Introduction

The Reformed Presbyter­ian Theological Seminary (RPTS) has been in the business of training men for the gospel ministry for over two centuries, and since its first curriculum was issued to the small inaugural band of aspiring Covenanter pastors, the study of church history has always been integral to that goal. Seminary education has developed in many helpful ways since then, equipping both men and women for a variety of ministries and incorporating an abundance of practical modules in addition to the standard core subjects.

But in an age where vocational components of the curriculum increasingly outnumber and outsell the academic in many seminaries, church history has come to be considered by many as the Cinderella department—one of those subjects that must be endured unless you happen to have an interest in that sort of thing. So, what is church history and why should future pastors, missionaries, and Christian workers study it at seminary?

Simply stated, the goal of the Church History Department at RPTS is to explain, interpret, and apply the narrative of Christ building His global church over the past two millennia, and to discern our own place and role in this ongoing story.

Explaining Church History

Theologically speaking, church history begins back in Eden, but as an academic discipline it focuses on the drama of Christ building His global church (Matt. 16:18) in the period from His being invested with all dominion over the nations as Mediator (Matt. 28:18–20) to “the end of the age,” when He will return to judge the nations.

It is traditionally divided into four eras of study: Patristic Church History (c. 70–590 AD), Medieval Church History (c. 590–1517 AD), Reformation Church History (c. 1517–1690 AD), and Modern Church History (c.1690–present). While we may sometimes feel far removed from the narratives of these distinct eras, the common Christian experience of God’s people in every age and place unites us as a single growing family of the redeemed. And as we read about the church’s many dramatic advances and setbacks through the complex tapestry of the timeline, we discern a clear metanarrative of the Lord of history building His Church despite opposition from the world and schisms from within.

Interpreting Church History

Historiography is to history what hermeneutics is to Scripture. History must not only be researched; it must be rightly interpreted. How we bridge the divide from a past event to our present written report of that event and its application to contemporary Christian living is an invaluable skill for kingdom life and ministry.

As with any other academic discipline, students of history operate within a worldview. Though professing to approach their subject with objectivity, refusing to make value judgments about the past based on their present culture’s norms, all historians bring their presuppositions to the historiographical table.

Christian historians begin with a commitment to let the Creator’s perspective and paradigms of history shape our own. We live in a world that increasingly attempts to remove the Storyteller from “His-Story,” right down to the eradication of the two basic time markers of BC and AD, replacing them with the rather insipid “BCE” and “CE” (“Before Common Era” and “Common Era”). Such an attempt to marginalize Christ to a sideshow and not the center is ultimately merely cosmetic. The Lord of history has subdivided His redemptive timeline into the two great unchangeable eras that respectively herald the incarnation of the eternal Son and then herald His definitive victory and progressive dominion as mediatorial King in these “Years of our Lord” (Anno Domini).

When seminarians write research papers for their history professor, they keep these basic assumptions in mind, and they also develop critical skills that will be of great value in the life the pastor—not least in their service to the higher courts, where they may frequently be called upon to write or evaluate position papers. As such, they must be able to discerningly study primary sources (research), make wise judgments about them to either argue or refute a thesis (interpretation), and then draw relevant conclusions for the present life of the church (application).

Applying Church History

When they crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, God instructed His people to set up memorial stones and mandatory church history lessons. He wanted future generations to routinely ask, “What do these stones mean to you?” (Josh. 4:6). The record of the past was not to stay in the past, but to speak loudly into the present.

Far from being a dry academic discipline that the seminarian can safely ignore when he comes to the more “scholarly” subjects like systematic theology or more “practical” subjects like pastoral theology, church history is very much an “applied science,” and the Department of Church History serves as a “handmaiden” for all the other seminary disciplines, in equipping well-rounded pastors to “serve their own generation according to the will of God” (Acts 13:36).

It serves the Department of Systematic Theology. Students of church history cultivate an appreciation of the development and progress of historical theology, as the church has confronted fresh challenges with fresh insights and confessional formulations drawn from the unchanging truth of God’s Word. As Jesus said to His twelve student-apostles, “Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old” (Matt. 13:52).

New, errant theologies the pastor will have to confront—while certainly calling forth new polemical efforts from the church—are often best countered with old theology texts that have stood the test of time. So, while seminarians are required to read textbooks by Prof. Richard Gamble, Gamble requires that they also read textbooks by John Calvin. It is out of the treasure-house of church history—which is a military history, spiritually speaking—that scribes trained for the kingdom bring forth proven weapons for contemporary battles in the courts of the contemporary church.

It serves the Department of Biblical Studies. As student exegetes master the biblical languages and Old and New Testament literature, a good grasp of the ecclesiastical past will remind them of the history of biblical interpretation, with all its warnings and examples. While avoiding the error of exalting tradition above the Scriptures, they learn to wisely consult historical commentators in their weekly sermon prep as well as contemporary exegetes.

They also learn to avoid two common hermeneutical snares in their preaching: on the one hand, interpreting God’s Word in an entirely novel way to suit contemporary culture; and, on the other hand, idolizing the historical commentators without due reference to the cultures in which they wrote. They will learn to consult historical exegetes who pre-date and are untainted by modernist critical error. And they will also learn that the interpretation of the Word by their favorite historical commentators may sometimes need to be taken with a pinch of hermeneutical salt, taking into account the historical and intellectual moment in which they ministered.

It serves the Department of Pastoral Studies. Finally, church history is a pastoral discipline. It should be more than an academic subject, and it should do more than simply help pastors stock their sermons with interesting illustrations and memorable anecdotes. It is a storehouse of practical theology, as we witness “the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) being lived out by the saints in a variety of different times, cultures, and intellectual contexts. And our personal spiritual development is aided because the history of the church confronts contemporary believers with the wisdom of the ages, by countless positive and negative examples, untrammelled by the political correctness of our own myopic age.

The pastor who possesses even a general grasp of former generations’ hard-won victories, theological insights, and regrettable failures will have the historical ballast he needs to avoid the modern tendency of what C. S. Lewis memorably called “chronological snobbery.” Instead, he can cultivate humility as he pursues his ministry in conversation with the past and with an eye to the future.

Church history in general (and Christian biography in particular) is among the most useful and underappreciated tools for the pastor’s ministerial toolbox for the edification of Christ’s sheep. Quite apart from the approachability and readability of the genre (we all like stories!), we gain a contextualized understanding of a lengthy period of church history, learning from the common Christian experience of brothers and sisters across the ages and developing a greater appreciation for our extended Christian family.

That’s why we teach church history at seminary. But you don’t have to be a seminarian to benefit. Sign up to audit a class, and you can learn for yourself what it is to be people of the Story.