Christian History Timeline: Most Influential Events in Church History
“Church history is the record of God’s gracious, wonderful, and mighty deeds, showing how he rules his church and conquers the world.”
―Nils Forsander, Swedish theologian
Table of Contents
- Apostolic Age (30-99)
- Early Church Era (101-284)
- Christendom Begins (301-480)
- Late Ancient Era (524-732)
- Early Middle Ages (754-1273)
- Late Middle Ages (1309-1512)
- Reformation Era (1516-1587)
- Post-Reformation Era (1603-1773)
- Early Modern Era (1783-1865)
- Late Modern Era (1870-1945)
- Post-WWII Era (1947-2017)
Apostolic Age (30-99)
c.30/33: Crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus
c.35/37: Stephen becomes first martyr
c. 35/37: Paul converted on the road to Damascus
c.45/46: Epistle of James is first New Testament book written
c.46/47: Barnabas and Paul leave on their first missionary journey
c.49/50: Jerusalem Council
c.50/51: Paul launches his second missionary journey
c.52: Thomas spreads the gospel to India
c.53/54: Paul launches his third missionary journey
c.62/64: Gospel of Mark is first Gospel written
64: Great fire of Rome, Emperor Nero blames Christians
c.66/68: Peter and Paul martyred under Nero’s persecution
70: Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem
c.93/94: Josephus writes Antiquities of the Jews
c.95-98: Widespread persecution of Christians under Emperor Domitian
96: Clement of Rome writes his letter to the church in Corinth
c.95-99: The Didache written
98/99: John, the last living apostle, dies
Early Church Era (101-284)
c.101-115: Gospel spreads significantly outside of the Roman Empire; many Christian communities established in the east
c.108: Ignatius writes seven epistles; later martyred in Rome
135: Emperor Hadrian builds a pagan temple in Jerusalem at the precise site of Jesus’ crucifixion; in 326 Emperor Constantine orders the temple be destroyed and orders that the “Church of the Holy Sepulchre” be built on the same site, preserving the site of Jesus’ crucifixion up to the modern day
144: Marcion of Sinope excommunicated as a heretic
150: Justin Martyr writes his First Apology
c.150: Polycarp writes his epistle to the Philippians
172: Montanist (heretical) movement begins
180: Irenaeus writes Against Heresies
c.195-203: Clement of Alexandria writes three major theological works
c.196-220: Tertullian begins writing; publishes dozens of influential works, coins the term “Trinity”
c.215-290: Rise of the Christian schools at Alexandria and Antioch
220: Sabellius excommunicated for being a heretic, however he coined the helpful Greek term “homoousios” (meaning “same in essence”); this term has been used by faithful Christians to describe the Trinity
250: Origen publishes Contra Celsum
258: Cyprian, theologian and Bishop of Carthage, martyred
260-268: Paul of Samosata serves as Bishop of Antioch; propagates several heresies
c.284-305: Extensive brutal persecution of Christians under Emperor Diocletian
Christendom Begins (301-480)
301: Armenia becomes first country in the world to make Christianity its official state religion
306: Constantine rises to power in the Roman Empire
c.311-320: Debates about the nature of Christ between Arius and other church leaders in Alexandria, leads to the Arian Controversy
312: Donatist Schism begins
313: Edict of Milan issued by Emperor Constantine, Christians granted religious freedom in the Roman Empire
323: Eusebius completes Ecclesiastical History; the first major church history work
325: Council of Nicaea, Arianism condemned
c.328: Athanasius writes On the Incarnation
c.340s: Macrina converts her family’s estate into a monastery, launches an influential monastic community; that community became the homebase for the Cappadocian Fathers
c.350s-380s: The Cappadocian Fathers (Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus) produced many brilliant theological works that became major contributions to the development of trinitarian theology across the Roman Empire
358: Hilary of Poitiers writes his epistle to the Arians
367: Athanasius’ Easter Letter confirmed the books of the Bible
c.370s-390s: Gospel spreads significantly northward amongst the Goths and other barbarian tribes
