Chronology · continuity · change
Christianity by Century
Century pages are narrative timelines assembled from Feason’s source-guided catalogs. They resist the idea that one empire, continent, or controversy represents the whole Church and make gaps in the present collection visible rather than filling them with invented certainty.
Source-guided profiles
Browse the collection
Christianity in the First Century
Jesus, the apostles, Jewish and Gentile mission, New Testament writings, and fragile urban communities formed the first Christian generations.
Christianity in the Second Century
Bishops, teachers, martyrs, apologists, diverse Christian schools, and emerging scriptural collections made local networks more visible.
Christianity in the Third Century
Persecution, theological controversy, Latin and Syriac writing, Egyptian monastic beginnings, and growing institutions marked a church still outside imperial favor.
Christianity in the Fourth Century
Constantinian patronage, ecumenical councils, monastic expansion, basilicas, and Trinitarian conflict transformed the scale and public position of Christianity.
Christianity in the Fifth Century
Christological councils, enduring communion divisions, the fall of Western imperial government, and expanding monastic networks reshaped Christian authority.
Christianity in the Sixth Century
Justinianic Christianity, Syriac and Coptic traditions, missions beyond imperial borders, and new monastic and liturgical syntheses connected several worlds.
Christianity in the Seventh Century
Islamic conquests changed the political setting of ancient churches while missions, monasteries, and new kingdoms carried Christianity into other regions.
Christianity in the Eighth Century
Carolingian reform, Byzantine icon controversy, Syriac missions in China, and manuscript cultures showed several Christian centers operating at once.
Christianity in the Ninth Century
Christian kingdoms, monastic reforms, missions among Slavic peoples, and changing Byzantine, Latin, African, and Asian networks shaped the century.
Christianity in the Tenth Century
The Christianization of Rus’, monastic reform, imperial revival, pilgrimage, and regional church consolidation prepared major medieval transformations.
Christianity in the Eleventh Century
The East–West Schism, Gregorian reform, crusade, new monasteries, and expanding pilgrimage reordered Latin and Byzantine relationships.
Christianity in the Twelfth Century
Universities, Cistercians, crusades, Gothic building, canon law, and reform movements intensified institutional and intellectual life.
Christianity in the Thirteenth Century
Franciscans, Dominicans, universities, Mongol-era Asian connections, scholastic theology, women’s movements, and inquisitions made the century unusually mobile and contested.
Christianity in the Fourteenth Century
Plague, papal crisis, mystical and reform movements, Ottoman expansion, and regional devotional cultures placed institutions under pressure.
Christianity in the Fifteenth Century
Printing, Renaissance humanism, councils, Constantinople’s fall, global navigation, and calls for reform altered the circulation of Christian learning and power.
Christianity in the Sixteenth Century
Protestant and Catholic reformations, confessions, wars, printing, missions, and colonial expansion fractured Western unity and globalized its consequences.
Christianity in the Seventeenth Century
Confessional states, new churches, Pietism, scientific debate, colonial missions, enslavement, and migration consolidated and challenged early modern Christianity.
Christianity in the Eighteenth Century
Awakenings, Methodism, Enlightenment critique, revolution, abolitionist beginnings, and expanding global encounters created new voluntary networks.
Christianity in the Nineteenth Century
Industrialization, empire, mission, migration, biblical criticism, revival, denominational growth, social reform, and indigenous churches transformed the Christian map.
Christianity in the Twentieth Century
World wars, genocide, communism, decolonization, ecumenism, civil rights, Vatican II, Pentecostal growth, liberation movements, and mass media reordered global Christianity.
Christianity in the Twenty-first Century
Migration, digital media, demographic movement toward the Global South, abuse reckonings, political polarization, ecumenical work, and new forms of community mark an unfinished century.