A Chronological History of the Great Confessors of Biblical Christianity
Throughout the history of the Church, God has raised up faithful men and women who confessed Jesus Christ before the world. Some preached the gospel to nations, some defended biblical truth against false teaching, some translated and taught the Scriptures, and others sealed their testimony with suffering and even death. Though they lived in different centuries and served in different places, they were united by one faith—the apostolic faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). The biographies below introduce these witnesses, whose lives, writings, and ministry have helped preserve, proclaim, and pass on the Christian faith from one generation to the next.
Apostolic Age (AD 30–100)
- Jesus Christ (Lord and Savior)
- Peter (Apostle)
- Paul (Apostle)
- John (Apostle)
- James (Apostle)
- The Twelve Apostles (Apostles)
Apostolic Fathers (AD 70–150)
- Clement of Rome (Apostolic Father)
- Ignatius of Antioch (Apostolic Father)
- Polycarp (Apostolic Father)
- Papias (Apostolic Father)
Early Apologists (AD 100–200)
- Justin Martyr (Apologist)
- Athenagoras (Apologist)
- Theophilus of Antioch (Apologist)
- Irenaeus (Church Father)
Ante-Nicene Church (AD 150–300)
- Tertullian (Apologist)
- Origen (Biblical Expositor)
- Cyprian (Church Father)
Nicene Fathers (AD 300–450)
- Eusebius of Caesarea (Church Historian)
- Athanasius (Defender of Orthodoxy)
- Hilary of Poitiers (Doctor of the Church • Defender of Orthodoxy)
- Basil the Great (Doctor of the Church)
- Gregory of Nazianzus (Doctor of the Church)
- Gregory of Nyssa (Church Father)
- Ambrose of Milan (Doctor of the Church)
- John Chrysostom (Doctor of the Church • Biblical Expositor)
- Jerome (Doctor of the Church • Bible Translator)
- Augustine of Hippo (Doctor of the Church • Theologian)
- Cyril of Jerusalem (Catechist)
- Cyril of Alexandria (Defender of Orthodoxy)
- Leo the Great (Church Father)
Early Medieval Church (AD 450–1000)
- Patrick (Missionary)
- Columba (Missionary)
- Gregory the Great (Doctor of the Church)
- John of Damascus (Doctor of the Church • Theologian)
- The Venerable Bede (Church Historian)
- Boniface (Missionary)
- Alcuin (Scholar & Educator)
- Photius the Great (Theologian)
High Middle Ages (AD 1000–1300)
- Anselm of Canterbury (Doctor of the Church • Theologian)
- Bernard of Clairvaux (Doctor of the Church)
- Peter Abelard (Theologian)
- Thomas Becket (Church Statesman)
- Francis of Assisi (Missionary & Reformer)
- Albert the Great (Doctor of the Church)
- Bonaventure (Doctor of the Church)
- Thomas Aquinas (Doctor of the Church • Systematic Theologian)
Late Medieval Church (AD 1300–1500)
- Catherine of Siena (Doctor of the Church)
- Gregory Palamas (Theologian)
- John Wycliffe (Bible Translator & Reformer)
- Jan Hus (Reformer)
- Gennadius Scholarius (Theologian)
Renaissance & Reformation (AD 1450–1600)
- Desiderius Erasmus (Scholar)
- Martin Luther (Reformer)
- Ulrich Zwingli (Reformer)
- William Tyndale (Bible Translator)
- John Calvin (Reformer & Biblical Expositor)
- Martin Chemnitz (Theologian)
- Johann Gerhard (Theologian)
- Thomas Cranmer (Reformer)
- John Knox (Reformer)
- Menno Simons (Reformer)
- John Foxe (Church Historian)
- Ignatius Loyola (Missionary)
- Francis Xavier (Missionary)
- Teresa of Ávila (Doctor of the Church)
- John of the Cross (Doctor of the Church)
Puritans & Post-Reformation (AD 1600–1700)
- William Perkins (Puritan)
- William Ames (Theologian)
- James Ussher (Church Historian & Theologian)
- John Owen (Puritan)
- Richard Baxter (Puritan)
- Thomas Watson (Puritan & Catechist)
- Matthew Henry (Biblical Expositor & Bible Commentator)
- Samuel Rutherford (Theologian)
- John Bunyan (Pastor & Author)
- George Fox (Church Reformer)
- Philipp Jakob Spener (Pietist Reformer)
Evangelical Revival (AD 1700–1800)
- Jonathan Edwards (Theologian)
- John Wesley (Evangelist)
- Charles Wesley (Hymn Writer)
- George Whitefield (Evangelist)
- John Gill (Biblical Expositor & Bible Commentator)
- Andrew Fuller (Missionary Theologian)
- John Newton (Pastor & Hymn Writer)
- Thomas Boston (Theologian & Pastor)
- Charles Simeon (Biblical Expositor)
- William Wilberforce (Christian Statesman)
Modern Missions & Evangelical Expansion (AD 1800–1900)
- William Carey (Missionary)
- David Livingstone (Missionary)
- George Müller (Evangelist)
- Charles Haddon Spurgeon (Biblical Expositor)
- J. C. Ryle (Biblical Expositor)
- D. L. Moody (Evangelist)
- Elizabeth Fry (Christian Reformer)
- Amy Carmichael (Missionary)
- Philaret of Moscow (Catechist & Theologian)
- Theophan the Recluse (Biblical Teacher)
- Philip Schaff (Church Historian)
- J. H. Merle d’Aubigné (Church Historian)
- E. W. Hengstenberg (Biblical Scholar & Defender of Orthodoxy)
Defenders of Biblical Orthodoxy (AD 1850–1950)
- Charles Hodge (Systematic Theologian)
- A. A. Hodge (Systematic Theologian)
- B. B. Warfield (Defender of Orthodoxy)
- James Orr (Apologist)
- R. A. Torrey (Evangelist & Apologist)
- Herman Bavinck (Systematic Theologian)
- Geerhardus Vos (Biblical Theologian)
- J. Gresham Machen (Defender of Orthodoxy)
- Philip Mauro (Biblical Apologist)
- C. S. Lewis (Apologist)
Twentieth-Century Biblical Theology (AD 1900–2000)
- John Murray (Systematic Theologian)
- Louis Berkhof (Systematic Theologian)
- Edmund Clowney (Biblical Theologian)
- Meredith G. Kline (Biblical Theologian)
- O. Palmer Robertson (Biblical Theologian)
- Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Biblical Expositor)
- Francis Schaeffer (Apologist)
- Cornelius Van Til (Apologist)
- Walter Martin (Apologist)
- Norman Geisler (Apologist)
- Greg Bahnsen (Apologist)
- John Stott (Biblical Expositor)
- J. I. Packer (Theologian)
- R. C. Sproul (Theologian & Apologist)
- John MacArthur (Biblical Expositor)
Contemporary Confessional Christianity (AD 2000–Present)
- Sinclair Ferguson (Theologian & Biblical Expositor)
- Voddie Baucham (Biblical Expositor & Apologist)
- Joel Beeke (Puritan Scholar & Biblical Expositor)
- Conrad Mbewe (Pastor & Biblical Expositor)