Transcript Christianity - David Kelsey`s Philosophy Home Page

Introduction to Humanities
Lecture 9a
The Rise of Christianity
By David Kelsey
Judaism
•
Judaism:
– The Hebrews describe themselves as
descendants of the patriarch
Abraham.
– Sometime around 1900 BC, Abraham
lead Israelites from the Sumerian city
of Ur…
• Later they moved into the Land
of Canaan
• They were then identified as the
children of Israel
– A drought in Canaan forced the
Hebrews into Egypt around 1600 BC.
• The Hebrews had lived in Egypt
peacefully but were later
enslaved by Pharaohs for
building projects.
•
Source: coutureweddings.co.uk
The Exodus from Egypt
•
The Exodus:
– About 1300 BC Moses leads the Hebrews out of Egypt in what is known as
the Exodus.
• They move from Egypt back to Canaan where they form into 12 tribes.
• Moses gives them the concept of a single tribal god (called Yahweh)
and a covenant with Yahweh.
– By 1020 BC the 12 tribes were unified and a monarchy forged with Saul as
the first king.
– One of Saul’s lieutenants, David, (1000-970 BC), unites the Hebrews and
establishes control over all of Canaan.
– David also conquered the city of Jerusalem which he establishes as the
capital of the Hebrew Kingdom…
The Path of the Exodus
•
Source: www.enterthebible.org
The History of Judaism
•
The History of Judaism continued:
– David’s son Solomon rules: 970-930
BC
• Solomon brought ancient Israel
to the height of its power.
• He strengthened the military,
expanded the borders and built
the first temples in Jerusalem
– After Solomon’s death tensions
between northern and southern
tribes leads to the establishment of 2
separate kingdoms.
• The kingdom of Israel: the ten
northern tribes, its capital at
Samaria
• The Kingdom of Judah: 2
southern tribes, its capital at
Jerusalem
•
Source: pocketsymphony.com
Israel and Juddah
• The history of the 2 kingdoms:
– Israel:
• By the end of the 9th century Israel was a province of Assyria
• In 722 BC the state of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians, including its capital of
Samaria…
– Judah:
• Judah was also made a province of Assyria but survived and the Assyrian empire
dissolved…
• But King Nebuchadnezzar II, of the Chaldean empire, conquered Judah and
completely destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC.
• But the Persian conquest of Babylon freed the Jews in 538 BC.
– They were allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild…
– Judah remained a Persian province until the conquest of Alexander the
Great…
More history on the kingdom of Juddah
•
The kingdom of Judaea:
– By 200 BC Judaea had fallen to the Seleucids.
– In the 2nd century BC the Seleucid King Antiochus IV, in an attempt to unify the
religion and culture of his empire, sends an army to Jerusalem to seize the temple.
• In 164 BC Jewish rebels recaptured the temple.
• This is celebrated by Jews in the holiday of Hanukkah.
– 63 BC: Rome conquers Palestine.
• Gives Palestine the status of Protectorate, the Jews were excused from
military service and given religious freedom.
– 66 AD: Jews launch rebellion against Rome with much of their population
destroyed…
Judaism
• 4 aspects of Judaism that helped it survive:
– It was Monotheistic:
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a universal God.
Judaism was the first monotheistic relgion
Their God was called Yahweh.
Yahweh is the creator of the world and everything in it.
He ruled the world and was subject to nothing.
He created nature but was not in it nor subject to its laws.
Natural phenomena were simply gods handiwork
A just and good god who expects goodness from his people
He is a God of mercy and love and forgiveness
All Jews could have a personal relationship with God
The Hebrew Bible
•
The Hebrew Bible:
– had the purpose of teaching the Jews about Yahweh.
– It includes much of their recorded history.
– The first 5 books are called the Pentateuch (pronounced Pent-a-TUK)
• it covers the history of the Israelites from their beginnings until their
arrival in Canaan.
– The Torah is the Jewish law code.
