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Fire ravages Rome. Emperor Nero blames Christians and unleashes persecution. |
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Titus destroys Jerusalem and its temple. Separation deepens between Christianity and Judaism.
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Justin Martyr writes his First Apology, advancing Christian efforts to address competing philosophies.
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| Polycarp, an eighty-six-year-old bishop, inspires Christians to stand firm under opposition. |
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Irenaeus becomes bishop of Lyons and combats developing heresies within the Church.
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Colorful and cantankerous Tertullian begins writings that earn him the reputation of being the “Father of Latin Theology.”
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The gifted North African Origen begins writing. He headed a noted catechetical school in Alexandria. |
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Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, publishes his influential work Unity of the Church. He was martyred in 258. |
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Antony gives away his possessions and begins life as a hermit, a key event in the development of Christian monasticism. |
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| Constantine is converted after seeing a vision of the cross. He becomes a defender and advocate of the oppressed Christians. |
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The Council of Nicea addresses debates perplexing the Church and defines the doctrine of who Jesus really was. |
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Athanasius’ Easter Letter recognizes the New Testament Canon, listing the same books we have now. |
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In Milan, Bishop Ambrose defies the Empress, helping establish the precedent of Church confrontation of the state when necessary to protect Christian teaching and oppose the state. |
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Augustine of Hippo is converted. His writings became bedrock for the Middle Ages. The Confessions and City of God are still read by many. |
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John Chrysostom, the “golden tongued” preacher is made bishop of Constantinople and leads from there amidst continuing controversies. |
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Jerome completes the Latin “Vulgate” version of the bible that becomes the standard for the next one thousand years. |
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Patrick goes as a missionary to Ireland–taken there as a teenager as a slave. He returns and leads multitudes of Irish people to the Christian faith. |
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The Council of Chalcedon confirms orthodox teaching that Jesus was truly God and truly man and existed in one person. |
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Benedict of Nursia establishes his monastic order. His “rule” becomes the most influential for centuries of monasticism in the West. |
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Columba goes as a missionary to Scotland. He establishes the legendary monastic mission center at Iona. |
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Gregory becomes Pope Gregory I, known as “the Great.” His leadership significantly advances the development of the papacy and has enormous influence on Europe. |
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Synod of Whitby determines that the English church will come under the authority of Rome. |
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Boniface, the “Apostle of Germany,” sets out as a missionary to bring the gospel to pagan lands. |
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The “Venerable” Bede completes his careful and influential Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation. |
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At the Battle of Tours, Charles Martel turns back the Muslim invasion of Europe. |
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Charlemagne crowned emperor by the pope on Christmas. He advances the church, education, and culture. |
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Cyril and Methodius, Greek brothers, evangelize the Serbs. Cyril develops the Cyrillic alphabet which remains the basis for the Slavonic used in the liturgy of the Russian church. |
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A monastery is established at Cluny and becomes a center for reform. By the mid-12th century, there were over 1,000 Clunaic houses. |
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Conversion of Vladimir, Prince of Kiev, who, after examining several religions, chooses Orthodoxy to unify and guide the Russian people. |
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The East-West Schism. Brewing for centuries, rupture finally comes to a head with the fissure that has lasted to this day. |
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Anselm becomes Archbishop of Canterbury. A devoted monk and outstanding theologian, his Cur Deus Homo? (Why Did God Become Man?), explored the atonement. |
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Pope Urban II launches the First Crusade. The crowd wildly shouts “God wills it!” There would be several crusades over the next centuries with many tragic results. |
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Bernard founds the monastery at Clairvaux. He and the monastery become a major center of spiritual and political influence. |
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Universities of Paris and Oxford are founded and become incubators for renaissance and reformation and precursors for modern educational patterns. |
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Peter Waldo founds the Waldensians, a reform movement emphasizing poverty, preaching and the Bible. He and his followers are eventually condemned as heretics and the Waldensians suffer great persecution for centuries. |
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Francis of Assisi renounces wealth and goes on to lead a band of poor friars preaching the simple life. |
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| The Fourth Lateran Council deals with heresy, reaffirms Roman Catholic doctrines and strengthens the authority of the popes. |
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Thomas Aquinas completes work on Summa Theoligica, the theological masterpiece of the Middle Ages. |
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Dante completes The Divine Comedy, the greatest work of Christian literature to emerge from the Middle Ages. |
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Catherine of Siena goes to Rome to help heal the “Great Papal Schism” which had resulted in multiple popes. Partly through her influence, the papacy moves back to Rome from Avignon. |
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Wycliffe is exiled from Oxford but oversees a translation of the Bible into English. He is later hailed as the “Morning star of the Reformation.” |
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John Hus, who teaches Wycliffe’s ideas in Bohemia, is condemned and burned at the stake by the Council of Constance. |
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Johann Gutenberg produces the first printed Bible, and his press becomes a means for dissemination new ideas, catalyzing changes in politics and theology. |
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The Spanish Inquisition is established under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to oppose “heresy.” |
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Savonarola, the fiery Dominican reformer of Florence, in Italy, is executed. |
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Michelangelo completes his notable artwork on the Sistine Chapel ceiling in Rome. |
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Martin Luther posts his ninety-five theses, a simple invitation for scholarly debate that inadvertently becomes a “hinge of history.” |
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Zwingli leads the Swiss reformation from his base as head pastor in Zurich. |
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The Anabaptist movement begins. This “radical reformation” insists on baptism of adult believers and the almost unheard of notion of separation of church and state. |
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| Henry VIII’s Act of Supremacy makes the king, not the pope, head of the Church of England. |
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John Calvin publishes The Institutes of the Christian Religion, the most substantial theological work of the Reformation. |
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