Courtney Murray","url":"/great-lives/john-courtney-murray/"}],"branch":"catholic","branchLabel":"Roman Catholic Church"},{"id":"birmingham","year":1963,"yearLabel":"1963","era":"modern","title":"Letter from Birmingham Jail","note":"Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister, writes from jail to fellow clergymen explaining the civil rights movement’s nonviolent protest, appealing to Scripture and to Augustine and Aquinas.","works":[{"slug":"sermons-and-letter-from-birmingham-jail","title":"Sermons and Letter from Birmingham Jail","url":"/works/sermons-and-letter-from-birmingham-jail/"},{"slug":"i-have-a-dream","title":"I Have a Dream","url":"/works/i-have-a-dream/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"martin-luther-king-jr","name":"Martin Luther King Jr.","url":"/great-lives/martin-luther-king-jr/"}],"branch":"baptist","branchLabel":"Baptists"},{"id":"lifted-1965","year":1965,"yearLabel":"1965","era":"modern","title":"The excommunications of 1054 lifted","note":"On 7 December 1965 Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople lift the mutual excommunications of 1054. The two churches remain separate but begin a formal dialogue.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":"eastern-orthodox","branchLabel":"Eastern Orthodox Church"},{"id":"john-paul","year":1978,"yearLabel":"1978–2005","era":"modern","title":"John Paul II","note":"Karol Wojtyła of Poland becomes Pope John Paul II, the first non-Italian pope in over four centuries. He travels widely and writes encyclicals such as Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason).","works":[{"slug":"centesimus-annus","title":"Centesimus Annus","url":"/works/centesimus-annus/"},{"slug":"fides-et-ratio","title":"Fides et Ratio","url":"/works/fides-et-ratio/"},{"slug":"evangelium-vitae","title":"Evangelium Vitae","url":"/works/evangelium-vitae/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-paul-ii","name":"John Paul II","url":"/great-lives/john-paul-ii/"}],"branch":"catholic","branchLabel":"Roman Catholic Church"},{"id":"jddj","year":1999,"yearLabel":"1999","era":"modern","title":"Lutherans and Catholics on justification","note":"On 31 October 1999 the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church sign a Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, stating a shared basic understanding of the question that divided them in the Reformation.","works":[],"lives":[],"branch":"lutheran","branchLabel":"Lutheran churches"},{"id":"regensburg","year":2006,"yearLabel":"2006","era":"modern","title":"Benedict XVI on faith and reason","note":"Pope Benedict XVI gives a lecture at the University of Regensburg on faith, reason and the Greek roots of Christian thought.","works":[{"slug":"regensburg-lecture","title":"Regensburg Lecture","url":"/works/regensburg-lecture/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"benedict-xvi","name":"Pope Benedict XVI","url":"/great-lives/benedict-xvi/"}],"branch":"catholic","branchLabel":"Roman Catholic Church"}],"tree":[{"id":"apostolic","parent":null,"label":"The apostolic church","yearLabel":"c. 30","year":30,"note":"The first Christians in Jerusalem and the churches founded by the apostles across the Roman world and beyond. All the churches below trace their story back to them.","works":[{"slug":"the-bible","title":"The Bible","url":"/works/the-bible/"},{"slug":"early-christian-writings","title":"Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers","url":"/works/early-christian-writings/"},{"slug":"shelley-church-history-in-plain-language","title":"Church History in Plain Language","url":"/works/shelley-church-history-in-plain-language/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"ignatius-of-antioch","name":"Ignatius of Antioch","url":"/great-lives/ignatius-of-antioch/"},{"slug":"irenaeus","name":"Irenaeus of Lyon","url":"/great-lives/irenaeus/"},{"slug":"apostle-peter","name":"Peter the Apostle","url":"/great-lives/apostle-peter/"},{"slug":"apostle-paul","name":"Paul the Apostle","url":"/great-lives/apostle-paul/"}],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"church-of-the-east","parent":"apostolic","label":"Church of the East","yearLabel":"after 431","year":431,"note":"Christians in the Persian Empire who did not accept the Council of Ephesus. Their missionaries reached India, Central Asia and China. Today’s Assyrian Church of the East