The purpose of this timeline is to give a detailed account of Christianity from the beginning of the current era (AD) to the present. Question marks on dates indicate approximate dates.
The year one is the first year in the Christian calendar (there is no year zero), which is the calendar presently used (in unison with the Gregorian calendar) almost everywhere in the world. Traditionally, this was held to be the year Jesus was born; however, most modern scholars argue for an earlier or later date, the most agreed upon being between 6 BC and 4 BC
44? Saint James the Great: According to ancient local tradition, on 2 January of the year AD 40, the Virgin Mary appeared to James on a Pilar on the bank of the Ebro River at Caesaraugusta, while he was preaching the Gospel in Spain. Following that vision, St James returned to Judea, where he was beheaded by King Herod Agrippa I in the year 44 during a Passover (Nisan 15) (Acts 12:1-3).
50-53? Paul's 2nd mission, (Acts 15:36-18:22), split with Barnabas, to Phrygia, Galatia, Macedonia, Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, "he had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because of a vow he had taken", then return to Antioch; 1 Thessalonians, Galatians written? Map2
51-52 or 52-53 proconsulship of Gallio according to an inscription, only fixed date in chronology of Paul9
59? Paul shipwrecked on Malta, there he was called a god (Acts 28:6)
60? Paul in Rome: greeted by many "brothers" (NRSV: "believers"), three days later called together the Jewish leaders, who hadn't received any word from Judea about him, but were curious about "this sect", which everywhere is spoken against; he tried to convince them from the "Law and Prophets", with partial success, said the Gentiles would listen and spent two years proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching the "Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 28:15-31); Epistle to Philemon written?
60-64? early date for writing of 1 Peter (Peter as author)
62 James the Just stoned to death for law transgression by High PriestAnanus ben Artanus, popular opinion against act results in Ananus being deposed by new procurator Lucceius Albinus (JA20.9.1)
95(+/-10)? Book of Revelation written, by John (son of Zebedee) and/or a disciple of his
96 Nerva modified the Fiscus Judaicus, from then on, practising Jews paid the tax, Christians did not13
98-117? Ignatius, third Bishop of Antioch, fed to the lions in the Roman Colosseum, advocated the Bishop (Eph 6:1, Mag 2:1,6:1,7:1,13:2, Tr 3:1, Smy 8:1,9:1), rejected Sabbath on Saturday in favor of The Lord's Day (Sunday). (Mag 9.1), rejected Judaizing (Mag 10.3), first recorded use of the term catholic (Smy 8:2).
100(+/-25)? Epistle of James if written by author other than James the Just or James the Great
100(+/-10)? Epistle of Jude written, probably by doubting relative of Jesus (Mark 6,3), rejected by some early Christians due to its reference to apocryphal Book of Enoch (v14)
150? "Western Revisor" adds/subtracts from original Acts to produce Western version which is 10% larger and found in Papyrus P29,38,48 and Codex Bezae (D)
150? Valentinius, most famous Christian Gnostic, according to Tertullian narrowly lost election for Bishop of Rome
200? Antipope Natalius,19 rival bishop of Rome, according to Eusebius's EH5.28.8-12, quoting the Little Labyrinth of Hippolytus, after being "scourged all night by the holy angels", covered in ash, dressed in sackcloth, and "after some difficulty", tearfully submitted to Pope Zephyrinus
217-236 Antipope Hippolytus, Logos sect? Later dispute settled and considered martyr, Roman canon
218-258 Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, cited "Western" NT text-type, claimed Christians were freely forging his letters to discredit him (Ante-Nicene Fathers)
235-238 Maximinus Thrax, emperor of Rome, ends Christian schism in Rome by deporting Pope Pontian and Antipope Hippolytus to Sardinia where they soon die
251-258 Antipope Novatian, decreed no forgiveness for sins after baptism (An antipope was an individual whose claim to the papacy was either rejected by the Church at the time or later recognized as invalid.)20
370 (d. ca.) Optatus of Milevis who in his conflict with the sectarian Donatists stressed unity and catholicity as marks of the Church over and above hiliness, and also that the sacraments derived their validity from God, not from the priest.
