Foundation Stones of Christianity

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Foundation Stones of Christianity

• Chapter 5 2

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Christianity Spreads around the Mediterranean Sea

• Christian Churches communities are formed in
  Greek cities and the Roman Empire
• St. Peter St. Paul established the Church in
  Rome ? Centre of Christianity
• Both were martyred

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Christianity was built on 4 major foundation
stones

• Keeping the memory of Jesus alive
• Disciples, Gospels, Letters of Paul
• Professing the one faith the creeds
• Ministers of the Church Bishops
• Ecumenical Councils

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Keeping alive the memory of Jesus

• Jesus did not write down his teachings
• Disciples told the story of Jesus
• During the 1st Century, Apostles wrote down these
  memories forming the New Testament
• 27 Books
• 4 Gospels
• 22 Letters (mostly by Paul)
• Book of Revelation

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Gospels

• Good News
• Evangelion in Greek
• Evangelists writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke John
• Gospels are stories of faith
• Each evangelist wrote from a different
  perspective
• The Church accepted 4 gospels as authentic
  accounts

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Four Gospels

• Synoptics
• same eye
• Matthew (85 CE)
• Jewish community
• Jesus the New Moses
• Mark (65 CE)
• Roman church
• Suffering Messiah
• Luke
• Greek Christians
• Jesus Great Example
• Mary magnifies the Lord

• John
• Near the end of 1st C.
• Wrote like a theologian whose focus was the
  mystery of Jesus as the Word of God
• Jesus the Light of the World, Gods Word

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Pauls Letters

• Written in the 50s CE, before the Gospels
• b. as Saul of Tarsus
• He studied the Torah in Jerusalem, as a Pharisee,
  interested in Jewish law
• Heard about Jesus, didnt know Jesus personally
• Thought Christian proclamation of Jesus as the
  Messiah offensive
• Went to Damascus to arrest Jesus disciples, met
  Risen Lord along the way, blinded, regained his
  sight, baptized
• Preached to Gentiles
• Wrote letters
• Martyred, 64. CE

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Stone 2 Professing the One Faith, Creeds

• Creeds are belief statements
• Summaries of the Gospels
• Used at baptism Eucharist
• Used in all churches to ensure that all
  Christians professed the same faith

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Stone 3 Ministers of the Church

• Within 30 years after the Resurrection, churches
  were founded in Jerusalem, Syria, Turkey, Greece,
  Italy Spain
• Head of each church Bishop, episcopos or
  overseer
• Bishops successors to the Apostles,
• Preaching the Gospel
• Keeping people faithful to the creeds
• They along with other famous teachers converted
  many to Christianity ? giving up the Roman state
  religion
• These early bishops theologians The Church
  Fathers

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Stone 4 Ecumenical Councils

• Disagreements / conflicts arose occasionally
• E.g., early 4th Century, Arius
• Jesus wasnt God, only the 1st highest
  creature
• Conflict over this issue became intense,
• Constantine concerned about the unity of the
  empire
• Ecumenical Council called to deal with Arius, 325
  C.E.
• Nicene Creed
• Councils bring together bishops
• 21 Ecumenical Councils over the history of the
  Church

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Western Church in Middle Ages

• 313 C.E., Constantine ? Edict of Milan
• Christians free to worship without interference
• 330 C.E., Great change in Empire
• Capital, Rome ? Constantinople, the centre of
  Eastern Empire / Eastern Christianity
• 380 Christianity the Official Religion of the
  Empire
• 410 C.E. Visigoths invaded, destroyed Rome
• Islam began 622 C.E., eventually much of the
  territory around the Mediterranean Islamic
• Period of poverty began
• Christianity unified Western Europe

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Structure of the Church

• As the Roman Empire collapsed, the Church
  maintained it organizational structure
• Bishop head of a local church
• Bishop of Rome leader of all the bishops, Pope
• Local churches, led by Pope, became a source of
  continuity stability

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Scriptures

• Bible unified European communities, helped them
  to cope in difficult times
• Copies of the Bible biblical commentaries were
  made distributed
• Unity of teaching doctrine developed in the
  Church

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Theology of St. Augustine

• His teaching helped the Church become a stable
  force in Europe
• Prolific writer
• Wrote about his vision of God the Church,
  addressing controversies of his day
• City of God to show how Christianity could
  continue without Romes protection / customs
• Catholic teaching could form a basis for a way of
  life for all believers

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Monasteries

• Influenced how Christianity sees holiness
  spirituality
• A Christian life centred on prayer, work
  learning
• Monks prayed, worked in fields, cared for animals
• Monasteries places of stability dedication to
  the Gospel
• https//www.youtube.com/watch?v3ElL8hdQD_4

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The Divine Office The Liturgy of the Hours

• Matins (a.k.a. Vigils, Nocturns)
• During the night, midnight
• Lauds Dawn or 3 a.m.
• Prime (Early Morning prayer) First Hour, about 6
  
• Terce (Mid-Morning) 9 am
• Sext (Midday) noon
• None (Mid-Afternoon) 3 pm
• Vespers (Evening) 6 pm
• Compline (Night) 9 pm (before retiring)

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Schism Church Splits East West

• Differences over how they lived their faith
• Icons
• Paintings, mosaics of Jesus, angels saints
• East more devotion to images, using them in
  processions and praying to them
• Some Christians agreed with the Jewish Muslim
  prohibition on images of God
• Iconoclasm destruction of icons
• 787 C.E., Second Council of Nicaea in favour of
  icons
• Western Church East gone too far worshipping
  icons

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Creed

• A second controversy, the Western Church added
  the phrase and the Son to the Creed
• Eastern Church saw this as theologically
  unacceptable
• 1054 C.E., conflicts led to a break between the
  Eastern Western Churches