Church Hist. (Modern), Part 2: From Europe to the New World

The Reformation gave birth not to a solitary Protestantism, but to a wide variety of Protestantisms.  (The Reformers came to quick agreement that the Bible – and not the traditions or authorities of the Catholic Church – was the ultimate arbiter of truth.  What they could not agree upon was what the Bible intended to communicate.)

In this episode we examine the early Protestant denominations (Lutheranism, Anglicanism, the Reformed and Anabaptist traditions…) and how each was shaped by a particular theological interpretation.  We then go on to look with detail at English Puritanism and the conflicts within British Christianity that would eventually lead some across the Atlantic to new colonies in North America.  We’ll look not only at the Pilgrims of Plymouth, but also the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the subsequent formation of other religious communities along the Atlantic seaboard.

As we explore, we’ll see just how profound an impact these early settlers – and the theologies from which they were born – continue to have on American Christianity today.