Sketches from Church History by S M Houghton Chapter 13

Some of us are going through Sketches from Church History by S M Houghton one small chapter at a time. (By the way, the book has pictures.) Aiding us in this study is the work book by Rebecca Frawley. Both are Banner of Truth books.
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Chapter 13  The Papacy at its height

The struggle between Henry II, King of England and Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury
Becket felt that it was enough for corrupt church officials to be ‘defrocked’. The king was of the opinion that in addition, they must be tried in the civil court. In a fit of temper the king ordered Becket dead. Becket was regarded as a martyr and the church of the day became stronger for it.

General Council of Churches convened by Pope Innocent III in 1215
In 1215, the same year that the English barons required King John to sign the Magna Carta, Pope Innocent III called a General Council at Rome.
The Pope announced that the Lord had given Peter (read ‘the Popes’) headship of the church and dominion over the whole world.
The Pope also introduced the doctrine of transubstantiation and, in so doing, legislated idolatry in the church.

Bernard of Clairvaux
If any of us were disappointed by this man’s connection with the Second Crusade, which we looked at in the previous lesson, here is something to warm the heart. Bernard of Clairvaux was a man who loved God from a true heart. He declined the honours that came to him in the church. His followers held high positions and one of them even became a pope. To him, Bernard said: Remember that you are a successor of him who said, “Silver and gold have I none.” Gold and silk and pearls and soldiers you have not received of Christ, but they came to you from Constantine. Never strive after these things. Would to God that before I die, I might see the Church as it was in olden times when the apostles cast their nets, not to catch gold and silver but the souls of men!

Pitiful condition of the church of the middle ages
The masses of people had blind faith in the church and tradition. They did not know what the Bible taught about sin and redemption from it. Sometimes external abuses were corrected but corrupt doctrine was left untouched. There was no appeal to the word of God. Houghton ends the chapter like this:

Dark was the night, and more than human power was needed to drive away the thick clouds. But, as we shall see, in God’s time, dawn came.

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Sketches from Church History by S M Houghton Chapter 12

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Chapter 12  The Crusades

Emperor Constantine and his mother Helena had built costly churches in Palestine, and so Palestine was regarded as the Holy Land and Jerusalem as the Holy City by Christians.

In 636 Jerusalem was captured by the Mohammedans under Caliph Omar. Except for some restrictions, by and large, Christian pilgrims were able to visit the “Holy Land.”
In the 11th century, Jerusalem was captured by fierce Seljuk Turks. After this, Christian pilgrims were subjected to harsh treatment. This led to the crusades.

The Crusade movement comprised a series of religiously-sanctioned military campaigns, which lasted two centuries and cost the lives of nearly five million Europeans, in addition to the lives of muslims and others lost. The Crusades are an unfortunate part of church history. The wars had no scriptural basis and were uncalled for. Christ’s kingdom is not of this world, and the warfare of Christians for religious purposes should only be spiritual. Having said this, we must remember that many of the crusaders were brave and imagined that they were fighting for a good cause, wanting to recapture what they believed was their Holy Land so that Christians may be able to worship there in peace.

Something about some of the crusades:
First Crusade: Preached by Peter the Hermit and Pope Urban II. The Pope promised forgiveness of sins to all crusaders. This is ofcourse totally unbiblical. Untrained people, even women and children, went and were defeated by the Turks in Nicea. A later group of men trained in warfare had success. They captured Jerusalem, carried out a terrible massacre of the inhabitants including women and children, and then held the city for 50 years.
Second Crusade: In 1147 Bernard of Clairvaux (who wrote hymns like ‘O Sacred Head once wounded’) undertook a crusade, which ended in failure. This encouraged Saladin to capture Jerusalem in 1187.
Third Crusade: This was undertaken by three European kings. Frederick Barbarossa, Emperor of Germany, Philip Augustus, King of France, and Richard Coeur-de-Lion, King of England. This ended in failure.
Children’s Crusade: This crusade came about because Stephen, a French boy, claimed to have seen a vision, and Nicolas, a German boy, spread the news in his country. Thousands of children joined this movement. Many died on the way in the snowy alps. The sea did not divide as they expected and many returned. Seven ships took 5000 children on board, to take them to Palestine. Two ships struck rocks and sank. The other five were slave ships and took the children to Palestine where they were sold as slaves, never to be heard of again.
Sixth Crusade: Promoted by St Louis, the French King ended in failure.
Seventh Crusade: By St Louis, joined by Price Edward I of England, also ended in failure.

