2nd Year History Curriculum - IV

The fourth unit is The Early Church.

124. Read SR chapter 82. On pg. 155 remove "He was as good ... many people now." Calling a non-Christian one of the best men that ever lived is to have an unbiblical view of goodness. Also, replace "he fully deserved" with "thy gave him" and remove "which they gave him". Read Pompeii by Peter Connolly pgs. 1 – 37.

125. Read Pompeii pgs. 38 - 73.

126. Read SR chapters 83 – 86. On pg. 159, remove "where we wrote ... New Testament". Revelation was written before 70 AD. On pg. 160: remove "which has never ... best of men". Pagans are not the best of men. Also remove "Ever ready ... comfortable." "in good" before "honest measures" and "was as good and charitable as he, and" and "generous" before "plans". Trajan was a giver of welfare, which is not generous, but rather makes people dependent on and thus slaves to the state. On pg 161: remove "who was so good and charitable as a rule". On pg. 162: replace "when you have learned" with "if you learn". Also, remove "Thus, you see, ... emperor of Rome." I am sure that Guerber was a professed Christian, so it amazes me that she can write such sentences just a few paragraphs after discussing how the same man persecuted Christians. Then explain that we will be reading about two early Christians who died during the reign of Trajan. Read Heroes of the Early Church: Life-changing Lessons for the Young by Richard Newton (HEC) chapters 1 – 2. This book has short biographies of early church leaders written for children. On pg. 18: The population of Antioch is now over 100 thousand.

127. Read SR chapters 87 – 90. On pg. 162: remove "a good and true man". On pg. 164: remove "very good and wise", and change "when" to "if" regarding learning Latin and going to Rome. On pg. 165: replace "a worthy sucessor" with "the successor", remove "the good" and "He was one ... that ever lived." On pg. 166: insert "by God's Common grace" before "practiced all the virtues" and replace "all" with "some of" in the preceding. Obviously, since Aurelius did not worship Jesus Christ he did not practice all of the virtues the Christians taught. He neglected the most important one of all. He even persecuted Christians (or allowed Christians to be persecuted when he had the power to punish the persecuters, both are wrong) so I hesitate to call him virtuous at all. Also replace "one of the finest characters that ever lived" with "a fine character", and remove "and are said ...after the Bible". Putting Aurelius' writings in the same sentence with the Bible is disgusting. On pg. 167: remove "and the only fault .. down at any price." This passage downplays the heinousness of the persecution of the Christians. It is as nauseating apologetic for Aurelius, who had the power to stop the brutal torture and murder of Christians and did nothing. Ignorance is no excuse. Also remove "and best of all .. to doing good." Read HEC chapters 3 – 4. On pg. 27: The population of Smyrna is now 3.5 million. On pg. 31: remove "in a very peculiar ... him from heaven" This sentence assumes that Revelation was written after 70 AD. For the same reason, on pg. 32: remove "Now think what ... glory. And then". On pg. 39: remove "When we go ... This is just what" We cannot go anywhere in seeking truth unless first God helps us. On pg. 43: remove "and excellent" from the last sentence. On pg. 45: replace "nineteenth" with "twenty-first".

128. Read Polycarp: The Crown of Fire by William Chad Newsom (PCF) pgs. 179 – 189. These are brief biographies of some of the historical characters in the novel. Then read PCF chapter 1. (Read pg. 20 – 26, 54 – 60; and pgs. 61 – 76 during literature time). I have cut out pages 27 - 53 because this portion of the novel assumes that Revelation was written after 70 AD. Thankfully, skipping this section doesn't impede ones ability to understand the rest of the book. To that end, on pg. 26: remove "Polycarp's eye glanced ... had to find them." and on pg. 56: remove "for it was indeed ... tall and fair)" and "only a few months after the escape with Ignatius" and on pg. 57: remove "who had never forgotten her, returned to Rome and"

129. Read PCF pgs. 77 – 94. (Read pg. 95 – 106 during literature time).

130. Read PCF pgs. 107 – 124. On pg. 113: remove "As they stood ... one more time." because we skipped that part of the novel. After pg. 115 you can explain the regulative principle to the student briefly. The church in Polycarp's time did celebrate Christ's resurrection on a special day each year, despite a total lack of instructions to that effect in the Scripture. (Read pgs. 125 – 136 during literature time).

131. Read PCF pgs. 137 – 160. On pg. 147: remove "but the Scriptures ...Word of God". On the contrary the Scriptures themselves tell us, in Romans 10, that a person will not believe until he is preached to (the scriptures are expounded to him). Many are converted by hearing a missionary read and explain the Bible who may never have even heard the Bible, let alone believed it to be the Word of God. Furthermore, some may suppress the truth in unrighteousness, but all people know that the Bible is the Word of God. The Bible, being the powerful, voice of the Almighty Creator and Loving Savior will always be a better argument than anything our brains can come up with, even to the self-professed atheist. On pg. 153: remove "Enemies?" and "No, I think not." and "but Rome is not the enemy ... left us alone entirely." Rome, in its policy of state-worship and its state-sanctioned persecution of Christian, was the enemy of the church. (Read pgs. 161 – 177 during literature time).

