Presbyterian-Reformed Family - Religious Group Timeline Association
Associated with All Entries - Religious Groups
Events
| Event | Introduction | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 9/11 | On September 11, 2001 ("9/11"), al-Qaeda terrorists crashed two planes into the Twin Towers and one into the Pentagon. More than 3,000 people died. | Historical Content |
| Adopting Act of Westminster Confession | By adopting the Westminster Confession of Faith (1729) as its doctrinal standard, American Presbyterianism moved a step closer to becoming a fully regularized denomination. | |
| American Bible Society Founded | The American Bible Society (est. 1816) is a faith-based voluntary society that distributes millions of Bibles throughout the country. | |
| American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions | In 1810, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions formed in order to send Congregationalist and Presbyterian missionaries all over the world. | |
| American Revolution | When the first shots were fired in 1775, the Colonies didn’t even have a military. Eight years later, the United States had defeated England. | Historical Content |
| Auburn Affirmation | In 1924, the Auburn Affirmation denounced the Five Point Deliverance as a necessary means for ordination in the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. | |
| Bible Presbyterian Church | The Bible Presbyterian Church, led by Carl McIntire in 1937, was the product of division between Presbyterian traditionalists and fundamentalists in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. | |
| Cane Ridge Camp Meeting | Barton Stone organized the Cane Ridge camp meeting (1801), the largest and most famous religious revival of the Second Great Awakening. | |
| Charles Finney's Rochester Revival | Charles Finney's Rochester Revival (1830-1831) played a foundational role for the more widespread revivalism and conversions of the 1830s and 1840s. | |
| Christianity and Liberalism Published | John Gresham Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism (1923) challenged the cultural shift toward modernist interpretations of the Bible within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) | |
| Civil War | The Civil War (1861-1865) was fought between the U.S. government and 11 southern states. The Union prevailed, slaves were freed, and nearly 700,000 people died. | Historical Content |
| Cold War | The antagonistic relations between the United States and the Soviet Union, known as the Cold War (1947-1991), lasted for nearly half a century. | Historical Content |
| Colonial Period | Colonial America took root in Virginia in 1607 and gained momentum when the Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts. By 1760, there were two million settlers. | Historical Content |
| Cumberland Presbyterian Church | In 1810, the Cumberland Presbytery formed as a response to ordination and theological differences with the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. | |
| Cumberland Presbyterian Church of America Founded | In 1874, former slaves in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church founded an independent denomination, later named the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of America. | |
| Eugene Peterson's The Message Published | In 1993, Eugene Peterson began publishing sections of The Message (Bible), which translated the Christian Bible into modern everyday language. | |
| Evangelical Presbyterian Church | In 1981, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church became the third major conservative denomination to split off from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A). | |
| First African Presbyterian Church Organized | In May 1807, John Gloucester organized the first African American Presbyterian Church. | |
| First General Assembly of the PCUSA | In 1789, American Presbyterians created the General Assembly and adopted a new name, the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (i.e., PCUSA). | |
| First Presbytery Formed in Philadelphia | The formation of a presbytery in Philadelphia in 1706 brought official Presbyterianism to the colonies. | |
| First Wave of Feminism | The 72-year struggle to grant women the right to vote evolved as the central theme of the first wave of American feminism (1848-1920). | Historical Content |
| Formation of the Associate Reformed Presbytery, or "Seceders" | The Associate Reformed Presbytery, formed in Philadelphia in 1782, represented Scottish immigrants from the "seceder" tradition in the Church of Scotland. | |
| Founding Period | With independence won, the United States of America began creating a new government during the Founding Period (1783-1791), including the selection of the first president. | Historical Content |
| Freedmen's Aid Society | In the 1860s, the Freedmen's Aid Society formed with the goal of increasing educational opportunities for blacks in the American South. | |
| George Bourne Dismissed for His Opposition to Slavery | Presbyterian minister George Bourne lost his pastor position in 1815 for advocating the immediate emancipation of the slaves. | |
| Gilbert Tennent Preaches "The Dangers of an Unconverted Ministry" | Gilbert Tennent's 1740 sermon, "The Dangers of an Unconverted Ministry," helped spark the Old Side-New Side division among American Presbyterians. | |
| Great Depression | The Great Depression (1929-1939) brought the biggest economic upheaval in U.S. history. Millions of people were unemployed, banks/businesses failed, and there was sweeping poverty. | Historical Content |
| Hanover Presbytery Organized in Virginia | The 1755 founding of Hanover Presbytery in Virginia highlighted the rapid expansion of evangelicalism in the South during the First Great Awakening. | |
| Harry Emerson Fosdick Preaches "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?" | In 1922, Harry Emerson Fosdick's sermon accused fundamentalists of being "essentially illiberal and intolerant." His subsequent dismissal made Fosdick a martyr for liberal mainline Christianity. | |