continues this tradition.","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"oriental-orthodox","parent":"apostolic","label":"Oriental Orthodox churches","yearLabel":"after 451","year":451,"note":"Churches that did not accept the Council of Chalcedon. They describe Christ as having one united divine-human nature and reject the old label “Monophysite.” They are in communion with each other but not with the Eastern Orthodox or Catholic churches.","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"coptic","parent":"oriental-orthodox","label":"Coptic Orthodox Church","yearLabel":"1st–5th c.","year":451,"note":"The church of Egypt, which traces its founding to the evangelist Mark in Alexandria. Its patriarch is called the Pope of Alexandria.","works":[{"slug":"early-christian-lives","title":"Early Christian Lives","url":"/works/early-christian-lives/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"athanasius","name":"Athanasius of Alexandria","url":"/great-lives/athanasius/"}],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"ethiopian","parent":"coptic","label":"Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church","yearLabel":"4th c.; independent 1959","year":1959,"note":"Christianity reached the kingdom of Aksum in the 300s. The Ethiopian church was led by bishops sent from Egypt until it gained its own patriarch in 1959.","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"syriac","parent":"oriental-orthodox","label":"Syriac Orthodox Church","yearLabel":"6th c.","year":451,"note":"The church of Antioch and the Syriac-speaking Christians of the Middle East, who worship in Syriac, a form of Aramaic. Many Christians in India (the Malankara churches) are linked to it.","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"armenian","parent":"oriental-orthodox","label":"Armenian Apostolic Church","yearLabel":"c. 301","year":301,"note":"Armenia became a Christian kingdom by tradition in 301. Its own alphabet was created about 405 so the Bible could be translated into Armenian.","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"imperial","parent":"apostolic","label":"The undivided church of the councils","yearLabel":"325–1054","year":325,"note":"The churches that accepted the councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus and Chalcedon, led by the bishops of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. East and West grew apart until the break of 1054.","works":[{"slug":"early-christian-creeds","title":"The Early Christian Creeds","url":"/works/early-christian-creeds/"},{"slug":"confessions","title":"Confessions","url":"/works/confessions/"},{"slug":"the-rule-of-st-benedict","title":"The Rule of St Benedict","url":"/works/the-rule-of-st-benedict/"},{"slug":"irenaeus-against-heresies","title":"Against Heresies","url":"/works/irenaeus-against-heresies/"},{"slug":"athanasius-on-the-incarnation","title":"On the Incarnation of the Word","url":"/works/athanasius-on-the-incarnation/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"athanasius","name":"Athanasius of Alexandria","url":"/great-lives/athanasius/"},{"slug":"augustine-of-hippo","name":"Augustine of Hippo","url":"/great-lives/augustine-of-hippo/"},{"slug":"john-chrysostom","name":"John Chrysostom","url":"/great-lives/john-chrysostom/"},{"slug":"basil-the-great","name":"Basil the Great","url":"/great-lives/basil-the-great/"},{"slug":"gregory-the-great","name":"Gregory the Great","url":"/great-lives/gregory-the-great/"}],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"eastern-orthodox","parent":"imperial","label":"Eastern Orthodox Church","yearLabel":"1054","year":1054,"note":"A communion of self-governing churches, among them those of Constantinople, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Georgia, sharing the Byzantine liturgy and the seven ecumenical councils. The patriarch of Constantinople has a primacy of honor.","works":[{"slug":"herrin-byzantium","title":"Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire","url":"/works/herrin-byzantium/"},{"slug":"the-brothers-karamazov","title":"The Brothers Karamazov","url":"/works/the-brothers-karamazov/"},{"slug":"john-of-damascus-exact-exposition","title":"An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith","url":"/works/john-of-damascus-exact-exposition/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"fyodor-dostoevsky","name":"Fyodor