Exploring the Origins and Impact of Christianity: A Comprehensive Overview

1. Remaining 4 weeks after today (Wk 11) • Tribal religions • upside down journals (1 x 1), quiz, scrapbooks • 1st week of presentations • 2nd week of presentations

2. ChristianityAHistorical originsB Impetus in the heartC Major Doctrines ARHU 301

3. A “historical religion” - i.e., not abstract but based in concrete events • One out of every three persons on earth • 2000 years - great diversity: • Roman Catholicism • Eastern Orthodox • Protestantism

4. “By the Spirit of God I Cast Out Demons” • The Jews already accepted w/o question the supremacy of Spirit over nature.

5. Palestine: People were in servitude: enormous taxes under Roman control (63 BCE) before that Greek control (300s BCE) • 4 factions: • Sadducees – priestly class; well-off. appeasement toward the Roman rulers • Pharisees – scribes & teachers of Mosaic Law; toleration toward Roman rulers. Sought to revitalize Judaism through strict obedience to Mosaic law. Jesus closest to THIS faction. • Zealots – Popular movement; openly resisted the Romans. • Essenes –A separatists, gathered in the desert; anti-Roman and anti-Sadduceean policies. Dropped out. • Jesus will introduce a 5th: He stressed Jahweh’scompassion.

6. Life & Ministry of Jesus of NazarethEarly 1st CE • Baptized by John the Baptist (HUGE prophet) • Began an itinerant ministry at age +/- 30 in Galilee – Taught, prophesized, healed. • 12 major disciples • Audience: many social classes, but esp. poor & disenfranchised • A healer and an exorcist • Conflict with the Pharisees over interpretation of the Law • Conflict with the Sadducees over the role of the Temple • Pilgrimage to Jerusalem at Passover • Betrayal by Judas Iscariot – A kiss for the arresting soldiers then delivered to Pontius Pilate (all for a bribe) • Tried by the Sanhedrin and the Romans • Crucified by Pontius Pilate The story of Jesus’ life is told in the 4 Gospels: Written in Greek.

7. Jesus, a charismatic wonder-worker in the tradition of the Prophets • His ASPIRATION was not just to heal individuals but to heal humanity, beginning with his own people, the Jews. • Oriented to the spirit-world • Deployed his spirit-derived powers to the alleviation of human suffering • JOYSPIRITEXHILERATIONCONTAGIEOUS ELECTRIFYING

8. “The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me.” • No understanding Jesus without understanding the spirit in his life and work. • The Spirit typically pictured as being ABOVE the earth – e.g., a dove. Many images of ladders to Heaven –that means distinct from and superior to the mundane world. • REMINDER, from the Jews: God walked in the garden of Eden (says Genesis) “the whole earth is full of God’s glory.” • AND, NOW …. With God come on down … Humans could become empowered. Human beings could take the initiative in contacting it. The entire world could change. • “The whole earth is full of God’s glory.” Radiance

9. COMPASSION • SOCIAL barriers were an affront to compassion • A holiness code was needed So what did people see Jesus DO, what did they hear Jesus SAY, and what did they sense him to BE?

10. The Christ of Faith: God in human form • DO: “He went about doing good.” Ordinary people, social misfits, counselling, helping out of despair • SAY: The clarity: “Never spoke man thus.” … characters go around with timbers protruding from their eyes, looking for tiny specks in the eyes of others. Spoke in parables. See things differently (next slide gives examples) • BE: This is a man in whom the human ego disappeared. … as they looked at Jesus they were looking at something resembling God in human form

11. SAY: page 326 • We are told we are not to resist evil but to turn the other cheek. The world assumes that evil must be resisted by every means available.We are told to love our enemies and bless those who would curse us. The world assumes that friends are to be loved and enemies hated. We are told that the sun rises on the just and the unjust alike. The world considers this undiscriminating: it would like to see clouds over evil people and is offended when they go unpunished. We are told that outcasts and harlots enter the kingdom of God before many who are perfunctorily righteous.Again unfair, the world thinks; respectable people should lead the procession. … We are told to be as carefree as birds and flowers. The world counsels prudence. We are told that it is more difficult for the right to enter the Kingdom than for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye. The world admires wealth. We are told that they happy people are those who are meek, who weep, who are merciful and pure in heart. The world assumes that it is the rich, the powerful, and the wellborn who are happy ….Either there was something about this man, or our hearts are still too small for his message.