I’d like to add a personal note here. The Crusades are a part of history that most of the world may have forgotten. But they are indoctrinated in the minds of Muslims world over in a highly imbalanced and subjective fashion. I was rather taken aback by the vehemence of a good Muslim friend over this subject. With Middle Easterners, history, although seldom objective, matters.
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Sketches from Church History by S M Houghton Chapter 11

Some of us are going through Sketches from Church History by S M Houghton one small chapter at a time. (By the way, the book has pictures.) Aiding us in this study is the work book by Rebecca Frawley. Both are Banner of Truth books.
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Chapter 11  Pope and Emperor

The year is about 1073 and this chapter deals with the relationship between Hilderbrand, known as Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV who lived in Germany.

Three theories existed about what the relation between Pope and Emperor needed to be:

• Pope and Emperor had equal powers and needed to cooperate with each other
• Emperor was superior to the Pope in secular matters
• The Pope and Emperor were like the sun and the moon, both great lights, but the Pope was superior to the Emperor even in civil affairs

Houghton describes two practices of the time:

• Simony: Buying and selling of offices in the church for money. So offices were held by unqualified, even illiterate, men.
• Investiture: The right of kings to appoint bishops and abbots. This was not a good practice, however, this was the only way by which the state could get sufficient taxes and military help, because vast areas of land belonged to the church.

Sequence of events mentioned in this chapter:

Not much love was lost between Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV.

Pope Gregory VII summoned Emperor Henry IV to Rome

In retaliation, Emperor Henry IV deposed Pope Gregory VII

Pope Gregory VII in turn excommunicated Emperor Henry IV. This meant that he could not meet with family and friends.

Pope Gregory VII also pronounced a sentence of Interdict against the subjects of Emperor Henry IV. This meant that no church services were held or church practices carried out. Even burial ceremonies could not be held.

Amazingly, Emperor Henry IV traveled in midwinter with his wife and child to meet the Pope. Pope Gregory VII did not give him audience. So for three days he stood in the snow waiting. On the fourth day, the Pope conceded to meet him. The reconciliation was only superficial, for neither did the Pope have the mind of the Christ he was supposed to represent, nor was the Emperor truly penitant but harboured hate and revenge in his heart.

Seven years later, Emperor Henry IV drove Pope Gregory VII into exile.

Later Henry IV was excommunicated for a second time.

A later Pope poisoned the mind of the Emperor’s son against his father leading to Emperor Henry IV being killed by his own son.
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Sketches from Church History by S M Houghton Chapter 10

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Chapter 10   Early Missionaries in Europe

S M Houghton ends this chapter like this:

How is it possible, we may ask, that these Christian workers did not give up in despair? The secret is that they did not work with an eye to success, and much less for personal gain or glory, but first and last and always they complied with the command of the Lord, ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature’ (Mark 16:15).

Some keywords/names to remember/key ideas from this chapter are:

• Willibrord (658-708) Apostle to the Frisians. Frissians were the Dutch or people of the low countries.
• Boniface (680-754) Apostle to Germany
• Eligius (589-659) Apostle to Flanders and the low countries
• Ansgar (801-865) Apostle to the North

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Sketches from Church History by S M Houghton Chapters 8 and 9

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Chapters 8 and 9   The Christian Faith comes to the British Isles

These chapters include many interesting little stories and anecdotes that have been handed down over the years that make for interesting reading.