374-397: Ambrose serves as Bishop of Milan
380: Emperor Theodosius issued the Edict of Thessalonica, declaring Nicene Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire
381: Council of Constantinople, Nicene Creed revised
c.382: Jerome published the Latin Vulgate, would become the standard version of the Bible in the west for the next 1,100+ years
386: Augustine converts to Christianity under the preaching of Ambrose; Augustine is often referred to as the best and most influential theologian in Christian history
391: Pagan worship condemned by Emperor Theodosius, many pagan temples across the Roman Empire are closed
397: Synod of Carthage, confirms the 27 books of the New Testament
c.397-400: Augustine writes Confessions
398: John Chrysostom becomes Bishop of Constantinople; he is often referred to as the best preacher/orator of the ancient world
c.400-428: Augustine writes On the Trinity
c.413-426: Augustine writes City of God
417: Pelagius excommunicated for denying original sin
431: Council of Ephesus, Nestorianism and Pelagianism condemned
432: Patrick becomes a missionary to Ireland
440: Leo the Great becomes the Bishop of Rome (Pope)
449: Leo the Great claims Papal authority; lays foundation for the Bishop of Rome (Pope) to indefinitely assert Papal supremacy
451: Council of Chalcedon, condemned several heresies related to the nature of Christ
476: Fall of the Western Roman Empire
c.480s-510s: Nestorianism spreads through Persia
Late Ancient Era (524-732)
524: Boethius publishes Consolation of Philosophy
529: Benedict of Nursia founded the monastery of Monte Cassino, later wrote The Rule of Saint Benedict
553: Second Council of Constantinople
c.564: Irish missionary Columba founded the Iona Abbey in Scotland
590-603: Gregory the Great serves as Pope; he’s remembered for his theological writings, his care for the poor, his reforms in the Catholic Church, and his missionary efforts to the Anglo-Saxons
597: Augustine of Canterbury goes to Britain as a missionary, often nicknamed the “Apostle to the English”
c.602-614: Significant conflicts between pagan Persians and Eastern Roman Empire (aka: Byzantine Empire)
c.630s: Significant conflicts between Arab Muslims and Byzantine Christians
c.630s-640s: Nestorian missionaries travel eastward; launched churches and monasteries along the Silk Road, spreading into China and eventually reaching as far east as Korea
637: Arab Muslims conquer Persia; they recognized Nestorianism as being distinct from western Christianity and granted it legal protection
638: Arab Muslims take control of Jerusalem
c.640s-711: Arab Muslims conquer significant portions of southeastern Europe, northern Africa, and Spain
664: Synod of Whitby
680-681: Third Council of Constantinople, rejects Monothelite heresy
716-754: Boniface does great missionary work amongst Germanic tribes; he was later killed by pagans in Frisia (modern-day Netherlands)
731: Bede writes his Ecclesiastical History; he is often considered the “father of English history”
732: Western Christians stop the Arab Muslim military advance into Europe at the Battle of Tours in France
Early Middle Ages (754-1273)
754: Land donation from Pepin III leads to creation of the Papal states
c.754-787: John of Damascus writes Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith
768-814: Charlemagne serves as Frankish king; unified the kingdoms of the Franks and conquered much of modern Europe; often referred to as the “father of Europe”
781: Alcuin becomes royal adviser; he was an influential scholar, priest, and poet; Charlemagne and Alcuin together propelled the Carolingian Renaissance
787: Second Council of Nicaea, tackles the controversy over the use of icons in worship
800: Charlemagne is crowned the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Leo III; the Holy Roman Empire existed as a political entity in Central Europe until 1806
858: Christian missionaries develop the Cyrillic alphabet; used in 50+ languages today including Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, and Belarusian
864: Prince Boris of Bulgaria is baptized, leading to the establishment of the Bulgarian Church
