THE RISE OF
CHRISTIANITY
Christianity was the first
ancient religion to become recognized as the one officially state supported religion.
It became the most vital force in the barbarian west. The historic role of
Christianity in its first seven centuries was to absorb many of the best
elements of ancient civilization and to transmit them to the Middle Ages.
Most important Historical
developments were:
1. organization of the church
2. the creative intellectual leadership of the church fathers
3. the rise of the Papacy
4. the failure of secular leadership and the rise of ecclesiastical
leadership
Life of Christ, c. 7/4 BC –
29/33AD
Christianity expressed a
positive social ideal to be followed in mortal life as well as a doctrine to be
fulfilled in the afterlife. At first, it was looked upon as a heretical Jewish
sect, and as something typical of Jewish sectarian violence. However, it soon
spread among “gentiles,” thanks to the decision by Paul to open it to non-Jews.
In the process it lost exclusivity.
It was looked on with
suspicion by Roman mainstream society because of:
1. its belief that the Empire (World) would end with second coming
2. its Refusal to venerate Roman emperor
3. Paul’s decision to make it open to non-Jews, thus, identifying the cult
with other mystery cults; however, baptism implied exclusivity
4. Its Rejection of pagan cults affected the economic livelihood of
associated pagans
5. Exclusivity: the sacraments, the last supper was associated with
cannibalism by non Christians; Christians calling
themselves “brother and sister” was equated with incest; “Christ is King”
smacked of disloyalty; the self righteousness of
Christians convinced that the second coming of heaven was at hand combined with
their belief that all non believers would be punished
sounded like misanthropy.
6. There were numerous False deductions: Christians were antagonistic to
the existing social order; Romans were alarmed by its advocacy of celibacy.
Elements in the Roman government knew better, but any major calamity became
blamed by public on Christians.
7. Thus, Christians were guilty of forming illegal associations and their
refusal to worship emperor represented treason.
However, eventually the
Roman public became aware of
the high moral qualities of the religion by watching Christians
face persecution and death steadfastly. This convinced many that Christians
really did possess a source of spiritual comfort and strength, inducing many
others to join the cult; and not just the poor and downtrodden. Already by
reign of Domitian, Christians were found at the highest circles of society.
Nonetheless, as the appeal of the religion grew its followers encountered a
challenging Era of widespread persecutions: 250-284 AD;
Church organization mirrored
that of the Roman Empire: it was organized in urban communities, whose
leadership and administrative positions corresponded to the administrative
units of Empire.
It employed the Diocese
system; ekklesia;
bishop = episcopos
(overseer); presbeutes
= agent or ambassador or elder (who assisted with the spiritual authority of
bishop); diakonos
= minister or servant (who maintained church property and distributed charity).
The IMPACT OF CONSTANTINE:
Following the Battle of Mulvian Bridge 312
AD, Constantine assumed role as sole emperor (achieved by 324AD). With 40,000
men he overcame Maxentius’ forces of 180,000, and claimed his victory came “at the sign
of the cross.” His triumphal arch was inscribed, Instinctu divinitatis, mentis magnitudine
(“inspired by god with greatness of mind”) in recognition of his conversion. At the time of Constantine (306-332 AD) the Population of the eastern
half of the empire was perhaps 10 % Christian; that of the west 5%.
Constantine’s Edict of Toleration 313 AD, restored
property to Roman Christians; his Edict of Milan 313 enabled universal
religious toleration. Christian clergy became exempt from munera. Constantine was asked by
church leaders to mediate ecclesiastical disputes, schisms, such as the–
Donatists in Africa 313. His Council of Nicaea in 327 AD, outlawed Arianism. With these Edicts the church was officially tolerated, its property was
restored; priests enjoy same privileges and exemptions as priests of other pagan
cults.
Constantine stopped the persecutions, restored
Christian property, financially supported African Catholics, exempted clergy
from liturgies, but by doing so and in the process he bound the church with
welfare of the Roman state and insisted on orthodoxy.
II. THE EMERGENCE OF CHURCH
INSTITUTIONS. Christianity represented a positive social ideal. Christians must
perform good works, show kindness and charity toward the poor, and love their
enemies. They must avoid “sinful” behavior, sins of the flesh. Many Christians
viewed the best policy as separatism from the physical world, fleeing
temptation by living in the desert, living in austerity, and conquering human
desires. This led to MONASTICISM particularly in the Egyptian desert and
Palestine where traditions of religious austerity were pronounced. The problem
of moral decline in spiritual behavior was never significant prior to the reign
of Constantine because the cult was outlawed and threatened. The threat of
persecution was sufficient to keep people spiritually inclined; being a
Christian in and of itself was a sufficient test of faith. But what to do when
the religion became recognized by the Roman government?
Ideological basis for church
hierarchy was minimal: Jesus founded his church on his apostles – St. Peter who
died in
The church hierarchy used
the SACRAMENTS as a source of power:
1. baptism
2. confirmation
3. eucharist
4. penance
5. anointing the sick
6. ordination into holy orders
7. marriage
III With the Support of
Constantine, the question became how to proceed. Needs included:
1. the organization of the hierarchy
2. orthodoxy of Christian dogma
3. Greater control over monasteries
4. The establishment of Christian “recursive institutions” (schools,
education, what to read?)