Dostoevsky","url":"/great-lives/fyodor-dostoevsky/"},{"slug":"john-of-damascus","name":"John of Damascus","url":"/great-lives/john-of-damascus/"},{"slug":"cyril-and-methodius","name":"Cyril and Methodius","url":"/great-lives/cyril-and-methodius/"}],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"catholic","parent":"imperial","label":"Roman Catholic Church","yearLabel":"1054","year":1054,"note":"The church in communion with the bishop of Rome, the pope. It is the largest Christian church in the world.","works":[{"slug":"summa-theologica","title":"Summa Theologica","url":"/works/summa-theologica/"},{"slug":"the-divine-comedy","title":"The Divine Comedy","url":"/works/the-divine-comedy/"},{"slug":"story-of-a-soul","title":"The Story of a Soul","url":"/works/story-of-a-soul/"},{"slug":"rerum-novarum","title":"Rerum Novarum","url":"/works/rerum-novarum/"},{"slug":"dignitatis-humanae","title":"Dignitatis Humanae","url":"/works/dignitatis-humanae/"},{"slug":"imitation-of-christ","title":"The Imitation of Christ","url":"/works/imitation-of-christ/"},{"slug":"dark-night-of-the-soul","title":"The Dark Night of the Soul","url":"/works/dark-night-of-the-soul/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"thomas-aquinas","name":"Thomas Aquinas","url":"/great-lives/thomas-aquinas/"},{"slug":"francis-of-assisi","name":"Francis of Assisi","url":"/great-lives/francis-of-assisi/"},{"slug":"thomas-more","name":"Thomas More","url":"/great-lives/thomas-more/"},{"slug":"ignatius-of-loyola","name":"Ignatius of Loyola","url":"/great-lives/ignatius-of-loyola/"},{"slug":"teresa-of-avila","name":"Teresa of Ávila","url":"/great-lives/teresa-of-avila/"},{"slug":"john-henry-newman","name":"John Henry Newman","url":"/great-lives/john-henry-newman/"},{"slug":"john-paul-ii","name":"John Paul II","url":"/great-lives/john-paul-ii/"},{"slug":"therese-of-lisieux","name":"Thérèse of Lisieux","url":"/great-lives/therese-of-lisieux/"},{"slug":"pope-leo-xiii","name":"Pope Leo XIII","url":"/great-lives/pope-leo-xiii/"}],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"eastern-catholic","parent":"catholic","label":"Eastern Catholic churches","yearLabel":"various, e.g. 1596","year":1596,"note":"Churches with Eastern liturgies that are in communion with Rome, such as the Maronite, Melkite and Ukrainian Greek Catholic churches. The Union of Brest (1596) brought many Ukrainian and Belarusian Orthodox into union with Rome.","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"old-catholic","parent":"catholic","label":"Old Catholic churches","yearLabel":"1870s","year":1870,"note":"Catholics in Germany, Switzerland and Austria who did not accept the First Vatican Council’s teaching on the pope. They joined with the older church of Utrecht in the Union of Utrecht (1889).","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"waldensian","parent":"catholic","label":"Waldensians","yearLabel":"c. 1173","year":1173,"note":"Followers of Valdes of Lyon, who preached poverty and the Bible in the common language. They survived in the Alps and joined the Reformed churches in 1532.","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"moravian","parent":"catholic","label":"Moravian Church (Unity of the Brethren)","yearLabel":"1457; renewed 1727","year":1457,"note":"Grew from the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia. Renewed at Herrnhut in 1727, it became one of the first Protestant churches to send missionaries around the world.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"jan-hus","name":"Jan Hus","url":"/great-lives/jan-hus/"}],"alsoFrom":["pietist"]},{"id":"protestant","parent":"catholic","label":"The Protestant Reformation","yearLabel":"1517","year":1517,"note":"Reformers who taught that Scripture is the highest authority and that people are made right with God by grace through faith. Their movements formed several new families of churches.","works":[{"slug":"luther-selected-sermons-and-treatises","title":"Selected Sermons and Reformation Treatises","url":"/works/luther-selected-sermons-and-treatises/"},{"slug":"calvin-institutes","title":"Institutes of the Christian Religion","url":"/works/calvin-institutes/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"martin-luther","name":"Martin Luther","url":"/great-lives/martin-luther/"},{"slug":"john-calvin","name":"John Calvin","url":"/great-lives/john-calvin/"},{"slug":"william-tyndale","name":"William