Evangel Bible Institute

Church History I (Credit 3 hours) 

Instructor- Kyaw Sha Khaw Ram
(BSc in Maths, Master of Divinity, Doctor of Ministry)
Phone Number- 09778590016
Email Address- krjs.jireh@gmail.com
First Semester (2020-2021)
(Tuesday 9 AM to 12:00 NN and Wednesday 1 PM to 4 PM)
 Course Syllabus
Church History I

Course Description
The course “Church History I” is a study of how Jesus Christ has built
His Church from the time of the apostles to the Reformation.
From the beginning to the 1500 plus.
Course Objectives:
Through completion of this course, students should be able to:
Understand major events, people, theologies, worship and practices of
the ancient church,
Know the historical development of fundamental Christian doctrines and
strengths and weaknesses of the Church through the centuries,
Appreciate the works of church fathers throughout the centuries,
Examine how God’s glory is shown as Jesus Christ builds His Church
throughout history,
Put the lessons they will learn in their practical ministry.
Put it in action
Course Resources
Cairns Earle E, Christianity Throughout the Centuries: A History of Christian Church
(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan), 1996.
EBI, Church History I
Gonzalez Justo L., The Story of Christianity: The Early Church to the Reformation, Vol.1
(Broadway, NY: HyperCollins), 2010.
Latourette Kenneth Scott, A History of Christianity: Beginnings to 1500, Vol.1
( Sanfrancisco, NY: HarperCollins), 1975.
Course Methodologies
Lecture,
Discussion,
Reading,
Reflection paper
Regular quiz,
A minute paper
Presentation
Exam
Course Requirements
1. Class Attendance and Participation: 10% of Course Grade
Regular attendance will be an important part of the course.
The lack of attendance can affect a student’s grade.
Participating in discussions is also crucial for students.
Being on time is required.
2. Reflection Paper: 15% of Course Grade (Due date on: )
Students are to write a weekly reflection paper of every class section on
what they have learned from the class sections.
3. Regular Quiz: 15% of Course Grade)
Students will take a quiz of each class session on what they have learned.
They are to take quiz at the beginning of the class section.
Presentation: 30% of Course Grade ( Due date on: )
Students are to have a 20 minutes presentation on assigned topics.
The topics will be provided by the instructor. The students will have
to submit the presentation paper to the professor.

Church Fathers
1. Irenaeus of Lyons ( Jacob, Zau Naw, Phu Lo Mee)
2. Clement of Alexandria ( Seng Lawt, Naw Naw, Gyung Naw)
3. Tertullian of Carthage ( Nyi Yet Sar, Dau Dai, Ti Ha Tun)
4. Origen of Alexandria (Phong Shar, Sar Lwi, Win Naing)
5. Ambrose of Milan ( Maw Li Nar, Isaac, Di Sar Dwi)
6. John Chrysostom ( Lum Naw JP, Phong Phong)
7. Jerome ( Naw Di, Naw Aung, Zung Swang)
8. Augustine of Hippo ( Bo Sar You, Htar Di No, Jaw Sar Li)
Outlines for Presentation:
1. Who was Augustine? ( Biography)
2. His conversion and work
3. Relations to his works and the Church

Final Exam: 30% of Course Grade ( Due date on: 8th

December)
Students are to take final exam. Cheating one another will not be
allowed for the exam.
Course Grading

Attendance / Class 10%

Participation
Reflection paper and reading 15%
Quiz 15%
Presentation 30%
Final Exam 30%
Grading System

A 93-100
A- 90-92
B+ 87-89
B 83-86
B- 80-82
C+ 77-79
C 73-76
C- 70-72
Fail 0-69
 Course Outlines 
Day 1 and 2:
Lesson 1:
Introducing the Course
(Ancient Church History ( 5 B.C –A.D. 590), Medieval Church History ( 590-
1517), Modern Church History (1517 and after))
Importance or Value of Church History
I. Organization of the Church
A. Branches of the Church History
B. Periods of Church History
II. The Spread of Christianity in the Empire to 100
1. The Environment
A. Political Contribution of Romans
B. Intellectual Contribution of the Greeks
C. Contribution of Jews
Day 3
Lesson 2: The History of Jesus Christ : The Foundation of Christianity

Day 4, and 5:The First Five Hundred Years: Christianity Wins the Roman Empire
and Takes Shapes
Day 6, 7, and 8: The Darkest Hours: The Great Recession (decline) (A.D. 500-
A.D. 950)
Day 9 and 10 : Four Century of Resurgence (Bringing again into activity) and
Advance (A.D. 950 – A.D. 1350)
Day 11, 12, and 13: Geographic Loss and Internal Lassitude ( a feeling of lack of
interest and energy) , Confusion, and Corruption, Partly Offset(make up) by
Vigorous (energetic) Life (A.D 1350-A.D. 1500)
Day 14and 15: Revisions and Final Exam of the Course
Church History

Christianity is a historical faith, and its history should be the framework for our other
studies.
Definition of ‘Church’
“The Greek word Ecclesia (CHURCH) meaning called out ones
started on the day of Pentecost. as a nucleus but grew there after.”
Definition of ‘History’ (EBI Church History 1)
History is a record of the past events, people, information, cultures and
religions. (Carins, P.17)
“History may be defined as the interpreted record of the socially
significant human past based on organized data collected by the
scientific method from archaeological, literary or living resources.”
( Cairns, P.18)
History is a record of human past based on data collected by the
scientific method from archaeological, literary, or resources. Carins,
Definition of ‘Church History’
“Churh History is the interpreted record of the origin, process, and
impact of Christianity on human society, based on organized data
gathered by scientific method from archaeological, documentary or
livning resources. It is interpreted, organized story of the redemptive of
mankind and the earth.” (Cairns, P.18)

