Final Exam Project
By: Allyson Wilson
The Roman Empire
The Roman Empire had pagan, polytheistic beliefs and were tolerant of most religions if they still honored Roman gods; they made an exception for Judaism. Rome enforced these beliefs to enforce political unity. Stoicism was a very influential philosophy school which began to adhere to Roman Culture as a philosophical tradition. Slavery was vital to the Empire's economy because they performed the labor to uphold regular Romans standard of living. Women were second-class citizens in this Empire.
Jesus and The Founding of the Church
After the Resurrection,Jesus returned to his disciples for forty days to help guide his infant Church and after he had fulfilled that mission he ascended into heaven, promising that God would send down the Holy Spirit on Pentecost to guide them in their Journey. So on Pentecost the apostles received the Holy Spirit to guide the early Church and its people so that God's Church could stand as a sacrament to his love, truth, and power. So then the disciples went and preached the Good News of Jesus, the Messiah, and the redemption of mankind with Simon Peter, the first Pope appointed by Jesus, the "rock" on which Jesus was going to build his Church with the help and guidance that the Holy Spirit gave them. Lastly, when the apostles had done their job of upholding the Deposit of Faith and the Tradition of the Church they transmitted their episcopal power and authority to their successors, a.k.a Apostolic Tradition.
The Early Christians
Early Christian practices emerged through centuries of theological, philosophical, cultural, and historical development under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The tradition of the Church started to form when these early Christians started ti integrate and reflecting on Jesus' Gospel. Traditions were also influenced by the Jewish faith, therefore they retained many Jewish practices until the Council of Jerusalem when the influx of Gentiles into the Christian Faith altered the Christian's culture. Baptism and the Eucharist are key sacraments in the Church. With the Eucharist instituted as a sacrament, the Mass developed gradually over time and was at first a private affair and was done in someone's house or the catacombs, due to early persecutions by the ignorant or cruel. The Mass comprised of readings from the Bible, singing of psalms and hymns, common prayers, and collections for the poor.
The Persecution of "The Way"
In the early years of Christianity those who followed this Faith followed "The Way" or Jesus. In the early years Romans were ignorant and filled with mistrust of this new religion and so they persecuted the Christians with a zeal, always finding new ways to torture and subdue the, by the end of the first 300 centuries of the Church thousands of Christians were killed. They often martyred them in the Circus', or arenas, of the Roman Empire; they killed them so often in this arenas that most of them were considered sacred by the early Church. Emperor Nero began with limited persecutions and increased until under the Emperor Diocletian which say Christians as criminals of the state. Which means that Christians who joined were putting their life at risk, showing great courage, and bearing "Their Cross" for Christ. Finally a triumph occurred for Christianity: Emperor Constantine issued The Edict of Milan and legalized Christianity, freeing Christians from the bonds of persecutions as well as creating a unified Empire.
The Church Fathers and Heresies
The persecutions of Christians in the fourth and fifth centuries were followed by a series of heresies that rocked the early Church at its foundation. A heresy is " a species of unbelief, belonging to those who profess the Christian faith, but corrupt its dogmas." Many of these early heresies, whether material or formal, disrupted the Church from within, causing many disagreements which were solved by the Church Fathers or Ecumenical Councils which were imposed to combat the various heresies (Gnosticism, Marcionism, Arianism etc.). In fact the first 6 Ecumenical Councils were imposed just to combat heresies. Church Fathers are holy leaders that arose in the early Church that explained Faith, and meet the unique challenges posed by the different challenges. Products of the Church Fathers that help explain our dogma include translations of the Bible, The Apostle's Creed, and the Nicene Creed.
Light in the Dark Ages
After the Fall of the Roman Empire the western world was in chaos and confusion but one institution stayed firm: the Church. The Church dissociated itself with the fallen empire in which time the rise of monasticism came and this allowed monks and nuns to preserve culture, history, and even come up with new irrigating and farming methods. With this in mind the Holy Spirit guided the Church in a new wave of evangelizing among the Germanic Tribes which allowed the Church to gain spiritual influence since the splintered kingdoms after the fall of the Romans were ruled by the Germanic Tribes. By the time the different groups in Europe had converted in the 11th century, Christianity had spread to virtually all of Europe.
