Torch of the Testimony
, by Kennedy, John W.
- ISBN: 9780940232129 | 094023212X
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 9/1/1983
The 2,000 year history of those Christians -- and churches -- that have stood outside the Protestant-Catholic tradition. This book was originally published in India in 1964 and is little known in the western world. Beginning in the first century John Kennedy traces the history of Christian groups who remained outside formalized religion down through the ages. A stirring, passionate and sometimes heart-rending story of suffering to the centrality of Christ within the Body of Christ. Book jacket.
John W. Kennedy is from Great Britain, but has lived in India since 1952 ministering among indigenous and apostolic Christian groups
| Preface | p. xi |
| The Foundation | p. 1 |
| The origin of the synagogue | |
| The relationship of the Lord and the apostles to it | |
| Synagogues widespread | |
| Gentiles in the synagogue | |
| The synagogue as ground prepared for the Gospel | |
| The synagogue eldership | |
| The synagogue a bridge between the symbolism of the Temple and the spiritual reality of the church | |
| The early witness of the church | |
| Judaism must give way to the church | |
| Stephen's message | |
| Paul's violent opposition | |
| The Church Established | p. 10 |
| Paul's conversion | |
| The church at Antioch | |
| Jerusalem's attitude to Paul | |
| Paul and Barnabas at Antioch | |
| Antioch's solid foundation | |
| The focus of God's working moves to Antioch | |
| The witness spreads | |
| The church separates from the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch | |
| Iconium, Lystra, Derbe | |
| The church in Rome | |
| Philippi | |
| Uproar in Thessalonica | |
| Berea | |
| Separation from the synagogue at Corinth | |
| Christianity legally a Jewish sect | |
| Paul unconcerned about the church's recognition by Rome | |
| Ephesus | |
| Church Order | p. 22 |
| Spontaneity of church order | |
| Qualifications of elders | |
| Elders set apart by the Spirit | |
| Deacons not a permanent order | |
| Baptism given on consistency of life | |
| Breaking of bread | |
| The Word of God | |
| Ministries of apostles and prophets of a transitional nature | |
| High standard of conduct in assemblies | |
| Churches not united by organization | |
| Fellowship between churches | |
| Common sense of obligation | |
| Ministries for edification of the churches | |
| Signs of Declension | p. 37 |
| The development of the church contested | |
| The Jerusalem church's decline | |
| Its desire for conciliation with Judaism | |
| The Jerusalem church's attitude to the ceremonial law | |
| Lack of heart apprehension of the purpose of God | |
| Peter's compromise | |
| Paul's mistake | |
| The contradiction in the life of the Jerusalem church | |
| Its mistaken assumption of a position of special authority | |
| Reasons for its decline | |
| Dangers in Corinth and Ephesus | |
| Change | p. 49 |
| Expediency the reason for departing from primitive order | |
| Transition from eldership to authoritarian leadership | |
| Spiritual pattern cannot function apart from spiritual life | |
| Danger of self appointed leadership | |
| Bishops appointed to counteract this tendency | |
| Differentiation of laity and clergy | |
| Clergy held to possess special powers | |
| Persecution slows down decline | |
| Persecution fails to destroy the church | |
| Heresies | p. 60 |
| Gnosticism | |
| Docetism | |
| Marcionism | |
| Arianism | |
| Pelagianism | |
| Sacerdotalism | |
| Reaction | p. 71 |
| Increased understanding of the faith leads to its over-intellectualization | |
| Canon of Scripture 'officially' recognised | |
| Clergy assume the right to define the faith and interpret the Word | |
| The destructive force of heresy hunting | |
| Authoritarianism symbolized in Church Councils | |
| A true witness to spiritual principles always maintained | |
| Origen | |
| Novatians | |
| Montanism | |
| The Church Flattered | p. 86 |
| The basis and structure of the church tested | |
| Constantine's conversion | |
| Church and State linked | |
| The supremacy of Rome | |
| Churches in the East | |
| Eastern churches unite under Rome | |
| Constantine uses the Church for political ends | |
