Why is history important to religion: code, canon, creed, community, culture
o Why is history important to religion: code, canon, creed, community, culture
o The history of the Church starts with the Acts of the Apostles
– How did the early Church grow; how was it organized
– Main characters are Peter and Paul
o Type of Church structure for 1st century Christians:
– organized around the bishop,
– small house churches,
– each autonomous,
– shared meals
o Stability & order were vital for Romans – Christianity threatened that
o 4 groups within early Christianity
– 1. remain within Judaism, circumcision, dietary laws
– 2. no circumcision, modified dietary laws
– 3. no circumcision, minimum dietary laws
– 4. total break with Judaism
o In the early Churchleadership developed
– After the Apostles – local leaders were bishops
— Concern that the leaders had some kind of connection with the Apostles, but not as we think of it today w/bishops as successors
o Formation of the Creed:
– I believe
– established as the definition of orthodoxy
– fundamental statement of what it means to be a Christian
o 3rd century – shift to Rome as the decision maker within the Church
o Constantine – Christianity became legal under Constantine – 312 CE.
o Under Theodosius – Christianity became the official religion of the Empire – 380 CE.
o After 3rd century, the Mass became more of liturgy, less of a shared meal
o Main heresy within the Church in the early 4th century was the Arian heresy which questioned the nature of Jesus.
– Taught that Jesus was greater than human beings, but less than God.
– Condemned by the Council of Nicea in 325 CE.
o Collapse of the Western Empire – 476 CE – caused by pressure from the barbarians
– As the barbarians pushed closer to Rome, the legions were pulled back to defend the homeland
– As the legions left, the stability and order they had maintained collapsed
o Popes became effectively the secular rulers of central Italy
o Monasticism
– Began in the East
– Moved to British Isles
– Missionaries who preserved learning in Europe during the Dark Ages were from Ireland and Scotland
o Charlemagne
– Became the 1st Emperor of the Romans in 800 AD
– Ruled both Empire and papacy
– After Charlemagne’s death Empire began to go downhill
– Church also weakened
— Simony & lay investiture major problems
o After Charlemagne, who rules the West – Pope or Emperor?
– Both the Empire and the papacy declinedafter the death of Charlemagne when his sons started fighting over who got what
o Secular world revived 1st
– Otto the Great crowned Holy Roman Emperor in the late 10th century
– Primarily German
– Otto manipulated the Church to strengthen the Empire
— Bishops were often noble & owed feudal loyalty (lay investiture problem)
o Simony – buying or selling Church offices
o Lay investiture – bishops were selected by secular rulers & received their symbols of office from them.
– Meant that the bishops were now responsible to their secular lords.
o Gregory VII (Hildebrand) first claimed the authority of the Pope to command everyone, including secular rulers
o Crusades
o Pope Urban IIcalled for a Crusade in 1095 for the nobles of Europe to free the Holy Land from the infidels, because he saw this as a chance to reunite the E & W Empires, with the Pope as the head.
– Also a chance to let off some of the hostility of the European nobles, who were in a semi-constant state of warfare with each other.
– Preserve the Holy Land from the Saracens
– Generally ineffective
– Kingdom of Jerusalem only lasted about 200 years
– Seen as a way to get rid of temporal punishment for sin (purgatory)
o Innocent III
– Greatest of the medieval popes
– Made Emperors and dominated kings
— Excommunicated those who opposed him
– Developed & codified canon law
o Christianity divided into East & West – 13th century
o Nature of the Church in the 14th century
– 70 million people
– Pope in overall charge
– Bishops doing the work
– Lay investiture settled, simony still a problem
– Priests forbidden to marry
– Mass a spectator event
o 1300 – 1650
– Popes in charge
– Boniface VIII – Unam Sanctam – said everyone was subject to the pope
– Battles between Popes & secular rulers
– Avignon papacy
– Black Death decimated Europe
o Great Schism
– 3 claimants to the papacy
– Settled by the Council of Constance
–Council defined Counciliarism: Said Popes were subject to a General Council
o Martin Luther
– Augustinian monk
– Problems with his ideas that salvation was by good works.
