Timeline of Christianity - 20th Century

20th Century

• 1903 First group baptism at Sattelberg Mission Station under Christian Keyser in New Guinea paves way for mass conversions during the following years
• 1904 Welsh revival
• 1904 Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil - Igreja Evangélica Luterana do Brasil - was founded in Juni 24, in São Pedro do Sul city, State Rio Grande do Sul
• 1905 French law on the separation of Church and State
• 1906 Albert Schweitzer publishes The Quest of the Historical Jesus (English translation 1910)
• 1906 Biblia Hebraica
• 1906-1909 Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, CA begins modern Pentecostal movement
• 1907 The Church of God in Christ was formed as a Pentecostal Body
• 1907-1912 Nicholas of Japan, Archbishop of Japanese Orthodox Church
• 1909 Scofield Reference Bible
• 1909-1911 The Rosicrucian Fellowship, an international association of Esoteric Christian mystics, founded at Mount Ecclesia
• 1910 Christian Congregation in Brazil is founded in Santo Antônio da Platina, Brazil by the italo-American Louis Francescon. It's begin the Pentecostalism in Brazil and South America.
• 1910 Edinburgh Missionary Conference launches modern missions movement and modern ecumenical movement; 5-point statement of the Presbyterian General Assembly, also used by Fundamentalists
• 1910-1915 The Fundamentals, a 12-volume collection of essays by 64 British and American scholars and preachers, a foundation of Fundamentalism
• 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
• 1914 Welsh Church Act 1914
• 1914 Iglesia ni Cristo incorporated in the Philippines
• 1914 Paul Olaf Bodding completes his translation of the Bible into the Santali language.
• 1915-1917 Armenian Genocide
• 1916 Father Divine founded International Peace Mission movement
• 1916 And did those feet in ancient time
• 1917 Heinrich Hansen publishes Lutheran Evangelical Catholic theses Stimuli et Clavi
• 1917 Our Lady of Fatima appear Marian apparitions to 3 young people, in Fatima, Portugal. They were Jacinta Marto, Tiago Veloso and Lúcia (Sister Lucia)
• 1917 Miracle of the Sun an event that was witnessed by as many as 100,000 people on 13 October 1917 in the Cova da Iria fields near Fátima, Portugal. How the Sun Danced at Midday at Fátima
• 1917 Restitution of the Moscow Patriarchy with Tikhon as patriarch
• 1917 True Jesus Church founded in Beijing
• 1918 Execution of Holy Martyrs of Russia, including the last tsar, Nicholas II, and his wife, Alexandra Feodorovna
• 1918 United Lutheran Church in America founded
• 1919 Karl Barth's Commentary on Romans is published, critiquing Liberal Christianity and beginning the neo-orthodox movement
• 1920 The Ecclesia, an Esoteric Christian Temple, was erected and dedicated on Christmas Day (December 25)
• 1921 Oxford Group founded at Oxford
• 1923 Aimee Semple McPherson built Angelus Temple
• 1924 First religious radio station in the U.S., KFUO (AM), founded
• 1925 Scopes Trial, caused division among Fundamentalists
• 1925 United Church of Canada formed
• 1925 St. Therese of Lisieux canonized
• 1926 Father Charles Coughlin's first radio broadcast
• 1926-1929 Cristero War in Mexico, the Constitution of 1917 brought persecution of Christian practices and anti-clerical laws - approximately 4,000 Catholic Priests were expelled, assassinated or executed
• 1927 Varghese Payapilly Palakkappilly founded the Congregation of Sisters of the Destitute
• 1927 Pope Pius XI decrees Comma Johanneum open to dispute
• 1929 Lateran Treaty signed containing three agreements between kingdom of Italy and the papacy.
• 1929 Death of Varghese Payapilly Palakkappilly
• 1930 Rastafari movement founded
• 1930 old American Lutheran Church founded
• 1930 The Lutheran Hour begins with Walter A. Maier as speaker
• 1931 Jehovah's Witnesses founded see 1884 for more information.
• 1931 Christ the Redeemer (statue) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• 1932 Franz Pieper's A Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Missouri Synod. adopted by the LCMS
• 1932 Our Lady appeared to five school children in Beauraing, Belgium as Lady Virgin of the Poor
• 1933 Catholic Worker Movement founded
• 1934 Herbert W. Armstrong founded Radio Church of God
• 1935 Gunnar Rosendal publishes Lutheran High Church manifesto Kyrklig förnyelse
• 1935 Dr. Frank C. Laubach, known as "The Apostle to the Illiterates." working in the Philippines, developed a literacy program that continues to teach millions of people to read.
• 1935 Rahlf's critical edition of the Koine Greek Septuagint
• 1935 Billy Sunday, early U.S. radio evangelist
• 1938 First Debbarma Christian, Manindra Debbarma, was baptized at Agartala.
• 1938 Tripura Baptist Christian Union was established at Laxmilunga, Tripura.