432 St Patrick begins mission in Ireland. Almost the entire nation is Christian by the time of his death in a conversion that is both incredibly successful and largely bloodless.
537-555 Pope Vigilius, involved in death of Pope Silverius, conspired with Justinian and Theodora, on April 11, 548 issued Judicatum supporting Justinian's anti-Hypostatic Union, excommunicated by bishops of Carthage in 550
634-644 Umar, 2nd Sunni IslamCaliph, capital at Damascus, conquered Syria in 635, defeated Heraclius at Battle of Yarmuk in 636, conquered Egypt and Armenia in 639, Persia in 642
1001 Byzantine emperor Basil II and Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah execute a treaty guaranteeing the protection of Christian pilgrimage routes in the Middle East
1009 Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah destroys the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built over the tomb of Jesus in Jeruselem, and then rebuilds it to its current state.
1080 Hospital of Saint John the Baptist founded in Jeruselem by merchants from Amalfi and Salerno - serves as the foundation for the Knights Hospitaller
1113 Knights Hospitaller confirmed by Papal bull of Pope Paschal II, listing Blessed Gerard (Gerard Thom) as founder, (a.k.a. Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, Knights of Malta, Knights of Rhodes, and Chevaliers of Malta)
1215 Catholic Fourth Lateran Council, decreed special dress for Jews and Muslims, and declared Waldensians, founded by Peter Waldo, as heretics. One of the goals was the elimination of the heresy of the Cathars.
1219 Francis of Assisi crosses enemy lines during the Fifth Crusade to speak to Sultan al-Kamil; ends with a meal. James of Vitry writes that Muslim soldiers returned Francis and another friar, Illuminato, "with signs of honor."29
1260 Date which a 1988 Vatican sponsored scientific study places the origin of the Shroud of Turin
1263 July 20–24, The Disputation of Barcelona was held at the royal palace of King James I of Aragon in the presence of the King, his court, and many prominent ecclesiastical dignitaries and knights, between a convert from Judaism to Christianity Dominican Friar Pablo Christiani and Rabbi Nachmanides
1274 Summa Theologiae, written by Thomas Aquinas, theologian and philosopher, landmark systematic theology which later became official Catholic doctrine
1304-1321 Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia), by Dante Alighieri; most consensual dates are: Inferno written between 1304 and 1307–1308, Purgatorio from 1307-1308 to 1313-1314 and last the Paradiso from 1313-1314 to 1321 (year of Dante's death).
1305 The arrest of many of the Knights Templar, beginning confiscation of their property and extraction of confessions under torture.
1305-1378 Avignon Papacy, Popes reside in Avignon, France
1313 Foundation of the legendary Order of the Rose Cross (Rosicrucian Order), a mystic Christian fraternity for the first time expounded in the major Christian literary work The Divine Comedy30313233
1314 Jacques de Molay, last Grandmaster of Knights Templar, burned at the stake
1380-1382 Wyclif's Bible, by John Wycliffe, eminent theologian at Oxford, NT in 1380, OT (with help of Nicholas of Hereford) in 1382, translations into Middle English, 1st complete translation to English, included deuterocanonical books, preached against abuses, expressed anti-catholic views of the sacraments (Penance and Eucharist), the use of relics, and Clerical celibacy
1526 Tyndale's NT, English NT translation from 1516 Greek text of Erasmus, first printed edition, used as a vehicle by Tyndale for bitter attacks on Catholicism, reflects influence of Luther's NT in rejecting priest for elder, church for congregation, banned in 1546 by Henry VIII
1531 Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico According to tradition, when the roses fell from it the icon of the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared imprinted on the cactus cloth. The sudden, extraordinary success of the evangelizing of ten million Indians in the decade of 1531–1541.