Some keywords/names to remember/key ideas from this chapter are:

• The earliest Christians in Britain were Roman colonists belonging to the army of occupation. (The Romans were in Britain for three and a half centuries)
• Britain’s first martyr was Alban, who was executed on a mound outside the city, because he refused to carry out a simple act of worship on a heathen altar.
• St. Patrick,  Apostle to Northern Ireland
• Two groups preached to the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons who invaded and conquered large parts of Britain in the fifth century.
  • Monks (Aidan in particular) came from Iona.
  • Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory I
• Cantebury became the center fro Roman Christianity in Britain.
• Edwin, British king converted to Christianity because of the preaching of a Roman monk who came to him when he married a Christian princess. Edinburgh in Scotland is named after this King Edwin.
• King Oswy had been brought up in the Celtic church. He embraced the views of the Roman Church after hearing a debate, at the Synod of Whitby, between a Celtic Church speaker (Colman of Lindisfarne) and a Roman abbot (Wilfred, the Abbot of Rippon).
• Some ways in which Alfred the Great furthered Christianity in England:
  • Provided Christian education to his subjects
  • Engaged in work of translation of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History from Latin to Anglo Saxon and also translated many of the Psalms
  • Presented the chief of clergy of England with copies of Pope Gregory’s Pastoral Care
  • Revised the laws of the land and included the law of Moses

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Sketches from Church History by S M Houghton Chapter 7

Some of us are going through Sketches from Church History by S M Houghton one small chapter at a time. (By the way, the book has pictures.) Aiding us in this study is the work book by Rebecca Frawley. Both are Banner of Truth books.
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Chapter 7   Islam

Some keywords/names to remember/key ideas from this chapter are:

• Islam and Christianity are not compatible because:
  • Mohammed taught that Jesus was a prophet but he, Mohammed, was the greatest prophet of all.
  • While Mohammed believed that Jesus was a holy man, he denied that He was the Son of God. He also denied the virgin birth, resurrection, ascension, and the atoning death of Jesus.
  • Islam knows nothing of salvation by the sheer unlimited grace of God.
• Mohammed was born in Mecca in Arabia
• Islam means ‘obedience’ or ’surrender’
• Mohammed wanted to warn his people that they could only escape condemnation by giving up their idols and turning to the worship of the one supreme god he knew as Allah.
• On 16 July 622 (Day 1 of the Mohammedan calendar), the Hegira (Flight from Mecca to Medina) took place.
• Mohammed claimed to have received his teaching from Angel Gabriel. The teachings are contained in the Koran.
• Five pillars of Islam are:
  • Confessing–There is no other God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet
  • Offering prayer at stated times, five times a day, facing Mecca
  • Giving of alms
  • Fasting during the month of Ramadan
  • Pilgrimmage to Mecca at least once in a person’s life
• Mohammed believed that prayer led halfway to God, fasting led to the gateway of heaven, and waging the holy war gave actual entrance into heaven.
• A note on Caliph Omar
  • Took Jerusalem in 637 AD.
  • Built mosque on the site of the old Jewish temple destroyed in 70 A.D.
  • Destroyed the world’s most famous library in Alexandria in Egypt, declaring that no books other than the Koran were required.

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Sketches from Church History by S M Houghton Chapter 6

Some of us are going through Sketches from Church History by S M Houghton one small chapter at a time. (By the way, the book has pictures.) Aiding us in this study is the work book by Rebecca Frawley. Both are Banner of Truth books.
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Chapter 6   The Rise of the Papacy

Some keywords/names to remember/key ideas from this chapter are:

• The word ‘Pope‘ means ‘papa’. Whereas the only two permanent offices of church leadership taught in the New Testament are Elder and Deacon
• Bishops of influential congregations (like Rome, Antioch, and Jerusalem) exalted themselves and called themselves as the patriarchs.
• The Bishop of Rome claimed the highest authority in the church on the basis of:
  • The notion that Peter lived in Rome for 25 years as Bishop of Rome
  • The “Donation of Constantine,” a forged document that claimed that the Emperor Constantine had granted bishops of Rome very extensive rights in Italy, including the privilege of wearing a golden crown.
  • Decretals (Forged letters and decrees) of bishops of Rome going back to apostolic days established the authority of the Pope in both chuch and state.
• Pope Gregory gained political power by defending Italy against the Lombards when the weak emperor was ruling from Constantinople. Gregory also reformed church music in the middle ages.
• In 800 AD, Charles the Great was crowned as Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III. This made popes think that they had the power and right to enthrone and depose monarchs at their will.
• In 1053 AD, the Roman Catholic Church (which used Latin, and believing that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son) and the Greek Orthodox Church (which used Greek, and believing that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone) split.
• Apostasy in the Roman Catholic Church:
  • Everything pointed to outward show and inward emptiness
  • Praying to saints
  • Worship of images, and images placed in churches
  • Martyrs and famous bishops were idolized
  • Mary the mother of Jesus, blessed among women, was unduly exalted and called upon as ‘the queen of heaven’ and worship was paid to her