132. Read SR chapter 91 – 92. On pg. 168: remove "as you have seen, ... emperors; but his" This pagan was certainly not the model of every virtue (take submission to Christ, for instance). On pg. 169: remove "good" from before "father". Read HEC chapter 5. On pg. 47: replace "three hundred thousand and four hundred thousand" with "1.3 and 1.7 million". Also, remove "Seventy thousand looms ... 140,000 weavers." and "And for the purchase ... expended every year" I have no idea of the modern equivalent of these statistics. On pg. 53: remove "a few years ago". Read SR chapter 93. Read HEC chapter 6. On pg. 56: remove "and cost about 100,000 pounds" I don't know the conversion between 1889 pounds and 2007 dollars is. On pg. 67: replace "does not exceed two hundred thousand" with "is 3.5 million".

133. Read SR chapters 94 – 95. Read HEC chapters 8 – 9. We are skipping HEC chapter 7 because Tertullian revealed himself as a heretic by the end of his life. Consequently, on pg. 83: remove "as we found ... previous chapter." On pg. 85: remove "as" before "diligent in following" and "as he was decided in choosing". This puts the merit in Cyprian's salvation on his firm decision rather than in God who chose Cyprian. On pg. 88 - 89 remove "equal to five pounds with us". Read SR chapters 96 – 97.

134. Lecture on the Apostles’ Creed. Lecture on the Nicene Creed. It is important that even our little children are aware of the foundational doctrinal statements that the early church drafted. The lectures should include the text of the creed in question, as well as facts regarding the date and place and a brief description of the heresies they were counteracting. I took my lecture material from The Foundations of Social Order by Rushdoony. This is a very difficult book. I don't think I will be ready to really understand it until I have studied much more than I have now, but it did have the basic details that I wanted to communicate in it. Read SR chapter 98. On pg. 179: replace "so securely that ... it since then" with "as the official church of Rome". The Christian has been largely overthrown in Rome, though it has been established elsewhere in the world. Read HEC chapter 10. On pg 96: replace "the Church of England ... in this country to" to " in our church in" since we don't particularly care what the Church of England does. On pg. 100 remove "ever" before "since been called" and add "and is now called Istanbul" after "Constantinople". And remove "as there is now" after "Constantinople then", since I am doubtful that is still true in Muslim Istanbul. Read SR chapter 99.

135. Read HEC chapters 11 – 13. On pg. 102 replace "60 thousand" with "3.5 million". On pg. 106: replace "the Church of England" with "our church".

136. Read SR chapter 100. Read HEC chapters 14. On pg. 136: replace "nearly two hundred thousand" with "1.3 million" and replace "is not finished yet" with "was not finished until 1915" and replace "have little huts" with "had little huts". On pg. 128: replace "morning service .. in this country" with "church". Lecture on the Te Deum Laudumus. Read HEC15.

137. Read SR chapter 101. Read HEC chapters 16 – 17. On pg. 161: remove "Robert Raikes's ... in operation". The Sunday School movement was detrimental to the church. On pg. 167: replace "No woman has ever been dearer to the Christian church as Monica, the saintly mother of Augustine; and no mother ever conferred a greater blessing" with "Few women have ever been as dear to the Christian church as Monica, the mother of Augustine; and few mothers have ever conferred as great a blessing". Monica was a great woman, but I am not sure that she was the greatest woman ever. We need to be careful about throwing around superlatives. Doing so causes them to lose their effect and us to lose our credibility. On pg. 171: remove "the light shone in upon his darkness" The light from God shone before he repented, or he would not have done so.

138. Read Augustine: Farmer’s Boy of Tagaste by P. De Zeeuw (ISBN: 0921100051) (AFBT) chapters 1 – 7.

139. Read AFBT chapters 8 – 14.

140. Read AFBT chapters 15 – 17. Lecture on the Council of Ephesus. Lecture on the Council of Chalcedon.

141. Lecture on the Athanasian Creed. Read SR chapter 102. Read Science in Ancient Rome by Jacqueline Harris (ISBN: 0531159167) (SAR) pgs. 8 – 35. I skipped the first pages because they are a glorification of science, and the last pages because they are a slap at the medieval times. Watch out for a plug for universal healthcare. I can't tell you exactly where that is, because I borrowed this book from the library.

142. Read SAR pgs. 36 – 56. Read HEC chapter 18 – 19. On pg. 184: replace "five hundred" with "125". On pg. 186: remove "On the walls ...impossible to industry." This is a humanist statement, in direct contrast to God's word "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it" Psalm 127:1 Also, remove "Hence we read ... so with Columba". Try telling those who Christ overturned in the Temple, or those whom he will judge at the last day, that his gentleness the chief element of his character.

143. Review

144. Test on the Early Church