Page 28 - God's Church through the Ages - Student Textbook

the best astronomers in that time). Naturally, Athanasius’ annual letters contained other material as well. One
Easter letter of Athanasius is well-known for listing the books that ought to be considered part of the canon of
Scripture, along with other books suitable for devotional reading. For the New Testament, Athanasius lists the 27
books that are recognized today. For the Old Testament, his list is identical to that used by most Protestants,
except that he omits Esther and includes Baruch. His supplementary list of “devotional” books contains Wisdom,
Sirach, Tobias, Judith, and Esther.

Athanasius lived in a troubled time in the history of the church, and we owe him a debt of gratitude for his
insight, courage, and steadfastness. With his knowledge of the Word, Athanasius was able to identify the wolves
in sheep’s clothing that were infiltrating the church, and, through his commitment to biblical truth, he was able
to stand firm and ward off their attacks. By the grace of God, Athanasius won.

Growth of Monasticism

The new freedoms of Christians throughout the empire promoted more
interaction between the major churches. The head of each of the churches
were called “Bishops” and they were looked upon with lordly attributes equal
with the senators of the empire. As time passed, emperors adopted one side or
the other of the major issue of Nicaea (the Arian controversy) and church
leaders on the opposite sides of the issue were banished. For those who were
tired of the constant strife, their solution was to flee from the world.

“Hermit” means one who lives in the desert. “Monk” means one who lives alone. The first monks were hermits,
but eventually monks were noted for living apart from the cities and their families. They believed that the world
was bad (by experience) and that the body was bad and must be beaten down by hardship.

Out of monasticism came Jerome (347-420). A student of Hebrew, he translated the Old Testament from that
language into Latin and the New Testament from Greek into Latin. His translation was known as the Vulgate.
Jerome did not accept the Apocrypha as a part of the canon in contrast to Augustine (contemporary). He did,
however, translate it to Latin before his death. We will look at this theologian a bit later in this study.

The Between Years

Between the Councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon, several of the most able fathers of the Christian church did their
greatest work. They endeavored to study the Scriptures along more scientific lines in order to develop their
theological meaning. This was the golden age of theology in the early church. These scientific theologians also
lived in the waning days of the Roman Empire, for the Empire fell in A.D. 476 to the barbarian hordes from the
north.

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The Great Scientific Theologians

John Chrysostom (A.D. 345 – 407) Chrysostom was born about A.D. 345 into a wealthy
aristocratic family of Antioch. Planning to be a lawyer, he studied the Greek classics and
rhetoric, and became an outstanding public speaker. For a time he did practice law, but he

19 much of the material in this section can be read in more detail from Third Millennium Ministries, Dr. Jack L Arnold. http://
thirdmill.org
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