The Jesuits - This Week in Christian History for the week of August 11-17

Ignatius of Loyola and six other students founded a group they called “The Company of Jesus” at Paris University on August 8^th 1534.  Ignatius had gone to the university because he had tried to preach on his own, but had come under scrutiny by the Inquisition. The only fault they found in him was his lack of education. It might have been this lesson that helped to make education a central focus of their later work.

They went to Pope Paul II to gain approval, which they received. The group eventually became “The Society of Jesus,” or as it is known, the Jesuits. They wanted to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but were prevented from doing so by war. They concentrated on preaching and helping the poor. The group became an official order and Ignatius, as the head of the order, sent them throughout Europe to found schools. They also sent missionaries around the globe to preach the Gospel to those who had not heard it.

After a few years they added to their mission to try and stop the wave of Protestantism that had sprung up. The Jesuits saw the need to reform the Catholic Church, but saw the individual as key to achieving that end. They were vigilant against corruption, and this had made their popularity with pope and others vary considerably. These efforts helped to win back converts to Catholicism, especially in Poland and Lithuania. Jesuits became important members of Royal courts and most Catholic kings had a Jesuit confessor.

The school network was a resounding success. They had a reputation as being some of the best colleges for the time. They offered an education that was wider in scope than most of the other colleges. Today there are Jesuit schools in over a hundred countries.

Jesuits have been controversial at times. They have been accused of having too much power, especially when they were confessors to kings, and have even been outlawed by the pope for a few years. The Jesuits have survived and have had a positive influence on the Catholic Church overall.

My new book, would you do what they did great Christian leaders from our past is now available to order from Amazon.com here is the link: Would You Do What They Did? - Great Christian Leaders From Our Past
It is also currently available at Barnes and nobles and should be available to order now or shortly from anywhere that sells books. The book is about Thomas Becket, Martin Luther, John Wesley and Francis of Assisi and is written in creative nonfiction style, I have excepts of the book here on my website williamdeanhamilton.net

Thank you for reading.

Big Week for Presbyterian Churches -This Week in Christian History June 9-15

There were several important developments in the Presbyterian Church this week in history. As a background, here is a brief history of the Presbyterian Church. The Presbyterian Church formed in large part due to John Knox’s visiting John Calvin’s Geneva. He was impressed with it and based his theology on it. The National Church of Scotland was formed in 1560 which was basically the first Presbyterian Church. The theology spread to England and was no longer illegal in 1647 (we live in great times where we can decide for ourselves what religion to follow).

The Presbyterian Church of Wales was made of Calvinistic Methodists ministers, who were originally known as the Calvinist Methodist connexion. Scottish immigrants to Ireland helped spread the Presbyterian Church there. The name Presbyterian is not used in France, but is known as Calvinist or the Church of Scotland. There are also Presbyterians throughout the world.

This relates to this week because of the following events:

6-13-1876

The Presbyterian Church in England merged with the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland to form the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

06-10-1925

The United Church of Canada was formed from Methodist, Presbyterian, and 3,000 independent churches. Currently there are about 200,000 people who attend services.

06-11-1936

The Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) was organized in Philadelphia, now called the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The church was formed from objections to modern and liberal changes to the church. Modernism here means to study scriptures as you would other writings, not as the literal word of God.

6-10-1983

The United Presbyterian Church (UPCUSA) and the Southern Presbyterian Church (PCUS) reunited to form The Presbyterian Church (USA). This denomination has almost 2,000,000 members today and is the largest Presbyterian denomination.

My new book, would you do what they did great Christian leaders from our past is now available to order from Amazon.com here is the link: Would You Do What They Did? - Great Christian Leaders From Our Past
It is also currently available at Barnes and nobles and should be available to order now or shortly from anywhere that sells books. The book is about Thomas Becket, Martin Luther, John Wesley and Francis of Assisi and is written in creative nonfiction style, I have excepts of the book here on my website williamdeanhamilton.net

Thank you for reading.