Church History is the record of the origin, process, and impact of

Christianity on human society based on data collected by sicientific
method from archaeological, or living resources. It is also a record of
the redemptive mankind and the earth.
The Value of Church History
A. Church History as a Synthesis (Combination of ideas into a complex
whole): It shows the past factual data of the Christian gospel with the future
proclamation and application of the Gospel in a present synthesis that creates
understanding of our great heritage and inspiration for its further proclamation a
B. Church History as an Aid to Understand the present: Church history has
great value as an explanation of the present. We can understand the present
much better if we have some knowledge of its roots in the past. Different
beliefs and practices become more understandable in the light of past history.
C. Church History as a Guide: The correction of existing evils within the church
or the avoidance of false practice is another value of the study of the past of the
church. Paul reminded us in Romans 15:4 and 1 Corinthians 10:6,11 that the
events of the past are to help avoid the evil and emulate (copy) the good.
D. Church History as a Motivating Force: Church history also offers
edification (understanding) , inspiration, or enthusiasm that will stimulate
high spiritual life (our spiritual growth). Paul believed that knowledge of the
past would give hope to the Christian life (Rom 15:4).
E. Church History as a Practical Tool: The reading of the history of the
church has many practical values for the Christian workers, whether he or
she is evangelist, pastor, or teacher.
The Organization of Church History
A. Branches of Church History
1. The political element
2. The propagation
3. Persecution
4. Polity
5. Polemics
6. Praxis
7. Presentation
1. The political element involves the relations between the church and the state
and the secular environment of the church. An understanding of the political,
social, economic in history is essential.
2. The propagation involves the study of world missions, home missions, city
missions, and the story of any special technique by which the gospel has been
carried to others. (Missions of the Church) (Cairns, P. 23) ( Mission- sent)
3. Missions of the Church has brought persecution to the church. It reveals that
the blood of Christians is the seed of the church.
4. Polity is the study of the government of the church by bishop, elected
elders who represent the congregation. Discipline and forms of worship are
related to polity.
5. Polemics concerns the church to fight against heresy is an important aspect of
the development of the church. It involves study of the opposing heresies and of
the formulation (developing) of dogma ( a doctrine of beliefs accepted as
authoritative), creeds (teachings of religious groups), and Christian literature in
answer to heresies.
6. Praxis is the practical work in life of the Christian faith (charitable work,
lifestyle of the church).
7. Presentation involves the study of the educational system of the church, it
hymnology, liturgy, architecture, art, and preaching. ( Cairns, 24)
B. Period of Church History
1. Ancient Church History ( 5 B.C.- A.D. 590)
- The Spread of Christianity in the Empire to 100
- The Struggle of the Old Catholic Imperial Church for Survival, 100-
313
- The Supremacy of the Old Catholic Imperial Church, 313- 590
2. Medieval Church History (590-1517)
- The Rise of the Empire and Latin-Teutonic (Teutonic peoples such as
Germans and Scandinavians and British) Christianity 590-800
- Ebb (A gradual decline (in size, strength, power or number)) and
Flow in Relationship Between Church and State, 800-1054
- The Supremacy of the Papacy (The government of the Roman
Catholic Church), 1054-1305
- Medieval Sunset and Modern Sunrise, 1305-1517
1. The Spread of Christianity in the Empire to 100
I. The Environment
A. Political Contributions of Romans
- Not only the Jews but also the Greek and the Roman contributed to the religious
preparation for Christ. Greek and Roman contributions helped for the
spread of the Christianity. ( Cairns, 39)
- They followed the way of idolatry, mystery religions, and emperor worship but
they were used by God whom they were ignorant, to bring about the fulfilment
of His will. Cairns, 39
1. Unity: The Romans developed the unity of mankind under a universal law.
Political unity was to be particular task of Rome. The principles of Roman
law were also a part of the laws of all the nations. The idea of unity was
the allowing of Roman citizenship to non-Romans. The Roman Empire
included all the Mediterranean world for all practical purposes, all men
were under one system of law and citizens of one kingdom. This law
opened the way for the reception (receiving) of a gospel.
The political unity was a door for spreading the Gospel.
2. Peace: Before the reign of Caesar Augustus ( the first Roman Emperor) ( 27
B.C.-A.D. 14), the Mediterranean world (Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, Greece,
Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel,…) would have been most difficult for the
messengers of the gospel because of the division of the ancient word into small
states of tribes which hindered the travels. With the extension of Roman imperial
power during the period of empire building, a period of peaceful development
occurred in the countries surrounding the Mediterranean. Roman soldiers kept
the peace on the roads of Asia, Africa, and Europe. This peaceful world made
it easy for the early Christians to move from place to place so that they
could preach the gospel to all men everywhere. Cairns, 40
3.Roads: The Romans developed an excellent system of roads which were very
useful for the spread of the Christianity. Cairns, 40.
4. Army: The role of the Roman army was very crucial not only for the
development of the Empire but also for the spread of the gospel. Cairns, 41
B. Intellectual Contribution of Greeks
Although the Romans have been conquered the political area of the Greeks,
may have built good roads, mighty bridges, and fine buildings, but the Greeks
conquered intellectual part of the empire. As the Greeks were intellectuals, their
contributions are as the following mentions.
1. Language: The Greek language had become the universal tongue in the
ancient world. For the spread of the Gospel, the Gospel must be preached
to the Gentiles in Greek language because people who lived around the
Mediterranean sea used the Greek language as a common language called
‘Koine’. There was also a classical Greek called ‘Septuagint’, which was
used for writing the New Testaments. Septuagint is a Greek translation
from the Old Testament.
2. Philosophy: the Greek philosophy was very helpful for the spread of
the Christianity. There are three basic questions related to philosophy:
Where do I come from? Where am I going, What am I doing?
- Greek philosophers Plato and Socrates affirmed that reality was not
temporal but spiritual and eternal. Their search for truth never led them
to a personal God but it demonstrated the best that men can do in
seeking God through the intellect.
3. Religion: The Greek philosophy and religion made a contribution to
the coming of Christianity by destroying the old polytheistic (believing
in more than one god) religions and by showing the inability of human
reason to reach God.
C. Religious Contribution of the Jews
Judaism provided the heredity of Christianity. They did not seek to discover
God by the processes of human reason like the Greeks. They assumed that God
sought them and revealed Himself to them in history by His appearances to
Abraham and the other great leaders of the race.
1. Monotheism: Judaism held onto the One true universal God of all the
earth.
2. Messianic Hope: The Jews offered to the world the hope of a coming
Messiah who would bring righteousness to the earth. The hope of a
Messiah had been popularized in the Roman world by proclaiming of the
Jews. There was a hope that the Messiah will be a political leader since
they were oppressed by foreign power. This was the main reason why they
could not accept Jesus as their Messiah. Even the disciples after the death
and resurrection of Christ were still looking for a messianic kingdom on
earth (Acts 1:6).
1. Ethical System: Old Testament is full of ethics. To a Jew sin is
violation (crime) of law. So what is Messiah needed for? – For
redemption that met the problem of sin.
2. O.T Scripture (Jewish Scriptures): These ethical laws are good
and not to be broken, at the coming of Jesus. They prepare the
ground for the Christian beliefs and faith.
3. Synagogue: Synagogues were the centre of worship and later
become preaching canters for the believers.
4. Philosophy of History: The Jews believe the history had meaning.
The Sovereign God who created history would triumph over man’s
failure in history.
Through the contribution of the Greek and Roman environment and
through the heritage of Judaism, the world was prepared for the fullness of
the time when God sent His son to being redemption to humankind.
Lesson 2: The History of Jesus Christ
Evidence shows Jesus is a real person.
1. Pagan Testimony (External Evidence)
The pagan writers described about Christians in some of their writings.
Tacitus mentioned the name and origin of Christian with “Cristus” who suffered
death by the sentence of the Procurator Pontius Pilate.
Pliny, Procurator of Bithynia and Pontus in Asia Minor, write about Christians. His
letter described about Christ. He testified the moral integrity of the Christians by
writing of their unwillingness to commit theft or adultery.
Lucian mentioned Christ as the one who was crucified in Palestine. He wrote that
Christ had taught His laws to the Christians.
2. Jewish Testimony
Josephus, a wealthy Jew, wrote about Christ in his writings and
mentioned several things that are parallel to the Bible. He wrote of
Christ as “a wise man” condemned to die on the cross by Pilate. He
certainly was not a friend of Christianity. So his mention of Christ has
more historic value.
3. Christian Testimonies apart from the Bible: The writings of early
Christians also proved Jesus as a real person.
4. The Character of Christ ( Internal Evidence)
His thought life astonished the people of His day ( Mark 1:22, Luke 4:32).
His sincerity was another evidence. He was the only human being who had nothing to
hide ( John 8:46) and had perfect reflection of Himself.
5. The Work of Christ
A. Ministry:
Matthew records Him as a king, fulfil the old Testament being Messiah.
Mark states Him as a practical man to Romans.
Luke records Him as a human to Gentiles.
John records Him as a Son of God- to all. His works is complete.
B. Mission:
His suffering and death was the great event foretold by the prophets ( Isa
53) to bring about the final defeat of all the forces on the Cross ( Ephesian
1:19-23, 3:20)
C. Message: Proclamation of the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom
of Heaven
The Kingdom of Heaven is related to Christi’s rule in time on earth
(Matt 8:11-13) while the Kingdom of God is related to God, is marked
by goodness and is eternal as well as in time.
D. Miracles: Sings of supernatural power (Power, works, wonders, or
signs).
Meaning of Christ:
Christ’s character, work teachings, and above all. His death and
resurrection on mark the beginning of Christianity. Many religions could
exist without their human founders but without Christ from Christianity is
meaningless.
Lesson 3: To the Jews First and also to the Greek
The Church in Jerusalem
Church: The foundation of the Church is Christ. This is evident from His usage of
the future tense in Matthew 16:18 in the statement, “Upon this rock I will build my
church.”
Jewish: The first church was Jewish as it came out of Judaism ( 30-44 A.D.)
John 14:16-18, 15:26-27, and 16:7-15 mention Christ’s promises of the Holy Spirit
as another Comforter (See also Acts 2 and 6)
Persecution: Persecution helped the people to know who they are and whom
they ware serving.
Discipline: Early church was known as the church of discipline. Ananias and
Sapphira became the first object of disciple in the Jerusalem church because of their
sin of deceit.
The Church in Palestine ( To the Gentiles)
- Christianity was carried to people of others races. It has been mission
oriented.
- Philip’s visit to Samaria (Acts 8:5-25)
- Peter was the first to preach the Jews also the first to bring the gospel to the
Gentiles (Acts 10-11).
- The Ethiopian church and Cornelius were the first Gentiles of receiving the
Gospel.
- Paul began his public ministry among the Gentiles, then the city of Rome.
Paul’s Environment
- Paul was a young Jew, and learned rabbinical teaching under the great Jewish
rabbi Gamaliel ( Phi 3:4-6).
- Was a citizen of Tarsus (Acts 21:39) as well as a Roman citizen (Acts 22:28).
- Judaism was his background. He was well educated in a great university in
Tarsus as well as grew up in an urban culture.
- (Political background) During the reign of Claudius ( 41-54) and Nero (54-68),
Paul made his missionary journeys. At last Paul was killed by Nero. He killed
everyone who was not on his side even his own family member.
- (Social and Intellectual) Economic prosperity was seen but moral degradation
followed. People wondered to philosophies of the Stoicism (unaffected by pain),
Epicureanism (devoted to pleasure), Neo- Pythagoreanism ( Life had to be
purified through abstinence) and Gnosticism.
- (Religious background) Emperor worship was a problem of the Christian who
worshipped the living God.
Paul’s Work
- Paul started his work from Antioch to the west. It was urban mission.
Paul would start from a Synagogue. Three things that Paul did for a
Church outside the Synagogue:
(i) Self-governing : Bishops, Deacons were appointed.
(ii) Self-supporting : Tithes, offering and gifts.
(iii) Self-Propagating: He never left the church without proper supervision
by appointing pastors or overseers who were his close co-workers.
- Paul’s publication, his philosophy, being as a polemicist were shown in
the history of the Church.
- Fighting against heresy ( Heresy is anything that would contradicts
(oppose) to what God said in His word) was also another work of Paul.
Lesson :4 The Books and the Parchments
Writings of the Church Fathers
- From the beginning of the Church age, literary activities started. First
century’s literatures are :
(i) Four Gospels written by the evangelists. (Euangelion means Good News).
(ii) Letters written by Paul and others.
Although NT canon was closed by the end of the first century, second and third
century writings were a good information and support for the Church age. Such
writings are called ‘The writings of the Church Fathers.” They provided
information from first to fourth century.
There are three major categories such as
1. Apologetic Literature- It states defence of truth or faith . The writers
were called apologists.
2. Polemic Literature- The polemicists address their writings to heresies.
3. Creedal Statements: A Summary of the basic beliefs. Church fathers
were the apostolic fathers. 1-95 A.D. Apostolic Period, 95- 150A.D.
Apostolic Father Period and their literature have some characteristics.
Six Characteristics of the Apostolic Father’s Writings are:
1. Simple statements of sincere faith and piety (being pious),
2. Great reverence for the Old Testament,
3. Typological interpretations, (Typology is a study of types of people,
religions, and symbols)
4. Writings were modelled after the literary form of the New Testament
writings.
5. No acquaintance (friend) with pagan philosophy in their writings,
6. The edification( moral or intellectual instruction) of the church was
their main purpose of writings.
The Writings of the Church Father ( Apostolic Fathers)
They are classified into three :
1. Epistolary Literature: Literatures were in the form of letter.
(i) Clemet
(ii)Hermas of Rome
(iii)Ignatius of Antioch
(iv)Polycarp of Smyrna
(v) Barnabas of Alexandria
(vi)Apostolic fathers not known
(i) Clement of Rome (30- 100 A.D.)
Clement wrote two epistles to the Corinthians to exhort them to be subject to
the elders, and to value Christian ethics : love, patience, and humility. The
second letter was more like a sermon ( 150 A.D.) – Doctrine of Christ, Belief in
the bodily resurrection and purity of Christian (Holiness)
(ii) Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch ( 1st and 2nd Century)
He wrote to the Romans and total of his writings were seven letters. His focus
was to warn heresies in the churches by opposing Gnostic and Docetic
tendencies. The Docetists sought to keep Christ purely spiritual being, free of
any contamination (make impure) by material body. This led them to deny the
reality of Christ’s material body and to state that only a phantom suffered on the
Cross.
(iii) Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna ( 70-155)
He wrote a letter to the Philippians. He was the disciple of John the apostle.
He was starved to death and his body was burnt at the stake. His letter was to
exhort the believers to virtuous (morally excellent) living and
steadfastness even to death. He was not interested in Church polity but
interested in the practical daily life of Christians.
(iv) Epistle of Barnabas
The letter is known as Pseudo-Barnabas because it was written about (130)
some Christian from Alexandria not by the Barnabas of the New
Testament. The letter was intended to help converts from paganism that
Christians are not bound to observe the law.
(v) The Epistle to Diognetus
An anonymous writer wrote this letter to Diognetus. It is ranked among
the writings of the apostolic fathers because its nature is apologetic.
(vi) Papias (60-130)
Papias wrote a letter “ The Interpretation of the Sayings of the Lord.” He
was a disciple of John. The document deals with the life and words of
Christ.
(II) Apocalyptic Literature
It deals with revelation on eschatological things obtained through
visions, dreams, allegories etc.
(III) Catechetical Literature
This is manual of Church instruction written before the middle
of the second century. The writer discusses liturgical problems as
baptism, fasting, and the Communion.
Lesson 5: The Government of the Church or Church Polity
The Church exists on two levels. One is an eternal, invisible, biblical organism.
Another one is temporal, historical, visible, human, institutional organization.
The first is the end. The second is the means.
The church as an organization was left to the apostles to work out under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Church is like a human body. As God is a God
of order, Christ himself puts the Church in order and organization.
The origin of Church polity is to be credited to Christ because he chose and
trained the twelve disciples to be the leaders of the infant church. the apostles
took initiative in the development of other offices in the church when they were
so directed by the Holy Spirit.
Kinds of Officials in the Church Organization : Charismatic officials and
Administrative officials
A. Charismatic Officials
The Charismatic officials were chosen by Christ and endowed with spiritual gifts
(Eph 4:11-12, 1 Cor 12:4). ( Greek Charisma means gift) Their function was
mainly inspirational.
- Their main responsibilities were the guarding of the truth of the Gospel.
They were selected by Christ through the Holy Spirit to exercise
leadership within the church.
- There were five offices designated by Paul- apostles, prophets, evangelists,
pastors, and teachers.
- Peter, James the son of Zebedee, James the brother of Christ, John, Peter’s
brother Andrew, Philip, Simon Zelotes, Matthew, Barthomew. Matthas,
James, the son of Alphaeus, Thomas. All were martyred for the sake of the
Gospel. (Cairns P 81-82)
Apostle in Greek Apostolos means “ One who is sent,” or one
who is specially commissioned. Before commissioning, there
are some steps to be done:
- Being together with Jesus for three and half years,
- Practical teaching,
- First hand experience of things,
- Eyewitness to Christ's death, and resurrection. ( Act 1:8, 22,
1 Cor 1:1, 15:8)
B. Administrative Officials
Their functions were mainly administrative although after the death of the
apostles, the elder took over many spiritual responsibilities. Their task was
to carry out governmental functions within the church.
These officials were chosen by the congregation after prayer for the
guidance of the Holy Spirit and appointed by the apostles.
The office of the elder or presbyter ranked the highest in the local
congregation ( elder ‘presbyteros’, and bishop ‘episkopos’.

