Leaders & Writings
The Age of Jesus and the Apostles (A.D.-70)
30: Crucifixion of Jesus; Pentecost
35: Stephen martyred; Paul converted
57: Paul’s Letter to the Romans
The Age of Early Christianity (70-312)
150: Justin Martyr dedicates his First Apology
155: Polycarp martyred
180: Irenaeus writes Against Heresies
196: Tertullian begins writing
215: Origen begins writing
248: Cyprian elected bishop of Carthage
The Age of the Christian Empire (312-590)
323: Eusebius completes Ecclesiastical History
386: Augustine converts to Christianity
398: Chrysostom consecrated bishop of Constantinople
440: Leo the Great consecrated bishop of Rome
524: Boethius completes Consolation of Philosophy
590: Gregory the Great elected Pope
Christian Middle Ages (590-1517)
731: Bede’s Ecclesiastical History published
781: Alcuin becomes royal adviser to Charles
1093: Anselm becomes archbishop of Canterbury
1141: Hildegard of Bingen begins writing
1272: Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae
1370: Catherine of Siena begins her Letters
1373: Julian of Norwich receives her revelations
1415: Hus burned at stake
1418: Thomas à Kempis writes The Imitation of Christ
1431: Joan of Arc burned at stake
Age of the Reformation (1517-1648)
1517: Luther posts his Ninety-Five Theses
1518: Ulrich Zwingli comes to Zurich
1536: Calvin publishes first edition of Institutes
1536: Menno Simons baptized as Anabaptist
1549: Book of Common Prayer released
1559: John Knox makes final return to Scotland
1563: Foxe’s Book of Martyrs published
1565: Teresa of Avila writes The Way of Perfection
1603: Arminius appointed professor at Leyden
1628: Jan Comenius flees
1647: George Fox begins to preach
Age of Reason & Revival (1648-1789)
1654: Pascal has definitive conversion experience
1675: Spencer’s Pia Desideria advances Pietism
1678: Bunyan writes The Pilgrim’s Progress
1729: Jonathan Edwards becomes pastor at Northampton
1735: George Whitefield converted
1738: John and Charles Wesley’s evangelical conversions
1739: George Whitefield starts open-air preaching
1771: Francis Asbury sent to America
1780: Robert Raikes begins his Sunday school
Age of Progress (1789-1914)
1799: Schleiermacher publishes Lectures on Religion
1807: Wilberforce leads abolition of slave trade
1817: Elizabeth Fry organizes relief in Newgate Prison
1834: Mueller opens Scriptural Knowledge Institute
1835: Finney’s Lectures on Revivals
1836: Müller opens orphanage
1844: Kierkegaard writes Philosophical Fragments
1845: John Henry Newman becomes Roman Catholic
1845: Phoebe Palmer writes The Way of Holiness
1854: Spurgeon becomes pastor of New Park St. Church
1855: D. L. Moody converted
1864: Newman’s Apologia Pro Vita Sua
1896: Billy Sunday begins leading revivals
1906: Schweitzer’s Quest of the Historical Jesus
Age of Ideologies (1914-Present)
1919: Karl Barth writes Commentary on Romans
1931: C. S. Lewis comes to faith in Christ
1941: Niebuhr’s Nature and Destiny of Man
1945: Bonhoeffer executed
1949: Los Angeles Crusade catapults Billy Graham
1951: Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison
1963: King leads March on Washington
Orders & Denominations
The Age of Early Christianity (70-312)
270: Anthony takes up life of solitude
The Age of the Christian Empire (312-590)
358: Basil the Great founds monastic community
909: Monastery at Cluny founded
540: Benedict writes his monastic Rule
Christian Middle Ages (590-1517)
1115: Bernard founds monastery at Clairvaux
1208: Francis of Assisi renounces wealth
1220: Dominican Order established
Age of the Reformation (1517-1648)
1525: Anabaptist movement begins
1530: Augsburg Confession
1534: Act of Supremacy; Henry VIII heads Eng. church
1540: Loyola gains approval for Society of Jesus
1562: Heidelberg Catechism
1563: First text of Thirty-Nine Articles issued
1577: Formula of Concord
1609: Smyth baptizes self and first Baptists
1618: Synod of Dort begins
1646: Westminster Confession drafted
Age of Reason & Revival (1648-1789)
1652: George Fox founds “Friends”
1773: Jesuits suppressed (until 1814)
1784: Wesley provides for “Conference of Methodists”
Age of Progress (1789-1914)
1811: Campbells begin Restoration Movement
1816: Richard Allen elected bishop of new AME church
1819: Channing issues Unitarian Christianity
1827: J. N. Darby founds the Plymouth Brethren
1844: First Adventist churches formed
1878: William and Catherine Booth found Salvation Army
