Christian History

1. Lesson 4 The Age of Reason and Piety Christian History

2. Faith and Reason through History • Apostolic and Ancient Christianity • Col 2:8 “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” • On the prescription of heretics “What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What concord is there between the Academy and the Church?...we want no curious disputation after possessing Christ Jesus,…With our faith, we desire no further belief”

3. Faith and Reason through History • The Middle Ages • Summa 1.32 “…by natural reason we can know of God that only which of necessity belongs to Him as the principle of things…by natural reason we can know what belongs to the unity of the essence, but not what belongs to the distinction of the persons…” • “Whoever, then, tries to prove the trinity of persons by natural reason, derogates from faith in two ways. Firstly, as regards the dignity of faith itself, which consists in its being concerned with invisible things…when anyone in the endeavor to prove the faith brings forward reasons which are not cogent, he falls under the ridicule of the unbelievers”

4. Faith and Reason through History • The Renaissance and Reformation • Luther’s commentary on Galatians, “Let your faith supplant reason…faith won the victory and routed reason, that ugly beast and enemy of God…” • “It is a quality of faith that it wrings the neck of reason…it holds to God’s Word, and lets it be right and true, no matter how foolish and impossible it sounds”

5. The Age of Enlightenment Rene Descartes (1596-1650) “I think, therefore I am” Voltaire (1694-1778) “Destroy the Infamous thing!” Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) “Dare to think for Yourself”

6. Blaise Pascal1623-1662 • One of the great minds of the west, an accomplished mathematician, physicist, inventor, and writer. • His work “Provincial Letters” defended the Jansenists and parodied the Jesuits doctrines. • His literary work is considered his greatest contribution to French culture.

7. “The heart has its reasons that are unknown to reason” • The year of grace, 1654: Monday, November 23, day of St. Clement, pope and martyr, and others in the martyrology. Vigil of St. Chrysogonus, martyr, and others from about half past ten in the evening to about half past midnight. Fire. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and the scientists, certitude, certitude. Emotion. Joy. Peace. God of Jesus Christ.

8. Pascal’s WagerPensess • God is, or He is not." But to which side shall we incline? Reason can decide nothing here. There is an infinite chaos which separated us. A game is being played at the extremity of this infinite distance where heads or tails will turn up. What will you wager? According to reason, you can do neither the one thing nor the other; according to reason, you can defend neither of the propositions.

9. Pietism“the internal evidence” • its roots in Puritanism, it was a protest movement within the Lutheran Church • Birth of Pietism came after the end of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) • Stressed personal renewal, regeneration, and a vigorous Christian life. • Philipp Jakob Spener(1635-1705), the “father of Pietism” • Johann Arndt “True Christianity” (1606)

10. Count von Zinzendorf1700-1760 • A Saxon Nobleman raised with strong Pietist influences • Attended the University of Wittenberg 200 years after the 95 thesis • Took a “Grand Tour” of Europe as part of his education

11. Count von Zinzendorf1700-1760 • True conversion ca. 1719 • Helped establish the Moravian community of Herrnhut • Under his leadership the Moravian Church Flourished • Missionaries Leonard Dober and David Nitchmann to St Thomas “Ecce homo” Domenico Feti

12. John Wesley1703-1791 • Born in the Epworth rectory, his father was a priest in the Church of England • In Oxford formed the “Holy Club”(1729) • John and Charles serve as chaplains for the colony of Georgia(1735)

13. In the midst of the psalm wherewith their service began, the sea broke over, split the mainsail in pieces, covered the ship, and poured in between the decks, as if the great deep had already swallowed us up. A terrible screaming began among the English. The Germans calmly sang on. I asked one of them afterward, “Were you not afraid?” He answered, “I thank God, no.” I asked, “But were not your women and children afraid?” He replied, mildly, “No; our women and children are not afraid to die.”

14. In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death. (1738)

15. “…now I deliver my soul, by telling you that I think in this you greatly err.” • Encouraged and introduced “open air preaching” to John and Charles Wesley • Made several trips to America, instrumental in the awakenings in England and America • Split with Wesley over the doctrine of universal redemption. George Whitefield 1714-1770

16. John Wesley’s purpose and Theology • “To promote, as far as I am able, vital, practical religion, and by the Grace of God, beget, preserve, and increase the life of God in the soul of men” • Faith alone • Working by love • Leading to holiness

17. In Conclusion • The Rationalism of the Age of Enlightenment countered traditional Christianity • The Evangelical revival brought about a personal, emotional faith that called for a complete Christian. • Beginnings of foreign missions. • Revival in America and England.