912: Rollo and his Vikings convert to Christianity
988: Prince Vladimir is baptized, begins the conversion of the Russian people
1054: Great East-West Schism
1093: Anselm becomes Archbishop of Canterbury, writes several influential works; most famous for the “ontological argument” for the existence of God
1095: Pope Urban II calls for the First Crusade to recapture the Holy Land from Muslims
1096: Oxford University founded
1099: Crusaders conquer Jerusalem
1115: Bernard founds the monastery in Clairvaux
1147: Second Crusade launched to recapture the city of Edessa from the Turks
c.1150: Peter Lombard publishes The Four Books of Sentences; this work became the standard theology textbook in the west for the next 400+ years
1173: Waldensians movement launched by proto-Reformer Peter Waldo
1187: Jerusalem recaptured by Muslim armies led by Saladin
1189: Third Crusade led by Richard the Lionheart of England and Philip II of France
1202: Fourth Crusade launched; ends with western crusaders sacking Constantinople (fighting eastern Christians instead of fighting Muslims), causing additional significant estrangement between East and West
1210: Franciscan Order founded by Francis of Assisi in Italy
1215: Magna Carta
1215: Fourth Lateran Council codifies certain doctrines and lifestyle expectations for Catholic clergymen
1216: Dominican Order established by Dominic de Guzman in France
1250-1252: Bonaventure writes Commentary on the Sentences
c.1250s: Christianity in Asia declines; most of the Christian communities in China and east Asia completely evaporated by the 1400s
1259-1272: William of Moerbeke translates classical Greek philosophical texts, giving western Christians a much clearer picture of Greek philosophy and literature, helping to foster a resurgence in the study of the classics
c.1266-1273: Thomas Aquinas writes Summa Theologiae
Late Middle Ages (1309-1512)
1309: Papacy moved from Rome to Avignon
c.1347-1351: Black Death
1370: Catherine of Siena begins her Letters
1376: John Wycliffe writes Civil Dominion, arguing for church reform
1377: Papacy moved from Avignon back to Rome
1378-1417: Great Western Schism, the period of time when there were multiple rival Popes, causing confusion and division within the church and its followers; this weakened the authority of the Catholic Church in the minds of many Europeans
c.1380: John Wycliffe translates the Bible into English
1415: Jan Hus burned at stake for propagating the ideas of Wycliffe; Hus was a Czech theologian, philosopher, and proto-Reformer
1418: Thomas à Kempis publishes The Imitation of Christ
1431: Joan of Arc burned at stake
1438-1439: Several eastern churches associated themselves with Rome after the Council of Florence, forming the Eastern Catholic Churches
1448: Independence of Russian Orthodox Church from the Church of Constantinople
1453: Turks capture Constantinople, bringing an end to the Byzantine Empire; many Byzantine Christians and Greek scholars fled westward, reintroducing western Christians to many classical Greek texts
1455: Johannes Gutenberg prints the Bible
1478: Spanish Inquisition established
1491: Franciscan and Dominican missionaries arrive in the Congo
1492: Spanish Catholics reconquer the entire Iberian Peninsula
1492: Columbus sails to the Americas
1494-1499: Catholic missionaries arrive in various parts of the Caribbean
1497: Portuguese colonizers and Catholic missionaries arrive in India, begin to interact with the significant Christian presence in the region (believed to date back to Thomas’ ministry in the first century)
1499: Portuguese Catholic missionaries arrived at Zanzibar and Tanzania, they experienced great ministry success
c.1510s-1540s: Significant numbers of Spanish and Portuguese Catholic missionaries travel to various parts of Latin America
1512: Michelangelo completes artwork at the Sistine Chapel
Reformation Era (1516-1587)
1516: Erasmus publishes the Greek New Testament
1517: Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses in Wittenburg; sparked the Protestant Reformation
1518: Ulrich Zwingli comes to Zurich
1520: Martin Luther publishes The Babylonian Captivity of The Church