Tyndale","url":"/great-lives/william-tyndale/"}],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"lutheran","parent":"protestant","label":"Lutheran churches","yearLabel":"1517; Augsburg Confession 1530","year":1517,"note":"Churches following Martin Luther’s teaching, set out in the Augsburg Confession. They became the national churches of much of Germany and of Scandinavia.","works":[{"slug":"luther-selected-sermons-and-treatises","title":"Selected Sermons and Reformation Treatises","url":"/works/luther-selected-sermons-and-treatises/"},{"slug":"luther-bondage-of-the-will","title":"The Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio)","url":"/works/luther-bondage-of-the-will/"},{"slug":"the-cost-of-discipleship","title":"The Cost of Discipleship","url":"/works/the-cost-of-discipleship/"},{"slug":"fear-and-trembling","title":"Fear and Trembling","url":"/works/fear-and-trembling/"},{"slug":"augsburg-confession","title":"The Augsburg Confession","url":"/works/augsburg-confession/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"martin-luther","name":"Martin Luther","url":"/great-lives/martin-luther/"},{"slug":"johann-sebastian-bach","name":"Johann Sebastian Bach","url":"/great-lives/johann-sebastian-bach/"},{"slug":"dietrich-bonhoeffer","name":"Dietrich Bonhoeffer","url":"/great-lives/dietrich-bonhoeffer/"},{"slug":"soren-kierkegaard","name":"Søren Kierkegaard","url":"/great-lives/soren-kierkegaard/"},{"slug":"philip-melanchthon","name":"Philip Melanchthon","url":"/great-lives/philip-melanchthon/"}],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"pietist","parent":"lutheran","label":"Pietism","yearLabel":"1675","year":1675,"note":"A movement within Lutheranism stressing Bible study, prayer groups and a personal, practical faith. It shaped the Moravians and the early Methodists.","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"reformed","parent":"protestant","label":"Reformed churches","yearLabel":"1523","year":1523,"note":"Churches shaped by Zwingli, Calvin and their successors, with confessions such as the Heidelberg Catechism. They spread from Switzerland to France, the Netherlands, Hungary, Scotland and beyond.","works":[{"slug":"calvin-institutes","title":"Institutes of the Christian Religion","url":"/works/calvin-institutes/"},{"slug":"calvin-selected-sermons","title":"Selected Sermons","url":"/works/calvin-selected-sermons/"},{"slug":"weber-the-protestant-ethic-and-the-spirit-of-capitalism","title":"The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism","url":"/works/weber-the-protestant-ethic-and-the-spirit-of-capitalism/"},{"slug":"tawney-religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism","title":"Religion and the Rise of Capitalism","url":"/works/tawney-religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism/"},{"slug":"heidelberg-catechism","title":"The Heidelberg Catechism","url":"/works/heidelberg-catechism/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"huldrych-zwingli","name":"Huldrych Zwingli","url":"/great-lives/huldrych-zwingli/"},{"slug":"john-calvin","name":"John Calvin","url":"/great-lives/john-calvin/"},{"slug":"abraham-kuyper","name":"Abraham Kuyper","url":"/great-lives/abraham-kuyper/"}],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"presbyterian","parent":"reformed","label":"Presbyterian churches","yearLabel":"1560","year":1560,"note":"Reformed churches governed by elders (presbyters) meeting in local sessions, regional presbyteries and general assemblies. Their standards are the Westminster Confession and Catechisms.","works":[{"slug":"westminster-shorter-catechism","title":"The Westminster Shorter Catechism","url":"/works/westminster-shorter-catechism/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-knox","name":"John Knox","url":"/great-lives/john-knox/"}],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"congregational","parent":"reformed","label":"Congregationalists","yearLabel":"c. 1580s–1620","year":1620,"note":"English Puritans and Separatists who held that each local congregation governs itself. They founded the churches of New England. Many later joined the United Church of Christ (1957).","works":[{"slug":"mayflower-compact","title":"The Mayflower Compact","url":"/works/mayflower-compact/"},{"slug":"a-model-of-christian-charity","title":"A Model of Christian