Judaism, Early

Christianity and
Byzantine Culture
The spread of Christianity
 By the end of the 1st century, communities
of Christian believers existed in many
cities of the Roman empire
The spread of Christianity
 By 64 C.E. their numbers were sufficient
enough that Emperor Nero could make
them scapegoat for a fire that destroyed
Rome.
The spread of Christianity
 1. Social factors led to growth of
Christianity..
 Peace in the Empire
 Safe roads made travel easy
 Common language (a Greek language)
 Christianity was first preached in an
established system of Jewish centers
The spread of Christianity
 1. Socio-religious factors led to growth of Christianity..
 Pagan interest in monotheism
 Emphasis on salvation and freedom from sin
 Custom of offering mutual aid and charity for its members
 Its relative freedom from class distinction
 Paul wrote that in his faith there was “neither Jew nor Gentile

male nor female; slave nor free person”

The Growth of Christianity
 Paul (died 64 C.E.)
 Roman army sacked Jerusalem destroyed
Second Temple.(70 C.E.)
 Gospels written after 70 C.E.
 Christianity separates from Judaism in 2nd
century.
 Eucharist: Christ’s last supper
Early Christianity
 Baptism: a new beginning
 New Testament written in Greek
 Paul’s letters followed by four gospels
 Early Christians worshipped in catacombs
 Catacomb wall paintings depicted religious
scenes
Christianity in the Late Roman
Empire
 Christianity’s equality before God was attractive
to slaves and the poor
 Some of the earliest Christian Art was
Byzantine Art
 Art--blend of Christian figures and classical
style: Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus.(p. 166
M&P)
 Symbols--ikons: sacred images
Constantine (272 – 337 C.E.)
 Constantine I, Constantine the Great, Saint
Constantine (both Western and Eastern Catholic
Church)
 (306- 307)Emperor of Rome
 313 Edict of Milan -- granted toleration to all
Religions including Christians
 337 Converted to Christianity on his deathbed.
Byzantium
 Rome was faltering under economic
pressures and invasions from Barbaric
tribes (by 476 Roman Empire falls to
Visigoths and Vandals)
 330 C.E. Constantine establishes
Byzantium as his new Eastern Capital.
 He renamed the city Constantinople.
Important Events under
Emperor Theodosius I
 380: Theodosius I proclaims Christianity
as the sole religion of the Roman Empire
 395: Theodosius formally divides the
Roman empire in the Western and Eastern
Empires, with Milan and Constantinople as
their capitals
 402: the western Roman empire moves
the capital from Milan to Ravenna
Two Roman Empires
 Western Roman Empire centered in Rome
(then Milan then Ravenna in 402)
 Eastern Roman Empire centered in
Byzantium -- Constantinople
Eastern and Western Roman Empire (395 C.E.)
The Council of Nicaea (325)
 The Council of Nicaea was historically significant
because it was the first effort to attain
consensus in the church through an assembly
representing all of Christendom.
 The Council declared that the Father and the
Son are of the same substance and are co-
eternal, basing the declaration in the claim that
this was a formulation of traditional Christian
belief handed down from the Apostles. This
belief was expressed in the Nicene Creed.
Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
 Great writer of the Christian Latin West
 Born in North Africa in 354
 Educated in Africa and Rome
 Wrote The City of God in response to
charges that Christianity was responsible
for the invasion of Rome by Visigoths.
The City of God
 An attempt to demonstrate that history had a
direction willed by God and that “in the end” all
would be made right as the city of man gave way
to the city of God.
 Emphasized the absolute majesty of God, the
immutability of God’s will, and the flawed state
of the human condition
 Influenced by Plato; the visible world (matter) is
an imperfect reflection of the divine order (spirit)
Augustine’s Confessions
 First Western Autobiography
 Scrutinizes Augustine’s life long conflict
between worldly pleasures (“lower self”)
and his love of God (“higher part of our
nature”)
 Dualistic model of human
beings…”unclean body” and “purified soul”
Augustine’s Confessions
 Three temptations endanger his soul
 Lust of the flesh
 Lust of the eyes
 The ambition of the world
 “No bodily pleasure , however great it
might be [is] worthy of comparison, or
even of mention, beside the happiness of
the life of the saints.”
Coptic Orthodox Christianity
 451 CE
 Split from main church (forming in
Constantinople)
 Egyptian
 About 10% of Egyptians are Coptic
 The Church has members globally
East and West
 Eastern Orthodox Christianity
 Western Orthodox Christianity
 Roman Catholic
Eastern: Christian Art
 Symbols and Icons
 Initially symbols were used to identify
Christian converts (within the Christian
community) before the religion was legal.
 The interpretation of these symbols
(iconography) became important since
symbolic meaning was often more
important than literal meaning.
Icons
 Solemn portraits of religious figures
(Jesus, Mary, and the saints)
 Some icons were thought to have
miraculous powers. Tangible confirmation
of miraculous appearance.
 Formulaic artistic quality… an archetypical
image (one that cannot be altered by
human imagination).
Icons
 Usually portrayed full-
front with no shadow
or sense of three-
dimensionality.
 The figures speak
directly and frontally
to the viewer.