The Great Schism
The split between East and West in 1054 is one of the darkest chapters of the Church. The split occurred mostly due to the fact that cultural, spiritual, and political differences between Western and Eastern Church after the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire arouse because in changed the internal make-up of the Church. Also Due to the Iconoclast Controversy, Charlemagne's rise to power , The Filioque controversy, and the Photian Schism in the 9th century the tension intensified. Therefore the actual Schism occured on July16, 1054 when cardinal Humbert excommunicated patriarch Cerularius from the Church in Pope Leo IX's name and in response the Patriarch excommunicated the Pope or "Latins" as he put it.
The Crusades
The Crusades were 8 expansive military expeditions that the Christian people undertook between the years 1096-1270 as a action in the Holy Land against Muslim expansion. They performed these Crusades as a religious devotion such as a pilgrimage. Also they did these partially to help the Eastern Catholics in the Byzantine Empire in which the Muslims were encroaching on them.
The Inquisition
The first Christian emperors believed that one of the duties of a ruler was to use his military and political power to protect the orthodoxy of the Church. The Church leaders were reticent to embrace this connection between the Church and civil society though because The Church was not in favor of stern measures against heresy. In the Middle Ages, as the Catholic Faith became dominate, the Church became tied socially, politically, and economically to European life. therefore the Church had a major influence on Economic life. Therefore the civil authorities went to combat heresy such as the Albigensian heresy, which was a leading cause for this event by attacking and killing thousands of supposed "heretics". So Pope Gregory IX established the Inquisition to keep the civil authorities out the matters of faith and doctrine, to protect the ecclesiastical authority of the Church, and to stop the thousands of deaths that were being caused by civil powers, such as emperors or kings, killing supposed "heretics" without spiritual proof.
The High Middle Ages
Before the 12th and 13th centuries , most educational activity in Europe took place in monasteries and cathedral schools. As the demand for education among the clergy and nobles increased, however, the schools began to add philosophy, astronomy, civil and canon law, and medicine to their curricula and reorganized to meet administrative demands. Modeling themselves after feudal trade guilds, schools began to develop into universities that provided the proper environment for unprecedented educational and intellectual advancement; the High Middle Ages had begun. Due to these advancements in Medieval universities Scholasticism was born, which combined theological and philosophical methods in their efforts to understand the highest truths of philosophy and theology and man's relationship to God and his Church. Leading the way in this intellectual movement were thinkers such as St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure. Due to the blossoming of the Universities art, philosophy, and science all flourished across Europe and ushered in a time a enlightenment on Europe.
The Plague
The 13th century brought Medieval society to its peak of prosperity. The structures of feudalism had produces a growing population and strong economic expansion. But from 1315-1317, large scale famines struck Europe which hindered the population growth. These famines also allowed the European population to very susceptible to contagious disease. This was the situation when the Black Death tore into the weakened population of Europe from 1347-1351. Mostly spread by fleas on rats on traders ships. Also the plague laid waste to the political, intellectual, economic, and especially spiritual hardships across Europe. It brought antisemitism as well. One third of the population of Europe died in this epidemic.
The Hundred Years War
Another crisis struck Europe while the pope was in Avignon England and France during the 14th century were at war and this changed the nature of knightly warfare and transformed the kingdoms of England but also the political make-up of Europe. Out of this war rose the formation of the European nation-states.
Joan of Arc
St. Joan of Arc was a major person in the Hundred Years War. She led the French to victories due to the fact her spiritual mission was to free French lands from the English and crown King Charles VII. She was captured by the English and martyred but her death . She was a symbol of the French and because of her bravery she turned the tide in the Hundred Years War against the English.
The Renaisance
As the 14th 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 entitles were emerging. All the achievements of the High Middle Ages pushed Western civilization on in a new direction. The Renaissance was a change in intellectual pursuits which caused men to reawaken a sense of human beauty and appreciate man's achievements.
