Recovering our memory: Introduction

“A society without its history is like a man without his memory”, someone once told me. It would be equally true to substitute “church” for “society”.

Christianity is a historical faith—it is based on the mysterious yet historical facts of the virgin birth, the cross, and the empty tomb. Each time we read the Bible, we are reading history—living history, Spirit-applied history, but still history. In a sense, we are all historians.

But a lot of Christians have lived, died and gone to heaven in the 2,000 years or so since Christ walked this earth. The vast majority lived faithful but unremarkable lives before heading off to surround His throne. A few have been so greatly used by God that they shaped the way His people thought, worshipped and gathered in their lifetime. And a very few have shaped the church not just in their own generation, but for centuries to follow.

That’s a lot of memory! But often as Christians today we ignore everything that happened between 100AD and 1950, with a little bit of recognition that the 1500s were pretty important. That’s a lot of lost memory!

So in this new “Recovering our memory” series, we’re going to look, very briefly, at some of the men whose thought and influence has shaped, and is shaping, the church on earth. Each post should only take about three minutes to read, giving the bare essentials on a particular character, when and where they lived, why they matter, a quote and random fact, and a suggested prayer. In making them a short read, I’ve had to be very selective, and make some generalizations and simplifications. If you are in full possession of the church’s memory, please forgive lack of detail or nuance.

We’re going to begin with five men who lived and believed before the Reformation (ie: the first 1,500 years of Christian history!), and whose names all began with “A” (I had to narrow it down somehow!)

In case you’re not yet convinced, here are three reasons it’s important to know our church history:

• The 21st-century church does not exist in a vacuum. The triumphs and teachings and splits and struggles of our day can only really be understood in the context of what has already happened.
• The church in each age has focused on and wrestled with different areas of Christian doctrine and living. Looking at those in a different age may show us something we need to think about more ourselves; clarify what we know to be true; give us perspective on the issues of our own time.
• These guys are our family, our spiritual ancestors. While we don’t worship them, we should honour them by learning from them, and praise the God who has kept His church alive through two millennia.

A church without its history is like a man without his memory. Let’s begin to restore it (or at least some of the bit that starts with “A”).