Historical Theology

How the church came to understand, formulate, defend, and refine Christian doctrine across twenty centuries — told as history, read with reverence and discernment, and assessed from within the Reformed confessional tradition. Follow the story era by era, from the apostolic age to our own.

Start here: How to Read Church History

1. The Apostolic and Ante-Nicene Church

c. 30–325 — the Fathers, the apologists, early heresies, and the rule of faith.  ·  Overview →

• The Apostolic Fathers and the Sub Apostolic Church
• The Apologists and the Defense of the Faith
• Early Heresies Gnosticism Marcion Montanism
• Irenaeus and the Rule of Faith
• The Formation of the Canon
• Tertullian Origen and Early Trinitarian Thought

2. The Ecumenical Councils

325–451 — Nicaea to Chalcedon: defining the Trinity and the person of Christ.  ·  Overview →

• The Arian Controversy and the Council of Nicaea
• Athanasius and the Defense of the Nicene Faith
• The Cappadocians and the Council of Constantinople
• The Christological Controversies Nestorius and Cyril
• The Council of Chalcedon
• Augustine and the Pelagian Controversy
• The Donatist Controversy and the Doctrine of the Church

3. The Medieval Church

c. 500–1500 — the papacy, scholasticism, the sacramental system, and the forerunners.  ·  Overview →

• The Rise of the Papacy and the East West Schism
• Anselm the Satisfaction Atonement and the Existence of God
• Scholasticism and Thomas Aquinas
• The Medieval Sacramental System
• Forerunners of the Reformation Wycliffe and Hus

4. The Reformation

16th century — justification by faith alone and the recovery of the gospel.  ·  Overview →

• Martin Luther and Justification by Faith Alone
• The Five Solas
• Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation
• The Radical Reformation Anabaptists
• John Calvin and Reformed Theology
• The English Reformation
• The Council of Trent and the Counter Reformation

5. Post-Reformation and Confessional

17th century — Reformed orthodoxy, Dort, Westminster, and the Puritans.  ·  Overview →

• Reformed Orthodoxy and Scholasticism
• The Arminian Controversy and the Synod of Dort
• The Westminster Assembly and Its Standards
• Puritanism and the Christian Life
• The Development of Covenant Theology

6. The Modern Era

18th–19th centuries — the Enlightenment, the awakenings, liberalism, and Old Princeton.  ·  Overview →

• The Enlightenment and the Challenge to Orthodoxy
• The Great Awakenings Edwards and Revivalism
• The Rise of Liberal Theology Schleiermacher
• Old Princeton Hodge Warfield and the Defense of the Faith
• The Modern Missionary Movement

7. The Contemporary Era

20th century onward — fundamentalism, Barth, evangelicalism, and Reformed recovery.  ·  Overview →

• The Fundamentalist Modernist Controversy
• Karl Barth and Neo Orthodoxy
• The Rise of Evangelicalism
• Roman Catholicism and Vatican II
• The Recovery of Reformed Theology