• It governs the rules for the Jews to live by, their relationships with
others…
More on Judaism
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The final 3 aspects of Judaism that helped it survive:
– 2-The Covenant:
• The Israelites believe that during the exodus from Egypt, when Moses
lead his people out of slavery, God spoke to them through Moses and told
them that he had entered into a contract or covenant with the tribes of
Israel.
– Moses is said to have returned with knowledge of God’s will-commandments
inscribed on tablets of stone. Later these become the Torah.
– So God chose Israel to be his people and they accepted him as their God.
– The covenant is a bond with Yahweh that the Jews made of their own free will.
– The Israelites promised to obey Yahweh and follow his law. In return, Yahweh
promised to take care of his people.
– The covenant could be fulfilled only by obedience to the law of God.
– 3-Graven images: images of God were prohibited.
– 4-The name of God cannot be taken in vain.
Prophets
•
Prophets:
– The Israelites believed that certain holy men called prophets were sent by
God to serve as his voice to his people.
– There were many prophets between the 8th and 5th centuries BC.
– They warned of God’s retribution if the Israelites did not keep their
covenant…
– They preached that all nations would someday come to the God of Israel,
eliminating all war and the establishment of peace for all…
The Prophet 2nd Isaiah
•
A prophet of particular importance:
– 2nd Isaiah:
• The insights of 2nd Isaiah strongly influenced Christianity.
• The story of the sufferings of Israel were so specific that later generations came
to believe that he was speaking of a particular person, a Messiah who would
redeem the world through his suffering.
• In Jesus of Nazareth the early Christians found that Messiah.
• “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with
grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we
esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet
we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded
for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the
chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like
sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the
LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:3-6)
The History of Christianity
•
The History of Christianity:
– Based on the life, death
and coming to life again of
Jesus Christ
– A modification of Jewish
heritage
• Its origins date back at
least as far as the 8th
century B.C.
• Jesus of Nazareth lived 6
BC to 30 AD.
• He was a Palestinian Jew
who began preaching in
Judaea as a young adult.
•
Source of image of Jesus of Nazareth:
www.answers.com
Jesus of Nazareth
•
Source: pinterest.com
•
Source: morethings.com
The Message of Jesus
•
Jesus’ message to his fellow Jews:
– “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have
not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
– According to Jesus what has importance is not strict adherence to the
laws but instead the transformation of the inner person:
• “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this
sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
– Gods command was to love God and one another:
• “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor
as yourself.”
– The important values included: humility, charity and brotherly love
Reaction to Jesus’ message
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Reaction to Jesus and his message:
– Although some Jews welcomed Jesus as the messiah who would save Israel from
oppression and establish God’s kingdom on Earth, Jesus spoke of a heavenly kingdom
not an earthly one: “My kingdom is not of this world”.
– Thus, some religious leaders believed he was another false messiah undermining
respect for traditional Jewish religion
– At the same time, he had enemies in the Roman authorities of Palestine because his
revolutionary ideas could cause a revolt…
– So Jesus had many enemies and was given to the Roman authorities. He was charged
with blasphemy.
The crucifixion of Jesus
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The crucifixion of Jesus:
– The Roman procurator Pontius Pilate ordered his crucifixion in 30 AD.
– But a few loyal disciples spread the story of Jesus that he had overcome death, been
resurrected and then ascended into heaven.
– Jesus was now hailed by his followers as the ‘anointed one’, the son of God who
would return and usher in the kingdom of God on Earth.
– It was believed that Jesus was anointed by God as the savior of humanity
– Shortly after the crucifixion of Jesus, the Jerusalem church is founded as the first
Christian church
The Spread of Christianity
•
The Spread of Christianity:
– Paul of Tarsus (5-67 AD)
• Was a Jewish Roman citizen
• Called the second founder of
Christianity
• Believed the message of Jesus
should be preached to Jews but
also to non-Jews
• He founded Christian
communities throughout Asia
minor and along the shores of
the Aegean
• He transformed Christianity from
a Jewish sect into a religious
movement
•
Source: alsayeghmedia.net
Paul’s message
•
Paul’s message:
– Jesus was a savior God, the son of God, who had come to Earth to save all
humans who were basically sinners as a result of Adam’s original sin of
disobedience against God.
