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Christianity in the Early Centuries and Its Global Vision
By Samuel M. Frost
Whitefield Theological Seminary
Lakeland, Florida
The questions I wish to explore in this paper have to do with the interpretation of
many historians of the early formative centuries of Christianity. A noticeable "shift
within the polarity of already/not yet" (Pelikan, 124) occurred within the second and third
centuries from an apocalyptic fervor to a "rejection of certain types of apocalyptic
expectation that... .were no longer suited to the new stage in the development of Christian
eschatology" (ibid., 124).
What signaled the transition between the early apocalyptic fervor of the second
century to the later global language of the third and fourth? Does the fact that
Christianity has thrived for nearly two millennia say anything concerning its mission? Is
there a scriptural basis for a long period of time known as the "history of Christianity"?
If so, what is its goal?
First, this shift is not as easily perceived as one might expect. Tertullian (circa
200 C.E.) could write, "We are but of yesterday, and we have filled every place among
you cities, islands, fortresses, towns, market-places, the very camp, tribes, companies,
palace, senate, forum we have left nothing to you but the temples of your gods"
(Apology, ch. 37). Yet, Tertullian eagerly believed that the Second Coming of Christ
"impends over the world" and is "now near its close" (secundo, qui concludendo saeculo
imminet from Becker's Latin translation) (ibid., ch. 21). The "not yet" was still
regarded by the close of the second century as imminet even though Christianity has
spread throughout the world.