Seek the truth
Listen to the truth
Teach the truth
Love the truth
Abide by the truth
And defend the truth
Unto death.
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Cyprian – Select Quotes
Who has not the Church for mother can no longer have God for father.
~ Cyprian, in On the Unity of the Catholic Church
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Christian Fundamentalism – Select Quotes
It is a mistake often made by educated persons who happen to have but little knowledge of historical theology to suppose that fundamentalism is a new and strange form of thought. It is nothing of the kind; it is the partial and uneducated survival of a theology which was once universally held by all Christians. How many were there, for instance, in Christian churches in the eighteenth century who doubted the infallible inspiration of all Scripture? A few, perhaps, but very few. No, the fundamentalist may be wrong; I think that he is. But it is we who have departed from tradition, not he; and I am sorry for anyone who tries to argue with a fundamentalist on the basis of authority. The Bible and the corpus theologicum of the Church are on the fundamentalist side.
~ Kirsopp Lake
Protestantism was the triumph of Paul over Peter. Fundamentalism is the triumph of Paul over Christ.
~ Will Durant in Caesar and Christ
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The Agnus Dei
“Jesus, Lamb of God:
have mercy on us.
Jesus, bearer of our sins:
have mercy on us.
Jesus, redeemer of the world:
give us your peace. Amen.”
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100 Most Important Events In Church History
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A Hymn of Clement of Alexandria
“Shepherd of tender youth, guiding in love and truth
Through devious ways: Christ, our triumphant King,
We come Thy Name to sing;
Hither our children bring, to shout Thy praise.”
“Thou art our holy Lord, the all-subduing Word,
Healer of strife: Thou didst thyself abase,
That from sin’s deep disgrace,
Thou mightest save our race, and give us life.”
“So now and till we die, sound we Thy praises high,
And joyful sing: infants, and the glad throng,
Who to Thy church belong,
Unite to swell the song to Christ our King. Amen.”
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Orthodoxy and Heresy – Select Quotes
Orthodoxy does not have a history. It is true eternally. Heresy has a history, having arisen at particular times through particular teachers.
~ Eusebius of Caesarea
The age of the martyrs has a powerful attraction even to the casual reader; the age of the heresies leaves him bewildered and distressed. Yet the agents in both were discharging an equally necessary function. Both were upholding the truth of the gospel; the one against the power of the world, the other against the wisdom of the world. The martyrs had this advantage, that the force of their testimony was concentrated in one supreme moment, was expressed in one heroic act, which commands universal sympathy. The controversialists had to live through a protracted struggle and are judged by their utterances, and all their human weaknesses which the conflict remorselessly revealed.
~ Mandell Creighton, quoted by B. B. Warfield in Selected Shorter Writings
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Orthodoxy & Heresy in the Early Church
Christianity & Pagan Systems of Thought
100 Most Important Events In Church History
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Tertullian – select quotes
I believe because it is absurd. God’s Son has died. That is credible because it is foolishness. And He was
buried and is risen. That is certain because it is impossible.
If the Tiber reaches the walls, if the Nile does not rise to the fields, if the sky does not move, or the earth does, if there is famine, if there is plague, the cry is at once, “The Christians to the lions.”
The first reaction to truth is hatred.
What then has Athens to do with Jerusalem? What has the academy to do with the church? What have heretics to do with Christians? Our instruction is from the porch of Solomon who himself handed down that the Lord is to be sought in simplicity of heart. Away with those who produce Stoic, Platonic, and Dialectic Christianity. We have no need of curiosity after we have Christianity, nor of inquisitiveness after we have the Gospel. Since we believe we desire nothing else to believe. For the first thing we believe is that there is nothing else we ought to believe.
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A Prayer of Polycarp
“Thou God and Father of Thy beloved and blessed Son our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have received knowledge of Thee, O God of the angels and of all creation and of all just men who live in Thy presence, I thank Thee that Thou hast graciously granted me a portion among Thy people, among the people of Christ. Unto the resurrection of everlasting life may I be received in Thy sight as a fruitful and acceptable sacrifice. Wherefore, for all this I praise Thee, I bless Thee, I glorify Thee through the eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ Thy beloved Son to whom with Thee and the Holy Spirit be all glory, world without end. Amen.”
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A Prayer of Clement of Rome
“Grant unto us, Lord, that we may set our hope on Thy name…and open the eyes of our hearts, that we may know Thee.”
“We beseech Thee, Lord and Master, to be our help and succour. Save those among us who are in tribulation; have mercy on the lowly; lift up the fallen; show Thyself to those in need; heal the sick; turn again the wanderers of Thy people; feed the hungry; ransom our prisoners; raise up the weak; comfort the faint-hearted. Let all nations know that Thou art God alone, and that Jesus Christ is Thy Son, and that we are Thy people and the sheep of Thy pasture.”
“We praise Thee who art able to do these and better things than these, through Jesus Christ the High Priest and Guardian of our souls, through whom be glory and majesty to Thee, both now and
throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.”
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The Surprising Work of God
The Surprising Work of God: Harold John Ockenga, Billy Graham, and the Rebirth of Evangelicalism
by Garth M. Rosell
Baker Academic
Paperback, 288 pages
Read the table of contents and chapter 5 (excerpt) PDF
“The story of post-World War II evangelicalism, and of Harold Ockenga’s role in its reconstruction, is here told with an insider’s understanding, a historian’s eye for detail, and diligence in the use of original sources. Rosell has ploughed fresh ground and has given us ways of looking at all of these events that are fresh, authentic, and helpful.”
– David F. Wells, Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
“This is insiders’ history at its best. Not only is Garth Rosell a truly first-rate historian but he has also lived through many of the events he recounts. His front-row seat within the theater of post-war evangelicalism combined with careful work in little-known manuscript materials has yielded an accurate, vivid account of the evangelical movement’s twentieth-century revival. This book is real treasure–must reading for all who care about American religion.”
– Douglas A. Sweeney, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
“In this thoroughly researched book, Garth Rosell has put flesh on the dry bones of history. His deep immersion in the rich records left by Harold John Ockenga brings to life the critical developments that forged the modern evangelical movement. The result is a most valuable book.”
– Mark Noll, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History, University of Notre Dame
Purchase The Surprising Work of God