Charity","url":"/works/a-model-of-christian-charity/"},{"slug":"sinners-and-the-surprising-work-of-god","title":"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God and A Faithful Narrative","url":"/works/sinners-and-the-surprising-work-of-god/"},{"slug":"watts-hymns-and-spiritual-songs","title":"Hymns and Spiritual Songs","url":"/works/watts-hymns-and-spiritual-songs/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-winthrop","name":"John Winthrop","url":"/great-lives/john-winthrop/"},{"slug":"jonathan-edwards","name":"Jonathan Edwards","url":"/great-lives/jonathan-edwards/"},{"slug":"isaac-watts","name":"Isaac Watts","url":"/great-lives/isaac-watts/"}],"alsoFrom":["anglican"]},{"id":"stone-campbell","parent":"presbyterian","label":"Stone-Campbell (Restoration) churches","yearLabel":"1832","year":1832,"note":"A movement on the American frontier, begun by former Presbyterians, that sought to restore the New Testament church without creeds. It produced the Churches of Christ, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the independent Christian Churches.","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":["baptist"]},{"id":"anglican","parent":"protestant","label":"Anglican churches","yearLabel":"1534","year":1534,"note":"The Church of England and the churches descended from it around the world, which keep bishops and the Book of Common Prayer and accept Reformation teaching in the Thirty-Nine Articles.","works":[{"slug":"hooker-laws-of-ecclesiastical-polity","title":"Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (Preface and Book I)","url":"/works/hooker-laws-of-ecclesiastical-polity/"},{"slug":"donne-sermons-and-devotions","title":"Sermons and Devotions upon Emergent Occasions","url":"/works/donne-sermons-and-devotions/"},{"slug":"the-collar","title":"The Collar","url":"/works/the-collar/"},{"slug":"mere-christianity","title":"Mere Christianity","url":"/works/mere-christianity/"},{"slug":"book-of-common-prayer-1662","title":"The Book of Common Prayer (1662): Selections","url":"/works/book-of-common-prayer-1662/"},{"slug":"foxe-book-of-martyrs","title":"Foxe's Book of Martyrs","url":"/works/foxe-book-of-martyrs/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"henry-viii","name":"Henry VIII","url":"/great-lives/henry-viii/"},{"slug":"hugh-latimer","name":"Hugh Latimer","url":"/great-lives/hugh-latimer/"},{"slug":"john-donne","name":"John Donne","url":"/great-lives/john-donne/"},{"slug":"george-herbert","name":"George Herbert","url":"/great-lives/george-herbert/"},{"slug":"c-s-lewis","name":"C. S. Lewis","url":"/great-lives/c-s-lewis/"},{"slug":"richard-hooker","name":"Richard Hooker","url":"/great-lives/richard-hooker/"},{"slug":"thomas-cranmer","name":"Thomas Cranmer","url":"/great-lives/thomas-cranmer/"},{"slug":"john-newton","name":"John Newton","url":"/great-lives/john-newton/"}],"alsoFrom":["reformed"]},{"id":"episcopal","parent":"anglican","label":"Episcopal Church (United States)","yearLabel":"1789","year":1789,"note":"The American branch of the Anglican family, organized after the Revolution. Absalom Jones was ordained its first Black priest in 1804.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"absalom-jones","name":"Absalom Jones","url":"/great-lives/absalom-jones/"}],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"baptist","parent":"congregational","label":"Baptists","yearLabel":"1609","year":1609,"note":"Churches that baptize only believers who confess their faith, usually by immersion, and stress the freedom of each congregation. Large Baptist bodies include the Southern Baptist Convention (1845) and the National Baptist Convention (1895).","works":[{"slug":"the-pilgrims-progress","title":"The Pilgrim's Progress","url":"/works/the-pilgrims-progress/"},{"slug":"spurgeon-selected-sermons","title":"Selected Sermons","url":"/works/spurgeon-selected-sermons/"},{"slug":"sermons-and-letter-from-birmingham-jail","title":"Sermons and Letter from Birmingham Jail","url":"/works/sermons-and-letter-from-birmingham-jail/"},{"slug":"carey-enquiry","title":"An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens","url":"/works/carey-enquiry/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-bunyan","name":"John Bunyan","url":"/great-lives/john-bunyan/"},{"slug":"charles-spurgeon","name":"Charles Spurgeon","url":"/great-lives/charles-spurgeon/"},{"slug":"martin-luther-king-jr","name":"Martin Luther King