1521: Diet of Worms, Luther put on trial by Catholic Church, narrowly escapes alive
1521: Spain colonizes the Philippines; the nation becomes a strategic region for commerce and evangelism in Southeast Asia
1522: Martin Luther’s German New Testament published
1525: William Tyndale completes his English translation of the Bible
1524-1525: German Peasants’ War
1529: Marburg Colloquy
1532: William Farel goes to Geneva
1534: Ignatius of Loyola founds the Jesuits; founded as part of the Counter-Reformation
1534: Act of Supremacy passed in England, officially separating English church from Rome and making King Henry VIII the supreme head of the English church
1535: Martin Luther publishes his famous commentary on Galatians
1536: John Calvin publishes his first edition of The Institutes of the Christian Religion
1536: William Tyndale strangled to death and his body burned at the stake; he was executed for circulating the English Bible to ordinary peoples
1536: Menno Simons baptized as an Anabaptist
1536: John Calvin stops in Geneva while traveling to Strasbourg; William Farel convinces Calvin to stay in Geneva
1538: Calvin expelled from Geneva, goes to Strasbourg
1540: Calvin publishes his Commentary on Romans
1541: Calvin returns to Geneva, pastored there in the city for next 23+ years until his death in 1564
1545: Council of Trent begins
1549: Thomas Cranmer publishes the Book of Common Prayer in England (revised in 1662)
1550s-1560s: John Calvin sends Protestant church planting missionaries from Geneva to other regions in Europe; by 1562 more than 2,000 Protestant churches were planted in France alone, and many more in Italy, the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, and Rhineland
1553: Michael Servetus burned at the stake in Geneva for heresy
1554: Lady Jane Grey was queen of England for just nine days, at age 16, but later arrested and executed for her Protestant faith
1555: Peace of Augsburg signed
1557: John Calvin sends missionaries from Geneva to Brazil
1559: John Knox returns to Scotland after several years in Geneva, founded the Presbyterian Church
c.1560s: The epithet “Puritans” began to be used to describe any person in England who believed the Church of England needed more purity or that the Church had not yet reformed enough
1560s-1590s: Jesuit missionaries sent to several nations in Africa and Asia; they set-up mission posts and schools in several regions
1563: Foxe’s Book of Martyrs published
1563: Heidelberg Catechism published
1563: First text of the 39 Articles issued
1565: Teresa of Avila publishes The Way of Perfection
c.1570s: Early formations of the English “Separatists” movement
1572: St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in France; some estimates assert that as many as 30,000 Huguenots (French Calvinists) were killed
1580: Book of Concord published
1587: “Bloody” Mary Stuart executed
Post-Reformation Era (1603-1773)
1603: Jacob Arminius becomes a professor at Leyden
1609: Former Anglican priest and English Separatist leader John Smyth (re)baptizes himself and 40 others in Amsterdam, sparking the modern Baptist movement
1610: Dutch Remonstrance movement begins
1611: Publication of the King James Bible
1612: Thomas Helwys forms the first Baptist church in London
1618-1619: Synod of Dort
1618-1648: Thirty Years War
1620: Mayflower Compact
1630: Massachusetts Bay Colony founded by 1,000+ Puritan refugees under the leadership of John Winthrop
1636: Roger Williams founded the Rhode Island colony as a haven for religious liberty
1636: Harvard College founded to train New England’s pastors
1637: Anne Hutchinson banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony in the wake of the Antinomian Controversy
1641: Rene Descartes publishes Discourse on the Method and Meditations on First Philosophy
1644: First London Baptist Confession published
1646-1647: Westminster Confession and Catechisms published
1647: George Fox begins to preach, propagates Quakerism
c.1650-1672: Anne Bradstreet published several books containing poems and essays
1665: Establishment of Malankara Orthodox Church under the Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church