1534 Jesuit order founded by Ignatius of Loyola, helped reconvert large areas of Poland, Hungary, and S. Germany and sent missionaries to the New World, India, and China
1535-1537 Myles Coverdale's Bible, used Tyndale's NT along with Latin and German versions, included Apocrypha at the end of the OT (like Luther's Bible of 1534) as was done in later English versions, 1537 edition received royal license, but banned in 1546 by Henry VIII
1535 Thomas More refused to accept King Henry VIII's claim to be the supreme head of the Church in England, and was executed.
1536 Tyndale put to death, left his OT translation in manuscript, English ecclesiastical authorities ordered his Bible burned because it was thought to be part of Lutheran reform
1537-1551 Matthew Bible, by John Rogers, based on Tyndale and Coverdale received royal license but not authorized for use in public worship, numerous editions, 1551 edition contained offensive notes (based on Tyndale)
1539-1569 Great Bible, by Thomas Cromwell, 1st English Bible to be authorized for public use in English churches, defective in many places, based on last Tyndale's NT of 1534-1535, corrected by a Latin version of the Hebrew OT, Latin Bible of Erasmus, and Complutensian Polyglot, last edition 1569, never denounced by England
1560 Geneva Bible, NT a revision of Matthew's version of Tyndale with use of Theodore Beza's NT (1556), OT a thorough revision of Great Bible, appointed to be read in Scotland (but not England), at least 140 editions, first Bible with chapter and verse numbers
1571 Battle of Lepanto saves Christian Europe; Pope Pius V organizes the Holy League led by Don Juan de Austria to defend Europe from the larger Islamic Ottoman forces (230 galleys and 56 galliots)
1572 John Knox, founded Scottish Presbyterian Church, due to disagreement with Lutherans over sacraments and church government
1572-1606 Bishops' Bible, a revision of the Great Bible checked against the Hebrew text, 1st to be published in England by episcopal authority
1609 Baptist Church founded by John Smyth, due to objections to infant baptism and demands for church-state separation
1609-1610 Douay-Rheims Bible, 1st Catholic English translation, OT published in two volumes, based on an unofficial Louvain text corrected by Sistine Vulgate, NT is Rheims text of 1582
1611-1800 King James Version (Authorised Version) is released, based primarily on Wycliffe's work & Bishop's Bible of 1572, translators are accused of being "damnable corrupters of God's word", original included Apocrypha
1615 Confessio Fraternitatis, the second Rosicrucian manifesto describing the "Most Honorable Order" as Christian ("What think you, loving people, and how seem you affected, seeing that you now understand and know, that we acknowledge ourselves truly and sincerely to profess Christ, condemn the Pope, addict ourselves to the true Philosophy, lead a Christian life (...)".)