Jr.","url":"/great-lives/martin-luther-king-jr/"},{"slug":"william-carey","name":"William Carey","url":"/great-lives/william-carey/"}],"alsoFrom":["anabaptist"]},{"id":"adventist","parent":"baptist","label":"Seventh-day Adventists","yearLabel":"1863","year":1863,"note":"Grew from the movement around William Miller, a Baptist preacher who predicted Christ’s return. Adventists keep Saturday as the Sabbath and stress healthy living.","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"quaker","parent":"congregational","label":"Quakers (Religious Society of Friends)","yearLabel":"1652","year":1652,"note":"Founded by George Fox in England. Friends worship in silence, waiting on the inward light of Christ, traditionally without clergy or outward sacraments, and are known for plain speech and peace witness.","works":[{"slug":"journal-of-john-woolman","title":"The Journal of John Woolman","url":"/works/journal-of-john-woolman/"},{"slug":"journal-of-george-fox","title":"The Journal of George Fox","url":"/works/journal-of-george-fox/"},{"slug":"penn-no-cross-no-crown","title":"No Cross, No Crown","url":"/works/penn-no-cross-no-crown/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-woolman","name":"John Woolman","url":"/great-lives/john-woolman/"},{"slug":"george-fox","name":"George Fox","url":"/great-lives/george-fox/"},{"slug":"william-penn","name":"William Penn","url":"/great-lives/william-penn/"}],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"anabaptist","parent":"protestant","label":"Anabaptists","yearLabel":"1525","year":1525,"note":"The “radical” wing of the Reformation, which baptized adult believers and taught separation of church and state and, for most, refusal to bear arms. Many were persecuted by both Catholics and Protestants.","works":[{"slug":"martyrs-mirror-selections","title":"Martyrs Mirror: Selections","url":"/works/martyrs-mirror-selections/"}],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"mennonite","parent":"anabaptist","label":"Mennonites","yearLabel":"1536","year":1536,"note":"Followers of the Dutch leader Menno Simons, today found around the world.","works":[{"slug":"martyrs-mirror-selections","title":"Martyrs Mirror: Selections","url":"/works/martyrs-mirror-selections/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"menno-simons","name":"Menno Simons","url":"/great-lives/menno-simons/"}],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"amish","parent":"mennonite","label":"Amish","yearLabel":"1693","year":1693,"note":"Followers of Jakob Ammann, who keep a plain way of life apart from much modern technology.","works":[{"slug":"wisconsin-v-yoder","title":"Wisconsin v. Yoder","url":"/works/wisconsin-v-yoder/"}],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"hutterite","parent":"anabaptist","label":"Hutterites","yearLabel":"1530s","year":1530,"note":"Anabaptists named after Jakob Hutter, who live in farming communities and share their property in common.","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"brethren","parent":"anabaptist","label":"Church of the Brethren","yearLabel":"1708","year":1708,"note":"Begun at Schwarzenau in Germany by Alexander Mack, joining Anabaptist and Pietist ideas.","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":["pietist"]},{"id":"methodist","parent":"anglican","label":"Methodists","yearLabel":"1738; American church 1784","year":1738,"note":"Began as a renewal movement inside the Church of England led by John and Charles Wesley, with small classes, hymn singing and field preaching. It became a separate family of churches.","works":[{"slug":"wesley-sermons-and-primitive-physick","title":"Sermons on Several Occasions and Primitive Physick","url":"/works/wesley-sermons-and-primitive-physick/"},{"slug":"whitefield-selected-sermons","title":"Selected Sermons","url":"/works/whitefield-selected-sermons/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-wesley","name":"John Wesley","url":"/great-lives/john-wesley/"},{"slug":"george-whitefield","name":"George Whitefield","url":"/great-lives/george-whitefield/"},{"slug":"charles-wesley","name":"Charles Wesley","url":"/great-lives/charles-wesley/"}],"alsoFrom":["pietist","moravian"]},{"id":"ame","parent":"methodist","label":"African Methodist Episcopal churches","yearLabel":"1816","year":1816,"note":"Founded in Philadelphia by Richard Allen; the AME Zion Church followed in New York