1667: John Milton publishes Paradise Lost
1670: Blaise Pascal’s Pensés published posthumously
1675: Jacob Spencer publishes Pia Desideria, advances Pietism
1678: John Bunyan publishes Pilgrim’s Progress
1679-1685: Francis Turretin writes Institutes of Elenctic Theology
1688-1689: The Glorious Revolution
1689: Second London Baptist Confession (originally drafted in 1677) republished and circulated
1698: Establishment of the Orthodox Church in China
c.1707-1748: Isaac Watts writes nearly 800 hymns and publishes several books
c.1727-1830s: Moravian Community of Herrnhut in Saxony launched an ‘around-the-clock’ prayer meeting that continued nonstop for over a hundred years
1729: Jonathan Edwards becomes the pastor at Northampton
1730s-1770s: The First Great Awakening
c.1734-1761: Anne Dutton publishes 50+ books containing essays, poems, and hymns
1735: George Whitefield converted to Christ in England
1738: John and Charles Wesley experience evangelical conversions
1739: George Whitefield begins his open-air preaching ministry; he would become the most prolific preacher in the world
1740: Whitefield launches the Bethesda Orphanage in Georgia colony
1741: Jonathan Edwards preaches his famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
1743: David Brainerd goes to Stockbridge as a missionary to the Native Americans
1746: Jonathan Edwards publishes Religious Affections
1771: Francis Asbury comes to America; he became the most prolific Methodist revivalist preacher in the nation
1773: Isaac Backus publishes An Appeal to the Public for Religious Liberty
Early Modern Era (1783-1865)
1783: George Lisle becomes the first ordained black Baptist pastor and first American foreign missionary, taking the gospel to Jamaica
1785: Andrew Fuller publishes The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation
1787: Lemuel Hayes becomes first black pastor in America to lead a predominantly white congregation
1789: French Revolution begins
1790: Manuel Lacunza, Chilean Jesuit scholar, completes his three-volume work The Coming of the Messiah in Glory and Majesty
c.1790s-1840s: The Second Great Awakening
1792: Andrew Fuller, John Sutcliff, John Ryland, and William Carey launched the Baptist Missionary Society
1792: William Carey publishes An Enquiry
1793: Carey goes to India, known as the “father of modern missions”
1794: Orthodox Missionaries arrive in Alaska
1799: Fredrich Schleiermacher (heretical theologian) publishes On Religion
1801: Cane Ridge Revival in Kentucky
1802: Thomas Jefferson famously corresponds with the Danbury Baptists Association of Connecticut
1806: Haystack Prayer Meeting in Massachusetts
1807: Williams Wilberforce leads the abolition of the slave trade
1811: Stone-Campbell (Restoration) Movement begins
1812: Adoniram and Ann Judson and Luther Rice go to India to serve as missionaries; the Judsons later serve in Burma
1814: Triennial Convention was formed to serve Baptists’ collaborative missions efforts; delegates from Baptist churches across the United States met at the convention once every three years
1816: Richard Allen founds the African Methodist Episcopal Church
1817: Robert Moffat goes to South Africa as a missionary
c.1820s: Charles Finney becomes America’s most popular revivalist preacher
1830: Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints (Mormons) launched by Joseph Smith; he leads Mormon movement until his assassination in 1844; after Smith’s death the Mormons migrate west under the leadership of Brigham Young, eventually settling in the Utah territory in 1847; the majority of faithful Christians consider the Mormon faith to be a heretical movement
c.1830s-1840s: John Nelson Darby begins preaching ministry; propagated Dispensationalism and established Brethren assemblies
1835: Charles Finney publishes Lectures on Revivals
1836: George Müller opens his first orphanage in England
1837: John Ludwig Krapf goes to Ethiopia as a missionary; later serves in Kenya too
1840: David Livingstone goes to southern Africa as a missionary
1844: Millerites in America experience the Great Disappointment
1844: Søren Kierkegaard publishes Philosophical Fragments
