Survey of Church History

In this course you will learn the story of the Western Christian Church, with a few side-glances at Christianity in Latin America, Africa and Asia (which of course deserve far more attention). We will survey the principal story-line, and look at some representative Christian heroes (both women and men) who were influential figures then and now. We will see how the Christian movement spread throughout the Roman Empire, and then survived the Western Empire’s collapse in the 400s. Then we will see how Christians gradually converted the Barbarian West (which became modern Western Europe) and built a Christian civilization there. This unified Western Church – under the leadership of Rome – split into warring factions in the Reformation of the 1500s. Nevertheless both Roman Catholics and Protestants reached out to begin evangelizing the world, which culminated in the great missionary movements of the 19th century. Meanwhile back in Europe, secularization began to undercut people’s confidence in the Christian Story. We will conclude the course with a look at Christianity’s eclipse in the West, and its rapid growth in Africa and Asia.

Taught by the Rev. Dr. Les Fairfield