Church History — The Four Eras at a Glance

Quick-reference timeline · dates conventional & approximate · Ligonier four-era framework, cross-checked w/ Shelley

1 · Early Church

c. AD 30–590Who is Jesus?
30Pentecost — the church begins
c.64–313Era of Roman persecution
300sMonasticism begins (desert fathers)
313Edict of Milan — Christianity legalized (Constantine)
325Council of Nicaea — defines the Trinity (vs. Arianism)
397Canon of NT widely settled (Council of Carthage)
451Council of Chalcedon — Christ: two natures, one person
590Gregory the Great becomes pope (bridge to medieval)

2 · Medieval Church

c. 500–1500Who's in charge?
800Charlemagne crowned — church & empire intertwined
1054Great Schism — East (Orthodox) and West (Catholic) split
1095First Crusade called
c.1270Aquinas writes Summa Theologica (scholasticism)
1378–1417Western Schism — rival popes; authority in crisis
1384Wycliffe (forerunner of Reformation) dies

3 · Reformation

1517–c.1700How are we saved?
1517Luther's 95 Theses — Reformation begins
1536Calvin's Institutes (1st ed.)
1534English Reformation begins (Act of Supremacy)
1545–63Council of Trent — Catholic (Counter-)Reformation
1611King James Bible
1648Peace of Westphalia — ends wars of religion

4 · Modern Church

c.1700–todayHow do we believe now?
1730s–40sGreat Awakening (Edwards, Whitefield); Wesley & Methodism
1793William Carey to India — modern missionary movement
1800sRevivals, abolition, global Protestant missions
1906Azusa Street — Pentecostalism
1920sFundamentalist–modernist controversy
1900→Christianity's center shifts to the Global South