The apostles were able to completed their duties by the end of the first
century. A growing literature written by the apostles, a form of organization
to meet its needs led the Christianity to grow rapidly in the late first and
early second centuries.
II. The Worship of the Early Church
- Worship brings the soul into the presence of God. The early Christians did
not think of a church as a place of worship. A church signified a body of a
people in personal relationship with Christ. They met in homes ( Acts 12:12,
Rom 16:5, Col 4:15, Phi 1-4), the temple (Acts 5:12), nd in the synagogues
( 14:1, 3:17).
- The place was not as important as the manner of meeting for fellowship with
one another and for worship of God.
- The Lord’s Supper and baptism were the two sacraments (Religious
ceremony) that the early church used because they had been instituted by
Christ.
III. The Life of the Church
- The Church took the responsibility to take care of the poor and sick. The Deacons of
the church would take care for those who were in need from the offering.
- The Christians avoid all that would not bring glory to God ( 1 Cor 6:20, 10:21). They
avoided attending pagan, stadiums, games, or temples.
- They were urged to fulfil their civic obligations of obedience to and respect for civil
authority, payment of taxes, and prayers for those in authority ( Rom 13:7, 1 Tim 2:1-
2).
- The purity of life, love, and courage of the early church made an impact on the pagan
society of imperial Rome.
- It was only three centuries after the death of Christ that Constantine gave official
recognition to the importance of Christianity in the state by calling and commending
over the Council of Nicaea.
2. The Struggle of the Old Catholic Imperial Church for Survival, 100-313
Lesson:6 Persecution of the Church
- Christianity faced both external and internal problems. The church had to face
the serious internal problem of heresy between 100 and 313 and at the same
time faced the external problem of persecution from the Roman state.
- The Jews were the first persecutors of Christians (Acts 7, 8:13) and
especially their leaders, such as Stephen (7:54-8:2), James and Peter (Acts
12), and Paul (18:12-17, 21:26-31; 24:1-9).
- Before 250 AD, persecution was mainly local. So some churches
suffered and others did not.
- However, after 250 A.D., it was almost universal policy of the Roman
Government to persecute the Christians, being looked upon as anti-
social groups. However persecution became occasional even until after
the reformation. Catholic persecuted the Protestants. The Church grew
through these persecutions .
Causes of Persecution-
1. Political Area– Roman government looked upon Christianity not as
Judaism but a secret society. Their form of worship and life style were
different which made the consider Christianity as Religio licita ( illegal
religion). Rejecting Caesar worship and talking to a king who is everything
led them to get a threat from the state. Some Church practices led them to
be suspicious such as (1) meeting in some houses at night, and (2) no
offering of incense upon the alter- Emperor cult.
2. Religious Area- Roman religion was external while Christianity was
spiritual and internal. So, alter, idols, and priests are prescribed as ritual.
For them, Christian worship was Atheism (Believing no God) since no
visible symbol as seen. Christian meetings were interpreted and charged of
moral laxities of incest(Sexual intercourse between persons too closely
related to marry (as between a parent and a child) and cannibalism
( communion symbolising flesh and blood of Christ.
3. Social Area-
- Social problem also caused Roman persecution of the church. Christians
who appealed for the slaves were hated by leaders of society.
- Then there was a separation of Christians from the pagan tample and
theaters. The purity of the Christians was a silent rebuke to the living of the
upper class people. They were not conforming to the Roman ways of living
( Romans 12:1-2).
4. Economic Area-
- Drinking and food, offering meat to idols and the trade of idols and charms
were abstinences of Christians. Christians were accused of being the cause
for famine and drought since their gods were angered by their ways.
- Before Christians being persecuted by the Roman state, the first persecution
was from the Jews. Imperial persecution started with Nero. From 250 A.D.,
the persecution become more wide spread.
II. Two Periods of Persecution of the Church
1. Persecution upto 250 A.D.
Persecution of the Christians was both ecclesiastical and political (Jews and
Nero).
A. Nero
Christians including Paul and Peter were victims. Nero blamed the
Christians for the burning of Rome, which many historians said was done
by Nero himself. Paul and Peter died in this period.
B. Domitian
Around A.D 95, not only Christians but also Jews were persecuted because
they refused to pay a tax meant for the Roman god. The Christians suffered
because of their association with the Jews. John was a victim and was exiled to
Island Patmos.
C. Bithynia Persecution
During the government of Pliny ( 112 AD), he wrote some letters to Emperor
Trajan in which he accused the Christians with certain offenses. Trajan
approved of Pliny’s methods of treating Christians. One was that the Christians
D. Persecution at Smyrna
Another persecution took place at Smyrna around 150 AD and one of the outstanding
martyrs was Polycarp.
E. Marcus Aurelius ( 161-180 A.D.)
Calamities in the land were said to be because of Christians. He was a stoic believed
that the body should be subdued and no expression of pain while under affliction or
trouble. Justin Martyr was martyred in this time. Perpetua (181-203) was flogged, by
beasts, and beheaded.
2. Persecution after 250 A.D.
A. Emperor Decius (AD 250)
Many said Christians were a threat to the Roman culture. In 250 Decius issued an
edict that demanded an annual offered of sacrifice at the Roman altars to the gods and
the genius of the emperor. All who offered received certificates, called ‘libellous’.
Many Christians did not have the certificates at appointed time and persecution began.
Origen was killed in this period.
B. Diocletian ( 285-305 A.D.)
Diocletian was a strong military leader who became Emperor. In 285 he ended
a system of diarchy (A form of government having two joint rulers) introduced
originally by Caesar Augustus in 27 BC. The two rulers were the Emperor and
Co-regent. He ruled with an iron hand and Christians forced the most crucial
persecution. A special edict (order) (303AD) was issued . According to that, all
Christians meeting were stopped. Churches to be destroyed, officers were to be
removed, and imprisonment of Christians who persisted in the faith and
burning of Scriptures. He also issued another edict by which Christians were to
sacrifice to the pagan gods, the refusal amounting to death. Other penalties for
violating of laws were exile thrown into wild beasts, confiscation of property,
forced labour, in 305 A.D. When he renounced the throne the persecution died
down.
III. Results of Persecution
1. Rapid growth of Christianity: Strong churches came up as in
Carthage and Alexandria. Pliny’s letter proved that Christianity was
strong in Asia Minor shortly after the beginning of the second century.
2. Canon of the New Testament finalized. One of the means of
persecution was burning the Scriptures. Christians started to wake up
searching for right reliable Scripture arose. When they could prove any
book as the inspirited Word of God, they would not part from it.
3. The relationship between the State and the Church; Era of
persecution throws some lights on it. In the beginning, the church was
favourable to the state since it was treated as one of the sects of
Judaism. The Christians were loyal to the government but when the
government tried to impose their own rites of worship, the trouble
started
The controversy was known as “Donatism”. Some of the writings of St.
Augustine were towards this controversy. Two severe controversies broke
out in North Africa and Rome concerning the manner of treatment those
who had offered sacrifices at pagan altars in the Decian persecution and
those who had given up the Scriptures in the Diocletian persecution
should receive from the church when they repented. Some desired to
exclude them from any fellowship with the church, others would receive
them after a period of probation.
Lesson 7: Heresies, the Apologists and the Polemicists
In the second and third centuries, Christians had to fight to preserve its
existence from the attempts of Roman state and purity of doctrine
within the church.
( Converts from a Jewish background of salvation by works or from
the intellectual environment of Greek philosophy, tending to carry their
old ideas into their new environment. Trying to make Christianity
appear intellectually respectable to the upper classes in the state)
- Schisms came new sects.
1. Legalistic Heresies
- Converts from Judaism tended to dilute the faith with their Jewish heritage.
- Groups of Ebionites believed that the Jewish law was the highest
expression of His will, Jesus was Joseph’s son who attained a measure
of divinity when the Spirit came upon Him at baptism. They upheld
the teachings of Matthews gospel but disliked the writings of Paul.
They insisted that Gentiles as well as Jewish Christians were still bound by
the law of Moses and there was no salvation apart from circumcision and
the law of Moses.

