What is neo-scholasticism? What is neo-Thomism?
Neo-scholasticism and neo-Thomism are terms used to describe the 19th- and 20th-century revival of Thomistic and scholastic thought within the Roman Catholic Church. In response to the growing philosophical movement known as modernism, the Roman Catholic Church encouraged a rejuvenation of scholastic thought. Scholasticism, particularly the work of Thomas Aquinas, came to be viewed as…
Who was B. B. Warfield?
Benjamin Breckenridge Warfield (1851—1921) was an American Presbyterian theologian, educator, and apologist. He was regarded as one of the last great defenders of conservative Presbyterian theology before the denomination divided in 1929. As a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary from 1887 until 1921, he upheld the Reformed theological traditions of his predecessors, Charles Hodge and…
Who was Pliny the Younger?
Pliny the Younger (c. 61—113), a Roman administrator, was the nephew of Pliny the Elder and a friend of the historian Tacitus. His primary historical significance is in the letters that he wrote, which provide an intimate window into the inner workings of the Roman Empire at its strongest. Some of his letters were actual…
What occurred at the Second Council of Nicea?
The First Council of Nicea (or Nicaea) convened in AD 325 and issued statements on the Trinity and the divinity of Christ. The Second Council of Nicea (AD 787) was called to definitively settle the issue of the use of images in worship. The use and eventual worship of images had become an issue in…
Who was Nero?
Born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus in December of AD 37, Nero became the fifth emperor of Rome. Nero, along with Rome’s first four emperors—Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius—made up what is called the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great uncle Claudius to become his successor, and upon Claudius’s death in AD 54 Nero became…
Who was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968), was a Baptist pastor and civil rights leader who was instrumental in ending legal segregation in the United States. Martin Luther King was born Michael King, Jr., but in 1934 his father changed his name to Martin Luther King in honor of the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther. King’s father,…
What is the Christian poverty movement?
The Christian poverty movement took shape in the Middle Ages, primarily as a response to the church’s covetousness during that period. The wealth, political power, and growth of the church presented a picture of a power-hungry Jesus. To oppose this view, many disillusioned Christians took the opposite direction, choosing to live in poverty. The Christian…
Who was Teresa of Avila?
Teresa of Avila, or Saint Teresa of Avila, was a Carmelite nun living in a Spanish convent in the early 1500s. She had entered the convent at the age of twenty, after experiencing guilt about what she felt to be an unhealthy interest in medieval fiction and her own appearance. Teresa embarked on a quest…
What were the religious wars / wars of religion?
The religious wars were a series of military conflicts in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. While the wars of religion often began as conflicts between Catholics and Protestants, there were political, economic, civil, and national reasons behind the wars as well. The European religious wars were brutal, with the combined death toll ranging…
What were the ecumenical councils?
The ecumenical councils were official gatherings of church leaders from all over the Christian world (the word ecumenical meaning, “representing the whole of a body of churches”). The purpose of the councils was to discuss various issues of theology and church practice and make binding decisions for the church at large. The early ecumenical councils…