The lineage
Eras
Sixteen centuries divided into the seasons through which the recovery moved.
- 0130—590
The Early Church
From Pentecost through the Patristic age — apostolic teaching, the canon, the great councils, and the church Fathers who guarded the gospel.
1 figures - 02590—1300
The Medieval Era
The long centuries between Gregory the Great and the late medieval ferment — monastic renewal, scholastic theology, and the slow accumulation of practices the reformers would later challenge.
3 figures - 031300—1517
The Pre-Reformation
The two centuries leading to Wittenberg — Wycliffe and Hus, the conciliar movement, the Brethren of the Common Life, the printing press, and Christian humanism's return to the sources.
6 figures - 041517—1648
The Reformation
From the 95 Theses to the Peace of Westphalia — the recovery of justification by faith, the authority of Scripture, and the priesthood of all believers.
10 figures - 051648—1800
The Post-Reformation
From the Peace of Westphalia to the dawn of the modern era — Puritans, Pietists, Quakers, Moravians, and the Great Awakenings carrying the recovered gospel into new lands and new hearts.
14 figures - 061800—2000
The Modern Era
From the missionary century through the twentieth — Brethren and Pietist heirs, Keswick and the Welsh Revival, the great missionary expansion, and the Eastern recovery in figures like Watchman Nee.
21 figures