Ebionite - A member of a group of Jews who (during the early history of the
Christian Church) accepted Jesus as the Messiah; they accepted the Gospel
According to Matthew but rejected the Epistles of St. Paul and continued to
follow Jewish law and celebrate Jewish holidays; they were later declared
heretic by the Church of Rome
2. Philosophical Heresies
A greater threat to the doctrinal purity of the Christian faith came from Greek
philosophy as many Gentiles won to Christianity than Jews. Among these,
there were many philosophers who wanted to dilute(reduce) Christianity with
philosophy or to dress pagan philosophy in Christianity.
A. Gnosticism
This heresy appeared in the time of New Testaments. Paul seemed to have
been fighting the Gnosticism in his letter to Colossians. The heresy was
started by Simon Magus whom Peter had to rebuke so severely.
The beliefs of Gnosticism-
-Dualism was one of their main tenets ( a religious doctrine). Dual- Two
(Dualism- the doctrine that reality consists of two basic opposing elements,
often taken to be mind and matter (or mind and body), or good and evil)
- They believed separation between the world of the material and
spiritual because to them matters was always associated with evil and
spiritual with good. So, God could not have been the Creator of this
material world.
- To explain Christ, they adopted a doctrine of Docetism (Jesus had no
human body) because matter was evil, Christ could not be associated with
a human body. The man Jesus was a phantom (ghostly appearing figure)
with the seeming appearance of a material body ( Docetism) or Christ
came upon the human body of Jesus only for a short time between the
baptism of the man Jesus and the beginning of His suffering on the cross.
Then Christ left the man Jesus to die on the cross. It was the task of Christ
to teach a special gnosis or knowledge that would help man save himself
by an intellectual process.
- Salvation was only for the soul or spiritual part of man, might begin with
faith but the special gnosis.
- Sacraments were not observed because they involved material wine and
bread, which are linked with evil.
- Polemicists such as Tertullian, Irenaeus, and Hippolytus engaged in
literary controversy to refute Gnostic ideas.
B. Manicheanism
It was somewhat similar to Gnosticism, founded by Mani or Manichaeus
(216-66). Manichaean theology taught a dualistic view of good and
evil. Their key belief is that God is powerful but not omnipotent
(having unlimited power), was opposed by the eternal evil power
(devil). Augustine was a disciple of the Manicheans for twelve years but
after his conversion, he devoted much energy to refuting(prove to be
false) this philosophy in Against the Manicheans.
C. Neoplatonism
The Neoplatonists thought of Absolute Being as the transcendent
(beyond human understanding) source of all. They believed ‘ all our
knowledge of God is immediate and comes directly to us by intuition
of spiritual illumination.’ illumination- spiritual awareness It died out
early in the sixth century. (Augustine embraced it for a short time during
the period of his quest for truth.)
III. Theological Errors
Montanism and Monarchianism are examples of two errors.
A. Montanism
- It emerged in Phrygia after A.D. 155. Montanus was opposed to the rise to
prominence of the bishop in the local church.
- He contented (satisfied) that inspiration was immediate that he was the paracletes
( comforter, Intercessor) or advocate through whom the Holy Spirit spoke to the
church as the Spirit, had spoken through Paul and the other apostles. He also had
an extravagant eschatology. He believed that the heavenly kingdom of Christ
would soon be set up at Pepuza in Phrygia and that he would have a prominent
place in that kingdom. He and his followers practiced strict asceticism (self-
denial, abstain from worldly pleasure).
- There was to be no second marriage if a mate died, many fast were to be
observed, and dry foods were to be eaten.
B. Mornachianism
Monarchianism believed monotheism but ended up with an ancient form
of Unitariansim, which denied the real deity of Christ. They denied the
real deity of Christ. Their problem was how to relate Christ to God.
They taught that Christ was not divine but was a merely a good man who,
by righteousness and by the penetration of his being by the divine Logos
at baptism, achieved divinity and saviorhood.
A Monarchianism, Sabellius taught a trinity of manifestation of forms
rather than of essence (vital part of trinity). God was manifested as
Father in Old Testaments, later as the Son to redeem man, and as the
Holy Spirit after the resurrection of Christ. So, there were not three
persons in the Godhead but three manifestation. In all these relationships
there is but one real personality. This view denied separate personality to
Christ. It has been revived in the New Issue or Jesus Only form of
Pentecostalism.
IV. Ecclesiastical Schisms
A. Easter Controversy – This controversy arose about the middle of the second
century over the question of what was the proper date to celebrate Easter.
The church in the east held that Easter should be celebrated on the fourteenth
day of Nisan, the date of the Passover according to the Jewish calendar, no
matter what day of the week it fell on. However, Polycarp of Asia opposed in
it view.
B. Donatism – This controversy developed about 312 as a result of the
persecution of the church by Diocletian. A churchman named Donatus
wanted to exclude Caecilian from his office as bishop of Carthage because
Caecilian had been devoted by Felix, who was accused of being a traitor
during the Diocletian persecution. Donatus argued that the failure to remain
true during persecution invalidated the power of Felix to ordain because he
had committed an unpardonable sin. He and his group elected Majorinus as
bishop, and after the death of Majorinus in 313, Donatus became bishop.
This controversy became a matter of some concern to Augustin, and as a
result of his concern, he wrote much on the question of the authority of the
church. This authority was needed for salvation.
The Apologists and the Polemicists
- During the second and third centuries, the writings of apologists and the
polemicists emerged. Justin Martyr was the greatest of the former group; Irenaeus
was the outstanding man of the latter group. The apologists faced a hostile
government, which they tried to win with the arguments of their literary
productions. They tried to convince the leaders of the state that the Christians had
done nothing to deserve the persecutions.
- The polemicists such as Irenaeus, tried to meet the challenge of heretical
movements. Whereas (on the other hand) the apostolic fathers wrote only to and
for Christians, these writers wrote to the leaders of the Roman state or to heretics
to win them back to the truth of the Scriptures by literary argument. Apologists
used the pagan literacy form of the dialogue and the legal form of the apologia.
I. The Apologists
They had a negative and a positive aim in their writings. Negatively, they
sought to refute (prove to be false) the false charges of atheism,
cannibalism, incest, indolence, and antisocial action that pagan neighbours.
They also developed a positive approach by showing that in contrast to
Christianity, Judaism, pagan religions , and state worship were foolish and
sinful.
Eastern Apologists
The eastern apologists made appeal to Government authorities. The purpose
was to influence to rulers from the persecution.
Justin Martyr ( 100-165) was the foremost apologist of the second
century, born of pagan parents, became a wondering philosopher in search
of truth. He urged the emperors to examine the charges against the
Christians, and to free them from liabilities if they were innocent. He
proved that Christians were not atheists or idolaters.
Tatians (110-180) was a pupil of Justin in Rome. He argued that since
Christianity is superior to Greek religion and thought, Christians should
be given fair treatment.
Athenagoras, a professor in Athens, refuted the charge of atheism made
against the Christians by showing that the pagan gods are merely human
creation and that the pagan gods are guilty of the same immoralities as their
human followers.
Theophilus of Antioach discussed the nature and superiority of God and
compared the weaknesses of the pagan religion to Christianity.
B. Western Apologists
The western apologists placed a greater emphasis on the finality of
Christianity.
- Tertullian ( 160-225) was the most outstanding apologist of the
Western church. He was born in Carthage in 160 A.D. He was well
educated, trained in Greek and Latin. After his conversion, he was
attracted to a sect of Christianity known as Montanism that taught
ascetism, fix discipline. He was regarded as the father of the Latin
Theology.
- He pointed out that the persecution is a failure anyway because the
Christians multiply every time the authorities try to down them by
persecution.
- He believed that Christianity was wiser than all other philosophical
systems. To him, Christianity is the knowledge of God based on
reason and authority, seated in the church and expressed in the
Creed.
- He believed that baptism admits one to the Church and in all sins
are removed. He said the grace of God is more powerful than
nature. He was the first one who brought theological vocabulary
as ‘trinity, substance, sacrament, satisfaction, merits.
- Apologists are valuable to us as they showed Christian thought in the
middle of the second century.
II. The Polemicists
- The apologists gave the rational explanation and justification of
Christianity to the authorities. As the apologists dealt with an
external problem namely persecution. The polemicists dealt with
the problem of false teaching and heresies in the Church. The
apologists use of the Old Testament Scriptures whereas the
polemicists used the New Testament writings to elaborate their
ideas. The apologists explained Christianity to the neighbour
pagans. whereas the polemicists to the Church.
Irenaeus, the anti-Gnostic Polemicist, Pantaenus, Clement of Alexandria and
Origen, Tertullian, Cyprian were polemicists.

