Roots⤒🔗

It is one of the features of the plant world that all plants have roots. Plants cannot exist without roots. The nature of roots is that for most plants they are not visible. They only become visible when a tree, for example, grows very large and the roots bulge out of the soil. Or, they become visible when a plant is uprooted, perhaps by a powerful storm.

The same is true for each person. Each person has roots. It is interesting how some roots are visible immediately. For example, we get an initial impression about someone's ethnic background by their skin colour. We may need to know a person's last name in order to get a more precise sense of their background. Many other roots will not become exposed unless we know that person better. It is one of the realities of life that each has to have some sense of his or her own roots. At times there are accounts of adopted children who go in search of their birth parents. There is a desire to know those roots. Many others become very interested in their whole family history. There are interesting websites that help people research their genealogy.

This image of having roots is helpful in thinking about the church. The church has very deep roots. Some roots are visible immediately while others need to be uncovered to be seen.

Reasons for Studying One's Spiritual Roots←⤒🔗

It was mentioned earlier that everyone has roots but some take particular interest in researching their roots. Many others seem quite content to live with a basic knowledge of their own roots. The same seems to be true with respect to knowing the roots of the Christian church. Many Christians seems quite content to live with a very basic knowledge of their own roots. Sometimes that knowledge is so basic that it extends no further than their own life in their own congregation and even that knowledge may extend no further back than to the time that they joined it.

While it is possible to get by in life with this attitude, just like one can get by with knowing very little about his or her family's roots, it impoverishes one's spiritual life. There are a number of reasons for studying one's spiritual roots.

The Church historian Mark Noll, in his book Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity, ¹ gives four reasons:

1. Church history shows the historical character of Christian faith. Christians don't simply hold to certain principles but are part of a people being gathered throughout history.

2. Church history provides perspective on the interpretation of Scripture. The Church has been busy with the Word for millennia. We do well to pay attention to how believers have handled it in the past, especially in the face of crises and attacks. It will alert us to the fact how interpretation can often be shaped by the circumstances and times in which we find ourselves.

3. History is a laboratory for examining Christian interaction with surrounding culture.

4. Study of history shows how God sustains the church despite the church's own frequent efforts to betray its Saviour. Saints often had considerable stains, yet God used them.

Various other reasons can be added to these. Consider the following:

5. The past has shaped the present. We can only understand ourselves by knowing where we have come from.

6. Knowledge of the past protects us in the present from repeating errors.

7. Knowledge of the past broadens our horizons. It protects us from being near-sighted in terms of looking at life only from our own, very limited, experiences.

8. Knowledge of the past keeps us humble. We are not the first to hear the gospel, nor the first ones to have certain insights.

9. As many believers today live in countries where there is opposition and even persecution, it will be encouraging to see how many believers in past ages have faced persecution and triumphed.

10. As the centuries progressed, there arose considerable diversity in both beliefs and practices within Christianity. The study of the roots of the church will enable one to make sense of the diversity within the Christian world today and evaluate which is most in accord with the Scriptures.

11. Historical awareness will also enable one to place contemporary developments in the context of history, often seeing that they are nothing but old errors in a new garment. This means that the Church today does not need to reinvent the tools to oppose these errors but has a spiritual armory from which to draw resources.

In sum, the study of the history of the roots of the Church will help believers today understand how beliefs and practices came about, encourage them as they face challenges and persecution, make sense of the bewildering variety within the Christian world, and give tools to evaluate contemporary movements within the Christian world.

Limitations of Church History←⤒🔗

The study of the historical roots of the church does have a number of limitations.

First, church history is not salvation history. Historical documents are not in the same category as the Word of God. We know God's hand controls all things, but as records were not inspired by the Spirit, there is more description rather than prescription. We can take note of the actions of people, but we should be careful not to ascribe to them God's approval. This is even true for many parts of Scripture where there is description of events without an indication of whether God approved or not. We observe and desire to learn but we must always measure what was done against the Word of God. This means that while we learn from history, we can't really say "history teaches," as if it is authoritative.

Second, we are limited by the resources available. The printing press was not invented until the fifteenth century. The passage of many centuries and the social upheavals over those centuries make for a meager harvest of reliable documents.

Getting to Know Our Catholic Roots←⤒🔗

While recognizing the limitations, there is obvious benefit in getting to know the roots of the church. Normally, a study of one's roots works backwards from the present to the past. When it comes to the roots of the church, it is more fitting to move from the past to the present. To get the fullest picture, one could go back to before the foundation of the world, for all of history is rooted in the electing love of God in Jesus Christ (cf. Ephesians 1:4). A suitable starting point, however, is after Pentecost. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit can be seen as the root of the New Testament church.