Dynamic Figures in Church History II
January 30, 2007
Part I
I. Up to Now
The ecclesia reformanda translated means the church always in need of reformation. With time, many ideologies and practices strayed from the original purpose of the Church. Over the years, people tend to forget the fundamental principles. People put their own ideas into the ideals that may be very different from the original intent. Changes are justified due to cultural changes. Human weaknesses also lend to the changes. Sometimes, abuse and the thirst for power lead to these differences. What is the original purpose of the Church? How do we get back there?
Traveling the m’s, we have an overview of the Church, both good and bad. If the message of Jesus is peace and justice, how do we minister that? Our mission is to carry that message of mercy and love forward by recalling Jesus (memory) and living “the way” (mutuality). Many early Christians did this by martyrdom.
The early Church had developed an orthodoxy or doctrine (meaning) to put into words what it meant to be Christian. Part of this doctrine was based on Greek philosophy which included misogynsim, hatred of women, and became foundation that permeates all aspects of the Church. Women are less than….. Due to this philosophy, in the Church’s eyes women are sinful, less holy, and incapable of contributing equally as men.
Martyrs were put to death for their beliefs as governments felt threatened by the “kingdom of God.” They did not understand that Jesus was not an earthly king. In the sixth century, the Roman Empire joined church and state. Christianity became the religion of the Empire and corruption within the Church and State became enmeshed.
As this time, monasticism became...
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...chings. We study history to see who we are now and who we were in the past. How does out part impact our today? How can you think of doing God’s will we you’re hungry or homeless or worrying about paying your gas bill?
I don’t have the answers for the questions; I am cynical of the organized church but I love its continuity and history. I find it interesting as to the how the church has evolved into what it is today, a global corporation trying to do God’s work. Our lives are complicated, it’s true. But that time of ours, here on earth, our purgatory, affords us an opportunity to fulfill God’s plan for us, if we listen.
When I see those forks in the road where the Church choose a certain path, I wonder where I would have stood had I lived at that time. Would I have embraced Martin Luther’s edicts or would I want him excommunicated as a heretic?
Women were the subject of marginalization ever since the very beginning of Christianity. They were viewed as a “second Eve” (92) who did not deserve the same attention as men. Women were treated as second class citizens. They were willfully ignored by members of the Christianity
The decline of Rome dovetailed with the spread of christianity. The Edict of Milan legalised christianity in 313, and it later became the state religion in 380. These decrees ended the century if of persecution, but they also eroded the traditional Roman values. Christianity displaced the polytheistic religion which viewed the Roman emperor as having divine status, and it also shifted focus away from the glory of the state onto a single deity. This also meant the popes and church elders took and increased role in political affairs, further complicating the government. These loss of traditional Roman values lead to social outcries and civil unrest the eventually lead to bloodshed.
...consciously continue the application of the apostolic tradition. However, it may not be so easy for future generations not socialized into Catholicism, to make effective moral decisions. Therefore, this paper suggests that the future of ecumenism depends on whether or not the Catholic Church can continue to modernize.
The church confesses that it has not professed openly and clearly enough its message of the one God… The church confesses its timidity, its deviation, its dangerous concessions… The church was mute when it should have cried out, because the blood of the innocent cried out to heaven… It did not resist to the death the falling away from faith and is guilty of the godlessness of the
Throughout most of early European history, women were viewed as inferior to men. Roman law described women as children, forever inferior to men. Christian theology continued to perpetuate these views over the centuries. In the 4th century St Jerome of the
Luther, a pastor and professor at the University of Wittenberg, deplored the entanglement of God’s free gift of grace in a complex system of indulgences and good works. In his Ninety-five Theses, he attacked the indulgence system, insisting that the pope had no authority over purgatory and that the doctrine of the merits of the saints had no foundation in the gospel. Here lay the key to Luther’s concerns for the ethical and theological reform of the church: Scripture alone is authoritative (sola sciptura) and justification is by faith (sola fide), not by works. While he did not intend to break with the Catholic church, a confrontation with the papacy was not long in coming. In 1521 Luther was excommunicated; what began as an internal reform movement had become a fracture in western
In fact, the Christina doctrine relates to the male as being a representative of God in households. By virtue of leading the family, then men act representatives of God. Therefore, classical civilization systems that borrowed from Christianity would restrict the roles of women. As such, gender inequality became justified through the Christian doctrines.