Differences between Eastern and Western Churches

Eastern Church Western Church
1. Greek culture Latin culture (Romans)
2. Philosophical minded Pragmatic (practical) indeed
3. Speculative in theology Practical, church polity
4. Mystical and idealistic Realistic

Irenaeus
- He was an arch(chief) Bishop of Gaul before 180 A.D, born in Smyrna. He
had a close association with Polycarp and was influenced by his preaching
known by some as “father of biblical theology.”
His Theology
1. Christology
- He was like Tertullian opposing the philosophical approach to the Scriptures.
You cannot discover God without revelation. He believed that Christ is the
Lord, pre-existence and co-eternal.
2. Soteriology
- It developed from Christology. He said (i) The God of redemption is same
as the God of Creation, (ii) Christ is the God/man, (iii) Adam lost the divine
image, (iv) Christ restored the divine image in man, (v) Christ destroyed sin
and Satan.
1. Christ in God man-
His theology was sound because (i) Biblical/ not speculative, (ii) Had deep
reverence for the teachings of the Apostles, (iii) It is very “Christo-centric”.
Lesson 8: Bishops, the Church and the State and Barbarians
I. Bishops
- Between 100and 313, the church was forced to give consideration to how it could
best meet the external persecution from the Roman state and the internal problem
of heretical teaching and consequent schism.
- Practical and theoretical necessities led to the exaltation of one bishops’ position
in each church until people came to think of him and to acknowledge him as
superior to the other elders with whom his office had been associated in New
Testament times. ( He had to prove to be a bishop through practical
necessities).
- The need of leadership in meeting the problems of persecution and heresy was a
practical need that required an expansion of the bishop’s power. The exaltation of
the monarchical bishop by the middle of the second century led to recognition of
the special honour due to the monarchical bishop of the church in Rome.
- The early history of the Church assumed that Christ gave Peter,
presumably (reasonable assumption) the first bishop of Rome as the
rock on which He would build His church ( Matt 16:18). According to
Matthew 16:19, Christ also gave Peter the keys to the kingdom and
later specially commissioned him to feed His sheep ( John 21: 15-19).
- The Roman church insisted from the earliest times that Christ
gave Peter a special rank as the first bishop of Rome and the leader
of the apostles. Cyprian and Jerome did the most to advance this
position. Many Western church fathers such as Clement, Ignatius,
Irenaeus, and Cyprians, acted the importance of the position of the
bishop of Rome. The Roman church believed that bishop was in line
of succession from Peter.
II. The Development of the Rule of Faith (Development of Creed) Creed-
Basic Beliefs
- The role of bishop was reinforced(made stronger) by the development of
a creed. A creed is a statement of faith for public use; it contains articles
needful for salvation and the theological well-being of the church.
- Creeds have been used to test orthodoxy (commonly accepted) , to recognize
fellow believers, and to serve as a convenient summary of the essential
doctrines of faith. The earliest type of creed was the baptismal creed of
which the Apostles creed may serve as an example.
- Irenaeus and Tertullian developed rules of faith to be used in recognizing
the true Christian from the Gnostic. They were a summary of the major
biblical doctrines.
- The Apostles’ Creed is the oldest summary of the essential doctrines of
Scripture. It was not written by the apostles but certainly embodied the
doctrines that they taught. It was used in Rome before 340. This creed was
used as a baptismal formula from very early times. Many churches still fine
III. The New Testament Canon
- People often made mistakes by thinking that the canon was set by the church
councils. The development of the canon was a slow process well completed by
A.D. 175 except for a few books whose authorship was disputed.
- The major test of the right of a book to be in the canon was whether it had
the marks of apostolicity. Was it written by an apostle or one who was closely
associated with the apostles, such as Mark, the writer of the Gospel of Mark,
written with the aid of the apostle Peter?
- The Apocrypha (religious writing) was declared to be a part of the Roman
Catholic Bible in 1546 at the Council of Trent. It contains much historical and
wisdom literature Jerome included it in his Vulgate Bible. (The Latin edition of
the Bible translated from Hebrew and Greek- Vulgate)
IV. Liturgy
- The Lord’s Supper and baptism came to be rites that could be
performed adequately only by an accredited (given official approval
to act) minister.
- Baptism as an act of initiation into the Christian church was
usually performed at Easter or Pentecost. Faith in Christ and the
desire for baptism were the only requirements. Baptism was
normally by immersion, on occasion affusion (pouring water), was
practiced.
- Infant baptism which Tertullian opposed and Cyprian supported, and
clinical baptism, the baptism of the sick, developed in this period. The
church increasingly hedged (avoid) the two sacraments of the Lord’s
Supper and baptism with requirements and rites that a priest alone could
perform.
- Easter, originating in the application of the Jewish Passover to the
resurrection of Christ, seems to have been the earliest of the festivals.
Not until after 350 was Christmas adopted in the West as a Christian
festival.
V. The Church and the State and the Barbarians
- Between 375 and 1066, during the period of the so-called Dark Ages,
in which the mass movement of the barbarian Teutonic tribes took
place in western Europe. ("Teutonic peoples such as Germans and
Scandinavians and British“) Barbarians – Uncivilized people
The Church and the State
- If one is to understand relationships between church and state after
the granting of freedom of religion by Constantine, it is necessary to
give some attention to the political problems the emperor faced at
this time.
- Constantine ( 285-337) was the illegitimate son of the Roman military
leader Constantius and a beautiful Christian Oriental freedman named
Helena. Constantine embarked (set) on a policy of favouring the Christian
church. In 313 he granted all freedom of worship by the Edit of Milan. He
issued edicts that brought about the restoration of property to the church, the
subsidization (providing money) of the church by the state, the exemption
(freedom) of the clergy from public service, a ban on
soothsaying(foretelling), and the setting a part of Sunday as a day of rest and
worship. In addition to granting freedom and favors to the church and
bending it to the service of the empire, Constantine in 330 founded the city of
Constantinople. This act helped to divide East and West and open the way for
Schism of 1054, but it provided a haven (a shelter) for Greco-Roman culture
when the West fall to the German tribes in the fifth century. Constantinople
(Ecumenical council) became the center political power in the East, and the
bishop of Rome was left after 476 with political as well as spiritual power.
- The sons of Constantine continued his policy of favouring the church
and even went beyond it. Rulers continued the process of granting
privileges to the church until Christianity finally became the state
religion. It is true that the Christianity had raised the moral of society so
that the dignity of women was given more recognition in society,
gladiatorial shows were removed, slaves were given softer treatment,
Roman legislation became more just, and the spread of missionary
work was speeded up.
- But the church also found that there were also marked
disadvantages. The government in return for position, protection, and
aid demanded the right to interfere in spiritual and theological matters.
Unfortunately the church too often became as arrogant a
persecutor of paganism as the pagan religious authorities had ever
been of the Christians. It would appear on balance that the
rapprochement between church and state brought more drawback than
blessings to the Christian church.
The Church and the Barbarians
- The church had been able to come to terms with the empire in the early
part of the fourth century because the latter part of the century brought a
new problem, the problem of how to win to Christianity the masses of
people who started the migration in Europe that were to continue until
the eleventh century. There were mass migration of Teutonic, Viking,
Slav, and Mongol people into and within Europe between 375 and 1066.
The Spread of the Barbarian
- The church seemed to be winning many of the Teutonic peoples to
Christianity, new threats from Muslims and the Arian Lombards became a
reality in the sixth century. Armenia was won for the Gospel by Gregory
the Illuminator. In 301, King Tiridates was converted and baptized. The
Bible was translated into Armenian language by 433. Armenia was the first
state to become officially Christian , and in spite of persecution through the
centuries, the Armeninas have held to the Christian faith.
Frumentius (300-380) a Greek of Tyre, the British Isles were also won for
Christianity in this period. Celtic Britain ( Pelagius, Augustine’s opponent),
were converted.
Lesson 9: Creedal Development and Church Fathers

