3.5 UA: Examine a Figure from Post-Reformation History

3.5 UA: Examine a Figure from Post-Reformation History Order Description INTRODUCTION AND ALIGNMENT All that happened between the first century church and the reformation period set the stage for the reformation period itself. This exercise will examine a figure from the post-reformation period of history. It was during this period that the Church was to see some of its greatest expositors of the Bible. Upon completion of this assignment you should be able to: Examine a figure from post-reformation history. RESOURCES Any scholarly evangelical historical theology or church history text BACKGROUND INFORMATION The reformation was certainly the hinge point, in many ways, for church history. The early Church had started off well. After AD 200 or so, there began a slow, gradual but steady creep away from the centrality of scripture, and toward church dogma. It was Luther and his kind who would change all that. When Luther came along, he was not persuaded by the Pope or tradition, but what the Bible said, and that in the vernacular. He reclaimed the authority of teaching the Word, and put it in the language of the people. Rarely has church history seen someone of his energy; he was a driving force which is still being felt today. What was to follow was a parade of preachers from Luther to the mid-1900s who would impact Protestant preaching in profound ways: ? Calvin ? Zwingli ? George Whitfield ? John Wesley ? Charles Grandison Finney ? Dwight Lyman Moody ? Amiee Semple McPherson ? Billy Sunday These, and many others, were to impact culture in what many would say was a golden age of preaching. INSTRUCTIONS 1. In this exercise, you will do a brief study of the life of a preacher during the post-reformation era, after Martin Luther, up to the mid-1900s (excluding anyone living today). You will want to examine the following: a. Around what historical event does their name surface? b. What was their general emphases in preaching- were they teaching doctrine, combating heresy, or something else? c. What was it about their preaching that caused them to be effective? d. What was it about their preaching that caused them to be less effective? e. Lastly, what characteristics in this person’s preaching do you want to import into your own preaching? 2. Answer these questions, adding any other material you feel is germane, in a 1-2 page document. 3. Submit in Word document.