1845: Phoebe Palmer publishes The Way of Holiness
1845: Triennial Convention splits (primarily over the issue of slavery), forming the Northern Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention
1847: Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod founded
1852: Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin
1853: Hudson Taylor went to China as a missionary
1854: Charles Spurgeon enters pastoral ministry in London; he would eventually become the most influential preacher of his era
1855: D.L. Moody converted to Christ
1858: John G. Paton goes to Asia as a missionary to minister to tribes of cannibals
1864: John Henry Newman’s Apologia Pro Vita Sua is published
1865: William and Catherine Booth found the Salvation Army
Late Modern Era (1870-1945)
1870-1871: First Vatican Council, asserts Papal infallibility
1872: Lottie Moon left for the mission field, served in China for nearly 40 years
1872: Jehovah’s Witnesses movement launched by Charles Taze Russell; most Christians consider the Jehovah’s Witnesses movement to be a heretical cult
1875: First Keswick Convention
1880: Abraham Kuyper founded the Free University at Amsterdam
1881: B.B. Warfield and A.A. Hodge jointly write their famous article Inspiration
1882: Nyack Missionary Training Institute (later Nyack College) founded by A. B. Simpson in New York
1883-1897: Niagara Bible Conferences helped spread Dispensationalism
1884: Ugandan King Mwanga puts many Christians to death because they objected to Mwanga’s homosexual behaviors and sexual deviance; this contributes to the outbreak of civil war
1886: Chicago Evangelization Society (later Moody Bible Institute) founded in Chicago by D. L. Moody and Emma Dryer
1886: Student Volunteer Movement launches in America
1886: Ugandan Catholic convert Charles Lwanga and his companions are martyred
1888: Annie Armstrong led the creation of the Woman’s Missionary Union
1890: Wheaton College founded
1890s-1910s: Bible college movement gains significant momentum in North America; this eventually leads to the founding of thousands of Bible colleges and missionary training institutes across the globe throughout the twentieth century
1892: Walter Rauschenbusch (heretical theologian) helps found the Brotherhood of the Kingdom, focused on propagating the Social Gospel movement
1893: Rowland Bingham, Walter Gowans, and Thomas Kent founded Sudan Interior Mission; today SIM is one of the largest missionary organizations in the world
1895: Amy Carmichael goes to India as missionary, spends 50+ years doing ministry with no furlough; also published 50+ books
1894: Pope Leo XIII publishes the Encyclical Orientalium Dignitas
1896: Billy Sunday begins leading revival services and meetings; introduces the modern “altar call”
1898: Nestorian Christians from Iran received into the Russian Orthodox Church
1898: Abraham Kuyper gives the renowned Stone Lectures at Princeton Seminary; later published as Lectures on Calvinism
1905: France passes law on that officially codifies the separation of Church and State
1906: Albert Schweitzer (heterodox scholar) publishes The Quest of the Historical Jesus
1906: Azusa Street revival begins in Los Angeles, launched the modern Pentecostal movement
1908: G.K. Chesterton publishes Orthodoxy
1909: Scofield Reference Bible published
1910: C.T. Studd established Heart of Africa Mission (now known as WEC International)
1910-1915: The Fundamentals essays published
1914: Assemblies of God denomination founded
1915–1923: Armenian genocide occurs; more than 800,000 Armenian Christians are killed by the Ottoman Empire and more than 200,000 women and children are forcibly converted to Islam
1917: Pope Benedict XV promotes the Code of Canon Law, the first ever official codification of Catholic canon law
1919: W.B. Riley founded the World Christian Fundamentals Association
1919: Karl Barth (neo-orthodox theologian) publishes Commentary on Romans
c.1920s: Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy
1921: Pittsburgh radio station KDKA broadcasts the first ever Christian radio program
1922: Harry Emerson Fosdick (liberal theologian) preaches his famous sermon Shall the Fundamentalists Win?
