36. Part Four: The Church After The Reformation

Part Four
THE CHURCH AFTER THE REFORMATION
(The Church in Europe from the Reformation to the Present, 1558-1950)

• Church in the Post-Reformation Era

• Church in England Continues to Ferment

• Conflict between Catholics and Protestants Continues

• The Rise and Growth of the Baptists

• Serious Departures from Historic Prot­estantism

• More Moderate Departures from His­toric Protestantism

• The Origin and Development of Meth­odism

• Modernism’s Break With Historic Christianity

• The Eastern and the Roman Church since the Reformation

• Controversy Continues in Germany and England

• The Reformed Churches Survive Persecu­tion

• The Church Grows Once More

    TIME LINE - PART IV - AFTER THE REFORMATION: PEOPLE

PART FOUR THE CHURCH AFTER THE REFORMATION In England the Reformation continued long after the Protestant churches on the continent had established themselves. The influence of Calvin was felt much later in England than in the other countries. In this section of our book we shall meet the illustrious Oliver Cromwell, Puritan statesman and military genius whose invincible troop of cavalrymen were called "Cromwell’s Ironsides." During this period the superb translation known as the King James Bible was written.

We shall see the rise of the Congregational, Baptist, and Metho­dist churches, and the followers of John Huss establishing the Moravian Church. The beginning of Protestant mission activity falls in this era, and also, on the other hand, the emergence of a false theology called Modernism, or Liberalism, which sprang from the rational spirit of modern science and philosophy.

Throughout the century following the Reformation bitterness between Protestants and Roman Catholics continued, and in France after a period of freedom the Reformed Church was again the victim of ruthless persecution. The Reformed Church in France and in other countries, including the Netherlands, was constantly menaced by the subtle and prevailing spirit of liberalism. In the Netherlands the Secession of 1834 and the movement under Abraham Kuyper awakened the Reformed Church to a new vitality.