1 / 15

Church History: American Restoration Movement

Church History: American Restoration Movement. Surveying 1500 Years March 5, 2014. Rome. Introduction: understand the development of thought patterns as background for understanding the European Reformation Roman thinking was shaped by Greek thinking

lala
Download Presentation

Church History: American Restoration Movement

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Church History: American Restoration Movement Surveying 1500 Years March 5, 2014

  2. Rome • Introduction: understand the development of thought patterns as background for understanding the European Reformation • Roman thinking was shaped by Greek thinking • The absolute, universal value system of the Christians was a threat • Constantine, 313 A.D., 381 A.D. • Rome fell because it lacked a sufficient base upon which to build society

  3. Middle Ages • ~500 A.D. to 1400 A.D. • Social, political and intellectual turmoil • Developing concept of spirituality set aside realism • Distortions of biblical teaching, increasing humanistic elements • Mixing of the secular and the Christian, integration of church and state • Questions of authority (state, church, Bible) • Church-state conflicts led to limited, responsible government • Syncretism of thought

  4. Renaissance • Renaissance, “rebirth,” reached height in 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, but roots are earlier • Philosophical changes with Aquinas (b. 1225) • Plato and Aristotle contrasted • Plato: absolutes-ideals, separated from the real • Higher, God, grace, unseen, unity of universals • Aristotle: real-particulars, individual • Lower, created, natural, visible, diversity • Faith in man as capable of solving everything

  5. Summary of Unresolved Questions • The possibility of an absolute, objective value system not based on the ability to think, observe, or experience • The relationship between church and state • The separation or integration of the spiritual (including the Bible) and the secular (including humanistic elements) • The nature of the authority of the Bible (must it be mediated? through the church, or through human thought and analysis?) • The alliance or conflict between philosophy and theology • The church was slow to study itself and develop an ecclesiology • The capacity or incapacity of humankind, and the related question of whether or to what extent human being participate or cooperate in salvation.

  6. Church History: American Restoration Movement The European Reformation: A Survey March 12, 2014

  7. Summary of Unresolved Questions • The possibility of an absolute, objective value system not based on the ability to think, observe, or experience • The relationship between church and state • The separation or integration of the spiritual (including the Bible) and the secular (including humanistic elements) • The nature of the authority of the Bible (must it be mediated? through the church, or through human thought and analysis?) • The alliance or conflict between philosophy and theology • The church was slow to study itself and develop an ecclesiology • The capacity or incapacity of humankind, and the related question of whether or to what extent human being participate or cooperate in salvation.

  8. Reformation • Renaissance OR Reformation? Two answers to same problem—capable or incapable man? • Contributions of Wycliffe, Huss, Luther • Positives of the Reformation • Bible has authority • Cannot begin with or depend on mankind • Some awareness of biblical distortions • Negatives of the Reformation • Reformation branches: Luther, Calvin (Zwingli, Knox), Anglicans, Radical-Anabaptists, Spiritualists)

  9. Politics • Return to Bible brought political freedom • A moral base provided freedom without chaos • Government is not arbitrary • Samuel Rutherford, Lex Rex • John Witherspoon • John Locke • Society is judged by an external, objective standard

  10. Enlightenment • Merriam-Webster: “a movement of the 18th century that stressed the belief that science and logic give people more knowledge and understanding than tradition and religion”

  11. Church History: American Restoration Movement Early U.S. church history Early Restoration longings and efforts March 26, 2014

  12. Summary of Unresolved Questions • The possibility of an absolute, objective value system not based on the ability to think, observe, or experience • The relationship between church and state • The separation or integration of the spiritual (including the Bible) and the secular (including humanistic elements) • The nature of the authority of the Bible (must it be mediated? through the church, or through human thought and analysis?) • The alliance or conflict between philosophy and theology • The church was slow to study itself and develop an ecclesiology • The capacity or incapacity of humankind, and the related question of whether or to what extent human being participate or cooperate in salvation.

  13. The Early American Context • An English settlement • Predominantly Protestant • Transplanted churches • Increasing importance of the laity • Breakdown of parish system • Increasing focus on preaching

  14. The Great Awakening • Locally autonomous churches • Revivalism naturally conflicts with Calvinism • Head/heart: changed beliefs or changed lives • Challenges to authority • Unity valued—distinctions renounced

  15. Second Great Awakening • “Civic” religion • Great waves of revivals • The theological dividing point • Presbyterian secessions

More Related