Course · BIB 352

History of the Christian Church

A survey of two thousand years of church history — from Pentecost to the present — through its leading personalities and movements.

Credits
3 Credits
Level
Undergraduate
Format
Lecture + discussion
Typical Terms
Fall, Spring

Course Description

BIB 352 walks students through two thousand years of church history — from Pentecost forward — as one continuous story. Rather than a tour of names and dates, the course is organized around the leading personalities and movements that shaped what the church became: the early martyrs and apologists, the councils that defined orthodoxy, the medieval theologians and reformers, the missionary expansions, the modern denominational shifts, and the global church of the present.

The course is built on the conviction that the Bible's story doesn't end at Revelation — it continues through the church's history. Students leave able to place their own tradition inside a much longer conversation and to recognize how earlier centuries still shape the church today.

Taught By

Offered 2026-2027: Fall Traditional · 2026-2027: Spring 1.

DTS Faculty

2026-2027: Fall Traditional

Noah Fulwider

2026-2027: Spring 1

Prerequisites

  • None

Corequisites

  • None

Learning Outcomes

1

Survey Two Thousand Years

Move from Pentecost to the present with a working grasp of the church's major eras.

2

Identify Leading Personalities

Recognize the theologians, reformers, missionaries, and pastors who shaped each era.

3

Trace Movements and Councils

Understand the major movements and church councils that defined Christian orthodoxy and practice.

4

Place Your Tradition in Context

Locate contemporary Christian traditions within the longer history that produced them.

5

Connect History to the Present

Recognize how past councils, reforms, and movements still shape the church today.

Biblical Worldview Connection

A Biblical Worldview takes the church seriously as the community God has been building across two millennia. BIB 352 treats that history as the ongoing story of God working through real people in real centuries — not background trivia, but the next chapter after the New Testament closes.

Explore Programs With This Course

BIB 352 broadens biblical studies into the longer story of the church. Explore the programs that include it.