• 1939 Southern and Northern US branches of the Methodist Episcopal Church, along with the Methodist Protestant Church reunite to form The Methodist Church. Slavery had divided the church in the 19th century.
• 1940 Monumento Nacional de Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caidos, world's largest cross, 152.4 meters high
• 1942 National Association of Evangelicals founded\
• 1945 On the Feast of the Annunciation, Our Lady appeared to a simple woman, Ida Peerdeman, in Amsterdam. This was the first of 56 appearances as "Our Lady of All Nations", which took place between 1945 and 1959.
• 1945 Dietrich Bonhoeffer is executed by the Nazis
• 1945 Ludwig Müller
• 1945 The Nag Hammadi library is discovered.
• 1946-1952 Revised Standard Version, revision of AV "based on consonantal Hebrew text" for OT and best available texts for NT, done in response to changes in English usage
• 1947 Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism by Carl F. H. Henry, a landmark of Evangelicalism versus Fundamentalism in US
• 1947 Oral Roberts founded Evangelistic Association
• 1947 Dead Sea scrolls discovered
• 1947 Lutheran World Federation founded
• 1948 World Council of Churches is founded
• 1948 Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, see also Christian Zionism
• 1949 evangelist Billy Graham preaches his first Los Angeles crusade
• 1949 Saint John Evangelical Lutheran Community - Comunidade Evangélica Luterana São João da Igreja Evangélica Luterana do Brasil - was founded October 2, in Passo Fundo city, State Rio Grande do Sul
• 1950 First part of the Common Confession between the American Lutheran Church and the LCMS is adopted, resulting in the schism of the Orthodox Lutheran Conference.
• 1950 New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures released
• 1950 Assumption of Mary decreed by Pope Pius XII
• 1950 Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa
• 1951 Bishop Fulton Sheen (1919–1979) debutes his television program Life is Worth Living on the DuMont Network. His half hour lecture program on Roman Catholic theology remained the number one show on U.S. television for its time slot, winning several Emmys until Sheen ended the program in 1957.
• 1951 The Last Temptation a fictional account of the life of Jesus written by Nikos Kazantzakis, wherein Christ's divinity is juxtaposed with his humanity, is published, and promptly banned in many countries.
• 1951 Campus Crusade for Christ founded at UCLA
• 1952 Novum Testamentum Graece, critical edition of Greek NT, basis of modern translations
• 1952 C. S. Lewis' Mere Christianity
• 1952 This Is the Life TV series begins
• 1954 Unification Church founded under the name Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, acronymed HSA-UWC.
• 1954 U.S. Pledge of Allegiance modified by act of Congress from "one nation, indivisible" to "one nation under God, indivisible"
• 1956 In God We Trust designated U.S. national motto
• 1956 Anchor Bible Series
• 1956 The Ten Commandments (1956 film)
• 1957 United Church of Christ founded by ecumenical union of Congregationalists and Evangelical & Reformed, representing Calvinists and Lutherans
• 1957 English translation of Walter Bauer's Wörterbuch ...: A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, University of Chicago Press
• 1958 Sedevacantism
• 1959 Family Radio founded
• 1959 Franz Pieper's A Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Missouri Synod. reaffirmed by the LCMS
• 1960 Merger creates the "new" American Lutheran Church
• 1961 New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures
• 1961 Christian Broadcasting Network founded
• 1962 Engel v. Vitale, first U.S. Supreme Court decision against School prayer
• 1962 Karl Rahner, Joseph Ratzinger, Yves Congar, John Courtney Murray, Hans Kung among others appointed "periti" for upcoming Second Vatican Council. Rahner famous for paraphrasing Augustine's axiom: "Many whom God has the Church does not have; and many whom the Church has, God does not have."
• 1962-1965 Catholic Second Vatican Council, announced by Pope John XXIII in 1959, produced 16 documents which became official Roman Catholic teaching after approval by the Pope, purpose to renew "ourselves and the flocks committed to us"
• 1963 Martin Luther King leads a civil rights march in Washington, D.C.
• 1963 campaign by Madalyn Murray O'Hair results in U.S. Supreme Court ruling prohibiting reading of Bible in public schools
• 1963 Oral Roberts University founded
• 1963 Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America dissolves in schism
• 1963 New Testament of Beck's American Translation completed, thousands of copies distributed through The Lutheran Hour
• 1965 Reginald H. Fuller's The Foundations of New Testament Christology
• 1965 Rousas John Rushdoony founds Chalcedon Foundation
• 1965 Nostra Aetate Declaration promulgated at Vatican II that repudiates the charge of deicide against Jews
• 1966 Raymond E. Brown's Commentary on the Gospel of John
• 1967 Lutheran Council in the United States of America organized
• 1968 Zeitoun, Egypt, a bright image of the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Zeitoun was seen over the Coptic Orthodox Church of Saint Demiana for over a 3 year period. Over six million Egyptians and foreigners saw the image, including Copts, Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestants, Muslims, Jews and people of no particular faith.
