What are Christians taught about the History of the Church?

Question

I was raised as a Christian, and I think my religious education was very thorough. I also have done a lot of independent reading as an adult to expand my knowledge, but surprisingly I have met many Christians who do not know what the Council of Nicea was, who don't know about the political and social conditions of the world during the lifetime of Jesus and things I would think any well-informed religious person should know about their faith.

My question to you all is, what do you actually learn about the history of the Church from your religious education? Do you only study scripture? How does church history influence your beliefs?

Please keep this civil. It's a genuine question, not meant to be malicious or attacking.

Okay let me elaborate:

What is taught about the formative years of Christianity, straight through to modern days? This includes everything- the compliation of the Canon, the split between the Eastern and Western denominations, the Dark Ages, the Crusades, The Protestant Reformation, the influence of the Age of Enlightenment and Renaissance and so forth.

Answer 1

There are a lot of things that is not taught in "christian education" Most of the knowledge I have learned from personal study. Many ministers unfortunately are not really educated in such matters.
Scriptures say

2Ti 2:15 Study to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

However many people don't that. With that said I feel that all my studying has not weakened my faith but strengthened things that are practiced in the Church that seemed to be not biblical based I have found out that it was changed by "church leaders" for often political not spiritual reasons. Things like the changing of the sabbath from Sat to Sun among other things.

It has made me really realize that God and his Word does not change but we try to change his word to fit us. More people need to study, return back to what scripture really says and give up their traditions of men.

Answer 2

I took a Medieval History class in college with a professor who leaned toward relating everything to the early history of Christianity. It was a fastinating class, and had I not been graduating later that summer I would have taken the second half of the class from him as well. I learned a lot about the society and politics surrounding early Christianity - including some about the Council of Nicea. About the same time as taking that class, I also converted from Methodist to LDS (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) aka Mormon. Every year in Sunday School we study a different book of scripture. For example this year it's the OT, next year it will be the NT, last year it was a combination of the Doctrine & Covenants and Church History. Now realize the Church History studied is the History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, not the history of the Catholic church, or the history of what would become the Protestant churches. But I still learned quite a bit about the history of the church I am now a part of.
Church History does play a part in my admiration for those early pioneers in Mormon Church History, but so do the actions of those throughout Christian history who sought to bring truth and light to an otherwise dark and dreary world.

Answer 3

Well, it depends on the denomination the person was brought up in and the conditions of their youth. I was brought up in a middle class, Roman Catholic household, so I was sent to a Catholic School. Learned a lot about the history of the Church, etc. Latter in life, I studied other denominations and religions. pat Robertson (CBN) just had a series on the history of the church and it is available (through the web site) for any who would be interested. Unfortunately, there appear to be far too many people who have no religious (let alone spiritual) values today. I can only pray that Jesus hurries His return. Today, I consider myself an unaffiliated Christian. Christianity is supposed to be a relationship with God the Father, through Jesus the Son. Numbers, 6:24

Answer 4

By the expression "history of the church" are you referring to Catholicism, or Christianity?
The 2 are not 1 and the same.
The council of Nicea adopted the idea of the trinity ....an idea easily disproved by the Bible.
Genuine Christianity faded away, as Jesus foretold. Matthew 13:24-30.
The Council of Nicea was part of what Paul referred to in Acts 20:29.
I'm sure you don't enjoy reading this, nor do you likely agree ....however, this is the result of my religious education.

Answer 5

It's always been my opinion that if we have faith we shouldn't wait for people to tell us anything. We should search out information.

One of the biggest problems with all Christianity is people think they've learned all they need to know when they were children in their religious ed classes.

The really good stuff is found when you dig.

We take Christianity for granted. Very few people study the early church. Very few people are aware of how many times there have been attempts to stomp Christianity out. How many people died so we might have salvation through Christ Jesus.

Thanks for this topic. It's a good one.

Dear Josh: The Council of Nicea was not where the bible was compiled. The Council of Hippo some 40 years later was where the bible was compiled.

Answer 6

Catholics study Church history. Protestants for the most part don't. Of course most of the history of Christianity is just the history of Catholicism anyway. Protestantism is a recent development. But the real reason Protestants avoid history is pretty obvious. To know history is to reject Protestantism. To know the history of the Church is to recognize the Catholic Church as the one true Church founded by Jesus Christ for all mankind, and having that knowledge, any honest person is faced with a choice - a choice Protestants don't even want to think about - either join the true Church of God, or remain in manmade semi-Christian religion.

Answer 7

It is a shame that christians are not taugh early church history at all. It seems that once they finish reading Revelations and close the book that nothing changed after that, there was no discussion and everything that was written in the NT was just automatically accepted by all. Not true as you know. Personally, I feel that this information is not stressed because if people actually realized that there were hundreds of other opinions about what made up the NT, Jesus' divinity etc. the churches would lose people by the hundreds.

Answer 8

I was raised Christian. Became Atheist. Then switched back over.

My church (Lutheran) gave us a full history of the church like you said the geopolitical scene at the time of Jesus. It was always interesting to see how God stepped onto the scene at precisely the right time in human history to fulfill both Biblical prophesy and His promises to man-kind.

As far as the Council of Nicea. Of course I was taught about it. It's where the bible was compiled. Although I don't think any secular analysis of the council could possibly see the good in it. If a person is blinded to spirituality and the nature of God, he or she is going to miss the good work that was done there. Such a person could not possibly understand the council's reasoning by putting the event in such earthly terms.

Answer 9

Topics like the Council of Nicea and the Crusades are not normally taught in Sunday School or Church but in Seminary courses in theology and history.

I personally think that it is VERY important that Christians learn everything about the history of the church to prepare them for false allegations from non-believers.

Answer 10

Your point is very good. Christians in general are taught absolutely nothing about the history of the church. I learned nothing until I went to Bible College.
1. Churches should find a space for at least a general outline of church history in their teaching program.
2. I think even secular schools should do something about teaching church history from a neutral point of view, since it has affected our culture so much. (If I were in a country where Islam had a strong effect on the culture, it would be normal to teach a bit of the history of Islam; in India, the history of Hinduism).
This would have nothing to do with teaching religion in schools.