Church Matters: Retrieving the Great Tradition

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Appendix 56 What You Should Know about Christian History AD 673-1295 From Timothy Paul Jones, Christian History Made Easy , Torrance: Rose Publishing, 2005. p. 60. Four Events You Should Know 1. Spread of the Nestorianism (AD 780-823): Nestorian monks took the gospel into India, Turkestan, China, Persia, and Syria. Nearly 100,000 Nestorians remain in southwest Asia today. 2. Children’s Crusade (AD 1212): Nearly 20,000 children gathered around a shepherd-boy named Stephen to conquer the Holy Land. A merchant offered them free transportation, but then sold them into slavery. 3. Second Council of Lyons (AD 1274): More than 500 bishops tried to unite Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy under the pope’s authority. Eastern Christians rejected the union. 4. Kublai Khan’s Request (AD 1266): Marco Polo’s father met Kublai in 1266. Christianity so intrigued Kublai that he asked for 100 monks to teach his people. Fewer than eight monks were sent. When the trip became severe, all of them turned back. When monks finally reached Mongolia in the late 1200’s, it was too late. Most Mongolians had already converted to Islam. Nine Names You Should Know 1. Caedmon (died AD 680): Monk. First English Christian poet. Retold Bible stories in song. 2. Bede the Venerable (AD 673-735): Christian scholar. Wrote a history of English Christianity. 3. Anskar (AD 801-865): “The Apostle of the North.” Missionary to Sweden and Denmark. 4. Alfred the Great (AD 849-899): English king. Translated parts of the Bible into English. 5. Odo (AD 879-942): Succeeded Berno as the abbot (leading monk) of Cluny monastery. 6. Peter Abelard (AD 1079-1143): Professor of theology until his affair with a student named Heloise. Heloise’s uncle attacked Abelard and had him castrated. Afterward, Abelard retired to a monastery where he wrote several important doctrinal treatises. 7. Bernard of Clairvaux (AD 1090-1153): Powerful abbot of Clairvaux monastery. In 1128 he obtained approval for the