— Felt he was so wicked he couldn’t do anything good
– Romans 1:17 allowed him to develop the idea that justification was by faith, not good works
– Disturbed by the Church’s policy on indulgences
— Seemed to be buying your way to heaven
– 95 theses seen as attacks on the papacy
– Luther did not intend to leave the Catholic Church
— Tried to work within the system to generate discussion, but this was seen as attacks on the Church and the papacy
o Protestantism spread rapidly because of
– Simple liturgy
– Reception of both bread & wine
– Language of the people
– Only 2 sacraments: Baptism, Eucharist
– Based on Scripture alone
o Dialog attempted at Regensburg in 1541 – Protestants wanted the following concessions:
– Married clergy
– Communion in both forms
– Freedom to refer to the Real presence without calling it transubstantiation
– Freedom from papal jurisdiction
o Peace of Augsberg (1555) recognized both Catholicism and Lutheranism in Germany
o Calvinism became the most widespread form of Protestantism, and also the most radical.
o Council of Trent (1545)
– Rejected Luther’s idea of justification by faith alone
– Salvation is through both faith and good works
– Mankind is not totally corrupted by original sin
– Reaffirmed the 7 sacraments
– Good works had to be accomplished in cooperation with God’s grace
– Reaffirmed multiple doctrinal issues
– Acknowledged the supremacy of the pope over a Council
o 18th Century
– French Revolution
— Move against both secular and religious authority
— Started as a move to a constitutional monarchy
— The mob got out of hand
— Attempted to reform the Church
o Napoleon&Pius VII reached an uneasy agreement in the Concordat of1801
– Napoleon would appoint bishops
– Pope would consecrate them
– Clergy paid by the state
– Church waived all claims to property confiscated by the Revolution
– Clergy subject to civil law
— Napoleon thought this the most important
o Early 18th century
– Church in a siege mentality
– Opposed to anything that smelled of liberalism or change from the decrees of Trent or Thomistic theology
– Liberalism was seen as any attempt to modernize the Church in interpretation of Scripture or teaching authority
o Pius IX
– Defined the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception in 1854
— Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin
– Syllabus of Errors – 1864 – in response to the perceived threat of liberalism – the Pope doesn’t have to adapt to anything to do with progress, liberalism, or modern civilization
– Growth of ultramontanism (total focus on the idea of papal supremacy)
– Called the 1st Vatican Council – 1869
— Defined the doctrine of papal infallibility
+ Pope must speak ex cathedra (as the head of the Catholic Church)
+ Must be a matter of faith or morals
+ Vatican II added that he must speak on behalf of the whole Church
o Liberalism
– Pius IX was strongly opposed to any attempts to modernize the Church, which he saw as a major form of liberalism
– In 1864, he issued the “Syllabus of Errors” which specifically condemned those ideas he saw as liberalism.
o Rerum Novarumwas the first of the great Social Justice encyclicals. The main points were:
– Right to private property
– Family as the primary social unit
– Right to a living wage
– Right of the worker to organize
– Right to practice religion
– Class conflict is not inevitable
o The Church in America
– Started by missionaries from Europe, primarily Spanish and French
– One of the main figures who tried to protect the Indians’ rights was Bishop Bartoleme de las Casas.
– The concept of repartimientodivided up the Indians and their towns among the original Spanish. These Indians became encomiendas – people assigned to the Spaniard who had gotten the land grant.
– The Spanish were focused on gold and treasure, the French on the fish and fur trade
– Generally a failure because the missionaries ignored the culture of the Indians, and were not supported from home
– John Carroll – 1st bishop – established the American Catholic Church
– Problems with lay Trusteeism
— Wealthy laymen would donate land to the Church but kept control
— Attempt by the laity to control Church property and appoint pastors
— Wanted to run the parishes
o Separation of Church and State
– 1st Amendment says there will be no state established (i.e. tax supported) religion
– U.S. is unique
– American Catholicism is not understood in Europe
o Waves of immigration in the mid 1800s
– Multiplied the U.S. Catholic population immensely
o The Nativists in American society saw immigrants as taking their jobs and as a threat to the economy
o American Catholicism after the Civil War
– Organized in ethnic enclaves/ghettos
– Defensive crouch
o Conflict within the American Church
– Archbishop John Ireland
— Republican
— Opposed to parochial schools
— No conflict being both American and Catholic
– Archbishop Michael Corrigan
— Democrat
— Favored parochial schools
— Saw Americanism as a threat to the faith
– Nature of the schools/ German vs. Irish conflicts
o Americanism
– No conflict between being a good Catholic & a good American
– Made Rome nervous because of perceived liberalism
– Leo XIII issued encyclical Testem Benevolentiae
— Condemned Americanist ideas as liberalism
– American Church (Cardinal Gibbons) convinced Leo it didn’t apply
o Early 20th century
– Immigrants moved to the middle class
– Breakdown of the ethnic enclaves
– Interethnic marriages
– WWI helped to reduce anti-Catholic attitude
– JFK elected president
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