1636 Founding of what was later known as Harvard University as a training school for ministers - the first of thousands of institutions of Christian higher education founded in the USA
1644 Long Parliament directed that only Hebrew canon be read in the Church of England (effectively removed the Apocrypha)
1646 Westminster Standards produced by the Assembly, one of the first and undoubtedly the most important and lasting religious document drafted after the reconvention of the Parliament, also decreed Biblical canon
1660-1685 King Charles II of England, restoration of monarchy, continuing through James II, reversed decision of Long Parliament of 1644, reinstating the Apocrypha, reversal not heeded by non-conformists
1771 Emanuel Swedenborg, published his "Universal Theology of the True Christian Religion" which would later used by others to found Swedenborgianism35
1774 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing starts publishing Reimarus works on historical Jesus as Anonymous Fragments, starting Liberal Theology Era (in Christology)
1779 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, "Jesus never coerced anyone to follow him, and the imposition of a religion by government officials is impious"
1832 persecution of Old Lutherans: by a royal decree of 28 February all Lutheran worship is declared illegal in Prussia in favour of Prussian Union.36
1833 John Keble's sermon "National Apostasy" initiates the Oxford Movement in England
1838-1839 Saxon Lutherans objecting to theological rationalism emigrate from Germany to the United States; settle in Perry County, Missouri. Leads to formation of the LC-MS
1881-1894 Revised Version, called for by Church of England, used Greek based on Septuagint (B) and (S), Hebrew Masoretic Text used in OT, follows Greek order of words, greater accuracy than AV, includes Apocrypha, scholarship never disputed
1904 Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil - Igreja Evangélica Luterana do Brasil - was founded in Juni 24, in São Pedro do Sul city, State Rio Grande do Sul
1917 Miracle of the Sun an event that was witnessed by as many as 100,000 people on 13 October 1917 in the Cova da Iria fields near Fátima, Portugal. How the Sun Danced at Midday at Fátima 37[3]dead link
1926-1929 Cristero War in Mexico, the Constitution of 1917 brought persecution of Christian practices and anti-clerical laws - approximately 4,000 Catholic Priests were expelled, assassinated or executed
1935 Dr. Frank C. Laubach, known as "The Apostle to the Illiterates." working in the Philippines, developed a literacy program that continues to teach millions of people to read.
1939 Southern and Northern US branches of the Methodist Episcopal Church, along with the Methodist Protestant Church reunite to form The Methodist Church. Slavery had divided the church in the 19th century.
1945 On the Feast of the Annunciation, Our Lady appeared to a simple woman, Ida Peerdeman, in Amsterdam. This was the first of 56 appearances as "Our Lady of All Nations" [5], which took place between 1945 and 1959.
1946-1952 Revised Standard Version, revision of AV "based on consonantal Hebrew text" for OT and best available texts for NT, done in response to changes in English usage
1947 Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism by Carl F. H. Henry, a landmark of Evangelicalism versus Fundamentalism in US
1947 Oral Roberts founded Evangelistic Association
1949 evangelist Billy Graham preaches his first Los Angeles crusade
1949 Saint John Evangelical Lutheran Community - Comunidade Evangélica Luterana São João da Igreja Evangélica Luterana do Brasil - was founded October 2, in Passo Fundo city, State Rio Grande do Sul
1950 First part of the Common Confession between the American Lutheran Church and the LCMS is adopted, resulting in the schism of the Orthodox Lutheran Conference.
1950 New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures released
1951 Bishop Fulton Sheen (1919–1979) debutes his television program Life is Worth Living on the DuMont Network. His half hour lecture program on Roman Catholic theology remained the number one show on U.S. television for its time slot, winning several Emmys until Sheen ended the program in 1957.
1951 The Last Temptation a fictional account of the life of Jesus written by Nikos Kazantzakis, wherein Christ's divinity is juxtaposed with his humanity, is published, and promptly banned in many countries.
1957 United Church of Christ founded by ecumenical union of Congregationalists and Evangelical & Reformed, representing Calvinists and Lutherans
1957 English translation of Walter Bauer's Wörterbuch ...: A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, University of Chicago Press
1962 Karl Rahner, Joseph Ratzinger, Yves Congar, John Courtney Murray, Hans Kung among others appointed "periti" for upcoming Second Vatican Council. Rahner famous for paraphrasing Augustine's axiom: "Many whom God has the Church does not have; and many whom the Church has, God does not have."
1962-1965 Catholic Second Vatican Council, announced by Pope John XXIII in 1959, produced 16 documents which became official Roman Catholic teaching after approval by the Pope, purpose to renew "ourselves and the flocks committed to us"
1968 Zeitoun, Egypt, a bright image of the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Zeitoun was seen over the Coptic Orthodox Church of Saint Demiana for over a 3 year period. Over six million Egyptians and foreigners saw the image, including Copts, Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestants, Muslims, Jews and people of no particular faith.