12. Miracles http://aboutbibleprophecy.com/miracles.htm • 1. Born to a virgin - . • 2. Changing water into wine - . • 3. Healing of the royal official's son – • 4. Healing of the Capernaum demoniac • 5. Healing of Peter's mother-in-law • 6. Healing the sick during the evening - . • 7. Catching a large number of fish - . • 8. Healing a leper - . • 9. Healing a centurion's servant - . • 10. Healing a paralyzed man - . • 11. Healing a withered hand - . • 12. Raising a widow's son - . • 13. Calming the storm - . • 14. Healing the Gerasene man possessed by demons - . • 15. Healing a woman with internal bleeding - . • 16. Raising Jairus' daughter - . • 17. Healing two blind men - . 18. Healing a mute demon-possessed man 19. Healing a 38 year invalid - . 20. Feeding 5000 men and their families - . 21. Walking on water - . 22. Miraculous healing of many people in Gennesaret 23. Healing a girl possessed by a demon - . 24. Healing a deaf man with a speech impediment - . 25. Feeding the 4,000 men and their families - . 26. Healing a blind man - . 27. Healing a man born blind - . 28. Healing a demon-possessed boy - . 29. Catching a fish with a coin in its mouth 30. Healing a blind and mute man who was demon-possessed - . 31. Healing a woman with an 18-year infirmity - . 32. Healing a man with dropsy - . 33. Healing 10 lepers - . 34. Raising of Lazarus - . 35. Healing Bartimaeus of blindness - . 36. Jesus curses the fig tree with no fruit - . 37. Restoring a severed ear - . 38. The resurrection of Jesus - . 39. Catching 153 fish - . 40. The ascension of Jesus -

13. That God is HERE is what is so startling • Not remote, thoughtless, involved in their own “play” like the Greek Gods • Not fatalistic like poly-gods • Not so AWEful and huge and “out there” like the Jewish Jawah • A simple man . . . Right here . . . Among us • Got into hearer’s hearts. PLACED THE “PROOF” INSIDE US: Your own hearts attest to the truth! This is proof about God’s overwhelming love of humanity and the need for people to accept that love and let it flow through them to others.We do not experience the constant unstinted love that flows from God to us. • But … here it is! We have seen the Glory!

14. The passion & resurrection as intercession • SALVATION: The solution to the problem of “Sin” • “Sin” separates us from God • The only way to bridge the gap between humans and God is for God to forgive human sins • The Suffering & Death (Crucifixion) are seen as effectiveto atone for the sins of humanity. “Who for us & for our salvation came down from heaven, & was incarnate … crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried; And the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; And ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father…” resurrection is a sign of God’s victory over sin and promise for our eternal reunion with God.

15. The end was the beginning: the Resurrection • “Grave where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?” • The power of belief: it did not concern the fate ofone worthy man. • Death was simply an entry into another mode of being. • THE STATUS OF GOODNESS IN THE UNIVERSE: all powerful. Jesus’ goodness, rather than being fragile, was powerful.

16. The Good News – The Gospel, translated literally • Innocuous doodle? • No! A signal! They saw that lives had been transformedThey saw everything as transformed • Men and women who were ordinary in every way but who seemed to have found the secret of living. 2 qualities abounded: • A mutual regard: they loved one another • Total absence of social barriers: Equal in the sight of God • “that my joy may be in you” • 3 things occurred to each and provided INNER PEACE • Loss of fear • Loss of guilt • Loss of Ego • THEY KNEW – JUST KNEW – THEY WERE LOVED BY GOD

17. The Mystical Body of Christ: Alchemy! • Christ-ians (literally the Messiah-folk) • Began to call themselves an ekklesia (Greek for “called out” or “called apart”) • There seemed to be a new spiritual substance: Mystical Body means supernatural and mysterious but not unreal.: a double aspect.

18. Pentecost…the day on which the church was started. • Then …a few weeks after Jesus’ death and resurrection the coming of the Holy Spirit onto the followers of Jesus. • … they were all together in one place [in Jerusalem]. Suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. …[these were] Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. … at this sound … they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. And they were amazed …”

19. Incarnation Atonement Trinity IS NOT Father IS NOT IS GOD • These were “the mind of the Church” … showed God was concerned about humanity.Discussion … and conflict. And all the while … persecution for 300 years IS IS Son Spirit IS NOT

20. Huge Controversy – Alexandrian Priest, Arias • Arias wanted precise, sophisticated languageto explain Christianity • Jesus is as an intermediary who connects Humans and God; Christ CANNOT be “of the same substance” as God or “co-eternal” with God • God the Father has Sovereignty • What is Eternal and Perfect cannot become united w/ what is mortal & imperfect (human body) • If God sent the Son into the world at some time in history, then there was a time when the Son didn’t exist, so he can’t be co-eternal with the father and therefore not the same essence! Greek: “essence of a thing” – ousia Arian position: Father & Son are homoi-ousia– “of similar substance,” but not the same.

21. Arian controversyMost Bishops: pray to and baptize in the name of “Father, Son, & Holy Spirit” – so, we’d better hope that these are all the same God. If not, we’re not monotheists! The Son could not have redeemed humanity if he was a creation (“Creature”) of God; only God can do that

22. The Creed of Nicaea, 325 CEWe believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible. • And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance(ὁμοούσιον) with the Father; by whom all things were made both in heaven & on earth; who for us men, & for our salvation, came down & was incarnate & was made man; he suffered, & the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. • And in the Holy Ghost.the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. In one holy Catholic and apostolic Church; we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen. • [others are condemned by the holy Catholic and apostolic Church.]