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Sketches from Church History by S M Houghton Chapter 5

Some of us are going through Sketches from Church History by S M Houghton one small chapter at a time. (By the way, the book has pictures.) Aiding us in this study is the work book by Rebecca Frawley. Both are Banner of Truth books.
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Chapter 5   Monasticism

Some keywords/names to remember/key ideas from this chapter are:

-Monasticism refers to a life of seclusion devoted to meditation and prayer in accordance to prescribed rules
-Antonius in Egypt wanted to follow Jesus’ command to the rich young ruler
-Stylites or Pillar Saints of Antioch in Syria, followers of Simeon (died in 459 AD). Simeon began with a pillar of about six feet and gradually increased it’s height, living for 30 years on a pillar 60 feet high. He preached to his many pillars from atop his pillar.
-Abbot Benedict who established a monastry near Naples in 529 AD.  Three vows required were poverty, chastity, and obedience
-Augustine (different from the Bishop of Hippo) of the Benedictine order took 40 monks to Canterbury and established a Benedictine monastery
-Positive points about monasticism: Seats of learning, copying of manuscripts, distribution of alms to the poor, cared for sick and afflicted, cultivation of fields
-Venerable Bede (673 to 735 AD), Father of English History, wrote The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation.
-Columbia established a monastery in the Island of Iona in 583 AD and took the gospel to Scotland
-Aiden established a monastery in Holy Island, close to the Northumbrian coast; thus the gospel was preached in England.

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Sketches from Church History by S M Houghton Chapter 4

Some of us are going through Sketches from Church History by S M Houghton one small chapter at a time. (By the way, the book has pictures.) Aiding us in this study is the work book by Rebecca Frawley. Both are Banner of Truth books.
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Chapter 4   Church Fathers

Some keywords/names to remember/key ideas from this chapter are:

-Athanasius (from Chapter 3) was a church father.
-Ambrose: The story is told of how Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, stopped Emperor Theodosius from attending the worship and partaking of the Lord’s table, because he had killed 7000 people. The emperor later repented.
-Augustine (354-430 AD) had a godly mother called Monica who prayed for him. The sermons of Ambrose made an impression on him. He became a Christian and wrote the  Confessions. Became the Bishop of Hippo. He is famous for his defense against the Pelagian Controversy
-Pelagian Controversy: No original sin; Adam’s sin did not affect the human race; Man is not born sinful; No ‘birth from above’ by divine intervention of grace.
-Jerome also opposed the Pelagian error. He was a scholar, translated Bible from Greek and Hebrew to Latin (Vulgate used by RC church during the middle ages, and first book to be printed; it was declared ‘Authentic’ by Council of Trent).

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Sketches from Church History by S M Houghton Chapter 3

Some of us are going through Sketches from Church History by S M Houghton one small chapter at a time. (By the way, the book has pictures.) Aiding us in this study is the work book by Rebecca Frawley. Both are Banner of Truth books.
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Chapter 3  Constantine the Great

Some keywords/names to remember/key ideas from this chapter are:

• Constantine professed Christianity. Stopped persecution (Edict of Milan AD 313). Christian Sunday recognised as a day of rest. Emperor became ruler of the church.
• On the one hand there was relief from persecution. But on the other hand, worldliness crept into the church.
• Arius of Alexandria (Egypt) declared that Jesus was not divine and that He was a created being.
• Athanasius, also of Alexandria, wrote ‘On the Incarnation of the Word of God’ in response to Arian error.
• Also in response to the heresy of Arius, under Constantine, the general council of the Church at Nicea (Bithynia) met in 325 AD. They adopted the Nicene Creed.
• Julian the Apostate became emperor. He wrote against Christianity and reversed many of Constantine’s measures.
• Later emperors brought back Constantine’s arrangements. They also forbade divination.
• Emperor Gratian (375-383 AD) refused the title Pontifix Maximus (or ‘Chief Priest’). The old religion of Rome was called Pagan or the religion of the peasants.

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