- The earlier period of theological controversy occurred between 325 and

451, when universal or ecumenical councils of leaders of the church were
held to resolve conflicts. These councils brought about such great
universal formulations of the Christian church as the Nicene and
Athanasian creeds (Christian profession of faith). It was the era when the
main dogmas of the Christian church were developed. The word dogma
came through the Latin from the Greek word dogma, which was derived
from the verb dokeo. This word means to think. The dogma of
doctrines formulated in this period were the result of
intense(extremely sharp) thought and searching of the Bible and the
writings of the fathers in order to interpret correctly the meaning of
the Scriptures to avoid wrong opinions.
I. Theology-
The Relationships of the Persons in the Trinity
The Relationships of the Son to the Father in Eternity and Holy Spirit
to the Father
In Western Europe, Tertullian insisted on the unity of essence in three
personalities as the correct interpretation of the Trinity. So, the church
has always had to fight Unitarian conceptions of Christ. Modern
Unitarianism has had its forerunners in Arianism and sixteenth century
Socinianism.
II. Christology- Controversies over the Relationship between the nature of
Christ
III. Anthropology- the manner of man’s salvation
The Church Fathers
I. Eastern Post-Nicene Fathers
A. Chrysostom ( 347-407) Expositor and Orator
B. Theodore (350-4228) Exegete
C. Eusebius (260-340) Church Historian
II. Western Post-Nicene Fathers
D. Jerome (221-420) Commentator and Translator
E. Ambrose (339-97) Administrator and Preacher
F. Augustine ( 354-430) Philosopher and Theologian
Lesson:10 Monasticism, the Cause of monasticism, the Development of
Monasticism, the Evaluation of Monasticism, the Dominance of the Roman
Bishop and the growth of the liturgy
Monasticism – Asceticism as a form of religious life
- Gnostic and Neoplatonic influence – Dualistic view (flesh and spirit), idea of
separation from the world, ascetic practices of monasticism.
- Monasticism offered a more individualistic approach to God and salvation
than the formal corporate worship.
- In the East, Anthony (215-356) is regarded as the founder of
monasticism. ( He sold all his possessions, gave the money to the poor, and
retired to a solitary cave in Egypt to lead of life of meditation. His life of
holiness gave him such a reputation that other followed him).
- In the West, Monasticism was much more practical. It rejected idleness and
deplored purely ascetic acts. Work as well as devotion was emphasized.
Athanasius introduced monasticism in the West.
- Monks worked hard. Monasteries helped to keep scholarship alive
during the Dark Ages between 500-1000, when urban life was
disrupted as the barbarians took over the Roman Empire. Monks
became the missions of the medieval church. The monasteries
provided a refuge for the outcast of society who were in need of help,
of hospitalization. Some of the best leaders of the medieval church
such as Gregory VII, came from monasteries.
- Monasticism aided the rapid growth of a hierarchical, centralized
organization in the church because the monks were bound in
obedience to superior.
- Between 313 and 590 the Old Catholic Church, in which each bishop
had been an equal, become the Roman Catholic church, in which the
bishop of Rome won primacy over other bishops. The ritual of the
church also became much more elaborate. The Roman Catholic church
in its structure and canon law reflects imperial Rome.
- The bishop in the early church was considered one of many bishops
who were equal to one another in rank, power, and function. Between
313 and 450 the Roman bishop came to be acknowledged as the first
among equals. The bishop was also considered the guarantor of
orthodox doctrine.
- Roman had been the traditional centre of authority for the Roman
world for half a millennium and was the largest city in the West. After
Constantine move the capital of the empire to Constantinople in
330, the center of political gravity shifted from Rome to that city.
This left the Roman bishop as the single strongest individual in
Rome for great periods of time, and the people of that area came to
look to him for temporal as well as spiritual leadership. The bishop
was to exercise effective authority in meeting political as well as
spiritual crises.
Such great theologians Cyprian, Tertullian, and Augustine were outstanding
men of the Western church under the leadership of the bishop of Rome.
The growth of the liturgy
- The union of the church and the state under Constantine and his
successors led to the secularization of the church. The Eastern church
became a department of the state. Many church leaders believed that it
would be necessary to materialize (become reality) the liturgy to make God
seem more approachable to these worshiper. The veneration (idolatry) of
angels, saints, relics (tokens), pictures, and statues was a logical outcome
of this attitude.
- Sunday became one of the major days in the church after Constantine
decided that it was to be a day of civic (belonging to a city) as well as
religious worship. The festival of Christmas became a regular practice
in the West about the middle of the fourth century, with the adoption
of the December date that had been previously used by the pagans.
- Augustine believed that marriage should be regarded as a sacrament.
Cyprian held that penance (repentance or confession) was vital to the
Christian life.
- The early theological development of the doctrine of original sin
contributed to the importance of infant baptism. By the beginning of the
third century, Tertullian and Cyprian considered infant baptism an
accepted fact.
- Augustine especially emphasized the importance of baptism. The Lord’s
Supper occupied the central place in the thinking of worshipper and the
order of the liturgy.
- Cyprian thought that the priest acted in Christ’s place at Communion and
that he offered “ a true and full sacrifice to God the Father.”
- By the end of the six century all the seven acts that the Roman
Catholic church regard as sacraments were in use and had an exalted
position in worship.
- Clement, Jerome, and Tertullian had ascribed virginity to Mary .
Augustine believed that the mother of the sinless Christ had never
committed actual sin.
- Monasticism strengthened the idea of the veneration of Mary.
- Thanksgiving or penitential procession became apart of worship after
313. Pilgrimages, at first to Palestine and later to the tombs of notable
saints, became customary.
- These practices and beliefs helped to lay the foundation for the
medieval Roman Catholic church.
Council of Nicaea – The first council, addressed to the whole Church, conducted by
Constantine to resolve the controversy of Arianism ( Christ was not divine but was a
created being).
Roman Catholic Church-The Christian Church based in the Vatican and controlled by
a pope and an episcopal hierarchy
The residence of the Catholic Pope in the Vatican City- Vatican
Orthodox Church- Derived from the Byzantine Church and following Byzantine rites
Byzantine - The Byzantine Empire
The seven Sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church –Baptism, Confirmation,
Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, Marriage, and Ordination.
Papacy- The government of the Roman Catholic Church or the period of a particular
pope's reign
Scholasticism –The system of philosophy dominant in medieval Europe;
based on Aristotle and the Church Fathers
Crusade- Any of the more or less continuous military expeditions in the 11th
to 13th centuries when Christian powers of Europe tried to recapture the
Holy Land from the Muslims
Innocent III- Italian pope from 1198 to 1216 who instituted the Fourth
Crusade
Gregory the Great- (Roman Catholic Church) an Italian pope distinguished
for his spiritual and temporal leadership; a saint and Doctor of the Church
(540?-604)
Gregory VII- The Italian pope who fought to establish the supremacy of the pope
over the Roman Catholic Church and the supremacy of the church over the state
(1020-1085)
Clergy-A member of the clergy and a spiritual leader of the Christian Church
Pope- An Orthodox Priest, the head of the Roman Catholic Church
Bishop-(Roman Catholicism) A senior member of the Christian clergy having
spiritual and administrative authority; appointed in Christian churches to oversee
priests or ministers; considered in some churches to be a successor of the twelve
Apostles of Christ
Holy Roman Empire- A political entity in Europe that began with the papal
coronation (installing a new monarch) of Otto I as the first emperor in 962 and
lasted until 1806 when it was dissolved by Napoleon
Alexander II- The son of Nicholas I who, as czar ( emperor) of Russia, introduced
reforms that included limited emancipation of the serfs (1818-1881)
Henry IV-King of the Germans and Holy Roman Emperor (1050-1106)
Scandinavian ( Normans and Danes) -The northern family of Germanic languages
that are spoken in Scandinavia and Iceland
Lombards- A member of a Germanic people who invaded northern Italy in the 6th
Nicholas I- A Russian emperor 1825 to 1855 who led Russia into the
Crimean War (1796-1855)
Leo IX- German pope from 1049 to 1054 whose papacy was the beginning
of papal reforms in the 11th century (1002-1054)
Nicene Creed- (Christianity) a formal creed summarizing Christian beliefs;
first adopted in 325 and later expanded
Council of Nicaea-The first ecumenical council in 325 which produced the
wording of the Nicene Creed and condemned the heresy of Arianism
Dark Ages- The period between the fall of the Roman Empire and the
Renaissance ( 5th- 14th Centuries)
Renaissance- The Renaissance was an fervent period of European cultural,
artistic, political and economic “rebirth” following the Middle Ages.
Generally described as taking place from the 14th century to the 17th
century, the Renaissance promoted the rediscovery of classical philosophy,
literature and art.
Lesson 11: The First Medieval Pope, Christian Losses and Expansions
(I) The First Medieval Pope
- In the Medieval Era the Roman Empire split into Muslim, North Africa,
Asiatic Byzantine, and European papal area. Church-state relations became
very important.
- The name of Middle Ages was originated by Christopher Kellner ( 1634-
80) in handbook published about 1669. He thought of three divisions in the
history of the West. Ancient history ended at 325. Modern history began
from 1453 when the fall of Constantinople brought a flood of Greek
scholars and manuscripts to the West. He counted the Middle ages the
years between these two dates. However from 500-1000, it may be
designated as the Dark Ages. In that period western Europe was not
totally lacking in culture because the monasteries made intellectual
contributions.
- The medieval history of the church took place in a wider area than did that
of the ancient church.
Dark Ages or Middle Ages – 500 to 1500 AD