– By his death Jesus had atoned for the sins of all humans and made it possible for
all men and women to experience eternal salvation.
– By accepting Jesus as your savior, you too could be saved…
The Rise of Christianity
•
The rise of Christianity:
•
The rise of Christianity was in almost direct proportion to the decline of the
Roman empire, spreading from an obscure Roman province throughout the
known world.
– Christianity’s message of hope, salvation, joy and a merciful and loving
God made it’s rise assured…
– By 100 AD, Christian churches had been established in most of the major
cities of the Eastern Roman empire as well as some in the West.
– In 380 A.D., Theodosius I made Christianity the official religion of the
Roman Empire.
– 380-today: Christianity spreads throughout the world. Today it is the most
popular religion in the world.
The old Testament
•
The Old Testament:
– The old testament establishes that there is one true God
• Predicts the coming to be of a Jewish messiah
• There were 39 books written almost entirely in Hebrew between the 11th and
2nd centuries BC
The New Testament
•
The New Testament:
– Written in Greek from about AD 40 to AD 150
– There was no written record from Jesus
– Paul wrote a series of letters, or epistles, outlining Christian beliefs for Christian
communities
– And his disciples preserved some of Jesus’ sayings in writing, which became the
basis of the written gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
– This formed the core of the New Testament:
• St. Paul’s Epistles to the Corinthians (written in AD 55),
• The Acts of the Apostles (written in AD 60),
• And the 4 gospels telling the story of Jesus, Mark (written in AD 70), Matthew and
Luke (AD 80-85) and John (AD 100-120)
– By about AD 200 the books were revised into a Canonical Christian text
Christianity
•
Christianity:
– What Christianity isn’t:
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Not philosophy but prophecy
Not discussion, but proclamation
Not let us examine, but “Thus says the lord”
Not questioning but accepting
– Christian Beliefs:
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There is one God who is not made by men
God is the father of all humankind and so all people are the children of God
So all men and women are brothers and sisters
As children of God, people are capable of better lives than they lead but can be
forgiven for their sins if they repent
– So love thy God and thy neighbor as thyself
– The intention is of greater importance than the deed
– Love must prompt the believer to perform acts of love, mercy and
compassion
Christian beliefs continued
• Christian beliefs continued:
– God is immaterial, not restricted to any one place & is eternal
– He is omni-benevolent and omnipotent so when you cry to him he does
help
– God alone is worthy of worship and reverence
– God is the creator of the entire visible universe, which is not eternal and is
wholly dependent on God’s power
• The Logos is an intelligent and eternal agent that imposes an order on
the world
• But Logos and God are distinct.
– God’s relation to the world was through the intervention of the Logos
– In Christ “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and
truth” (John 1:14)
Christ as redeemer
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Christ as redeemer:
– God is good and made the visible world good, but sin is persistent in man as
is shown by the story of Adam and Eve
• Because of the sin of Adam, humankind carries with it the taint of original sin, a
moral disease of sorts.
– God will save us from our sinfulness through his son Jesus who took our sin
upon himself in his death
• But God seeks to redeem and does so through Incarnation in which God
becomes man taking to himself man’s inherent guilt.
• In Christ’s death as a mortal, the guilt is atoned and human beings are set free.
– Through faith and belief in Jesus Christ, man will be raised from death, as
Jesus was, to a blessed and eternal life with him.
• Life is eternal and death is not extinction
Christianity in the Early Roman Empire
•
In the Early Roman empire:
– The Christians weren’t paid much attention to
– But Christian missionaries used Roman roads to spread the ‘good news’ throughout
the empire
– Since Christians did not participate in the worship of the Roman pantheon of Gods
they were seen as harmful to the empire
– In the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, persecution of Christians begins under the Roman
emperor Nero
– Christians were used as scapegoats for disasters.
