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Course 26 · Lesson 2.1

Preparing: a timeline, key figures and key councils

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Lessons in this course

Course 26 outline

Module 1: Comprehensive Biblical Knowledge Examination

  1. Preparing: a review plan for the whole Bible
  2. The examination: books, story, genres and key passages
  3. Sample questions and what a good answer contains
  4. Evaluating your answers and planning review

Module 2: Historical Theology Examination

  1. Preparing: a timeline, key figures and key councils
  2. The examination: periods, controversies and primary texts
  3. Sample questions and what a good answer contains
  4. Evaluating your answers and planning review

Module 3: Systematic Theology Examination

  1. Preparing: an outline of the doctrines
  2. The examination: God, Christ, humanity, salvation, church and last things
  3. Sample questions and what a good answer contains
  4. Evaluating your answers, especially on fairness across traditions

Module 4: Philosophical Argument Evaluation and Historical Apologetics Assessment

  1. Evaluating a philosophical argument: premises, validity and objections
  2. Exercises: cosmological, moral, evil and hiddenness arguments
  3. Assessing historical evidence: sources, dating, witnesses and bias
  4. Exercises: the resurrection, the reliability of the New Testament and the canon

Module 5: Written Defense of Three Christian Propositions

  1. Choosing three propositions and defining the terms
  2. Building the case: arguments, evidence and sources
  3. Stating and answering the strongest objections
  4. Evaluating your defenses against the criteria

Module 6: Statement of Faith and Rule of Life

  1. Writing a personal statement of faith
  2. Relating the statement to the creeds and the traditions
  3. Writing a personal Christian rule of life
  4. Making the rule concrete and reviewable

Module 7: Reflection on Theological Development

  1. Mapping your development: beliefs held at the start and now
  2. Changes of mind: what changed and what caused the change
  3. Writing the reflection

Module 8: Strengths, Uncertainties and Continued Study

  1. Scoring the results of the components
  2. Naming your uncertainties without shame or evasion
  3. A plan for continued study, with dates for review

All courses

Program / Course 26: Comprehensive Assessment / Lesson 2.1

What you will learn

  • Build a timeline of Christian history from the apostolic age to the modern period.
  • List the key councils, with approximate dates and what each addressed.
  • Link figures to the controversies and writings they are known for.
  • Prepare for an examination that asks for dates with honest uncertainty.

The big idea

The history of Christian doctrine is easier to remember as a chain of questions and answers than as a list of dates. A council meets because a dispute has arisen, a figure writes because a question needs an answer, and the next generation inherits both. A good review begins with a one page timeline, adds the councils and the people attached to them, and marks dates that are approximate with the abbreviation c. This remains a private self-assessment, and nothing is submitted.

Key terms

Ecumenical council
A gathering of bishops from across the church to decide questions of doctrine and discipline. Churches differ on how many they accept.
Patristic
Relating to the church Fathers, the Christian writers of roughly the second to the eighth centuries.
Heresy
A teaching that a church holds to contradict its central doctrine. The word is a judgment made from within a tradition.
Schism
A break in the unity of the church, as distinct from a dispute over doctrine.
Reformation
The sixteenth century movements that led to the Protestant churches and to Catholic reform in response.
c. (circa)
Latin for around. Placed before a date to show that it is approximate.

Background

The examination in this module is a private test of your own knowledge. It is not submitted to the site, graded by it or tied to any certificate, credit or degree. The suggested standard of 70 percent is a target you may adopt or change.

The earlier courses of the program covered the apostolic age, the early Fathers, the councils, the medieval church, the Reformation and the later developments. The task now is to bring them into a single frame. A timeline helps because it shows order and cause: the first seven councils, for instance, were mostly concerned with who Christ is and how God is Trinity, and later disputes grew from different questions.

A fair review is also careful about what is certain and what is uncertain. Some dates, such as the Council of Nicaea in 325 and the Council of Chalcedon in 451, are firmly known. Others, such as the date of a particular writer’s birth, are approximate. An honest exam answer says c. when it should.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Draw a one page timeline

Draw a line and mark six periods: the apostolic age and the first century; the second and third centuries; the age of the councils, fourth to eighth centuries; the medieval period; the Reformation; and the modern period. Under each, write three to five events from memory, and then check them.

Step 2: List the councils

Write the first seven ecumenical councils recognized by the Orthodox and Catholic churches: Nicaea (325), Constantinople (381), Ephesus (431), Chalcedon (451), Constantinople II (553), Constantinople III (680 to 681) and Nicaea II (787). Beside each write the question it addressed. Then add the later councils that matter in your reading, such as the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), the Council of Trent (1545 to 1563) and the Second Vatican Council (1962 to 1965), noting that Orthodox and Protestant churches do not recognize all of these.

