Torch of the Testimony

by Kennedy, John W.

• ISBN13: 9780940232129
• ISBN10: 094023212X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1983-09-01
• Publisher: Seedsowers
• More Book Details

Summary

The 2,000 year history of those Christians -- and churches -- that have stood outside the Protestant-Catholic tradition. This book was originally published in India in 1964 and is little known in the western world. Beginning in the first century John Kennedy traces the history of Christian groups who remained outside formalized religion down through the ages. A stirring, passionate and sometimes heart-rending story of suffering to the centrality of Christ within the Body of Christ. Book jacket.

Author Biography

John W. Kennedy is from Great Britain, but has lived in India since 1952 ministering among indigenous and apostolic Christian groups

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
The Foundation	p. 1
The origin of the synagogue
The relationship of the Lord and the apostles to it
Synagogues widespread
Gentiles in the synagogue
The synagogue as ground prepared for the Gospel
The synagogue eldership
The synagogue a bridge between the symbolism of the Temple and the spiritual reality of the church
The early witness of the church
Judaism must give way to the church
Stephen's message
Paul's violent opposition
The Church Established	p. 10
Paul's conversion
The church at Antioch
Jerusalem's attitude to Paul
Paul and Barnabas at Antioch
Antioch's solid foundation
The focus of God's working moves to Antioch
The witness spreads
The church separates from the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch
Iconium, Lystra, Derbe
The church in Rome
Philippi
Uproar in Thessalonica
Berea
Separation from the synagogue at Corinth
Christianity legally a Jewish sect
Paul unconcerned about the church's recognition by Rome
Ephesus
Church Order	p. 22
Spontaneity of church order
Qualifications of elders
Elders set apart by the Spirit
Deacons not a permanent order
Baptism given on consistency of life
Breaking of bread
The Word of God
Ministries of apostles and prophets of a transitional nature
High standard of conduct in assemblies
Churches not united by organization
Fellowship between churches
Common sense of obligation
Ministries for edification of the churches
Signs of Declension	p. 37
The development of the church contested
The Jerusalem church's decline
Its desire for conciliation with Judaism
The Jerusalem church's attitude to the ceremonial law
Lack of heart apprehension of the purpose of God
Peter's compromise
Paul's mistake
The contradiction in the life of the Jerusalem church
Its mistaken assumption of a position of special authority
Reasons for its decline
Dangers in Corinth and Ephesus
Change	p. 49
Expediency the reason for departing from primitive order
Transition from eldership to authoritarian leadership
Spiritual pattern cannot function apart from spiritual life
Danger of self appointed leadership
Bishops appointed to counteract this tendency
Differentiation of laity and clergy
Clergy held to possess special powers
Persecution slows down decline
Persecution fails to destroy the church
Heresies	p. 60
Gnosticism
Docetism
Marcionism
Arianism
Pelagianism
Sacerdotalism
Reaction	p. 71
Increased understanding of the faith leads to its over-intellectualization
Canon of Scripture 'officially' recognised
Clergy assume the right to define the faith and interpret the Word
The destructive force of heresy hunting
Authoritarianism symbolized in Church Councils
A true witness to spiritual principles always maintained
Origen
Novatians
Montanism
The Church Flattered	p. 86
The basis and structure of the church tested
Constantine's conversion
Church and State linked
The supremacy of Rome
Churches in the East
Eastern churches unite under Rome
Constantine uses the Church for political ends
The Donatist dispute
Religion and the Gospel	p. 96
Nestorius
Nestorian missionary enterprise spoiled by formalism and idolatry
The Gospel spreads to the outposts of the Roman Empire
Augustine
Monasticism
Priscillian
Priscillian's teaching
Persecuted by the Roman Church
Christianity in Britain
Torch Bearers	p. 108
Islam
Paulicians
Their life and teaching misrepresented by their enemies
Constantine Silvanus
Sergius
Many Paulicians resort to worldly means of protection and decline spiritually
Bogomils
Cathars
Bernard of Clairvaux labours to reconcilc believers to Rome
Waldenses
Peter Waldo
Francis of Assisi
Rome opposes the free use of the Scriptures
Importance of the Scriptures in the life of the church
Thomas Aquinas
Gathering Clouds	p. 124
Marsilius of Padua
John Wycliffe
The Great Schism
Wycliffe's significance for the testimony of the church
John Huss
The Utraquists and Taborites
Peter Cheltschizki and the remnant from the Hussite movement
The Unitas Fratrum
The Renaissance
Erasmus
William Tyndale
The Bible triumphs in England
The Welcome Rain of Reform	p. 137
Martin Luther
Compromise between Scriptural ideals and earthly loyalties
Ulrich Zwingli
Confusion of church with the 'Christian' community
John Calvin
Influenced by group of believers in Paris
His theology
Freedom of access to the Word of God the heritage of the Reformation
The Churches Continuing	p. 152
Christians called Anabaptists
Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz
Those who practise believers' baptism persecuted
Balthaser Hubmaier
John Denck
Denck's emphasis on the Spirit's interpretation of the Word
Michael Sattler
The practices of the Anabaptists
The Munster Tragedy
Reasons for the declension of Lutheranism and Zwinglianism
Spurious pretentions to prophetic gift weakens the Anabaptist testimony
From the Midst of Tragedy	p. 165
Persecution of believing groups in England
Menno Symon
Ignatius Loyola and the counter Reformation
Francis Xavier
The Council of Trent
Persecution under Mary of England
Puritanism in England
The 'prophecyings' persecuted under Elizabeth
Independents
Smyth and Robinson
Development of denominationalism among Independents
Jacobus Arminius
Reformers of the Reformation	p. 180
Freedom under the Commonwealth
George Fox
John Bunyan
Jean de Labadie
His attempts at reformation within the Catholic and Reformed Churches
Separation
The extremes of the 'household church'
Philip Jakob Spener and the Pietists
August Hermann Francke
The Fruit of Revival	p. 192
The influence of Mysticism
The divisions of Protestantism produce spiritual hunger in believers
Gottfried Arnold's history of the church
The Moravians
The Methodists
George Whitefield
Robert and James Haldane
The Remnant	p. 204
Missionary expansion
The Oxford Movement
Christian brethren
Elements of enquiry from different parts of the world
Dublin, Plymouth and Bristol
The effects of controversy
The Witness Spreads	p. 219
J. N. Darby
Samuel Frolich and the Nazarenes
Darby's teaching and its harmful effects
Anthony Norris Groves
Ministry in Mesopotamia and India
Blessing through the wide distribution of the Scriptures in the Russian Empire
Undenominational missions
Mukyokai
The Torch of the Testimony	p. 234
The relationship of organized Christianity to the Scriptural concept of the church
The place of revival
God's basic principles in an age of declension
The struggle of the church
Doctrine and pattern in the church
Bibliography	p. 245
Index	p. 247
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