• They were persecuted for treason. They were sacrificed, crucified, burned at
the stake…
– Christians had no problem dying for their faith and so many did…
• For example, in 177 AD Polycarp, the bishop from Smyrna, was asked to
renounce his faith or die.
• He was subsequently burned at the stake.
– The Roman emperor (Decius) tried but failed to initiate a systematic persecution of
Christians in 251 AD…
Why Christianity spread?
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The spread of Christianity:
– Christianity grew slowly in the 1st century, took root in the 2nd and spread widely in the 3rd
century AD.
– We can see the spread of Christianity in the following video:
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/maps/christ.html
Image of the spread of Christianity from the 2nd to 4th centuries:
Source: worldreligions.psu.edu
The Spread of Christianity from the 3rd to 6th centuries
•
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Why Christianity Spread
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Why Christianity spread:
– 1. Christianity gives life meaning and purpose in the promise of eternal
salvation
– 2. Christianity was familiar to Romans as its views mirrored some of the
Eastern religions in the Empire
– 3. Jesus was a human figure not a mythological one such as Isis
– 4. it wasn’t restricted to men
– 5. Initiation was inexpensive. It was accomplished simply by Baptism, a
purification of water in which one could enter into direct communion with
Jesus.
More on why Christianity spread
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More on why Christianity Spread:
– 6. one could enter into a personal relationship with God
– 7. it fulfilled the human need to belong in the form of Christian communities…
– 8. It emphasized spiritual equality.
• It was not biased toward the wealthy, either sex, culture or race…
• Paul: “And [you] have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge
in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek nor Jew, circumcised or
uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”
The organization of Christian communities
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The organization of Christian communities:
– In early Christian communities both men and women played significant roles
• Women were often preachers
– Local churches were under the leadership of a board of elders called presbyters
• (Prez-bi-ter)
– By the 2nd century officials known as Bishops had authority over the Presbyters.
• The bishops were the successors to Jesus’ original 12 disciples and as such living
representatives of Jesus’s power
• the bishop was to be regarded as the lord himself
• The bishops were men who were elected by the church and had authority over it
and the presbyters…
• By the 3rd century bishops were nominated by the clergy, approved by the
congregation and subsequently ordained into office.
Early Christian Communities
•
Source of map of the communities of the Gospels: pbs.org
Christianity in the late Roman Empire
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The Edict of Milan:
– Constantine issues the Edict of Milan
In 313, which officially tolerates the
existence of Christianity in the
empire
– Christianity is legalized but
Constantine declares freedom of
religion
– Persecution of Christians ends
•
Theodosius I:
– Makes Christianity the official religion
of the Roman empire in 391 AD
– In 391 he forbade the practice of all
pagan cults
•
Source of image of Theodosius I:
en.wikipedia.org
Organization of Christian Communities
in the Late Roman Empire
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Organization of Christian communities in the late Roman empire:
– Bishops and Archbishops:
• The Christian community, called a diocese, in each city was controlled by
a bishop
• The bishop of each diocese of each Roman province were headed by an
archbishop
• The bishops of Rome, Jerusalem, Alexandria and Antioch had special
power as the churches in these cities had all been founded by the original
apostles sent out by Jesus.
The Pope
• The Pope:
– The bishop of Rome was the leader of the Western Christian Church
– The doctrine of Petrine supremacy was grounded in scripture. It states
that the bishop of Rome occupies a preeminent position in the church.
– According to church tradition, Jesus had given the keys of the kingdom of
heaven to Peter, who was considered the chief Apostle and the first bishop
of Rome.
– Subsequent bishops of Rome were considered Peter’s successors and
later the ‘vicars of Christ’ on Earth.
Pope Leo
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Pope Leo:
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440-461
The first Pope who
systematically enforced the
doctrine of Petrine supremacy.
He portrayed himself as the
heir of Peter, who Jesus had
chosen to be head of the
Christian Church.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
The Church Fathers
•
The Church Fathers:
– Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose and Pope Gregory
the Great all had great influence on the Catholic
church.