Christ Pantocrater c. 500-530

Icons
 Used in public worship (liturgy).
 Icon is a window into the world of the
sacred. It permits a glimpse into the
timeless world of religious mystery.
Mosaic
 Mosaic is the art of
creating images with
an assemblage of
small pieces of
colored glass, stone,
or other materials.
Byzantine Architecture
 Byzantines
emphasized the
Dome, the arch and
the Grecian cross
layout.
 Greek cross layout
means it has four
arms of equal length
Hagia Sophia
 Dome creates an
open lofty space
 One of the first
examples of a dome
on pendentives
 Light creates both a
functional and
symbolic
environment.
Latin Cross: Western (Roman)
Charlemagne (742 -- 814 CE)
 Charlemagne was the
King of the Franks (768–
814). On a visit to Rome
in 800, was crowned
"Emperor of the
Romans" by Pope Leo
III on Christmas Day.
 This led to the revival of
the Roman Imperial
tradition in the West in
the form of the Holy
Roman Empire.
Filoque (and {from} the son)
 Western  Eastern
 In the 6th century  Rejected this idea
filoque was added to
the Nicene creed in
the west
East vs. West differences
 Ritual  p. 299 -300
 Liturgy  The Extraordinary His
 Clergy torical Significance of
Ecumenical Patriarch
 Leadership Bartholomew's Prese
 West = Pope nce at Pope Francis' I
Francis I (2013)
nstallation as Bishop

of Rome
 East = Ecumenical
Patriarch
 Bartholomew I (1991)
The Great Schism of 1054
 1054 C.E.
 Eastern and Western Catholic Church split
 In 1054, Roman delegates traveled to Constantinople
Cerularius to deny him the title Ecumenical Patriarch and
to insist that he recognize the Church of Rome's claim to
be the head and mother of the churches.
 Cerularius refused.
 The leader of the Latin contingent, Cardinal Humbert,
excommunicated Cerularius.
 While Cerularius in return excommunicated Cardinal
Humbert and other legates.[2]
Attempts to reconcile
 1204 Crusaders sacked Constantinople
 1274 – councils offered unification but
were never ratified by either Church
 1965 – Heads of both Churches agree to
nullify the excommunications of 1054
 Today heads of each church join in
celebrations
Schism in the Western Catholic
Church
 1378
 Popes in France vs. Popes in Italy
 The schism is resolved in 1415 when
Gregory XII abdicated/resigned
 The next Pope to take this step was Benedict
XVI in 2013. The first to do so of his own
volition since Pope Celestine V in 1294.
Thomas Acquinas
 Summa Theologiae
 “bothreason and revelation are necessary for
Christian belief.”
The Reformation
 While Italy was experiencing the High
Renaissance, Germany became the center of the
Reformation - a movement that forever shattered
the unity of the western world
 The Reformation looked to the past for inspiration
and ideals, but instead of turning to the classical
world of Greece and Rome, the religious leaders of
the Reformation looked to the early Christian
church to clarify their beliefs and to purify their
practices
The Reformation
 This created a conflict between the contemporary
Church and its officials who did not want to lose
power or prominence
 There are two clear reasons for the breakup of
Christendom and the religious reformation
The radical reshaping of western society
and culture that began in 1530
The timeless spiritual yearning of human
beings
The Reformation
 What especially made the Catholic Church
susceptible to change was
 the presence of unrelieved corruption
 abuses inside the Church
the rise of sovereign states
 the decay of medieval thought
 the revival of humanism
The Reformation
 Many clergy led less than exemplary lives, and
lay writers, now unafraid of the Church,
delighted in describing clerical scandals
 Another factor bringing about the demise of the
Catholic Church was its loss of power to
secular rulers
Determined to bring their subjects under state
rule instead of the rule of the church
The Protestant Order
in Germany
Faced with a frustrating inability to
confront the Church on its own
terms and a growing hostility
towards the Church and a strong-
handed papal rule, Protestantism
erupted in Germany
Martin Luther (1483 – 1546)
 Augustinian Monk
and Humanist
Scholar
 Considered the key
figure in the
Protestant
reformation