1885: Berlin Congress spurs African independent churches
1906: Azusa Street revival
Age of Ideologies (1914-Present)
1950: Mother Teresa founds Missionaries of Charity
1960: Charismatic renewal advances
Councils, Creeds, & Controversies
The Age of Jesus and the Apostles (A.D.-70)
48: Council of Jerusalem
The Age of Early Christianity (70-312)
172: Montanist movement begins
The Age of the Christian Empire (312-590)
312: Donatist Schism begins
325: First Council of Nicea
381: First Council of Constantinople
431: Council of Ephesus
451: Council of Chalcedon
Christian Middle Ages (590-1517)
663: Synod of Whitby
726: Controversy over icons begins in Eastern church
787: 2nd Council of Nicea settles icon controversy
861: East-West conflict over Photius begins
1054: East-West Split
1141: Abelard’s teaching condemned
1173: Waldensian movement begins
1215: Innocent III assembles Fourth Lateran Council
1232: Gregory IX appoints first “inquisitors”
1309: Papacy begins “Babylonian” exile in Avignon
1378: Great Papal Schism begins
1414: Council of Constance begins
1479: Establishment of Spanish Inquisition
1497: Savonarola excommunicated
Age of the Reformation (1517-1648)
1521: Diet of Worms
1527: Schleitheim Confession of Faith
1529: Colloquy of Marburg
1545: Council of Trent begins
1572: St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
1598: Edict of Nantes (revoked 1685)
Age of Progress (1789-1914)
1833: John Keble’s sermon launches Oxford Movement
1854: Immaculate Conception made dogma
1864: Syllabus of Errors issued by Pope Pius IX
1870: First Vatican Council declares papal infallibility
1908: Federal Council of Churches forms
1910: The Fundamentals begin to be published
1912: Social Creed of the Churches adopted
Age of Ideologies (1914-Present)
1934: Barmen Declaration
1942: National Association of Evangelicals forms
1948: World Council of Churches organized
1954: Methodists ordain women
1962: Vatican II opens
1968: Medellin Conference advances liberation theology
Missions
The Age of Jesus and the Apostles (A.D.-70)
46: Paul begins missionary journeys
The Age of the Christian Empire (312-590)
342: Ulphilas’s mission to Goths
432: Patrick begins mission to Ireland
563: Columba establishes mission community on Iona
Christian Middle Ages (590-1517)
597: Ethelbert of Kent converted
716: Boniface begins mission to the Germans
862: Cyril and Methodius begin mission to Slavs
988: Christianization of “Russia”
Age of the Reformation (1517-1648)
1549: Xavier begins mission to Japan
1582: Ricci and Ruggieri begin mission in China
1732: First Moravian missionaries
Age of Progress (1789-1914)
1793: William Carey sails for India
1810: American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
1816: Judsons sail for Asia
1825: American Tract Society
1840: Livingstone sails for Africa
1859: Japan reopens to foreign missionaries
1865: J. Hudson Taylor founds China Inland Mission
1886: Student Volunteer Movement begins
1910: Edinburgh International Missionary Conference begins
Age of Ideologies (1914-Present)
1924: First Christian radio broadcasts
1940: First Christian TV broadcasts
1950: Missionaries forced to leave China
1950: Mother Teresa founds Missionaries of Charity
1974: Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization
Church & State
The Age of Jesus and the Apostles (A.D.-70)
64: Fire of Rome; Nero launches persecutions
65: Peter and Paul executed
The Age of Early Christianity (70-312)
110: Ignatius of Antioch martyred
230: Earliest known public churches built
250: Decius orders empire-wide persecution
The Age of the Christian Empire (312-590)
303: “Great Persecution” begins under Diocletian
312: Conversion of Constantine
313: “Edict of Milan”
381: Christianity made state religion of Roman Empire
390: Ambrose defies emperor
445: Valentinian’s Edict strengthens primacy of Rome
529: Justin publishes his legal Code
Christian Middle Ages (590-1517)
750: Donation of Constantine written about this time
754: Pepin III’s donation helps found papal states
800: Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor
1077: Emperor submits to Pope over investiture
1122: Concordat of Worms ends investiture controversy
1170: Thomas Becket murdered
1302: Unam Sanctam proclaims papal supremacy
Age of the Reformation (1517-1648)
1555: Peace of Augsburg
1589: Moscow becomes independent patriarchate
1618: Thirty Years’ War begins
1636: Roger Williams founds Providence, R.I.