• 1968 United Methodist Church formed with union of Methodist Church & Evangelical United Brethren Church, becoming the largest Methodist/Wesleyan church in the world
• 1970s The Jesus movement takes hold in the U.S. One-way.org
• 1970 Mass of Paul VI replaces Tridentine Mass
• 1970 The Late, Great Planet Earth futurist book by Hal Lindsey
• 1970? Chick Publications
• 1971 New American Standard Bible
• 1971 The Exorcist, a novel of demonic possession and the mysteries of the Catholic faith, is published.
• 1971 Liberty University founded by Jerry Falwell
• 1972 Most Lutheran free churches in Germany merge, forming the Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church
• 1973 On June 12, 1973, near the city of Akita, Our Lady appeared to Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa. Three messages were given to Sr. Agnes over a period 5 months. Our Lady of Akita.
• 1973 The Apostle in the End-Time called http://www.pmcc4w.org/ Arsenio Tan Ferriol (Pentecostal Missionary Church of Christ in the 4th WATCH)Philippines
• 1973 Trinity Broadcasting Network founded
• 1973 New International Version of the Bible is first published (revised in 1978,1984), using a variety of Greek texts, Masoretic Hebrew texts, and current English style
• 1973 Walkout at Concordia Seminary begins the Seminex controversy in the LCMS
• 1974 Jim Bakker founds PTL television ministry
• 1975 Bruce Metzger's Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament
• 1976 Anneliese Michel, Bavarian woman, underwent exorcism against demon possession
• 1976 Suicide by self-immolation of Oskar Brüsewitz, leads to mass protests against communism
• 1977 New Perspective on Paul
• 1977 Focus on the Family founded by James Dobson
• 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
• 1978-2005 Pope John Paul II, reaffirmed moral traditions (The Splendor of Truth)
• 1979 Moral Majority founded by Jerry Falwell
• 1979 Jesus (1979 film), most watched movie of all time according to New York Times
• 1979-1982? New King James Version, complete revision of 1611 AV, updates archaisms while retaining style
• 1981 Kibeho, Rwanda reported that Our Lady appeared to several teenages telling them to pray to avoid "rivers of blood" Marian apparitions. This was an ominious foreshadowing of the Rwanda Genocide of 1994.
• 1981 Mother Angelica launches EWTN; it grows to become one of the largest television networks in the world; the operation expands to radio in 1992.
• 1981 Institute on Religion and Democracy is founded.
• 1982 Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics
• 1985 Jesus Seminar founded
• 1985 E. P. Sanders' Jesus and Judaism
• 1986 Chicago Statement on Biblical Application
• 1987 Danver's Statement - Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
• 1988 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America founded.
• 1988 Lutheran Council in the United States of America dissolved.
• 1988 Christian Coalition
• 1988 The Last Temptation of Christ, directed by Martin Scorsese, is released by Universal Pictures, and promptly attacked as heretical by organized Christian and Catholic groups.
• 1988 The celebration of 1000 years since the baptism of Kievan Rus throughout the R.O.C.
• 1989 New Revised Standard Version
• 1990 American Center for Law and Justice founded
• 1991 John P. Meier's series A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, v. 1
• 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church
• 1993 Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference founded
• 1993 International Lutheran Council founded
• 1994 "Evangelicals & Catholics Together"
• 1994 Porvoo Communion
• 1994 Answers In Genesis founded by Ken Ham
• 1994,July 3- Glorification of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco
• 1996 Cambridge Declaration - Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals
• 1997, March 5–10 World Council of Churches: Towards a Common Date for Easter, see also Reform of the date of Easter
• 1998, April 6 PBS Frontline: From Jesus to Christ
• 1999 International House of Prayer in Kansas City begins non-stop 24/7 continual prayer
• 1999, October 31 signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification between the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church
• 1999 Gospel of Jesus Christ - An Evangelical Celebration; a consensus Gospel endorsed by various evangelical leaders including J.I. Packer, John Ankerberg, Jerry Falwell, Thomas C. Oden, R.C. Sproul, Wayne Grudem, Charles Swindoll, et al.
• 1999 Radical Orthodoxy Christian theological movement begins, critiquing modern secularism and emphasizing the return to traditional doctrine; similar to the Paleo-orthodoxy Christian theological movement of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, which sees the consensual understanding of the faith among the Church Fathers as the basis of Biblical interpretation and the foundation of the Church.
• 2000 Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ founded in schism from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) over fellowship with the Episcopal Church (TEC)
• 2000 Visions of the Virgin Mary are reported in Assiut, Upper Egypt; phenomena associated to Mary is reported again in 2006, in a church at the same location during the Mass. Local Coptic priests and then the Coptic Orthodox Church of Assiut issue statements in 2000 and 2006 respectively.