| Jim Crow Laws | Abolition freed the slaves, but blacks were kept segregated from whites in the South through local and state regulations known as Jim Crow laws (1890-1965). | Historical Content |
| King Philip's War | For 14 months (1675-1676), Indians raided settlements and colonialists launched counterattacks. It ended after King Philip, the chief of the Wampanoag Indian tribe, was assassinated. | Historical Content |
| Life of David Brainerd Published | Jonathan Edwards published The Life of David Brainerd (1749) to promote evangelical theology during the First Great Awakening. | |
| Margaret Towner Ordained in PCUSA | Margaret Towner's ordination in 1956 was the culmination of a long struggle for gender equality in the Presbyterian Church USA. | |
| Merger of UPCNA and PCUSA | The merger of the UPCNA and the PCUSA in 1958 created the largest Presbyterian denomination in America, but was followed by controversy and dissension. | |
| Merger of UPCUSA and PCUS | In 1983, the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the Presbyterian Church in the United States merged to form the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) | |
| Murders of Marcus and Narcissa Whitman | In 1847, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, early missionaries to the Oregon territory, were killed by the Cayuse Indians in a widely publicized massacre. | |
| New School-Old School Controversy Splits the General Assembly | The New School-Old School controversy, driven by theological differences during the Second Great Awakening, split the mainstream of American Presbyterianism in 1837. | |
| Orthodox Presbyterian Church Founded | In 1936, discontented conservative Presbyterians left the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America to form the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. | |
| PCUSA Allows Same-Sex Marriage | On June 19, 2014, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) passed an amendment to allow pastor to perform same-sex marriages. | |
| PCUSA Approves Gay/Lesbian Ordination | On July 8, 2010, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved the ordination of "openly"/partnered gay and lesbian members. Many conservative members left the denomination thereafter. | |
| Presbyterian Church in America | In 1973, conservative Presbyterians dissatisfied with the liberal tendencies of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. left to form the Presbyterian Church in America. | |
| Presbyterian Church in the U.S. | The Civil War divided northern and southern Presbyterians, leading those in the South to secede and form the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. in 1861. | |
| Presbyterian Church v. Hull Memorial Presbyterian Church | In 1969, this Supreme Court case prohibited the government from interfering in doctrinal disputes between churches. | |
| Princeton University Founded | New Light Presbyterians founded Princeton University in 1746 as one of the first national colleges in America. | |
| Prohibition | The 18th amendment made the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcohol illegal in the United States for 13 years (1920-1933). | Historical Content |
| Reconstruction and Industrialization | During the Reconstruction and Industrialization period (1865-1890), the South struggled to recover after the Civil War. Meanwhile, United States was emerging as an industrial giant. | Historical Content |
| Reunification of New School and Old School Presbyterians | After 30 years of division between New School and Old School Presbyterians, the factions reunited in 1869. | |
| Rise of Equal Rights Movements | The social justice movements of the 1960s were infectious, giving rise to women, racial minorities, and LGBT groups seeking equal rights in the United States. | Historical Content |
| Sarah Dickson Becomes First Female Presbyterian Elder | On June 2, 1930, Sarah Dickson became the first female elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). | |
| Scottish Covenanters Form First Presbytery in Pennsylvania | Expatriates from dissident Scottish Presbyterians formed a presbytery in central Pennsylvania in 1774. | |
| Synod of 1737 and the Old Side-New Side Controversy | The Synod of 1737, which restricted itinerancy and tightened ordination standards, launched the Old Side-New Side Controversy, which divided American Presbyterianism for two decades. | |
| The American Sunday School Union | In 1817, the American Sunday School Union formed as a faith-based voluntary society to spread education and knowledge of the Bible throughout the country. | |
| The First Great Awakening | The First Great Awakening (1730s-1770s) was a series of religious revivals that propelled the expansion of evangelical denominations in the colonies. | |
| The Plan of Union of 1758 | The Plan of Union in 1758 ended the Old Side-New Side controversy among American Presbyterians. | |
| The Plan of Union of 1801 | In 1801, the Plan of Union united the Presbyterians and the Congregationalists in efforts to evangelize the Midwest. | |
| The Second Great Awakening | The Second Great Awakening(s) (1790s-1840s) fueled the rise of an evangelical Protestant majority in antebellum America, giving rise to new denominations and social reform organizations. | |
| Trial of Albert Barnes | The trial of Presbyterian minister Albert Barnes regarding his unorthodox theology in 1835 increased tensions between Old School and New School Presbyterians. | |
| Trial of Charles Augustus Briggs | The 1892 heresy trial of theologian Charles Augustus Briggs anticipated the fundamentalist-modernist controversy in the Presbyterian Church twenty years later. | |
| UPCUSA Confession of 1967 | The 1967 Confession added calls for racial and social reconciliation, but conservatives in the United Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) accused it of hedging on essential doctrines. | |
| Vietnam War | America’s two-decade involvement in the Vietnam War (1955-1975) was costly and divisive. It claimed more than 58,000 U.S. lives and cost 140 billion dollars. | Historical Content |