At one time a common religion was a huge factor that kept Romans united. Once the right of free worship was denied Rome became an empire of raging anger. Christianity a new religion appealed to the majority of the people of the Roman Empire. The message especially appealed to the poor and the slaves; it was also something new to put their faith in. Christianity was spread like wild fire. The Roman emperors felt that Christianity was so influential that it could be a possible threat. Around 100 AD. the first persecutions of the Christians occurred. Many of the Romans had already committed to the faith of Christianity and they refused to abandon it because it was the most important part of their life. This led to many social problems as well as a decline in the patriotism that had once lived in the hearts of all Romans. The People objected to Roman politics and became independent of the government. By the time that Constantine legalized Christianity it was much too late and the Empire was too deep in disunity to recover. The decision to outlaw Christianity was a terrible decision and caused the once united empire to crumble.
From the Catholic observation point, the Church presents two parts: One representing its divine nature as the untarnished body of Christ, and one direc...
When the Christian church was first founded many question arose from its formation. What was this new organization and what was to become of it? There are many interpretation of what the church should be. They range from small community church lead by a reverend to a worldwide church lead by a pope. I will argue the latter. That the original meaning from the bible was to a have a single unified church under the primacy of the bishop of rome. This can be supported in three areas the historical, biblical, and theological reasoning.
In Faithful Presence, David E. Fitch presents a response to his observation that church, for most people, has become disconnected from the lives of the people that attend them and the world they live in. The introduction to the book, that he calls titles, Searching for the Real Church, Fitch asks, “does the church have anything to offer the world full of injustice? Can the church reach out to the worlds around me in a way that doesn’t judge them, alienate them or ask them in some way to come to us?” (10). It is questions like these that this book attempts to answer.
During the 11th and 12th centuries the Roman Catholic Church began facing changes, some of these changes were good for the church, while others came at great criticism. One of the greatest conflicts was Church vs. State. The absolute goal of the reforms was to find ways to consolidate their power by making the church more independent of secular control. With the groundwork laid by Pope Leo IV, along comes Pope Gregory VII who introduces what is referred to as the “Gregorian reform movement” (p 267).
Women have been marginalized since the very beginning of Christianity. They were viewed as a “second Eve” (92) who did not deserve the same attention as men. Women were treated as second class citizens. They were willfully ignored by members of the Christianity and
When Christianity became the religion in Rome, some people accepted the change and some people did not. Christianity was brought into the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine during his reforms after a period of crisis in the late Roman Empire. The change in Religion was too big of a modification to society for some people to handle, and instead stuck with the old Roman religion of polytheism. The change in religion caused internal chaos in the empire because not everyone accepted Christianity in empire when the religion changed. With Christianity becoming the new religion, it also changed where people saw who had power, which changed the people of Rome’s believe in the emperor to God because of the religion change. Before Christianity came to Rome, people believed in polytheism, so emperors were basically gods, so the change represents the acceptance of something else to believe in. While Christianity helped with the fall of Rome, the expansion of the empire also assisted in the fall of the Roman Empire.
... a merely a reflection of Hebrew society of the time (Stanton). Jesus Christ, being a reformer, should have improved the status of women with his message of love and acceptance. However, there is no denying that the stigma is carried with women into the present day. Women’s position in society can be greatly attributed to their depiction in religious text. Holy word is still a factor in making women more susceptible, more culpable, and more sinful an impure than men. Even as women move up in the social order, religion is timeless and ever bearing on the struggle women fight for sexual equality.