Christianity in the 19th century
In Europe, the Roman Catholic Church strongly opposed liberalism and culture wars launched in Germany, Italy, Belgium and France.In doing so, new critical approaches to the Bible were developed, new attitudes became evident about the role of religion in society, and a new openness to questioning the nearly universally accepted definitions of Christian orthodoxy began to become obvious.Especially targeting critical approaches to the interpretation of the Bible and trying to blockade the inroads made into their churches by atheistic scientific assumptions, the fundamentalists began to appear in various denominations as numerous independent movements of resistance to the drift away from historic Christianity.Entirely fresh ideas as expressed by Friedrich Schleiermacher, Soren Kierkegaard, Albrecht Ritschl and Adolf von Harnack restored the intellectual power of theology.The stirrings of pietism on the Continent, and evangelicalism in Britain expanded enormously, leading the devout away from an emphasis on formality and ritual and toward an inner sensibility toward personal relationship to Christ.Above all, worldwide missionary activity became a highly prized goal, proving quite successful in close cooperation with the imperialism of the British, German, and Dutch empires.Opposition to unification came from the "Old Lutherans" in Silesia who clung tightly to the theological and liturgical forms they had followed since the days of Martin Luther.Finally, in 1845, the new king, Frederick William IV, offered a general amnesty and allowed the Old Lutherans to form a separate church association with only nominal government control.[7][8][9] From the religious point of view of the typical Catholic or Protestant, major changes were underway in terms of a much more personalized religiosity that focused on the individual more than the church or the ceremony.The rationalism of the late 19th century faded away, and there was a new emphasis on the psychology and feeling of the individual, especially in terms of contemplating sinfulness, redemption, and the mysteries and the revelations of Christianity.Unlike the First Great Awakening of the 18th century, it focused on the unchurched and sought to instill in them a deep sense of personal salvation as experienced in revival meetings.Especially in the west—at Cane Ridge, Kentucky and in Tennessee—the revival strengthened the Methodists and the Baptists and introduced into America a new form of religious expression—the Scottish camp meeting.The Second Great Awakening made its way across the frontier territories, fed by intense longing for a prominent place for God in the life of the new nation, a new liberal attitude toward fresh interpretations of the Bible, and a contagious experience of zeal for authentic spirituality.The Millerites, the most well-known family of the Adventist movements, were the followers of the teachings of William Miller, who, in 1833, first shared publicly his belief in the coming Second Advent of Jesus Christ in c.1843.In 1836 two Methodist women, Sarah Worrall Lankford and Phoebe Palmer, started the Tuesday Meeting for the Promotion of Holiness in New York City.Ministers formed the National Camp Meeting Association for the Promotion of Holiness and agreed to conduct a similar gathering the next year.In 1870 there were 56,500 priests, representing a much younger and more dynamic force in the villages and towns, with a thick network of schools, charities and lay organizations.[19] Conservative Catholics held control of the national government, 1820–1830, but most often played secondary political roles or had to fight the assault from republicans, liberals, socialists and seculars.Most of the Kulturkampf was fought out in Prussia, but Imperial Germany passed the Pulpit Law which made it a crime for any cleric to discuss public issues in a way that displeased the government.Nearly all Catholic bishops, clergy, and laymen rejected the legality of the new laws, and were defiant facing the increasingly heavy penalties and imprisonments imposed by Bismarck's government.Historian Anthony Steinhoff reports the casualty totals: Bismarck underestimated the resolve of the Catholic Church and did not foresee the extremes that this struggle would entail.[33] The conflict ended after 1879 because Pius IX died in 1878 and Bismarck broke with the Liberals to put his main emphasis on tariffs, foreign policy, and attacking socialists.[35] On 7 February 1862, Pope Pius IX issued the papal constitution Ad Universalis Ecclesiae, dealing with the conditions for admission to Catholic religious orders of men in which solemn vows were prescribed.The most substantial body of defined doctrine on the subject is found in Pastor aeternus, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ of Vatican Council I.[36] It rejected the ideas that papal decrees have "no force or value unless confirmed by an order of the secular power" and that the pope's decisions can be appealed to an ecumenical council "as to an authority higher than the Roman Pontiff."Pope Gregory XVI, challenging Spanish and Portuguese sovereignty, appointed his own candidates as bishops in the colonies, condemned slavery and the slave trade in 1839 (papal bull In supremo apostolatus), and approved the ordination of native clergy in spite of government racism.[56] The Serbian Orthodox Church in the Principality of Serbia gained its autonomy in 1831, and was organized as the Metropolitanate of Belgrade, remaining under the supreme ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.[58] In the same time, Serbian Orthodox eparchies in Bosnia and Herzegovina remained under supreme ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, but gained internal autonomy.Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, who had in 1863 carried out a mass confiscation of monastic estates in the face of stiff opposition from the Greek hierarchy in Constantinople, in 1865 pushed through a legislation that proclaimed complete independence of the Church in the Principalities from the Patriarchate.[63] In the case of anti-Semitism and the anti-Jewish pogroms, no evidence is given of the direct participation of the church, and many Russian Orthodox clerics, including senior hierarchs, openly defended persecuted Jews, at least from the second half of the 19th century.
Christianity in the 18th centuryChristianity in the 20th centuryChristianity in the modern eraChristianityChristNativityBaptismMinistryCrucifixionResurrectionAscensionOld TestamentNew TestamentGospelChurchNew CovenantTheologyTrinityFatherHoly SpiritApologeticsChristologyHistory of theologyMissionSalvationUniversalismHistoryTraditionApostlesEarly ChristianityChurch FathersConstantineCouncilsAugustineIgnatiusEast–West SchismCrusadesAquinasReformationLutherDenominations(full list)NiceneCatholicEasternOld CatholicPalmarian CatholicIndependent CatholicSedevacantismEastern OrthodoxOriental OrthodoxChurch of the EastProtestantAdventistAnabaptistAnglicanBaptistFree EvangelicalLutheranMethodistMoravian [Hussite]PentecostalPlymouth BrethrenQuakerReformedUnited ProtestantWaldensianNondenominational ChristianityRestorationistChristadelphiansIglesia ni CristoIrvingiansJehovah's WitnessesLatter Day SaintsMembers Church of God InternationalThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe New Church (Swedenborgian)Unitarians and UniversalistsCivilizationCriticismCultureEcumenismGlossaryLiturgyOther religionsPrayerSermonSymbolismWorshipOutlineevangelicalrevivalsbiblical scholarshipLiberal or modernist theologyRoman Catholic Churchculture warssecularismProtestantismpietisticmodernismChristian fundamentalismatheisticEnthusiastsMethodistsQuakersBaptistsNicene creedChalcedonian CreedUnitariansUniversalistssynergismmonergismCalvinistArminianSynod of DortBiblical criticismLiberal ChristianityproteanlibertyFriedrich SchleiermacherKenneth Scott LatouretteromanticismSoren KierkegaardAlbrecht RitschlAdolf von Harnackpietism