The Denominations Disappear. Christianity Does Not.
Move backward.
The modern labels disappear.
Christians remain.
They worship.
They baptize.
They celebrate the Eucharist.
They appoint bishops and ministers.
They defend doctrine.
They suffer persecution.
They argue about heresy.
They preserve Scripture.
They gather in councils.
They ask what the Apostles handed down.
Christianity Was Not Historically Simple
Ancient Christianity experienced serious disputes and divisions.
Eastern and Western Christianity developed in different languages and cultural settings.
Ancient Eastern Churches must not be erased from the story.
Later estrangement between Eastern and Western Christianity is essential to understanding Christian history.
Historical honesty makes the Catholic claim more worth investigating, not less.
Some Milestones
AD 30-100 --- The Apostolic Age
Christ commissions the Apostles.
The Gospel spreads.
Christian communities form.
The books that become the New Testament are written.
Early Second Century --- Ignatius of Antioch
A bishop traveling toward martyrdom writes about bishops, presbyters, deacons, Church unity and the Eucharist.
Mid-Second Century --- Justin Martyr
Justin describes Christian Sunday worship, Scripture readings, prayer and Eucharistic celebration.
Late Second Century --- Irenaeus
Facing competing versions of Christianity, Irenaeus appeals to public Apostolic teaching and succession in churches associated with the Apostles.
AD 325 --- Nicaea
A major doctrinal controversy concerning Christ brings bishops together in council.
The Church responds corporately to a dispute about Christian truth.
The Time-Travel Question
Imagine placing a modern Christian inside a Christian community of the second or third century.
What would seem familiar?
What would seem strange?
Would the community resemble a twenty-first-century independent Bible church?
Modern Catholicism?
Orthodoxy?
None of them exactly?
There is no reason to guess.
Ancient Christians left writings.
Read them.