1648: Peace of Westphalia ends Thirty Years’ War
Age of Reason & Revival (1648-1789)
1653: Cromwell named Lord Protector
1689: Toleration Act in England
Age of Progress (1789-1914)
1789: Bill of Rights
1801: Concordat between Napoleon and Pius VII
Age of Ideologies (1914-Present)
1979: John Paul II’s first visit to Poland
Bible
The Age of Early Christianity (70-312)
150: Marcion’s canon rejects Old Testament
The Age of the Christian Empire (312-590)
343: Ulphilas’s Gothic Bible
367: Athanasius’s letter defines New Testament canon
405: Jerome completes the Vulgate
Christian Middle Ages (590-1517)
1380: Wyclif supervises English Bible translation
1456: Gutenberg produces first printed Bible
1488: First complete Hebrew Old Testament
1516: Erasmus publishes Greek New Testament
Age of the Reformation (1517-1648)
1522:Luther’s German New Testament published
1525: Tyndale’s New Testament published
1535: Coverdale Bible
1560: Geneva Bible
1611: King James Version of Bible published
Age of Progress (1789-1914)
1804: British and Foreign Bible Society formed
Age of Ideologies (1914-Present)
1934: Wycliffe Bible Translators founded
1946: Revised Standard Version New Testament
1947: Dead Sea Scrolls discovered
1971: The Living Bible
Arts
Christian Middle Ages (590-1517)
500: Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite writes
600: Gregory’s chants
650: Iconography flourishes
698: Lindisfarne Gospels
730: First known church organ
965: First English polyphony
1150: Mystery plays flourish
1260: Chartres Cathedral
1321: Dante completes Divine Comedy
1476: Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
1506: Work begins on new St. Peter’s in Rome
1512: Michelangelo completes Sistine Chapel frescoes
Age of the Reformation (1517-1648)
1562: Genevan Psalter
Age of Reason & Revival (1648-1789)
1667: Milton’s Paradise Lost
1668: Rembrandt paints Return of the Prodigal Son
1707: Watts publishes Hymns and Spiritual Songs
1738: Bach’s Mass in B Minor
1742: First production of Handel’s Messiah
1779: Newton and Cowper publish Olney Hymns
Age of Progress (1789-1914)
1873: Moody and Sankey’s Sacred Songs and Solos
1880: Dostoyevsky’s Brothers Karamazov
1935: Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral
World Events
The Age of Jesus and the Apostles (A.D.-70)
70: Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus
The Age of the Christian Empire (312-590)
410: Rome sacked by Visigoths
622: Muhammad’s hegira: birth of Islam
Christian Middle Ages (590-1517)
732: Battle of Tours
843: Treaty of Verdun divides Carolingian Empire
1095: First Crusade launched by Council of Clermont
1150: Universities of Paris and Oxford founded
1215: Magna Carta
1348: Black Death
1453: Constantinople falls; end of Eastern Roman Empire
1492: Columbus lands in Western hemisphere
Age of the Reformation (1517-1648)
1524: The Peasants’ Revolt erupts in Germany
1588: English defeat Spanish Armada
1605: Shakespeare’s MacBeth
1620: Mayflower Compact drafted
1633: Galileo forced to recant his theories
1636: Harvard College founded
1642: English Civil War
Age of Reason & Revival (1648-1789)
1687: Newton publishes Principia Mathematica
1740: Great Awakening peaks
1759: Voltaire’s Candide
1773: American Revolution
1781: Kant publishes Critique of Pure Reason
Age of Progress (1789-1914)
1789: French Revolution begins
1793: Festival of Reason (de-Christianization of France)
1804: Napoleon emperor
1848: Marx publishes Communist Manifesto
1851: Harriet Beecher Stowe releases Uncle Tom’s Cabin
1859: Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species
1861: U.S. Civil War
1895: Freud publishes first work on psychoanalysis
Age of Ideologies (1914-Present)
1914: World War I begins
1917: Bolshevik Revolution
1920: U.S. women’s suffrage
1929: Great Depression
1939: World War II begins
1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
1966: Chinese Cultural Revolution
1985: Gorbachev General Secretary of Soviet Communist Party
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