3.5 UA: Examine a Figure from Post-Reformation History
Order Description
INTRODUCTION AND ALIGNMENT
All that happened between the first century church and the reformation period set the stage for
the reformation period itself. This exercise will examine a figure from the post-reformation
period of history. It was during this period that the Church was to see some of its greatest
expositors of the Bible.

Upon completion of this assignment you should be able to:
Examine a figure from post-reformation history.

RESOURCES
Any scholarly evangelical historical theology or church history text

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The reformation was certainly the hinge point, in many ways, for church history. The early
Church had started off well. After AD 200 or so, there began a slow, gradual but steady creep
away from the centrality of scripture, and toward church dogma. It was Luther and his kind
who would change all that.

When Luther came along, he was not persuaded by the Pope or tradition, but what the Bible
said, and that in the vernacular. He reclaimed the authority of teaching the Word, and put it in
the language of the people. Rarely has church history seen someone of his energy; he was a
driving force which is still being felt today.

What was to follow was a parade of preachers from Luther to the mid-1900s who would impact
Protestant preaching in profound ways:
? Calvin
? Zwingli
? George Whitfield
? John Wesley
? Charles Grandison Finney
? Dwight Lyman Moody
? Amiee Semple McPherson
? Billy Sunday

These, and many others, were to impact culture in what many would say was a golden age of
preaching.

INSTRUCTIONS
1. In this exercise, you will do a brief study of the life of a preacher during the post-reformation
era, after Martin Luther, up to the mid-1900s (excluding anyone living today). You will want to examine the following:
a. Around what historical event does their name surface?
b. What was their general emphases in preaching- were they teaching doctrine, combating heresy, or something else?
c. What was it about their preaching that caused them to be effective?
d. What was it about their preaching that caused them to be less effective?
e. Lastly, what characteristics in this person’s preaching do you want to import into your own preaching?
2. Answer these questions, adding any other material you feel is germane, in a 1-2 page document.
3. Submit in Word document.