Religious Studies 35: In Search of the Good

1. Religious Studies 35: In Search of the Good Chapter 6 Church: the Sacrament of God’s Grace

2. Church: the Sacrament of God’s Grace • The challenge of the Church in history • The Period of Jewish Christianity (30-130) • We tend to look at this time as a time of great enthusiasm and joy because God had fulfilled the promises made to Israel. • They gathered on the first day of the week to break bread. Many even sold their possessions to help the poor and create a community of equals. • St. Peter and St. Paul • Conflicts arose: • Ananias and Sapphira pretended to sell all they had to give to the community but lied about it.

3. The apostles have persuaded some wealthy men to sell off their land and houses and donate the proceeds to the poor.  One of the men, Ananias, has secretly kept back some of the proceeds from the sale of his property.  Peter rebukes him for his greed and deceit, and the townspeople react in shock as Ananias falls down dead in front of them.  At the far right, Ananias's wife, Sapphira, dressed in a rich green gown, counts her coins, oblivious to the events in front of her.  She has also decided to keep back some of her wealth, and within a few hours she, too, will be struck dead.

4. Church: the Sacrament of God’s Grace • Goods collected for the poor were distributed inequitably – Jewish members were favoured. • At the gatherings, the wealthy ate most of the food, leaving little for the servants who had to work. • Peter was hesitant to sit at a table with a Roman because he did not want to violate the food laws. • They were posed with the question of whether sinners could be part of the community. • In Matthew’s gospel, the parable of the weeds among the wheat was used to teach that the sinners should not be expelled.

5. Church: the Sacrament of God’s Grace • The Period of Greek and European Christianity (50-1964) • Jerusalem had been destroyed.

6. As the Church spread beyond the Jewish world, there were many questions? • Was circumcision required for Greek converts? • Must they obey Jewish Mosaic law, particularly the dietary law? • Must they keep Sabbath? • As a Christian, could you become a soldier in the imperial army? (No) • If your spouse refused to accept your Christian conversion, do you have to stay in the marriage? (No) • Do you re-baptize those who have strayed from the faith and returned? (No) • Do you re-baptize those who recant their faith during persecutions? (No)

7. Church: the Sacrament of God’s Grace • The second period, dominated by Europe, began with Alexander the Great and continued with the Roman empire. • The Roman Emperor Constantine converted in 312 which led to rapid growth of the Church as Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire. • In the 2nd to 5th centuries, Christian thinkers such as Augustine used Plato’s philosophy as a tool to make the gospel understandable.

8. Constantine’s Vision

9. Constantine’s Battle with Maxentius

10. Constantine’s Baptism

11. Church: the Sacrament of God’s Grace • In the 8th and 9th centuries, The Irish brought with them their fear of the supernatural. From them began the origins of the current practice of confession. • In the 8th-13th centuries, the Crusades led to European thinkers (like Thomas Aquinas) rediscovering the writings of Aristotle which led to a rich period of expressing the Christian message. • In 1054, a schism developed that divided the Church into the East and the West. In the 16th century, another division occurred between the Protestants and Catholics that led to many bloody religious wars. Some historians claim that atheism first became socially acceptable due to the atrocities committed by Christians against each other.

12. Church: the Sacrament of God’s Grace • Protestant Reformation • At the end of the Middle Ages, the Church had many abuses: • Sale of sacred goods (church offices, indulgences) • In the office of the Pope (multiple popes at times) • Lack of training of the clergy • Abuse of power by bishops and priests • Led by Martin Luther, groups break away in protest and form their own churches.

13. Church: the Sacrament of God’s Grace • In the 17th century, the philosphical view of rationalism becomes popular that refuses to accept any authority that cannot justify itself using reason. This was a problem because the Church bases its vision on revelation. • The Period of Global Christianity (1960-present) • By the end of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the Church saw itself as to no longer centre itself in one culture, but rather to be catholic (universal). The Church welcomes the diversity of peoples and cultures. • Local cultures and practices are not sacrificed to the global and where the global is a celebration of the diversity of the local.

14. Church: the Sacrament of God’s Grace • The Church and Moral Teaching • Three tasks of the Church in guiding moral life. • 1. The Church shapes moral character. • Moral character requires more than ideas for its formation. It requires imagination. • The church is most effective through its rituals, images, art, architecture, symbols, stories, Bible, liturgies, outreach programs, and through interacting with other Christians. • The liturgy is the primary tool through which the church teaches.

15. Church: the Sacrament of God’s Grace • 2. The Church guards and maintains moral tradition carried forward by four groups: • The Faithful: Our first teachers of the faith are in most cases our baptized parents and friends. Laypeople today are receiving the call to pass on the tradition. • Theologians: They bridge the gap between tradition and the present time and by researching and interpreting issues of moral concern today. • Priests and Pastoral Workers: They strive to bring teachings that respond to the individual’s cultural, social, and personal needs. Ordained ministers preside at the sacraments for the community. • The teaching authority of the Church: The magisterium is the teaching office of the Church which is embodied in bishops – the descendants of the apostles. There are two levels of the magisterium • Extraordinary magisterium – when the church teaches from an ecumenical council (ex. Vatican II) or the Pope speaks ex-cathedra • Ordinary magisterium – refers to the normal teaching of bishops around the world, including the Pope’s encyclicals and apostolic letters.

16. Church: the Sacrament of God’s Grace • 3. The Church is a community of moral deliberation whenever and wherever moral issues emerge. • Ex. Pastoral Letter on the Christian Ecological Imperative by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2003.