Cranach, Martin Luther (1533) p. 386

Luther’s Revolt
 One of the Church’s most glaring abuses dating
from the Middle Ages was the buying and selling of
indulgences
 The popes establishing indulgences, drawn on the
treasury of merit, given to those who performed
good deeds such as going on crusades, and to
those who gave money to the church
 Leo X prints indulgences and sells them as a way of
keeping his extravagant lifestyle afloat.
Luther’s Revolt
 Lutherwas inspired by the example of the
Dominican monk Tetzel, “a travelling
indulgence salesman”
Tetzel reminded his audience that “As soon as the
coin into the box rings, a soul from purgatory to
heaven springs”
 When the audience of Tetzel informed their
pastor, Luther, that they no longer needed to
confess or attend Mass, Luther was outraged
 “Ninety-Five Theses” soon followed
October 31, 1517
 Luther posts his “95
Theses” to the door
at Wittenberg
Luther’s Revolt
 Luther’s attack arose from a spiritual quest
 Obsessed by his sins, Luther had become a
monk but had failed to reach peace of mind
 Through study he learned that salvation came
not because of good works but from God’s
“unmerited love or grace”
 “The just shall live by faith,” “justification by faith
alone”
Luther’s Ideas
 Lutheranism attempted to revive primitive
Christianity - practices and beliefs based on
biblical precedents and reminiscent of the
early church
 Luther thought that people could live simple
lives of piety and repentance without the
benefit of priests to mediate with God
Luther’s Ideas
 Hebelieved that the sole source of religious
authority was the Bible, not the pope or
Church councils
‘sola scriptura’
 Catholic
Church countered that Scripture
could not be understood apart from tradition
Tradition and Scripture, not Scripture alone
John Calvin (1509-1564)
 French humanist, lived in Switzerland.
 Like Luther, Calvin advocated beliefs and
practices rooted in the Bible
 Saw God as an awesome figure
 Focused on the larger community as well as
the individual sinner
Calvin’s Institutes
 Human beings are born in total depravity as a
result of Adam’s fall;
 The will of God is absolute and all-powerful
 Faith is superior to good works
 Salvation comes through God’s freely given
grace
 God divinely chooses those for salvation and
those for damnation
The Elect
 Those chosen for salvation are known as –
the Elect
 Since no one knows for sure if they are one of
the elect then all must live as though they are.
John Calvin
 Duty of the “elect” to glorify God in all that
they do
 His theory of wholesome Christian
behavior encouraged the qualities of thrift,
industry, sobriety and discipline
‘Protestant work ethic’
Calvinists must reform society to fit the
Lord’s vision
Strict ethical demands
John Calvin
 Calvin was overwhelmed by a sense of
“Man’s littleness and God’s immensity”
 Calvin commented that in view of the Bible,
the writings of Cicero, Plato, and Aristotle
paled in comparison
John Calvin
 The Bible “Far surpasses the highest
attainments and ornaments of human
industry…therefore, this text must
represent our final authority, not only in
religion and morals but also in history,
politics, everything”
Predestination
 Crucial to see that Luther and Calvin both
believed in predestination
 Before Creation, God determined who is to
be saved and who is to be damned
 Basis of Luther’s criticism of indulgences is
the belief that humans can do nothing to
coerce God into salvation
Predestination
 No one is saved for what they do, or who
they are- grace a free gift of God
 For Luther, a shoemaker as likely to be
saved as the Pope
 The Church a work of men, not God
Predestination
 Lutherans emphasized the need for the
saved to live as Christians in their daily life
Good works the fruits of salvation, not the
roots
 Calvinists
emphasized their responsibility
to change the world, reform society
Good works can be a sign of salvation
Protestantism in a nutshell…
 Scripture Alone
 Justification by Faith Alone
 Universal Priesthood of Believers
Christian Family Tree
Protestantism in America
 Mormonism
 African American Churches (AME)
 Pentecostalism