1968 United Methodist Church formed with union of Methodist Church & Evangelical United Brethren Church, becoming the largest Methodist/Wesleyan church in the world
1972 Worldwide Faith Missions is founded by Dr Johannes Maas, following a request to care for orphans made by Christian leaders during a Christian crusade in India39
1973 On June 12, 1973, near the city of Akita, Our Lady appeared to Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa. Three messages were given to Sr. Agnes over a period 5 months. Our Lady of Akita.40
1973 New International Version of the Bible is first published (revised in 1978,1984), using a variety of Greek texts, Masoretic Hebrew texts, and current English style
1979 Jesus (1979 film), most watched movie of all time according to New York Times
1979-1982? New King James Version, complete revision of 1611 AV, updates archaisms while retaining style
1981 Kibeho, Rwanda reported that Our Lady appeared to several teenages telling them to pray to avoid "rivers of blood" Marian apparitions.41 This was an ominious foreshadowing of the Rwanda Genocide of 1994. 42
1981 Mother Angelica launches EWTN; it grows to become one of the largest television networks in the world; the operation expands to radio in 1992.
1999 Gospel of Jesus Christ - An Evangelical Celebration; a consensus Gospel endorsed by various evangelical leaders including J.I. Packer, John Ankerberg, Jerry Falwell, Thomas C. Oden, R.C. Sproul, Wayne Grudem, Charles Swindoll, et al.
1999 Radical Orthodoxy Christian theological movement begins, critiquing modern secularism and emphasizing the return to traditional doctrine; similar to the Paleo-orthodoxy Christian theological movement of the late 20th century and early 21st century, which sees the consensual understanding of the faith among the Church Fathers as the basis of Biblical interpretation and the foundation of the Church.
2000 Visions of the Virgin Mary are reported in Assiut, Upper Egypt;44 phenomena associated to Mary is reported again in 2006, in a church at the same location during the Mass.45 Local Coptic priests and then the Coptic Orthodox Church of Assiut issue statements in 2000 and 2006 respectively.
2008 Conservative Anglicans indicate that they plan to split from liberal Anglicans in "The Jerusalem Declaration" 48
2009 Damien of Molokai canonized; apostle to lepers
2009 the Minneapolis Churchwide Assembly of the ELCA on 21 August 2009, passed four ministry policy resolutions that would permit clergy in committed homosexual partnerships to be rostered leaders within the ELCA.
2009 The Rosicrucian Fellowship, an international association of Esoteric Christian mystics,49 celebrates the centennial anniversary -- The Fraternity should remain secret one hundred years;50 the celebration ceremonies, on August 8 and November 1351 at Mount Ecclesia, serve the purpose of heralding the revival of the Christian mystic path of the Rose Cross.5253
Missions time line - Important events, locations, people and movements in World Evangelism
Footnotes
^ H.H. Ben-Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, ISBN 0-674-39731-2, page 246: "When Archelaus was deposed from the ethnarchy in 6 CE, Judea proper, Samaria and Idumea were converted into a Roman province under the name Iudaea."
^John P. Meier's A Marginal Jew, v. 1, ch. 11; also H.H. Ben-Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, ISBN 0-674-39731-2, page 251: "But after the first agitation (which occurred in the wake of the first Roman census) had faded out, we no longer hear of bloodshed in Judea until the days of Pilate."