– They all wrote in Latin
•
Saint Augustine:
– 354-430
– Originally a professor of rhetoric in Milan, became
bishop of Hippo in 396 and remained until his death
– Wrote the Confessions and The City of God
– Theorized that because humans are imperfect and
sinful that a secular government is necessary.
• Thought that the authorities could curb the
sinful desires of human beings and maintain
the peace necessary for Christians to live on
this Earth.
– Theorized that sex was only for the purpose of
procreation.
•
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Jerome
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Jerome:
– 345-420
– Extensive knowledge of both hebrew
and latin
– Translated the Old and New
testaments into latin
– In so doing created the Latin
Vulgate. The common text of the
scriptures that became the standard
edition of the Catholic church in the
Middle ages.
•
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Church and State
•
Church and State:
– Roman emperors, being Christians, came to play a significant role in the Church.
– Likewise, bishops played an important role in government. They were often advisors
to the Roman emperors.
• Ultimate authority:
– According to Gelasius, although there were really two independent ruling powers,
church and state, the church was the higher authority because all men must look to
the church for salvation…
Ambrose
•
Ambrose (339-397)
– One of the 4 Latin fathers of the Catholic Church
– Created an image of the ideal Christian bishop:
• He would defend the independence of the
church against the tendency of government
officials to control church policy
• “Exalt not yourself, but if you would reign the
longer, be subject to God. It is written, God’s
to God and Caesar’s to Caesar. The palace is
the Emperor’s, the Churches are the Bishop’s.”
– The Power of the church:
• When emperor Theodusius I ordered the
massacre of many Romans for refusing to
obey his commands, Ambrose denounced the
massacre and refused to allow the emperor to
take part in Church ceremonies. Theodosius
finally agreed to do public penance in the
cathedral of Milan..
•
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Pope Gregory the Great
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Pope Gregory the Great:
– Lived 540-604
– Pope from 590-604
– Ruled after much struggle and war:
• Justinian’s Byzantine army and the Ostrogoths,
• The Lombard invasion of the 6th century
• “What Rome herself, once deemed the Mistress of the World, has now
become, we see-wasted away with afflictions grievous and many, with the loss
of citizens, the assaults of enemies, the frequent fall of ruined buildings…all the
pomp of the dignities of this world is gone.”
•
Gregory made Rome and its surrounding area into an administrative unit known as the
Papal states
– This helped to defend Rome against invaders, establish a government for Rome
and to feed the Romans…
Pope Gregory the Great
•
Pope Gregory the Great:
– Was also instrumental in the
conversion of many Europeans
to Christianity.
• Urged the Frankish rulers to
reform the church in Gaul
• Initiated the efforts of
missionaries to convert
England to Christianity and
helped convert Germans.
• Used the monastic movement
to convert non-Christians…
•
Source: saintquoteoftheday.blogspot.com
Monasticism
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Monks:
– Originally lived like hermits, cut off from society, in order to pursue an ideal of total
dedication to the will of God.
– Forsake all society to pursue spirituality; to die to the world, achieving spiritual life
through denial, asceticism and mystical experience of God.
• Monastic communities:
– The feats of monks attracted followers which leads to monastic communities
– Each monastery was ruled by an Abbot, the father of the monastery, who had
complete authority over the monks
Benedictine Monasticism
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Benedictine Monasticism:
Saint Benedict of Nursia (480-543) founded a monastic
house and writes a set of rules for it sometime around 530…
– This establishes the fundamental form of monastic
Christian life in the Western Christian church.
– Benedict enforces strict ideals:
• moderation (in food and drink),
• stability (staying in the monastery for life,)
• fidelity (accepting the routine of the monastery,)
• & obedience (to the abbot)
– Benedicts rules divide each day:
• monks gathered 7 times a day for prayer, each day
included some physical labor…
• Monks work, ate, slept and worshipped together.