1923: J. Gresham Machen publishes Christianity and Liberalism
1925: Scopes Monkey Trial
1929: Mother Teresa arrives in India; she served impoverished peoples in India for nearly 70 years
1929-1930: J. Gresham Machen leaves Princeton Seminary with a group of scholars to found Westminster Seminary in the wake of the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy
1931: C.S. Lewis converted to the Christian faith
1931-1936: Red Terror in Spain; more than 6,800 Catholic clergymen were killed
1937: Dietrich Bonhoeffer publishes The Cost of Discipleship
1941: Reinhold Niebuhr (neo-orthodox theologian) publishes The Nature and Destiny of Man
1942: National Association of Evangelicals founded in St. Louis; Harold John Ockenga served as the organization’s first president for three years
1942: Wycliffe Bible Translators founded by William Cameron Townsend
1945: Dietrich Bonhoeffer executed by the Nazis
Post-WWII Era (1947-2017)
1947: Lesslie Newbigin leaves England, goes to India as missionary
1947: Fuller Theological Seminary founded in California
1947: Carl F.H. Henry publishes Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism
1947-1956: Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls
1948: A.W. Tozer publishes The Pursuit of God
1948: World Council of Churches organized
1949: Billy Graham’s Los Angeles evangelistic crusades go for several weeks, propelling Graham to national prominence
1949: Evangelical Theological Society founded
1950-1956: C.S. Lewis published Chronicles of Narnia
1951: Richard Niebuhr (neo-orthodox theologian) publishes Christ and Culture
1951: Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison published posthumously
1951: Campus Crusade for Christ founded at UCLA
1955: Donald McGavran published Bridges of God
1956: Christianity Today founded
1956: The Ten Commandments film released
1956: Jim Elliot martyred in Ecuador with his four companions, they had been trying to evangelize the Huaorani people
1960: Christian Broadcasting Network founded
1960s: Charismatic renewal movement
1962: Second Vatican Council convened
1965: Chuck Smith founds Calvary Chapel
1965: Joint Catholic-Orthodox Declaration issued; it lifted the mutual excommunications that had occurred as part of the Great East-West Schism of 1054
1966-1976: Christian population in China explodes despite significant persecution amid the Cultural Revolution
1971: R.C. Sproul launches Ligonier Ministries
1971: Gustav Gutierrez (liberal theologian) writes Theology of Liberation
1973: Trinity Broadcasting Network founded
1973: J.I. Packer publishes Knowing God
1974: International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland; global missions efforts began to dramatically shift after this event due to missiologist Ralph D. Winters’ introduction of the concept of “unreached people groups”
1975: Bruce Metzger’s Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament published
1976: Francis Schaeffer publishes How Should We Then Live?
1977: E. P. Sanders publishes Paul and Palestinian Judaism launching the New Perspective on Paul movement
1978: Chicago Statement on Inerrancy published by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy
1978: Pope John Paul II becomes first non-Italian pope in 450+ years
1979: Jesus Film released
1980s-1990s: Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention
1987: Danvers Statement published by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
1991-1992: Pope John Paul II makes efforts to reconcile Rome with the Eastern Orthodox churches
1994: Evangelicals and Catholics Together document signed
1999: Chuck Colson published How Now Shall We Live?
2000: John Piper preached his famous Passion One Day conference sermon to 40,000+ young adults
2002: Rick Warren publishes The Purpose Driven Life
2017: Nashville Statement published by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
Featured image of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre courtesy of the American Society of Overseas Research.
Recommended Resources:
Christian History Made Easy (Rose Bible Basics) (by Timothy Paul Jones)
Christian History Made Easy Participant Guide [DVD Series] (by Timothy Paul Jones)
Church History in Plain Language. 5th edition (by Bruce Shelley)
Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals (multiple contributions, ed. by Timothy T. Larsen)
Awakening the Evangelical Mind (by Owen Strachan)
Historical Theology for the Church (multiple contributors, ed. by Jason Duesing and Nathan Finn)
Kenneth E. Ortiz (Th.M.) is Lead Pastor of Horizon City Church. He has 15+ years of vocational ministry experience. Kenneth previously served as a professor at Bethlehem College and adjunct faculty at Spurgeon College. Kenneth lives in Minneola, FL with his wife Malaina, they have two kids.