^ Suetonius, Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Tiberius 36; Jewish Encyclopedia: Rome: Expelled Under Tiberius: "The Jewish deputation which petitioned for the deposition of the royal house of the Idumeans was joined by 8,000 Jewish residents of Rome. Several Romans adopted Jewish customs, and some, as the rhetor Cilicius of Kalakte, a friend of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, even embraced Judaism (Müller, "Fragmenta Historicorum Græcorum," iii. 331). The reign of Tiberius (until the removal of his minister Sejanus) was fraught with misfortune for the Jews. When the cult of Isis was driven out of Rome (19 C.E.) the Jews also were expelled, because a Roman lady who inclined toward Judaism had been deceived by Jewish swindlers. The synagogues were closed, the vessels burned, and 4,000 Jewish youths were sent upon military service to Sardinia. After the death of Sejanus (31) the emperor allowed the Jews to return."; H.H. Ben-Sasson's A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, ISBN 0-674-39731-2, page 288 notes: "Explicit evidence of a systematic attempt to propagate the Jewish faith in the city of Rome is found as early as 139 BCE. With the increase of the Jewish population of Rome, the Jews intensified their efforts to make converts among the Romans. Although the activity of Jewish missionaries in Roman society caused Tiberius to expel them from that city in 19 CE, they soon returned, and Jewish religious propaganda was resumed and maintained even after the destruction of the Temple. Tacitus mentions it regretfully (Histories 5.5), and Juvenal, in his Fourteenth Satire (11. 96ff.), describes how Roman families 'degenerated' into Judaism: the fathers permitted themselves to adopt some of its customs and the sons became Jews in every respect. ... the Bible provided the apostles of Judaism with a literature unparalleled in any other religion."
^ H.H. Ben-Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, ISBN 0-674-39731-2, The Crisis Under Gaius Caligula, pages 254-256: "The reign of Gaius Caligula (37-41) witnessed the first open break between the Jews and the Julio-Claudian empire. Until then — if one accepts Sejanus' heyday and the trouble caused by the census after Archelaus' banishment — there was usually an atmosphere of understanding between the Jews and the empire ... These relations deteriorated seriously during Caligula's reign, and, though after his death the peace was outwardly re-established, considerable bitterness remained on both sides. ... Caligula ordered that a golden statue of himself be set up in the Temple in Jerusalem. ... Only Caligula's death, at the hands of Roman conspirators (41), prevented the outbreak of a Jewish-Roman war that might well have spread to the entire East."
^ A. J. MAAS (2003). Origin of the Name of Jesus Christ. Retrieved January 23, 2006. Walter Bauer's et al. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 1979, under Christos notes: "as a personal name; the Gentiles must have understood Christos in this way (to them it seemed very much like Chrestos [even in pronunciation ...], a name that is found in lit."
^ In the earliest extant manuscript containing Annales 15:44, the second Medicean, the e in "Chrestianos", Chrestians, has been changed into an i; cf. Gerd Theißen, Annette Merz, Der historische Jesus: ein Lehrbuch, 2001, p. 89. The reading Christianos, Christians, is therefor doubtful.
^Jewish Encyclopedia: Fiscus Iudaicus, Suetonius's Domitian XII: "Besides other taxes, that on the Jews [A tax of two drachmas a head, imposed by Titus in return for free permission to practice their religion; see Josephus, Bell. Jud. 7.6.6] was levied with the utmost rigor, and those were prosecuted who, without publicly acknowledging that faith, yet lived as Jews, as well as those who concealed their origin and did not pay the tribute levied upon their people [These may have been Christians, whom the Romans commonly assumed were Jews]. I recall being present in my youth when the person of a man ninety years old was examined before the procurator and a very crowded court, to see whether he was circumcised."
^ Wylen, Stephen M., The Jews in the Time of Jesus: An Introduction, Paulist Press (1995), ISBN 0-8091-3610-4, Pp 190-192.; Dunn, James D.G., Jews and Christians: The Parting of the Ways, A.D. 70 to 135, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (1999), ISBN 0-8028-4498-7, Pp 33-34.; Boatwright, Mary Taliaferro & Gargola, Daniel J & Talbert, Richard John Alexander, The Romans: From Village to Empire, Oxford University Press (2004), ISBN 0-19-511875-8, p. 426.;
^Jewish Encyclopedia: Tarfon: "R. Ṭarfon was extremely bitter against those Jews who had been converted to the new faith; and he swore that he would burn every book of theirs which should fall into his hands (Shab. 116a), his feeling being so intense that he had no scruples against destroying the Gospels, although the name of God occurred frequently in them."