The Protestant Reformation
Reform was needed in the Church. Simony, nepotism, and the abuse of indulgences and improper veneration of relics had spread throughout Europe. This caused many to speak out against the corruption, but most importantly Martin Luther. Martin Luther made the 95 Theses to undermine the corruption in the Church but this causes an uproar in the Church because he undermined the teaching authority of the Church. He eventually split off with the Church and forms his own theology, in which through faith alone can man achieve salvation. This wa the first emergence of Protestants.
The English Reformation
This occurred when Henry VII of England wanted to divorce his wife but the pope did not approve of it so Henry had parliament pass the Act of Supremacy and this proclaimed that Henry or any English king was the supreme head of the Church in England. This caused the pope to have no more religious authority in England, so all Faith matters rested in the hands of the King. This causes England to be excommunicated and eventually become a Protestant State.
Exploration and Missionary Movements
While Europe was divided along religious and political lines in the 16th century, the church embarked upon the greatest missionary expansion of her history. The Church evangelized in Africa, Asia, and The New World ( a.k.a. The Americas ). These successful trips were possible only by a small number of dedicated missionaries who wished to spread God's word. The missionaries had the obstacles of climate, language, foreign cultures and beliefs, and colonists'. They ,however , in spite of these obstacles established Catholic foundations throughout the New World.
The Age of Enlightenment
This age found its roots from the Renaissance and the Reformation. This age focused on the rights of the individual and the power of reason as a replacement for religious beliefs, which caused tension. Begging with the Scientific Revolution rulers, scientists, and philosopher throughout Europe challenged the political authority, traditional philosophy, and the value of the Church. The Enlightenment would then conceive philosophies that would dismiss the guiding light of divine revelation and the would conceive philosophies that would dismiss the guiding light of divine revelation and the Church's teaching authority.
The Rise of Soviet Communism
Among the calamities spawned by WWI, none had more serious implications for the future than the rise of Communism in Russia. Soviet Communism was to become the driving force behind an international program of subversion, revolution, conquest, oppression, and religious and political persecution that cost millions of lives and threatened the peace and stability of the world for decades. This caused religious persecution to run rampant in Russia.
The Rise of Nazism
Deeply resenting the terms of peace after WWI, Germany was in political and economic turmoil when Hitler came to power in 1933. Nazism was a blend of nationalist totalitarianism, racism aimed at Jews, neo-paganism, and the moral nihilism of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzche. It maintained that superior individuals had a right to ignore conventional morality and live by their own rules. Eventually, though at first singing a treaty with the Church, when Pope Pius XII attacked the Nazi's regime for their cruelty Hitler launche dcampaigns against the Church. WWII was well under way.
Pope Pius XII and WWII
Although Pius XII and the Holy See officially remained neutral during WWII he actually offered to serve as a channel for communication between anti-Hitler elements in Germany and the Allies. Through his diplomacy, he won for the city of Rome status as an "open city", exempt from military attacks. He appealed for peace throughout all of WWII, even making a series of Christmas radio addresses from 1939-1942. He directed a large-scale program to aid war victims and prisoners-of-war. Lastly in 1943, after the fall of Mussolini's gov., Church institutions across the city ,acting on the pope's behalf, hide thousands of Jews and non-Jews from the Nazis.
Vatican II
In the 20th century the Church faced moral dilemmas of nuclear extinction in the Cold War, modern warfare, and Totalitarian regimes in the Soviet Union. Therefore the Second Vatican Council was called to update the Church in order to meet the urgent spiritual needs of the World.
Pope St. John Paul II
He was remembered for he emphasized the irreducible dignity and rights of every human being. He instituted everything that Vatican II called for. Lastly he had peace with the Eastern Church by lifting the excommunication of the Patriarch.
Ch. 21
When immigrants started to pool into the U.S. Catholicism started to spread throughout the U.S. rapidly. Although some were persecuted by protestants, Catholicism rose still.
The pope and the Church thoroughly condemned slavery. The Church in the U.S. started to distance itself from the Church because of the unpopular doctrines that came from Vatican II but eventually came back firm and strong with the Church. Although some believe that the American Church is not compatible with Catholic beliefs and values history will show that throughout the centuries the witness of holiness will push the kingdom of God forward in the Untied States.