- It refers to the period of time between the fall of the Roman Empire and the
beginning of the Italian Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The term 'Dark
Ages' was formed by an Italian scholar named Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374).
The Middle Ages are often said to be dark because of a supposed lack of scientific
and cultural advancement.
During this time, feudalism (The social system that developed in Europe in the 8th
century; vassals were protected by lords who they had to serve in war) was the
dominant political system. The feudal system hindered upward social mobility,
which basically means that poor people had very little opportunity to improve their
condition in life. Religious superstition was also widespread during this time. The
Catholic Church was extremely institutionalized and often opposed the scientific
and cultural advancements the Greeks and Romans had pioneered.
The Dark Ages were a difficult time in which to live: famine and disease were
common. The Black Death Bubonic Plague ruined Europe in the late 1340s and
early 1350s, killing an estimated 100 to 200 million people. Warfare was also a
part of everyday life. The Europeans and the Muslims of the Arab world fought
numerous conflicts. These conflicts, called the Crusades, began in 1095 and ended
in 1291. The Dark Ages have often been described as a backwards time in human
history. The Dark Ages came to a close around 1500 AD, as the Italian
Renaissance and the Age of Discovery dawned.
The Byzantine Empire
- It was the continuation of the Roman Empire. It is sometimes called the eastern
Roman Empire. It included the Greek speaking eastern part of the
Mediterranean. The Byzantine Empire was a Christian one and it was known for
warring with the Muslims. Byzantium was a small but important town, it acted
as a frontier between the Persian and Greek world. Both would become a part of
Alexander the Great’s hellenistic universe during the fourth century BCE. It was
the Emperor Constantine that realized that the problems of empire could not be
managed from great distances. The Emperor Constantine renamed Byzantium
after himself, Constantinople, and in 330 CE he moved there making it his new
permanent restaurant.
- After Constantine died the Roman empire divided into eastern and western
sections. The Western Roman Empire ended by 476 CE when the last ruler
got dethroned and a military leader took power. The Roman Empire during the
fourth century became increasingly Christian, and the Byzantine Empire was
definitely Christian. It was the first empire that was not just founded on worldly
power, but on the authority of the Christian Church. During the first few
centuries of the Byzantine Empire polytheistic religions stuck around as an
The Great Schism of 1054 CE resulted in the eastern or Orthodox
church(Byzantine) separating form the western church (Roman Catholic). Some
basic comparisons between the two empires were the reasons for the end of the
empires. The Byzantine Empire ended due to conquest where the Roman
Empire ended because it was incorporated into a New Entity. Both of the
Empires has the same form of government, Authoritarian, also both were ruled
by hereditary rulers. The empires had differing main languages, in the Roman
Empire they mainly spoke Latin and in the Byzantine Empire the most
common language was Greek. In the Roman Empire, until the reign of
Constantine I, the main religion was polytheistic where they worshiped the
various renamed Greek gods. Emperor Constantine I’s reign was when
Christianity became the main religion of the empire. The Byzantine Empire was
a Christian one from the start. The Roman Empire, before its division, covered a
larger geographical area that the Byzantine Empire ever did.
https
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- The Great Schism
- On July 16, 1054, Patriarch of Constantinople Michael Cerularius
was excommunicated from the Christian church based in Rome, Italy.
Cerularius’s excommunication was a breaking point in long-rising tensions
between the Roman church based in Rome and the Byzantine church based
in Constantinople (now called Istanbul). The resulting split divided the
European Christian church into two major branches: the Western
Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. This split is
known as the Great Schism, or sometimes the “East-West Schism” or the
“Schism of 1054.”
- The Great Schism came about due to a complex mix of religious
disagreements and political conflicts. One of the many religious disagreements
between the western (Roman) and eastern (Byzantine) branches of the church
had to do with whether or not it was acceptable to use unleavened bread for
the sacrament of communion. (The west supported the practice, while the
east did not.) Other objects of religious dispute include the exact wording of the
Nicene Creed and the Western belief that clerics should remain celibate (single
or unmarried).
These religious disagreements were made worse by a variety of
political conflicts, particularly regarding the power of Rome. Rome
believed that the pope—the religious leader of the western church
—should have authority over the patriarch—the religious
authority of the eastern church. Constantinople disagreed. The
eastern church retaliated (take avenge) by excommunicating the
Roman pope Leo III and the Roman church with him.
While the two churches have never reunited, over a thousand years
after their split, the western and eastern branches of Christianity came
to more peaceable terms. In 1965, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch
Athenagoras I lifted the longstanding mutual excommunication
decrees made by their respective churches.
Today, the two branches of Christianity remain distinct
expressions of a similar faith. Roman Catholicism is the single
largest Christian denomination, with more than a billion
followers around the world. Eastern Orthodoxy is the second-
largest Christian denomination, with more than 260 million
followers. Eastern Orthodoxy includes national churches, such
as the Greek Orthodox Church and Russian Orthodox Church.

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.
Gregory the Great
- Gregory (540-604) was called the Great, was born in the troublous times when the
Eastern empire under Justinian was seeking to regain the section of the Western empire
that had been lost to the Teutonic tribesmen.
- Born into one of the old, noble, and wealthy families of Rome, Gregory was given a
legal education to fit him for fovernment service. He studied Latin literature
extensively but knew no Hebrew and Greek. He was familiar with the writings of
Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine but knew little of the classical literature or
philosophy of Greece. He became a monk and was ambassador representing the
Roman bishop at Constantinople. If Augustine became a monk for intellectual
purposes, it is fair to say that Gregory became a monk because he though asceticism
was a way to glorify God. When Pope Pelagius died of the plague in 590, Gregory was
chosen to take his place.
- His man was one of the noblest of the leaders of the Roman church. He was a man of
humility who thought of himself as the servant of the servants of God. He was a
zealous missionary and was instrumental in winning the English to Christianity.
Gregory’s greatest work as to expand the power of the Roman bishop.
- He was a good preacher with a real message for the time of crisis in which he
lived. His sermons were practical and stressed humility and piety.
- He was also an outstanding theologian. He is ranked with Jerome,
Ambrose, and Augustine as one of the four great doctors of the Western
church.
- He laid the ground work of the theology that was held by the Roman church
throughout the Middle Ages until Thomas Aquinas formulated his Summa. He
believed that man was a sinner by birth and choice, but he softened
Augustine’s view by asserting that man did not inherit guilt from Adam but
only sin, as the disease to which all were subject. He maintain that the will is
free. He believed in predestination but he limited it to the elect.
- The Medieval theology bore the stamp of Gregory’s thought.
Christian Losses and Expansion
- The Middle Ages is often thought to be a period in which society was inactiv
and in which people moved around very little.
- The West part of the empire around fifth century was collapsed and there
was no one who ruled the empire properly.
- During the seventh and later centuries, the church in the East had to face the
threat of Islam. Islam won most of the Eastern Empire. Islam was also a
matter of concern to the Western church until it was turned back to Tours in
732. Later the Slavs, the Magyars, and the Mongols threatened the church in
the East.
- In addition to meeting the challenge of these migrants, the Western church
had also to take on the task of evangelizing the Teutonic tribes within the
bounds of the Old empire.
The Rise and Impact of Islam
- The Muslims, energized (cause to be alert) by the dynamic of a newfound
faith, and a zeal to convert the unbelievers to their faith, rapidly expanded
from Arabia into North Africa, Asia, and even Europe by the way of
Spain. The Muslims finally wiped out the church in North Africa and
weakened the church in other areas of Africa. They eventually brought
about the downfall of the Eastern empire in 1453 and put the Eastern
church under Muslim political control.
- Both the Eastern and Western sections of the church were weakened by
losses of people and territory to Islam, but the losses of the Eastern
churches were greater than those of the West. The strong North African
church disappeared, and Egypt and the Holy Land were lost.
Revival and Schism in the Church
- Although the Western church was not always a renewal of spirit, there was a
renewal of strength that helped it in its struggle with the state, represented by the
German Holy Roman Empire. Several things strengthened the power of the pope.
- The Conversion of Scandinavia- The power of the Roman bishop was
strengthened in this area by the acceptance of the gospel by the people of
Scandinavia. Anskar, a native of Flanders devoted the rest of his life to missionary
activity in northern Europe. Denmark was not finally won to Christianity until the
eleventh in the days of Canute (King of Denmark). Christianity was permanently
established in Norway about 1000, and about the same time it was made the state
religion in Sweden and Iceland.
- The Doctrine of the Mass- The controversy regarding the nature of Christ’s
presence in the Communion agitated (troubled emotionally) the Western
church early in the ninth century. Any acceptance of the idea of the Lord’s
Supper as a sacrifice by the priest was a gain for the power of the papacy
because the pope headed the hierarchy of clergymen who alone had the power
to perform this miracle of the Mass. Paschasius Radbertus began to teach that
by a divine miracle that substance of bread and the wine were actually
changed into the body and blood of Christ. Such a view was bound to strength
the power of a priest and his superior in the hierarchy, the pope, even though
the Roman church did not officially accept the doctrine of transubstantiation.
Transubstantiation- The Roman Catholic doctrine that the whole substance of
the bread and the wine changes into the substance of the body and blood of
Christ when consecrated in the Eucharist
Monastic Reform
- The monastic reforms carried out by the Cluniac monasteries in the tenth and
eleventh centuries made a great contribution to the supremacy of the papacy. By
the tenth century the monasteries had become wealthy and corrupt and were
badly in need of reform. The papacy itself experienced a period of serious decline
between Nicholas I and Leo IX. The reform movement originating at Cluny was the
first of several successive reform movements in Roman monasticism.
- Under the old system of monasticism, each monastery had its own abbot (superior of
a monk) and was independent of other monasteries of the same order.
Capable leaders
- Although many of the popes in the era between 800 and 1054 were corrupt or
incompetent, there were several able leaders who helped to consolidate (unite) the
strength of the papacy. Nicholas I was one of the ablest of these men. Both in
writing and in practice, he insisted on the supremacy of the pope within the church
as one who was responsible for the spiritual welfare of the faithful and on the
supremacy of the pope over temporal rulers in matters of morals or religion.
- Nicholas I exercised his power over both bishops and the temporal ruler in the case
of Lothair II of Lorraine.
- He was also successful in upholding (continuing) the right of a bishop to
appeal directly to the pope. He even tried to assert his authority over the
patriarch and the Eastern emperor at Constantinople.
- The church in the East was never able to be as independent as that in the
West because it was under the eye of the emperor and because it had to deal
with the Greco-Roman tradition of culture, which was preserved (continued)
in the East during the time of the West was going through the cultural chaos
of the Dark Ages. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the church in the West
faced no great political rival (competitor) on the imperial throne and grew
stronger as it faced the problems associated with the cultural chaos that
surrounded the fall of the empire.
Difference and Cause of Separation of East and West
- When Constantine moved his capital to Constantinople in 330, he paved
the way for political and finally ecclesiastical separation of the church
into the East and the West. Thedosius put the administration of the
Eastern and Western areas of the empire under separate heads in 395.
With the fall of the Roman Empire in the West, in the late fifth century,
this division was completely realized.
- The church in the East was under the jurisdiction (legal power) of
the emperor, but the pope in Rome was too far a way to be brought
under his control. In the absence of effective political control in the
West, the pope became a temporal as well as spiritual leader in the
times of crisis. Emperors were almost popes in the East , and in the
West popes were almost emperors. This gave the two church an
entirely different outlook concerning temporal powers.
The intellectual outlook (point of view) of the West also was different from
that of the East.
- West- more on practical matters of polity, East- more on theological
problem along philosophical line.
- In the East- Clergy can get married, the Clergy were not allowed to marry
in the West.
- Priests in the West might shave his face but the clergymen in the East
had to wear beards. West- used Latin, East used Greek. This
occasionally led to misunderstanding. Language and culture were also
different.
- The two churches clashed over theological matter. The patriarch in the East
charged Nicholas I and the church in the West with heresy because the
West had the Filioque clause in its form of Nicene Creed. The west
accepted the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Son, but this was
rejected by the East.
In 1054, Michael Cerularius, patriarch of Constantinople from 1043 -1059,
condemned the church in the West for the use of unleavened bread in
the Eucharist. Such use had been a growing practice in the West since the
ninth century. This great schism in Christianity broke the unity of the
church. From this time on the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek
Orthodox church went their separate ways.
The Western and Eastern sections of the church separated to go their respective
ways as the Roman Catholic Church in the West and the Greek Orthodox church
in the East. And the gloom of the Dark Ages was being slowly driven away by a
revival of learning that began under Charlemagne.

