A different take on church history
Every Christian matters to God, but he has also used specific men and women in particularly important ways to advance his church from the very beginning. We rightly look up to and learn from this great cloud of witnesses.
But no mere human is perfect. Every hero has some kind of kryptonite. Sadly, this reality is true inside the church just as much as it is outside the church. Major heroes of the faith have flaws or even major failings, and it hurts.
What do we do with this, then? How can navigate the fact that our heroes of the faith have clay feet?* Should we rewrite the history books? Join us for this important and creative way of looking at church history to explore what it means to grapple with complex legacies of major church figures.
Tentative list of figures to be covered
We will cover representatives from various eras of the past two millennia and reflect on (1) their important contributions to the church in the era in which they lived, (2) the “clay-footed” aspects of their lives that present challenges, and (3) what their lives teach us about ourselves and the glories of the unfailing hero, Jesus Christ.
- NT examples (Alexander/Hymenaeus, Peter, etc.)
- Tatian
- Constantine
- Julian of Norwich
- Thomas Aquinas
- Martin Luther
- John Calvin
- Jonathan Edwards
- Karl Barth
- Billy Graham
- Recent examples (Sovereign Grace, Mars Hill, Ravi Zacharias, etc.)
* For those who might be unfamiliar with the metaphor, the idea of “clay feet” is drawn from Daniel 2:31-45 and expresses the notion that leaders may look powerful and influential but have flaws that weaken them.
