Ekklesia: Christian Communities

1. Ekklesia: Christian Communities 300-1000

2. Timeline for Christianity and Barbarian Tribes • 500: King Clovis of the Franks • 600: King Aethelberht of Kent (English) • 664: Synod of Whitby • 800: Charlemagne crowned by Pope • 900s: Peace of God Movement • 1100: First Crusade successful

3. Beowulf

4. Sometimes He allows the mind of a manof distinguished birth to follow its bent, grants him fulfillment and felicity on earth and forts to command in his own country.He permits him to lord it in many land until the man in his unthinkingness forgets that it will ever end for him. He indulges his desires; illness and old age mean nothing to him; his mind is untroubled by envy or malice or the thought of enemies… until an element of overweening enters him and takes hold (lines 1728-1740)

5. How did Beowulf demonstrate medieval fusion? • The Danes and Geats were both pagan and Christian • The poet was Christian but celebrated the virtues of the Danish and Geatish pagans • The poet was pagan but had some knowledge of Christianity • The characters were pagan but were familiar with passages from the Bible

6. How does the Hill article characterize this sympathetic treatment of pagans by a Christian poet? • By demonstrating that it was common for Christian writers to treat pagans with respect? • By pointing out that the poem was unusual for its sympathetic treatment of pagans • By suggesting that the poet did not really understand Christian doctrines very well • By claiming that the poet was really a closet pagan

7. What terms did Hill use to explain the admiration of virtuous pagans? • Noachite and humanist • Donatist and Pelagian • Simplistic and Ignorant • Henotheist and Heretical • Brave and crusader

8. Features of Barbarian Culture • Ruled by warrior elites, who embraced warrior values • Honor and bravery • Retribution • Loyalty • Generosity • Weak kingship • Strong kinship

9. Celtic Settlements c. 200 BCE

10. Celtic Settlements c. 550 CE

11. Animal Head, Oseberg ship burial, University of Oslo, Norway Purse cover from the Sutton Hoo ship burial, British Museum, London

12. Boudicca 60 CE

13. St Patrickc. 380-450

14. Layout of an Irish Monastery

15. The Proliferation of Irish Monasticism600-800 CE

17. Green Martyrdom: Suffering by separating from family

18. Celtic Metalwork

19. Celtic Cross

20. Tonsure & Identity

21. Features of Christianity by 600 CE • Asceticism, connected to preparation for afterlife • Evangelical, duty to spread the faith • Book religion, promoted literacy • Martyrdom, increasingly related to asceticism • Saints & Miracles • Rituals • Hierarchical, not as pronounced in Celtic Christianity • Positions of power held by men, not as pronounced in Celtic Christianity

22. Roman Tonsure

23. Christian Evangelism among the English 550-700 CE

24. Pope Gregory the Greatc. 600author of the life of St. Benedict

25. Augustine of Canterburyc. 600

26. Synod of Whitby - 664

27. Monastic scribes

28. Illuminated Manuscript:Lion from the Book of Durrowc. 700

29. Lindisfarne Gospelsc. 700 Cross page from the Lindisfarne Gospels, British Museum

30. Book of Kellsc. 800Artistic Revival

31. Illuminated Manuscript:The Book of Kellsc. 800 CE

32. Codex Amiatinusc. 700

33. How did Christianity unify Europe? • Identification of common… • belief in the nature of God and attainment of the afterlife • Heroes: martyrs and saints • enemies: non Christians or heretical Christians • ruler/leader: bishops; Christian kings and princes • history/mythology: the Bible provided a view of the distant past • God intervenes on behalf of his people • way of life - ethics, sexual mores, social relations • set of rituals - group activities that often reinforce or explain social relations

34. Rituals &ProcessionsStrengthened Collective Identity

35. Benedictine Monasticism included communal prayer

36. The beating of the bounds was a medieval ritual that survived the Protestant Reformation

37. St. John’s Eve Bonfire

38. How did stories of saints promote fusion between Christian and Barbarian cultures?

39. Hagiography promoted shared valesFaith = Loyalty to God

40. Hope = BraverySt. Bonifaceconverts the continental Saxons c. 720

41. Charity=HospitalitySt. Martin of Tours316-397 CE

42. Archbishop Turpin in Song of Roland

43. How did Christianity promote unifying tendencies? • By strengthening kingship • By creating a sense of community through rituals • By providing a shared view of the past • By reinforcing a common sets of values • All of the above

44. Features of Early Medieval Christianity • Ascetic: It discouraged materialism • Literate among the elite: Book Religion • Evangelical: Duty to Spread the faith • Hierarchical: more structure, less chaos -------------------------------------------------- • Heroes & Legends: Lives of Saints • Rituals: Collective Identity

45. Discuss Early Medieval Christianity • How did it influence Germanic culture? • Kingship • Kinship • Intellectual activity • ----------------------------- • Fused with existing rituals • Hero worship • Government

46. The Anglo-Saxonsc. 450-1066

47. Christian Monasticism Started in the Egyptian desertc. 300It tended to be hermetic

48. St. Simeon Stylites c.430

49. St. Boniface c. 680-754 • Born in Devonshire and joined Benedictine monastery in Exeter • Migrated to Germany where he engaged in conversion of the pagan Saxons • Martyred in modern Holland

50. Overview • Background • How did Christianity unify Western European culture? • Through the establishment of Christian communities • A long term process • What was the role of monasticism in this process? • Islands of intense commitment to Christianity • Authors of hagiography: Christian heroes • Preservers of classical and Christian texts