| The Donatist dispute | |
| Religion and the Gospel | p. 96 |
| Nestorius | |
| Nestorian missionary enterprise spoiled by formalism and idolatry | |
| The Gospel spreads to the outposts of the Roman Empire | |
| Augustine | |
| Monasticism | |
| Priscillian | |
| Priscillian's teaching | |
| Persecuted by the Roman Church | |
| Christianity in Britain | |
| Torch Bearers | p. 108 |
| Islam | |
| Paulicians | |
| Their life and teaching misrepresented by their enemies | |
| Constantine Silvanus | |
| Sergius | |
| Many Paulicians resort to worldly means of protection and decline spiritually | |
| Bogomils | |
| Cathars | |
| Bernard of Clairvaux labours to reconcilc believers to Rome | |
| Waldenses | |
| Peter Waldo | |
| Francis of Assisi | |
| Rome opposes the free use of the Scriptures | |
| Importance of the Scriptures in the life of the church | |
| Thomas Aquinas | |
| Gathering Clouds | p. 124 |
| Marsilius of Padua | |
| John Wycliffe | |
| The Great Schism | |
| Wycliffe's significance for the testimony of the church | |
| John Huss | |
| The Utraquists and Taborites | |
| Peter Cheltschizki and the remnant from the Hussite movement | |
| The Unitas Fratrum | |
| The Renaissance | |
| Erasmus | |
| William Tyndale | |
| The Bible triumphs in England | |
| The Welcome Rain of Reform | p. 137 |
| Martin Luther | |
| Compromise between Scriptural ideals and earthly loyalties | |
| Ulrich Zwingli | |
| Confusion of church with the 'Christian' community | |
| John Calvin | |
| Influenced by group of believers in Paris | |
| His theology | |
| Freedom of access to the Word of God the heritage of the Reformation | |
| The Churches Continuing | p. 152 |
| Christians called Anabaptists | |
| Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz | |
| Those who practise believers' baptism persecuted | |
| Balthaser Hubmaier | |
| John Denck | |
| Denck's emphasis on the Spirit's interpretation of the Word | |
| Michael Sattler | |
| The practices of the Anabaptists | |
| The Munster Tragedy | |
| Reasons for the declension of Lutheranism and Zwinglianism | |
| Spurious pretentions to prophetic gift weakens the Anabaptist testimony | |
| From the Midst of Tragedy | p. 165 |
| Persecution of believing groups in England | |
| Menno Symon | |
| Ignatius Loyola and the counter Reformation | |
| Francis Xavier | |
| The Council of Trent | |
| Persecution under Mary of England | |
| Puritanism in England | |
| The 'prophecyings' persecuted under Elizabeth | |
| Independents | |
| Smyth and Robinson | |
| Development of denominationalism among Independents | |
| Jacobus Arminius | |
| Reformers of the Reformation | p. 180 |
| Freedom under the Commonwealth | |
| George Fox | |
| John Bunyan | |
| Jean de Labadie | |
| His attempts at reformation within the Catholic and Reformed Churches | |
| Separation | |
| The extremes of the 'household church' | |
| Philip Jakob Spener and the Pietists | |
| August Hermann Francke | |
| The Fruit of Revival | p. 192 |
| The influence of Mysticism | |
| The divisions of Protestantism produce spiritual hunger in believers | |
| Gottfried Arnold's history of the church | |
| The Moravians | |
| The Methodists | |
| George Whitefield | |
| Robert and James Haldane | |
| The Remnant | p. 204 |
| Missionary expansion | |
| The Oxford Movement | |
| Christian brethren | |
| Elements of enquiry from different parts of the world | |
| Dublin, Plymouth and Bristol | |
| The effects of controversy | |
| The Witness Spreads | p. 219 |
| J. N. Darby | |
| Samuel Frolich and the Nazarenes | |
| Darby's teaching and its harmful effects | |
| Anthony Norris Groves | |
| Ministry in Mesopotamia and India | |
| Blessing through the wide distribution of the Scriptures in the Russian Empire | |
| Undenominational missions | |
| Mukyokai | |
| The Torch of the Testimony | p. 234 |
| The relationship of organized Christianity to the Scriptural concept of the church | |
| The place of revival | |
| God's basic principles in an age of declension | |
| The struggle of the church | |
| Doctrine and pattern in the church | |
| Bibliography | p. 245 |
| Index | p. 247 |
| Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved. |
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