Constantine’s tendency to
favor Christianity led to active intervention in the affairs of the church. At
the request of arch bishops he was induced to convene Synods, councils, etc.
The Emperor was not yet a member of the church, nonetheless, he exercised
ecclesiastical leadership over bishops and assumed responsibility for its
harmony. Later emperors would cite his role as precedent for their leadership
in the church.
There were numerous Heresies
to be addressed:
Donatism in Carthage
(340-397) concerned the punishment of priests who deserted church during
persecution; their behavior was largely whitewashed by the church hierarchy
after Constantine, and drove many Christians away from the church. This
resentment eventually played into the hands of the Islamic ferment of the 7th
century AD.
Arianism – concerned a
dispute between the Bishop of Alexandria and Arius the priest, Arian saw Christ
as the word of God, incarnate in human flesh; divine but not of same sacred
nature as father. He attempted to adapt Christianity to “Neo Platonic” philosophical
distinctions. Arius was summoned by
· Other heresies of the time included Pelagianism (good works alone
attained afterlife); Pelagianism is a set of beliefs associated with the British
monk Pelagius (circa AD 354–420), who taught in Rome in the late fourth and
early fifth centuries. Pelagius denied the doctrines of original sin, total depravity, and predestination, believing that the human tendency to sin is a
free choice. Following this line of reasoning, there
is no need for God's intervening grace because people only need to make up
their minds to do God’s will. Pelagius’ views were fervently opposed by St. Augustine of Hippo and regarded as heresy by the Christian
church.
·
Manichaeism (an off-shoot of the duality of Zoroastrianism, i.e., evil
exists in the universe, as does hell).
The power of the church and
the issues of who controlled it, the emperor and his hierarchy or the church
and its clergy remained unresolved and proved a recurring flash point of
political controversy. For example, St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (340-397AD)
challenged the Roman emperor in 390 AD. Ambrose humbled the Emperor Theodosius
(the Great), after the latter massacred 7000 citizens at Thessalonica by
refusing him the sacraments. Theodosius eventually repented and thus submitted
to the superior authority of the church hierarchy. Conversely, at the Council
of Chalcedon in 451 AD the Eastern Roman Emperor coerced the church leadership
to recognize the Patriarch of Constantinople as Roman Pope’s equal. Gregory the
Great (590-604 AD) ultimately established the primacy of Pope at Rome, but by
this time Germanic kings controlled the Roman West, not the emperor at
Constantinople.
The church hierarchy
ultimately implemented reforms to monasticism, though most of this was
conceived internally within monastic elements and adapted as “standards of
behavior.” The Rule of Pachomius, 318 AD, placed communal (cenobitic)
monasticism under control of the local diocesan Bishop; Benedict of Nursia (480-543), established rules of order and committed
monastic communities to Christian service (e.g., the Irish monks who
proselytized in Germany). Monastic orders were used by secular authorities to develop
abandoned tracts of land. They are credited with developing labor-saving
technologies during the early Middle Ages.
The crisis in Christian
Education can be put very simply = no great literature (no appropriate
literature) existed for Christian students to read. Were the “classics” such as
Aristophanes or Petronius suitable reading for Christian students? And what about
secular writers such as Plato, Aristotle, or Cicero? After centuries in hiding,
the catechism of Christian education was limited to the largely unsophisticated
writings of the gospels and even these were largely unedited. Christian leaders
such as St. Jerome (340-419 AD) emphasized the elevation of church scholarship
and the propagation of the monastic way of life. Jerome went to Israel,
obtained and translated various texts of the Old and New Testament from the
best surviving Hebraic, Aramaic, and Greek manuscripts available. He used the
vernacular Latin of his day to produce the Vulgate
Bible. A major debate concerned the value of pagan literature to offset the
reality of widespread illiteracy within church hierarchy. For this, St.
Augustine (354-430) established a moderate path in intellectual training.
Augustine’s mother was Christian, but he attended pagan school in North Africa.
He studied and loved Cicero and lived the life of a dilettante. His teaching
career led him to Milan where he came under influence of Ambrose. He converted
to Christianity and was sent to North Africa, where he became the Bishop of
Hippo. He died during the siege of the Vandals 430 AD. In fully literate Latin,
he wrote treatises on all important issues of Christian doctrine. His writings
came to dominate medieval philosophy and theology, and influenced Calvin and
Luther as well. His example demonstrated that Christian intellectuals could
study the “classics” of the non-Christian past, exploit the best of what
classical literature had to offer without compromising their faith.
Ultimately the Barbarian
invasions garnered further temporal authority for the papacy in Rome over
bishops in the Roman West. Roman popes assumed increasing political power as
Roman civic institutions collapsed; other powers were delegated to them by the
eastern emperor in Constantinople. Ultimately the Roman pope became more
important in local government than Roman imperial officials. The Pope assumed a
position of semi independence under Byzantine sovereignty. Gregory the Great
recruited his own army to fight the Lombard invasion, and negotiated peace with
Lombard king.