THE ROMAN EMPIRE
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Much of Rome's religion was directly imported from Greece. indeed many of the myths, stories, and names of their gods were inherited. as Rome became culturally developed the gods were increasingly seen merely as literary inventions that expressed certain aspects of human behavior.
Chapter 1: JESUS AND THE FOUNDING OF THE CHURCH
In the days directly following the crucifixion of Jesus, his disciples were afraid. the Sanhedrin had condemned their master to death, and the disciples believed that they would be the next targets of persecution. But God did not leave his infant church alone and unguided. before departing Christ declared to his disciples that they would soon receive the Holy Spirit.
Chapter 2: THE EARLY CHRISTIANS
The beliefs and practices of the early community of Christians took some time to develop-Christ did not leave his church with a fully developed theology and disciplinary practice. as mentioned in the previous chapter, during the earliest years, Christians remained closely associated with the Jewish faith, the tradition from which many early Christians converted.
Chapter 3: PERSECUTION OF "THE WAY"
In the times of the early church, the Romans carried fear and mistrust of Christianity to an extreme. Christianity is a religion born in the suffering and death of its finder, Jesus Christ. Due to his failing health, Diocletian abdicated on May 1, A.D. 305, and he convinced Maximian to step down as well.
Chapter 4: THE CHURCH FATHERS AND HERESIES
The persecution of Christians in the fourth and fifth centuries was followed by a series of heresies that rocked the emerging church down to her foundations.chief among them were St. Irenaeus, Tertullian, and St. Hippolytus. in their arguments they emphasized the goodness of the created world.
Chapter 5: LIGHT IN THE DARK AGES
As St. Augustine waited for death in Hippo, Vandals beset the city. The collapse of the Roman empire during the fifth century inaugurated a period of decline in the west as the old world passed away, and confusion reigned as the basis for a new order had yet to coalesce. historians do not have an official date for the fall of Rome but something during the fifth century, the West collapsed. The rise of monasticism in the early church proved vital for the spread of Christianity.
Chapter 7: THE GREAT SCHISM
the final shattering of communion between east and west in 1054 is one of the saddest chapters in the history of the church. aside from the subtleties of theological disputes and the many misunderstandings that arose, the growing distance between east and west also owed much to their different conceptions of the church government and hierachy.
Chapter 9: THE CRUSADES; THE INQUISITION
Modern literature has applied the word crusade to all wars of a religious character. however, in the middle ages, the word crusade referred specifically to a series of eight expansive military expeditions that the Christian people undertook roughly between the years of 1096 and 1270 as a defensive action in the Holy Land and Muslims in Spain. pope BI. Urban II's call to arms found enormous appeal among the lower classes. the pope specifically appealed to sinners to join the crusade as a means of reconciliation with God:
Chapter 10: THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES
the first Christian emperors believed that one of the chief duties of an imperial ruler was to use his political and military power to protect the orthodoxy of the church. nevertheless for centuries church leaders were reticent to embrace this explicit connection between the interests of the church and civil society's. the cultural exchange brought about by the crusades ushered in a flood of previously unknown books and ideas into western Europe.
Chapter 11: THE PLAGUE; THE HUNDRED YEARS WAR; JOAN OF ARC
THE PLAGUE; the thirteenth century brought medieval society to its peak of prosperity. the structures of feudalism had produced a growing population and strong economic expansion. in principle, the lord held his property from the king.
THE HUNDRED YEAR WAR: another major crisis struck medieval Europe while the popes took up residence in Avignon. for much of middle ages the church had managed to prevent and avoid major confrontations between the various kings of Christendom through what was known as Peace and Truce of God.
JOAN OF ARC; dressed in men's cloths St. Joan succeeded in convincing the king of the sincerity of her mission. and in may 1429, she led a small army against the captured city of Orleans.
Chapter 12; THE RENAISSANCE
As the fourteenth century ended, the church and Europe were changing. in the wake of war plague and schism feudalism was crumbling as a new political and social entities were emerging. along with these social political changes there were changes in peoples intellectual pursuits. as education became more widely available, people looked away from the theological Scholasticism that flourished in days of St. Thomas Aquinas and instead turned to ancient Latin and Greek classics.
Chapter 13; THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION; THE ENGLISH REFORMATION
In the middle of the sixteenth century as a series of reformers began to question the teaching of the church, shaking the very foundations of Christendom. many of these reformers ideas can be traced to the earlier heresies of jan Hus and John Wycliffe. given the moral crisis in the church and the different vested interests vested interests among ecclesiastics unity among the hierarchy was seriously compromised.
Chapter 15; EXPLORATION AND MISSI0NARY MOVEMENTS
while Europe was divided along religious and political lines in the sixteenth century the church embarked upon the greatest missionary expansion of her history reaching out to millions of new faithful around the world. Columbus tried to vain for 14 years to find a patron who trusted his theories. luckily for the explorer a minister of Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain calculated a way to finance Columbus mission with little risk to the crown. there were many difficulties facing the new missionaries.
Chapter 16: THE AGE OF ENLIGHTMENT
the reformation and the wars that followed brought to a close an era of a united western Christendom. out of the rubble of religious wars rose strong monarchs who looked to solidify control before their realms slipped back into internal turmoil. after the 30 year war the treaty of Westphalia helped determine the balance of power on the European continent for nearly two century's. France emerged as the dominant power.
Chapter 19: THE RISE OF SOVIET COMMUNISM: THE RISE OF NAZISM: POPE PIUS XII AND WORLD WAR II
the twentieth century was the bloodiest in history with an estimated 188 million people killed due to war revolt. it witnessed two world wars claimed 70,000,000 lives; countless other wars, smaller but hardly less deadly. in the religious and spiritual realms the conflicts and calamities of the twentieth century helped spur the rise of secularism and a growing crisis of faith, partiiculary in some western nations. one of the most critical challenges facing pope pius XI was the rise of adolph hitler.
Chapter 20: VATICAN II: POPE ST.JOHN PAUL II
orthodox patriach recieving the anglican archbishop of canterbury in audience and sending official observers to a congress of the world council of churches. he also reached out to jews, changing the good friday liturgy to avoid giving them offense and famously greeted a group of jewish visitors with the words of genesis.
Chapter 21: THE CHURCH OF IMMIGRANTS TO THE U.S: SLAVERY: THE CHURCH IN THE U.S : PRESENT AND FUTURE
massive catholic immigration from europe to the united states began early in the nineteenth century and continued well into the twentieth century. the newcomers were attracted by the promise of work, land, and religious and political freedom. the know nothings were a significant political force until about 1860. catholic political strength also grew during these years especially in urban areas of east and midwest where the irish proved skillful at political organization