Kenneth Scott Latourette (1884-1968) taught at the Yale
University Divinity School from 1921 to 1953. In his two-volume work, A History of Christianity (Peabody,
Massachusetts: Prince Press, 1999; originally published by Harper &
Brothers, 1953), he divided the years AD into eight distinct periods. Looking at
the broad titles he gives these periods, and the years he includes in each,
will help us to improve our own understanding of this shared history.
1. “The First Five Hundred
Years: Christianity Wins the Roman Empire and Takes Shape [A.D. 1-500]” (v)
2. “The Darkest Hours: The
Great Recession, A.D. 500-A.D. 950” (v)
3. “Four Centuries of
Resurgence and Advance, A.D. 95-A.D. 1350
(vi)
4. “Geographic Loss and
Internal Lassitude, Confusion, and Corruption, Partly Offset by Vigorous Life, A.D. 1350-A.D.
1500” (vi)
5. “Reform and Expansion, A.D. 1500- A.D.
1750” (vii)
6. “Repudiation and Revival, A.D. 1750- A.D. 1815”
(vii)
7. “The Great Century: Growing Repudiation Paralleled by Abounding
Vitality and Unprecedented Expansion, A.D.
1815- A.D. 1914” (vii)
8. “Vigour amidst Storm, A.D.
1914- A.D. 1952” (viii)