A Learning Track

Church History

The whole 2,000-year story, built from the skeleton up — one lesson at a time. Start at Lesson 1 for the map, or jump anywhere below.

Era 1 · The Early Church c. 30 – 590

  1. 01
    The Four-Era Map
    The whole story on one page — your skeleton for everything that follows.
  2. 02
    Who Is Jesus? The Council of Nicaea
    Nicaea, 325 — and the one Greek word that defined Christianity.
  3. 03
    Rival Christologies Before Nicaea
    Where Arius's idea came from, Modalism, and the apostolic paper trail Nicaea defended.
  4. 04
    One "What," Three "Whos": Trinity Vocabulary
    The handful of words the whole debate was fought over — being, substance, essence, person.
  5. 05
    God and Man: The Council of Chalcedon
    Chalcedon, 451 — the capstone of the question "Who is Jesus?"
  6. 06
    The Council Chain: Era 1 in One Telling
    Four councils, 126 years, one unbroken story you can tell from memory.

Era 2 · The Medieval Church c. 500 – 1500

  1. 07
    One Word, One Chair: The Great Schism of 1054
    How a single church became two — and the long drift that caused it.
  2. 08
    The One Chair: How the Papacy Rose
    How the Bishop of Rome grew from an honored elder into the ruler of kings.
  3. 09
    Keepers of the Lamp: Monasticism
    While popes ruled from the top, the monks held the West together from the ground.
  4. 10
    The Cracks Toward 1517
    Why the Reformation didn't come out of nowhere — the medieval church was already cracking.

Era 3 · The Reformation 1517 – c. 1700

  1. 11
    1517: Luther and the 95 Theses
    One terrified monk, one question, and the hammer-blow that began the Reformation.
  2. 12
    One Reformation Becomes Many
    The first Protestant family tree — Lutheran, Reformed, Anabaptist, Anglican.
  3. 13
    Rome Answers: The Counter-Reformation
    While Protestants branched, the Catholic Church mounted a powerful comeback.

Reference

  1. Church History Timeline (Four Eras)
    Every era, date, and milestone on one scannable timeline.
  2. A·Z
    Glossary
    Every key term — councils, heresies, offices, and theology words — defined.
  3. The Story So Far (Eras 1–3)
    A teaching map that ties the whole track together up to this point.