Step 3: Attach people and texts

For each period, list the figures and the texts you know: for instance Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Athanasius, the Cappadocians, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin and Wesley. Write one sentence for each saying what they are known for. Mark the ones where you hesitate.

Step 4: Practice stating uncertainty

Pick five dates you know less well and write them with c. or with a range. Practice writing a sentence such as: Augustine was born in c. 354 and became bishop of Hippo in the 390s. Doing this teaches the habit of saying only what you know.

  1. Which period of church history am I weakest on?
  2. Can I give the question each of the seven councils addressed?
  3. Which figures do I confuse with each other?
  4. Which dates am I sure of, and which should I mark with c.?
  5. Can I connect each controversy to the one that followed it?
  6. Do I know the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant views of the later councils?

Examples

A cause and effect chain

Arius taught that the Son was a creature. Nicaea (325) replied that the Son is of the same substance as the Father. Later disputes asked how Christ’s divinity and humanity relate, leading to Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451). (A summary, to be checked against sources.)

A timeline entry

1054: the mutual excommunications of Rome and Constantinople, often taken as a convenient date for the schism between East and West, though historians stress that the separation was gradual. (A summary.)

An honest date

A student writes: Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon, wrote Against Heresies in c. 180. The c. shows that the student knows the date is approximate. (A constructed example.)

Different perspectives

Catholic

The Catholic Church recognizes twenty one ecumenical councils, from Nicaea in 325 to the Second Vatican Council. Catholic teaching sees the development of doctrine as the church’s growth in understanding of what was given.

Orthodox

The Orthodox churches recognize the first seven ecumenical councils as authoritative and many stress that the faith has been preserved unchanged. They do not accept the later Western councils as ecumenical.

Protestant

Protestant churches differ. Many accept the creeds of the early councils, especially Nicaea and Chalcedon, as faithful summaries of Scripture. They hold that all councils are subject to the authority of Scripture.

Scholarly

Historians study the councils with attention to politics, language and the surviving documents. They debate the details of procedure and motive and agree on the main outlines and dates.

Why it matters

History is the context for every doctrine. A student who knows the order of events can see why a statement was made and what it was meant to exclude. A timeline also protects against anachronism, the error of reading later disputes into earlier centuries.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: The councils invented Christian doctrine.

Correction: The churches teach that the councils defined in new words what the Scriptures and tradition already contained. Historians describe the process as one of debate and clarification. A student should be able to state both accounts.

Misunderstanding: All Christians accept the same list of councils.

Correction: They do not. Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches differ on which councils are authoritative.

Misunderstanding: A date given in a book is always exact.

Correction: Many dates in early church history are approximate. The abbreviation c. and a range are signs of honesty, not weakness.

Knowledge check

Name the first four ecumenical councils and one issue of each.

Nicaea (325) addressed the teaching of Arius and affirmed that the Son is of the same substance as the Father. Constantinople (381) confirmed this and extended the creed concerning the Holy Spirit. Ephesus (431) concerned the unity of Christ and the title Theotokos. Chalcedon (451) defined Christ as one person in two natures.

Why should a historical examination use c. for some dates?

Many dates for people and writings in early Christianity are known only roughly. Writing a precise date where the evidence is approximate would claim more than is known. The abbreviation c. shows that the student knows the difference between a firm date and an estimate.

How do the Catholic and Orthodox churches differ on the councils?

Both recognize the first seven ecumenical councils. The Catholic Church recognizes later councils in the West as ecumenical, for a total of twenty one. The Orthodox churches do not accept those later councils as ecumenical, and they generally hold that the great councils ended with the seventh.

Is this exam submitted or certified?

No. It is private. The student writes, takes and marks it. There is no submission, certificate, accreditation, credit or degree, and the suggested standard of 70 percent is only a target for the student’s own use.

Think it through

  1. Which controversy in church history do you understand best, and which least?
  2. How does knowing the order of events change your reading of a creed?
  3. What is the risk of reading modern disputes back into the early church?
  4. Which tradition’s account of the councils is the least familiar to you?

Independent assignment

A timeline from memory

In your own notebook, draw a timeline of Christian history in six periods, with at least twenty entries, written from memory in about 300 words. Then check it against a survey, mark errors with a different color, and write a list of five items to review. Do not send this to anyone or post it anywhere.

Further study