“Henceforward the Christian Churches having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, came into the hands of the Encratites: and the Heathens, who in the fourth century came over in great numbers to the Christians, embraced more readily this sort of Christianity, as having a greater affinity with their old superstitions, than that of the sincere Christians; who by the lamps of the seven Churches of Asia, and not by the lamps of the Monasteries, had illuminated the Church Catholic during the three first centuries.” FirstsHandsChristianFormThreeChurchNumbersChristianityGreaterCenturyCatholicSevenSincereFourthSuperstitionsAsiaLampsGodlinessAffinityChristian ChurchHeathenMonasteries Book:Observations Source: Observations
“One of the most persistent fallacies about the Christian Church is that it kept learning alive during the Dark and Middle Ages. What the Church did was to keep learning alive in the monasteries, while preventing the spread of knowledge outside them... Even as late as the beginning of the nineteenth century, however, nine-tenths of Christian Europe was illiterate.” AgeChristianChurchDarkAliveAtheismMiddleCenturyLateEuropeSpreadPositive AtheismNinePersistentMiddle AgesNineteenth CenturyPreventingFallacyIlliterateChristian ChurchMonasteriesKeep Learning Author:Margaret E. Knight
“Contemporary Christianity, diverse and complex as we find it, actually may show more unanimity than the Christian churches of the first and second centuries. For nearly all Christians since that time, Catholics, Protestants, or Orthodox, have shared three basic premises. First, they accept the canon of the New Testament; second, they confess the apostolic creed; and third, they affirm specific forms of church institution. But every one of these - the canon of Scripture, the creed, and the institutional structure - emerged in its present form only toward the end of the second century.” FirstsMayEndsShowsChristianFormReligionThreeChurchAcceptingChristianityCenturyThirdsCatholicInstitutionsStructureComplexesScriptureContemporaryOrthodoxCreedsDiverseTestamentPremisesNew TestamentProtestantsChristian ChurchCanonApostolicUnanimity Author:Elaine Pagels
“If the Savior had come back to earth at the beginning of the fifth century A.D., I doubt whether he would have recognized the Christian Church as the one that claimed descent from that which he had established, so far had it gone astray.” IfsEarthChristianChurchGoneDoubtCenturySaviorFifthDescentChristian Church Author:Milton R. Hunter
“The Christian church, in its attitude toward science, shows the mind of a more or less enlightened man of the Thirteenth Century. It no longer believes that the earth is flat, but it is still convinced that prayer can cure after medicine fails.” MenMindBelieveStillsShowsEarthChristianChurchPrayerAttitudeFailingCenturyMedicineConvincedCuresEnlightenedFlatsChristian Church Book:Minority Report Source: Minority Report
“During the centuries-long process of Reformation and Enlightenment, Christian churches had to accept some things they didn't like. Islam will have to do the same; otherwise it isn't part of Europe.” LongChristianProcessChurchAcceptingCenturyEnlightenmentEuropeIslamReformationChristian Church Author:Wolfgang Schauble
“The Protestant reformation was an attempt to recast the Christian faith in terms of the new learning of the 16th century, the enlightenment learning. It was the first time that the Christian church did not have the capacity to keep itself unified as it recast itself, so it split into Protestant and Catholic traditions.” FirstsChristianTermChurchCenturyEnlightenmentFirst TimeCapacityTraditionCatholicSplitsReformationProtestantsChristian FaithUnifiedChristian ChurchProtestant Reformation Author:John Shelby Spong
“The 20th century was a turning point; it freed and emancipated women, broke the back of segregation, and began the struggle to give justice to gay and lesbian people. But the Christian church, in both Catholic and Protestant forms, resisted every one of those humanizing developments. The church was on the wrong side of all three of those fights.” PeopleGivingChristianFormFightingThreeSidesChurchJusticeStruggleCenturyDevelopmentGayCatholicBroke20th CenturySegregationProtestantsTurning PointsChristian Church Author:John Shelby Spong