| War of 1812 | The War of 1812 (1812-1815) is often called the second American Revolutionary War, because it again pitted America against Britain. | Historical Content |
| Westward and Southern Expansion | The United States of America began pushing beyond the boundaries of its original 13 states, until its holdings spanned from sea to sea (1790-1848). | Historical Content |
| William Tennent's "Log College" | In 1727, William Tennent's "Log College" became the first seminary in North America. | |
| World War I | World War I (1914-1919) began in Europe, but grew into an unprecedented global conflict with 65 million troops. It was called the Great War. | Historical Content |
| World War II | With the rise of Adolf Hitler, Germany began annexing neighboring countries, leading to the second World War (1939-1945) and the deadliest conflict in world history. | Historical Content |
Biographies
| Name | Introduction |
|---|---|
| Allen, Horace Newton | Horace Allen (1858-1932) was the first resident Protestant missionary in Korea. His medical and diplomatic contributions helped soothe anti-Christian policies in the region. |
| Blake, Eugene Carson | Eugene Carson Blake (1906-1985) was a prominent Presbyterian minister best known for his commitment to ecumenism and the civil rights movement. |
| Buck, Pearl S. | Pearl Buck (1892-1973) was an award-winning novelist, whose liberal views on theology and Presbyterian missions drew criticism from conservative Presbyterians. |
| Dabney, Robert Lewis | Robert Lewis Dabney (1794-1884) is considered one of the most influential Southern theologians of the 19th century. |
| Davies, Samuel | Samuel Davies (1723-1761) helped spread Presbyterianism to Virginia and served Princeton University early in its establishment. |
| Fearing, Maria | Maria Fearing emerged from slavery to become a self-financed missionary teacher, founding the Pantops Home for Girls in Luebo, Congo. |
| Finney, Charles | Charles Finney (1792-1875) was a prominent evangelical and revivalist during the Second Great Awakening. |
| Fosdick, Harry Emerson | Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969), prominent New York City minister and theological liberal. Famous for criticizing fundamentalists in his sermon entitled "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?" |
| Gloucester, John | John Gloucester (1776-1822) founded the first African-American Presbyterian Church and was one of the earliest black Presbyterian ministers. |
| Hodge, Archibald Alexander | Archibald Alexander Hodge (1823-1886) was a conservative Presbyterian pastor and Princeton theologian. He was popular for his warm, witty, and clear writing style. |
| Hodge, Charles | Charles Hodge (1797-1878) was the leading 19th century Old School Presbyterian theologian in the United States. |
| Keller, Timothy | Timothy Keller (1950-present) is an evangelical pastor, theologian, and best-selling author. His intellectual preaching style attracts educated young professionals to his New York City megachurch. |
| Kennedy, Dennis James | Dennis James Kennedy (1930-2007) was an evangelical pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and a significant figure in the New Christian Right. |
| Machen, John Gresham | John Gresham Machen (1881-1937) was a Presbyterian clergyman and New Testament scholar at Princeton Theological Seminary. He is famous for denouncing more liberal interpretations of the Bible. |
| Makemie, Francis | Francis Makemie (1668-1708) is known as the father of American Presbyterianism. |
| McIntire, Carl | Carl McIntire (1906-2002) was a militant fundamentalist, who helped found the Bible Presbyterian Church, International Council of Christian Churches, and radio show "Twentieth-Century Reformation Hour." |
| Mears, Henrietta | Henrietta Mears (1890-1963) reignited the popularity of Sunday schools through her high quality teaching methods and publications. |
| Mouw, Richard | Richard Mouw (1940-present) is a Presbyterian evangelical theologian/philosopher, and former president of Fuller Theological Seminary, who is well known for his interfaith dialogue. |
| Occom, Samson | Samson Occom (1723-1792), an evangelical Presbyterian minister from the Mohegan tribe, founded the Indian-Christian community of Brothertown, New York. |
| Parkhurst, Charles Henry | Charles Parkhurst (1842-1933) was a Presbyterian minister and social reformer who exposed the moral and political corruption of New York City. |
| Rogers, Fred McFeely | Fred Rogers (1928-2003), a Presbyterian minister, hosted a popular kids' show called "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" on public television from 1968 until 2001. |
| Rushdoony, Rousas John | Rousas John Rushdoony (1916-2001), Presbyterian theologian and homeschooling advocate, laid the foundations for Christian Reconstructionism. |
| Schaeffer, Francis | Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984) was a famous evangelical apologist who denounced the spread of relativism in modern society. |
| Tennent, Gilbert | Gilbert Tennent (1703-1764) was an Irish-born "New Side" Presbyterian minister and revivalist. His criticism of more conservative Presbyterians led to a schism in 1741. |
| Tennent, William | William Tennent (1673-1746) was a Presbyterian minister famously known for establishing the first Presbyterian seminary in America. |
| Thornwell, James | James Henley Thornwell (1812-1862) was the antebellum South’s most eminent Presbyterian theologian. |
| Van Til, Cornelius | Cornelius Van Til (1895-1987) was a Dutch-American theologian, famous for his unique brand of Christian apologetics known as presuppositionalism. |
| Warfield, Benjamin | B. B. Warfield (1851-1921) ranks in the forefront of great Presbyterian theologians of Princeton Seminary. |
| Witherspoon, John | John Witherspoon (1723-1794) was a Presbyterian minister, president of the College of New Jersey, and the only clergy signatory of the Declaration of Independence. |
| Woosley, Louisa | Louisa Woosley (1862-1952) was the first female ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church. |
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