Charlemagne- King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor; conqueror of the
Lombards and Saxons (742-814)
The Zenith of Papacy Power
The papacy exercise great temporal power between 1054- 1305. Hildebrand (Gregory
VII) was able to humble the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Monastic reform added
to papal power by giving the pope many zealous monks, who were his obedient servants.
Gregory VII asserts Papa Supremacy. Gregory VII and Innocent III dominated the history
of the medieval papacy.
Papacy Supremacy Under Pope Gregory VII
- Hildebrand was elected as Pope Gregory VII in 1073 as the people wanted
him to be bishop. He worked directly for his ideal of a theocracy(form of
government) in which temporal as well as spiritual power would be exercised
by the pope as the vice-regent of God. He wanted no civil power to dominate
the Roman church, instead, the church was to control the civil power.
- Gregory VII was the first pope to depose a crowned ruler, Emperor Henry
IV (1056–1105/06). With this revolutionary act, Gregory translated his
personal religious and mystical convictions regarding the role of the papacy
into direct action in the world at large.
Papal Supremacy under Innocent III
- Innocent III (116-1216) believed that he was “the vicar of Christ,” with
supreme authority on earth. He believed that kings and princes derived
their authority from him and that he excommunicate depose them, or
lay an interdict which forbade the clergy to perform any but the most
essential services of the church, upon their state. He believed that God
had given the successor of Peter the task of “ruling the whole world” as
sell as the church.
- The pope stood above man and below God. The state should be related
to the church as the moon is to the sun. He was able to bring the rulers
for the rising nation states of England and France under his control and
to defeat the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
- The position of the papacy had been further strengthened by the
publication of an authoritative edition of the canon law of the Roman
church about 1140 by Gratian, a teacher monk at Bologna.
Temporal Vs. Spiritual Rulers –
Innocent III took up the challenge of the rulers of the rising nation-states of France
and England and of the Holy Roman Empire after his accession to the chair of Peter.
He used his power first against Philip Augustus of France in order that he might
demonstrate that not even a king could flout the moral law of God concerning
marriage. Philip had married Ingeborg of Denmark after the death of his wife in 1193.
Between 1205 and 1212 Innocent was able to defeat John of England in a contest over
the election of an archiship to the vacant archbishopric, and the nominee forced on
them by john were set aside by Innocent when the question of his confirmation of the
appointed arose.
Having successful humiliated the rulers of the two most important emerging national
states, Innocent III decided that it was time to deal with the problem of the ruler of the
Holy Roman Empire. In 1202, he asserted the right of the pope to approve or
disapprove the emperor elected byt the German electors of the empire.
Innnocent had dictated the imperial succession. People were usually able to humble
rulers until nation-states appeared.
Innocent II as a Crusader
- He also sponsored a crusade under the leadership of Simon de Montfort against
the Albigenses of sourthen France in 1209. The Albigenses were memers of a
heretical sect known as the Cathari because they claimed their beliefs were
based on the Bible, the Roman church later forbade the people to possess the
Bible. The crusade was strongly supported by both the Dominican and
Franciscan orders. Heretics as well as temporal rulers had to bow to the supreme
head of the Roman church.

Decline of Papal Power under Boniface VIII

Crusaders and Reformers
Between 632 and 732 Muslims had threatened the West, but between 1095 and 1291
crusades against Muslims in Europe and Asia and heretics in Europe were carried on, for
the most part under the aegis of the Roman church. The crusae movement was aimed
at expelling the Muslims from territory that they held in western Europe. The whole
movement may be characterized as a holy war against the enemies of the Cross by the
spiritual forces of Western Christendom.
Causes of the Crusades- The primary motive of the Crusades was religious. This
religious motivation gave the Crusades the nature of a mass pilgrimage to Palestine.
Economic consideration led many to join the Christian’s efforts to oust the Muslims.
Famine was a common phenomenon in western Europe in the century preceding the
Crusade.
The Crusades- First Crusade was at Clermont in November 1095 to fight against the
Muslims. The first crusade led by nobles from France, Belgium, and Norman Italy.
Second Crusade in 1163 the mystic Bernard of Clairvaux in his preaching instigated and
promoted the Second Crusade. ( it proved to be a faiure.)
The Third Crusade ( 1189-92) known as the King’s Crusade , was under the leadership of
Philip Augustus of France, Richard of England, and Emperor Frederick. .. The Sixthe
Crusade was successful in negotiating a treaty that brought Jerusalem, Bethlehem,
Nazareth, but the Muslims kept the Mosque of Omar. Jerusalem was once again
Consequences of the Crusade- The Crusade had important political and
social results in western Europe.
Feudalism was weakened because many knighs and nobles who went as
crusaders never returned and sold their lands to peasants or wealthy middle
class townsmen to raised money for the Crusades.
Some of the religious results were that the papacy enhanced its prestige
during the Crusades. Economic results were qqually important.
Although the Crusades failed to accomplish the permanent freedom of
Jeruslem from Muslims control, they did bring many benefits to western
Europe and helped to dissipate its cultural provincialism.
Monastic Reform
Lay Reforming Movement-
Medieval Learning and Worship
Scholarticism ( Definition of Scholasticism, Causes for the Rise of Scholasticism
Content of Scholasticism, Methodology of Scholasticism, The Schools of
Scholasticism , Results of Scholasticism
The Rise of Universities (Reasons for the Rise, Organization of the Universities)
Medieval Life and Worship –
The Papacy in Decline (1309-1439) – Failure of the Clergy
The Mystic- Causes for the Rise of Mysticism, Outstanding Mystics, Consequecnes of
the Rise of Mysticism,
Forerunners of the Reformation- John Wycliffe ( 1329-1384) John Hus (1373-1415),
Savonarola ( 1452-98)
The Reforming Councils (1409-49)- The Council of Pisa (1409), The Council of
Constance ( 1414-18),
The Renaissance – The Italian Renaissance , the Biblical Humanists,
The Rise of the Nation-States and the Middle Class- The Rise of the English Nation-
State, the Rise of the French Nation-State, The Rise of the Spanish Nation-State,
The Greek Orthodox Church (1305-1517)