A Source Book for Ancient Church History

§ 17. The Extension of Christianity § 18. Heathen Religious Feeling and Culture in Relation to Christianity § 19. The Attitude of the Roman Government toward Christians, A. D. 1...

§ 26. The Beginnings of Councils as a Defence against Heresy § 27. The Apostolic Tradition and the Episcopate § 28. The Canon or the Authoritative New Testament Writings § 29. T...

§ 32. The Apologetic Conception of Christianity (A) The Logos Doctrine (B) The Doctrine of the Trinity (C) Moralistic Christianity (D) Argument from Hebrew Prophecy § 33. The As...

§ 34. State and Church under Septimius Severus and Caracalla § 35. Religious Syncretism in the Third Century § 36. The Religious Policy of the Emperors from Heliogabalus to Phil...

Custom, And Constitution § 38. The Easter Controversy and the Separation of the Churches of Asia Minor from the Western Churches § 39. The Religion of the West: Its Moral and Ju...

303 § 47. The Chiliastic Controversy § 48. Theology of the Second Half of the Third Century under the Influence of Origen § 49. The Development of the Cultus § 50. The Episcopat...

§ 55. The Reorganization of the Empire by Diocletian § 56. The Diocletian Persecution § 57. Rise of Schisms in Consequence of the Diocletian Persecution The Second Division Of A...

§ 58. The Empire under Constantine and His Sons § 59. Favor Shown the Church by Constantine § 60. The Repression of Heathenism under Constantine § 61. The Donatist Schism under...

Dynasty Of Constantine § 63. The Outbreak of the Arian Controversy and the Council of Nicæa, A. D. 325 § 64. The Beginnings of the Eusebian Reaction under Constantine § 65. The...

And Heathenism § 69. The Emperors from Jovian to Theodosius and Their Policy toward Heathenism and Arianism § 70. The Dogmatic Parties and Their Mutual Relations § 71. The Emper...

§ 72. The Constitution of the State Church (A) The Ecumenical Council (B) The Hierarchical Organization § 73. Sole Authority of the State Church § 74. The Position of the State...

§ 81. The Western Church Toward the End of the Fourth Century § 82. Augustine’s Life and Place in the Western Church § 83. Augustine and the Donatist Schism § 84. The Pelagian C...

§ 87. The First Origenistic Controversy and the Triumph of Traditionalism § 88. The Christological Problem and the Theological Tendencies § 89. The Nestorian Controversy; the Co...

Germanic National Churches § 96. The Celtic Church in the British Isles § 97. The Conversion of the Franks. The Establishment of Catholicism in the Germanic Kingdoms § 98. The S...

The Middle Ages § 101. Foundation of the Mediæval Diocesan and Parochial Constitution § 102. Western Piety and Thought in the Period of the Conversion of the Barbarians § 103. T...

Situation Due To The Rise Of Islam And The Doctrinal Disputes In The Eastern Church § 106. The Rise and Extension of Islam § 107. The Monothelete Controversy and the Sixth Gener...

In the course of the second century the Church spread rapidly into all parts of the Empire, and even beyond. It became so prominent that the relation of the Church to heathen th...

In the second century the Church passed through an internal crisis even more trying than the great persecutions of the following centuries and with results far more momentous. O...

The Church first met the various dangerous heresies which distracted it in the second century by councils or gatherings of bishops (§ 26). Although it was not difficult to bring...

The theology of the Church, as distinguished from the current traditional theology, was the statement of the beliefs commonly held by Christians but expressed in the more precis...

The accession of Septimius Severus, A. D. 193, marks a change in the condition of the Empire. It was becoming more harassed by frontier wars, not always waged successfully. Barb...

The characteristic Eastern and Western conceptions of Christianity began to be clearly differentiated in the early years of the third century. A juristic conception of the Churc...

On account of various principles of the Roman law, Christians were always liable to severe penalties, and parts of the Church occasionally suffered fearfully. But it was only in...

After the Decian-Valerian persecution (250-260) the Church enjoyed a long peace, rarely interrupted anywhere by hostile measures, until the outbreak of the second great general...

The last of the persecutions was closely connected with the increased efficiency of the imperial administration after a period of anarchy, and was more effective because of the...

Constantine was the heir to the political system of Diocletian. The same line of development was followed by him and his sons, and with increasing severity the burden pressed up...

1. From the outbreak of the Arian controversy to the Council of Nicæa (318-325). In this stadium the positions of the parties are defined, and the position of the West, in subst...

The Arian controversy was the most important series of events in the internal history of the Christian Church in the fourth century, without reference to the truth or error of t...

In the period extending from the accession of Constantine (311 or 324) to the death of Theodosius the Great (395), the characteristic features of the Church’s organization took...

Although Theodosius the Great had been the dominating power in the government of the Empire almost from his accession in 379, he was sole ruler of the united Roman Empire for on...

The period between the closing years of the fourth century, in which the struggle was still going on between heathenism and Christianity (§ 81), and the end of the Roman Empire...

At the beginning of the permanent division of the Empire, the church life of the East was disturbed by a series of closely connected disputes known as the First Origenistic Cont...

The century extending from the accession of Justin I (518-528) to the end of the Persian wars of Heraclius (610-641), or from 518 to 628, is the most brilliant period of the Eas...

While the doctrinal system of the Church was being wrought out in the disputes and councils of Rome and the East, the foundations of the Germanic national churches were being la...

In the period between the conversion of the Franks and the rise of the dynasty of Charles Martel, or the period comprising the sixth and seventh centuries, the foundation was la...

In the course of the seventh and eighth centuries, the ecclesiastical and political situation altered completely. This change was due, in the first place, to the rise of the rel...