– Benedictine monks lived an ideal of poverty
By the 8th century, Benedictine Monasticism had spread
throughout the Western empire…
•
Source: en.wikipedia.org
The Conversion of Ireland
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Saint Patrick:
– 390-461
– Kidnapped and made an Irish slave, he escaped
to Gaul and became a monk
– Went back to Ireland to convert the Irish to
Christianity
– Known as the father of Irish Christianity
– Church organization developed differently:
monasteries became the fundamental units of
church organization, and Abbots exercised more
control over the Irish church than bishops did…
– Irish monks became famous as missionaries.
• For example, Saint Columba (521-597) left
Ireland in 565 and founded a monastic
community off the coast of Scotland
•
Source: en.wikipedia.org
The Conversion of England
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Pope Gregory the Great sent monks to England to convert the Anglo Saxons to
Christianity.
– Gregory the Great sent Augustine, a monk from Rome, who arrived in England in 597.
– At the time England was composed of a number of kingdoms.
– Augustine first arrived at the kingdom of Kent where he converted king Ethelbert and
his people…
– Augustine used persuasion not force...
• Pope Gregory’s words: “…the temples of the idols among the people should on no
account be destroyed. The idols are to be destroyed, but the temples themselves
are to be sprinkled with holy water, altars set up in them, and relics deposited
there…In this way, we hope that the people, seeing that their temples are not
destroyed, may abandon their error and…may come to know and adore the true
God.
– This way temples became Churches for the worship of the Christian God
– Old pagan feasts were given new names.
• For example, Christmas replaced the pagan celebration of the winter solstice.
The spread of Christianity from
England to Europe
•
The conversion of England:
– As Irish Christianity spread south and
Roman Christianity spread north, conflicts
arose.
– A gradual fusion of Irish and Roman
Christianity occurred…
– Later, English monks traveled to Europe
to convert the people there…
– Most famous was Saint Boniface (675754) who converted the Pagan Germans
in Frisia, Bavaria and Saxony…
– Saint Boniface was known as the apostle
of the Germans
•
Source of image of Saint Boniface: en.wikipedia.org
Scholasticism
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Scholasticism:
– Christianity plays an important role in medieval society and has a central role in the
European intellectual world from 1100-1700…
• Reaches its high point in the 13th century but begins with Abelard in the 12th
century
– Theology, the study of religion, becomes the chief intellectual study
– Reason and logical analysis is applied to basic theological doctrines
– Attempts to reconcile faith and reason
• Attempts to demonstrate that what was accepted on faith could be
demonstrated through reason…
– Became an intellectual model at the universities of the middle ages
– The scholastic method:
• Pose a question, present contradictory authority on the question, then achieve a
conclusion
Abelard
•
Peter Abelard (1079-1142)
– Taught theology in Paris
– A popular teacher
– Had an affair with Heloise whom he secretly
married
– In his most famous work, Sic et Non, he listed
passages from scripture and the church
fathers that had stood in direct contradiction to
one another. He stressed the need to use
logic to reconcile the apparent differences.
– Abelard on the scholastic method: “By
doubting we come to inquiry, through inquiry
to the truth.”
•
Source: patheos.com
Saint Thomas Aquinas
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Saint Thomas Aquinas:
– 1225-1274
– Studied Theology at Cologne and
Paris and taught at Naples and Paris
– In the 13th century scholastics had
come to view Aristotle as ‘the
Philosopher’. Yet some of this
teaching, such as the mortality of the
soul, contradicted Christian doctrine.
– So Saint Thomas Aquinas attempts
to harmonize Aristotle’s work with
Christian doctrine.
•
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Saint Thomas Aquinas
• Saint Thomas Aquinas:
– Writes the Summa Theologica in an attempt to reconcile Aristotle’s
philosophical ideas with the doctrines of Christianity…
– Writes it in the scholastic method: he poses a question, offers opposing
opinions on the question, then resolves the issue by arriving at his own
opinions.
– Attempts to reconcile faith and reason:
• “For although the natural light of the human mind is insufficient to show us these things
made manifest by faith, it is nevertheless impossible that these things which the divine
principle gives us by faith are contrary to these implanted in us by nature…It is impossible
that those things which are of philosophy can be contrary to those things which are of faith.
– Gives his famous 5 ways: 5 arguments for the existence of God…