in 1821. They are among the oldest Black denominations in the United States.","works":[{"slug":"early-black-church-sermons","title":"Early Black Church Sermons and Addresses","url":"/works/early-black-church-sermons/"},{"slug":"narrative-of-yellow-fever-1793","title":"A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Black People During the Late Awful Calamity in Philadelphia","url":"/works/narrative-of-yellow-fever-1793/"},{"slug":"narrative-and-fourth-of-july","title":"Narrative of the Life and What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?","url":"/works/narrative-and-fourth-of-july/"},{"slug":"allen-life-experience-and-gospel-labours","title":"The Life, Experience, and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen","url":"/works/allen-life-experience-and-gospel-labours/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"absalom-jones","name":"Absalom Jones","url":"/great-lives/absalom-jones/"},{"slug":"frederick-douglass","name":"Frederick Douglass","url":"/great-lives/frederick-douglass/"},{"slug":"richard-allen","name":"Richard Allen","url":"/great-lives/richard-allen/"}],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"holiness","parent":"methodist","label":"Holiness churches","yearLabel":"1860s–1908","year":1860,"note":"Groups that stress Wesley’s teaching on holiness, among them the Free Methodist Church (1860) and the Church of the Nazarene (1908).","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"salvation-army","parent":"methodist","label":"The Salvation Army","yearLabel":"1865","year":1865,"note":"Founded in London by William and Catherine Booth, organized like an army, and known for its work among the poor.","works":[{"slug":"booth-in-darkest-england","title":"In Darkest England and the Way Out","url":"/works/booth-in-darkest-england/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"william-and-catherine-booth","name":"William and Catherine Booth","url":"/great-lives/william-and-catherine-booth/"}],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"pentecostal","parent":"holiness","label":"Pentecostal churches","yearLabel":"1901–1906","year":1906,"note":"Grew from revivals in Topeka and at Azusa Street in Los Angeles. Pentecostals stress the gifts of the Holy Spirit, including speaking in tongues and healing, and are now found worldwide, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"william-j-seymour","name":"William J. Seymour","url":"/great-lives/william-j-seymour/"}],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"assemblies-of-god","parent":"pentecostal","label":"Assemblies of God","yearLabel":"1914","year":1914,"note":"Founded at Hot Springs, Arkansas, and now one of the largest Pentecostal bodies in the world.","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"cogic","parent":"pentecostal","label":"Church of God in Christ","yearLabel":"1897; Pentecostal 1907","year":1907,"note":"Founded by Charles Harrison Mason and Charles Price Jones; Mason led it into the Pentecostal movement after visiting Azusa Street.","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"charismatic","parent":"pentecostal","label":"Charismatic renewal","yearLabel":"1960s","year":1960,"note":"Pentecostal-style worship within older churches, including Anglican, Lutheran and Catholic parishes, rather than a separate denomination.","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":["catholic","anglican"]},{"id":"restorationist","parent":"protestant","label":"Other restorationist movements","yearLabel":"1830–1870s","year":1830,"note":"Nineteenth-century American groups that taught that the original church had been lost and needed to be restored. They are listed here for history; they do not accept the creeds of Nicaea and Chalcedon.","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"latter-day-saints","parent":"restorationist","label":"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints","yearLabel":"1830","year":1830,"note":"Founded by Joseph Smith in New York. Members accept the Book of Mormon alongside the Bible.","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":[]},{"id":"jehovahs-witnesses","parent":"restorationist","label":"Jehovah’s Witnesses","yearLabel":"1870s; named 1931","year":1879,"note":"Grew from the Bible Student movement of Charles Taze Russell; known for door-to-door witnessing.","works":[],"lives":[],"alsoFrom":["adventist"]}]}