23. If the Son & the Father are Homoousios ... God has revealed God’s self as Father, Son, & Holy Spirit – our thinking cannot grasp the HOW. All is speculation. FULL Trinitarianism: God is “Three Hypostases in ONE ousia” – Three Persons - One Substance The Son’s divinity was completely unified with his physical nature. NOT: God “had a body.” God “was a body!” “Divinity became human so that humans might become Divine.”

24. MORE CONTROVERSIES; MORE DEFINITIONS

25. 300 YEARS OF Persecution – THEN TOLERATION BecomesRoman State Religion to enforce unity thru the empire • PERSECUTION: • Christian scriptures and meeting places burned • Christian civil servants deposed • Important citizens & gov’t employees sacrificed priests in their provinces • TOLERATION: Religion too important to the state to leave in pvt. hands • Insist on religious conformity on ALL levels of society: Christians must be brought into line • Christians seen as united by scriptures; so, destroy scriptures = destroy the community • 311 –Edict of Toleration – end the persecution of Christians • 313 – Edict of Milan – (Constantine in the West, Licinius in the East)

26. Why does Constantine (242AD) need the Bishops? • He wants Christians as his clients – Bishops represent these Christians • Bishops are responsible for the social order of a growing demographic

27. Theodosius the Great (r. 379-395)Officially declared Christianity the Religion of the Empire

28. Legalization of Christianity “And thus by this wholesome counsel and most upright provision we thought to arrange that no one whatsoever should be denied the opportunity to give his heart to the observance of the Christian religion, or that religion which he should think best for himself, so that the Supreme Deity, to whose worship we freely yield our hearts,may show in all things His usual favor and benevolence .... we have also conceded to other religions the right of open and free observance of their worship for the sake of the peace of our times, that each one may have the free opportunity to worship as he pleases; .... Moreover, in the case of the Christians especially we esteemed it best to order that if it happens anyone heretofore has bought from our treasury from anyone whatsoever, those places where they were previously accustomed to assemble ... shall be restored to the Christians without payment or any claim of recompense and without any kind of fraud or deception. Those, moreover, who have obtained the same by gift, are likewise to return them at once to the Christians.” 

29. The Christian Cannonsremember the “Tanakh” : Torah – Law; Nevlim – Prophets; Ketuvim - writings • Gospels: Dramatic stories(Matt, Mk, Luke, John) following the life of the teacher Jesus to communicate morethan the outline of his life • “Acts” of the Apostles: Accounts written about series of events to explain conditions and theological positions. • Letters: correspondence between two apostles. (Letter to the Philippians, Letter to the Romans, etc.) • Apocalypse: “revealed things.” Text of a visionary experience with a supernatural figure, concerning the Divine nature, Divine Plan, or Eschatology (“the end things”) (The Revelation to John—or was it John?!)

30. Who are Christians After the Persecutions?

31. West vs. East GREEK EAST LATIN WEST Jireček Line

32. Orthodoxy after 5th c. • Decisions at the Ecumenical Councils are made by bishops; they hear all points of view then determine which position is correct. Decisions are enforced • Roman Catholicism: Pope CAN make mistakes, but not big ones: The Holy Spirit protects him! • The Roman Catholic Church as • Teaching authority • Sacramental Agent: sacraments are channels whereby supernatural grace is made available

33. Eastern Orthodoxy No pope Corporate view: lay people much more decision makers Roman Catholicism holds that the Trinity dwells in every Christian soul, but its presence is not normally felt. By a life of prayer and penance, it is possible to dispose oneself for a special gift by which the Trinity discloses its presence and the seeker is lifted to a state of mystical ecstasy. But human beings have no right to such states, the states being wholly in the nature of free gifts of grace, the Roman Church neither encourages or discourages. The Eastern Church encourages the mystical life more actively.

34. Trouble Late Medieval Europe • The Doctrine of Purgatory emerged in the Middle Ages to handle issues created by the Sacrament of Penance: • If someone is unable to complete the required amount of penance to atone for their sins before they die, do they go to Heaven or Hell? • Purgatory: a “waiting place” where people can do penance even after death in order to atone for sins which prevent them from unity with God • The Sale of Indulgences • A way to do penance is to donate to the Church • The Church standardized a donation-as-penance system; people could know how much penance their donations were “worth” • Abuse of this practice led to Indulgences as a money-making scheme for clergy and for the Church (building projects)

35. Luther’s Criticism • Bible says salvation is a YES or NO: either we are acceptable to God or not. The condition for being “acceptable to God” is belief(John 11, “He that believes in me” & nothing else. ) • Belief in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection makes one a Christian and therefore saved • Being a Christian is a doing (service, love) not believing in a set of definitions • Penance, austerities, indulgences, and ecclesiastical approval are not required for salvation. • Ok, people no longer worshipped wood and stone – but some now worshipped dogma • 100+ kinds of Protestantism, but 85% are within 12 kinds.

36. The church’s sources vs. Luther’s Sources Sola Scriptura Sola Fide Sola Gratia CATHOLIC & ORTHODOX CHURCHES SCRIPTURE TRADITION REASON LUTHER “Only Scripture” “Only Faith” “Only Grace” Luther, when asked where he would stand if the Church excommunicated him, is said to have said,“Under the sky.”