Timeline of Christianity

 

 

The following timeline of Christianity summarizes some of the most important events in Christianity since its founding about 2,000 years ago. (Events in light grey are non-religious events included for historical context.)

c. 4 BC

Birth of Jesus

c. 26 AD

John the Baptist begins ministry

c. 27 AD

Jesus begins ministry

c. 30 AD

Crucifixion of Jesus

c. 35

Conversion of Paul

c. 44

Martyrdom of James

c. 46-48

Paul's first missionary journey

c. 49

Council of Jerusalem

c. 50-52

Paul's second missionary journey

c. 51-52

First and Second Thessalonians written

c. 53-57

Paul's third missionary journey

c. 57

Letter to the Romans written

c. 59-62

Paul imprisoned in Rome

c. 60

Andrew martyred by crucifixion in Achaia (Greece).

c. 66-67

Second Timothy written

c. 68

Martyrdom of Paul

70

Fall of Jerusalem

c. 90-95

John exiled on island of Patmos

c. 95

Book of Revelation written

c. 96

Clement of Rome's Letter to the Corinthians written

c. 120

Didache written

202

Christians persecuted under Septimus Severus

211

Christians tolerated under Emperor Antoninus Caracalla

222

Christians favored Emperor Alexander Severus

230

Origen's On First Principles

235

Christians persecuted under Emperor Maximin the Thracian

238

Christians tolerated under Emperor Gordian III

244

Christians favored under Emperor Philip the Arabian

251

Cyprian's Unity of the Catholic Church

254

Death of Origen

303

Diocletian orders burning of Christian books and churches

312

Emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity

313

Edict of Milan establishes official toleration of Christianity

325

Council of Nicea

336

Death of Constantine

354

Birth of Augustine

367

Athanasius lists all 27 books of NT

379

Basil the Great dies

380

Christianity made official religion of Roman Empire

381

Council of Constantinople

386

Augustine converts to Christianity

389

Gregory of Nazianzus dies

395

Gregory of Nyssa dies

c. 400

Jerome's Vulgate (translation of the Greek Bible into Latin)

407

John Chrysostom dies

411

Council of Carthage condemns Donatists

417

Pope Innocent I condemns Pelagianism

420

Death of Jerome

430

Death of Augustine

431

Council of Ephesus

451

Council of Chalcedon

787

Second Council of Nicea

950

Olga of Russia converts to Christianity

1054

Great Schism between East and West

1093

Anselm becomes Archbishop of Canterbury

1095

Council of Clermont: Pope Urban II proclaims First Crusade

1098

Crusaders take Antioch from Turks

1099

Crusaders recapture Jerusalem from Turks

1122

Concordat of Worms

1141

Peter Abelard condemned

1144

Fall of Edessa (crusader state)

1187

Fall of Jerusalem to Turks

1215

Fourth Lateran Council

1309

"Babylonian Captivity" (until 1377)

1337

Hundred Years' War (until 1453)

1378

Great Western Schism (until 1423)

1409

Council of Pisa

1413-14

Lollard rebellion

1415

Council of Constance. Martyrdom of Jan Hus.

1420

Crusade against Hussites

1431

Joan of Arc martyred

1431-49

Council of Basel

1438-45

Council of Ferrara-Florence

1453

Fall of Constantinople to Turks

1478

Spanish Inquisition founded by Ferdinand and Isabella

1483

Birth of Martin Luther

1492

Expulsion of Jews from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella

1505

Luther becomes a monk

1517

Luther posts 95 Theses

1521

Luther excommunicated

1530

Augsburg Confession

1534

Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy

1536

Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion

1541

Colloquy of Regensburg

1555

Peace of Augsburg

1559

Elizabeth I's Act of Uniformity

1590

Michelangelo completes the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome

1609

Baptist Church founded by John Smyth

1611

King James (Authorized) Version of the Bible produced

1729

Beginnings of Methodism, led by John Wesley

1738

John Wesley feels his "heart strangely warmed" during a reading of Luther's preface to Romans on Aldersgate Street in London

1775

American Wars of Independence begin

1783

America wins independence from Britain

1793

Louis XVI executed

1797

Second Awakening begins

1798

Pope Pius VI is prisoner of France

1799

Schleiermacher writes Speeches

1801

Cane Ridge Revival

1804

Napoleon becomes emperor

1807

Hegel writes Phenomenology of the Spirit

1808

French occupy Rome

1810

Mexico wins independence

1812-14

British-American War

1814

Reorganization of the Jesuits

1816

American Bible Society established

1822

Schleiermacher writes Christian Faith

1826

American Society for the Promotion of Temperance founded

1830

Joseph Smith produces Book of Mormon

1834

Spanish Inquisition officially abolished

1838

Abolition of slavery in the British Caribbean

1841

David Livingstone to Africa

1845

Methodists and Baptists split over the issue of slavery

1846

Pope Pius IX (until 1878)

1854

Dogma of Immaculate Conception of Mary

1859

Darwin publishes Origin of the Species

1861-65

American Civil War

1861

Presbyterians divide over the issue of slavery

1869

First Vatican Council

1870

Dogma of Papal Infallibility

1872

Moody begins preaching

1875

Mary Baker Eddy writes Science and Health

1882

Neitzsche declares "God is dead"

1895

Five Fundamentals

1900

Freud's Interpretation of Dreams

1906

Azusa Street revival

1908

Henry Ford introduces the Model T

1910

World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh

1914

Assemblies of God founded

1914-18

World War I

1917

Russian Revolution

1919

Prohibition passed into law

1925

Scopes "Monkey" trial

1932

Barth's Church Dogmatics

1939

Hitler invades Poland and sparks WWI

1945

Nag Hammadi Library discovered in Egypt;
US drops atomic bombs on Japan

1947

India wins independence from U.K.

1948

World Council of Churches founded

1950

Papal encyclical Humani generis

1956

First issue of Christianity Today

1960

Birth control pill approved by FDA

1961

First human in space
Papal encyclical Mater et Magistra

1962-65

Second Vatican Council

1963

MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech

1968

Papal encyclical Humanae vitae

1969

First man on the moon

1971

Intel introduces the microprocessor

1973

Roe vs. Wade

1987-88

Televangelist scandals

1989

First woman ordained in an apostolic-succession church (the Protestant Episcopal church). Fall of the Berlin Wall.

1997

Birth of the internet

Sources

1.       Earle E. Cairns, Christianity Through the Centuries (Zondervan, 1996).

2.       Justo Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity (Prince Press, 1999).

3.       Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christianity, Vol. I: to A.D. 1500 (4th ed., Prince Press, 2000).

4.       Encyclopędia Britannica. Encyclopędia Britannica Premium Service, 2004.

http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/timeline.htm