A Brief History of Christianity: Part One – The Roman Influence
HOW THINGS WORK - BOOK II SCIENCE & RELIGION – CONSIDERATION #159
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TUESDAY OCTOBER 22, 2024
“We find everywhere in this world the traces of a revealed God and of a hidden God; revealed enough to strengthen our faith, concealed enough to try our faith.”
– Philip Schaff (History Of The Christian Church)
PREFACE
Welcome Everybody!
As we shift our consideration and focus from the Biblical narrative to its empirical influence in the physical world we also shift from “pre-recorded” history to “recorded” history. Western history is essentially divided into two time periods. Ancient history has traditionally been referred to as “BC” or Before Christ; this period is now referred to as “BCE” or Before the Common Era. Modern history, or “recorded history,” has traditionally been referred to as “AD” or Anno Domini, meaning The Year of the Lord in Latin; now referred to as “CE” or Common Era. Either way, the history of the modern Western world, or “Common Era,” begins with the birth of a man named Jesus.
“…the Roman Catholic Church began to keep meticulous written records of its activities and pronouncements.”
Jesus had no church, no institution, and no hierarchical structure at the time of his ministry. However, once his message became part of a Roman institution, the Roman Catholic Church began to keep meticulous written records of its activities and pronouncements. We may not have a lot of direct empirical evidence outside of the Bible for the validity of its narrative; but we have a lot of validated empirical evidence regarding the influence it has had on our modern reality. Although Rome is the city most associated with the birth of the Catholic Church; it is the city of Jerusalem that may have had the greatest influence on its destiny.
CONSIDERATION #159 – The Roman Influence (313-386)
The rise of the Roman Catholic Church begins with the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. When the Roman emperor Titus sacked the city of Jerusalem, he essentially ended the supremacy of both Judaism and the original Jerusalem Christian Church in terms of their power and influence. This left the “Gentile” churches set up by Paul as the dominant influence in the region. The influence of Rome on the new Gentile church begins with a Roman who becomes a Jew who then becomes a Christian, Paul. In the view of many gentile Christians, they now represented the legacy of both Judaism and Christianity. The fall of Jerusalem also served as a catalyst for antisemitism.
“The ramifications of this event were huge. It marked the end of the Jewish state until recent times and ended the sacrificial system of the Jews. The destruction also signaled a shift in the power structure of the church. The mostly Jewish church quickly became Gentile. Plus, many in the church also viewed this tragedy as God’s judgment upon the Jews and evidence that the church had become the ‘new Israel.’”
The 10 Most Important Dates in Church History – Journeyonline.com
After the fall of Jerusalem, Christians continued to be heavily persecuted by the Roman Empire. However, after his conversion to Christianity the Emperor Constantine began to support the new Christian movement, starting with his Edict of Milan making Christianity an acceptable religion within the Empire.
“In the year 313, the Roman Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, which granted religious toleration to Christians in the Roman Empire. This edict marked a significant turning point for Catholicism, as it allowed the religion to flourish and gain more followers. It also paved the way for the establishment of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire in later years.”
A History Timeline About Catholicism – HistoryTimelines.co
The blending of Christianity and Roman influence begins with Constantine. He essentially establishes early Christianity and sets the tone for how future emperors will deal with the new religion, which eventually leads to Christianity becoming the state religion of Rome in 381 CE.
“The conversion of Emperor Constantine in A.D. 312 is by far one of the most important moments in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. After his conversion, Constantine legalized Christianity in society. Plus, he promoted the interests of Christianity and assumed an active role in its doctrinal and institutional development. These actions made Emperor Constantine one of the leaders responsible for the spread of Roman Catholicism throughout the world.
Each subsequent emperor except Julian the Apostate ascribed to the Christian faith. Theodosius I even made Catholicism the official religion of the entire empire in A.D. 381. Catholicism experienced much change over the decades and centuries as emperors and rulers associated themselves with Catholicism, its doctrines and its implementation throughout the empire. Catholicism grew in power and influence during these years.”
Timeline of the Catholic Church – Catholic World Mission.com
Like both Paul and John, Constantine’s understanding of Christianity is focused by a divine vision; however, for Constantine that vision leads to a victory in battle. Therefore, Christianity is originally connected to, and accepted by Rome, because of violence and bloodshed from the very beginning. It is Constantine’s victory in empirical battle, based on a rational vision, that leads to his conversion and support for the new Christian endeavor; eventually leading to Christianity becoming a major spiritual and political influence in the Western world. The Church’s influence and power serving as an extension of Rome’s influence and power. These early Roman roots of Catholicism make future Holy Wars almost inevitable.
With the support and power of the Roman Empire the new Roman Catholic Church begins to convert a simple message by an unknown Jewish carpenter into a new world-wide religious institution that would alter the history of Western civilization, and the world. This involved developing and implementing a new rational Christian theology.
POSTSCRIPT
Like Judaism and the Jerusalem Church, the new Roman Catholic Church found itself divided regarding the essence of Abrahamic and Christian theology. The most critical example of this new dualism focused on the very nature of “who” and “what” Jesus actually “was.”
“This first of the four great ecumenical councils tackled the explosive issue of whether Jesus Christ was equal to God the Father. Arius argued that Jesus was a created being who was of a similar substance as the Father. His opponent, Athanasius of Alexandria, however, asserted that Jesus was not a created being. He argued that Jesus was of the same substance as the Father.”
The 10 Most Important Dates in Church History – Journeyonline.com
Here, you begin to see the focus on traditional Western metaphysical philosophical concepts such as “substance” and “being.” The 325 CE Council of Nicea determines that Jesus was inherently both: setting up the essential and foundational metaphysics of the new Church. This metaphysical theology would be reconfirmed at the third ecumenical council.
“Emperor Constantine called together church leaders, assembling the First Council of Nicea in A.D. 325. Their conclusion of the equal godhood and manhood of Jesus Christ proved foundational to the Catholic faith for the rest of time.”
Timeline of the Catholic Church – Catholic World Mission.com
Agreement on what would constitute the essential message of Jesus in the new Cannon, or Catholic New Testament, was decided in 367 CE by the Christian theologian St. Athanasius.
“Others had mentioned the canonical books of the New Testament in their writings, but Athanasius, in his ‘Thirty-ninth Festal Letter,’ was the first person to list all 27 books that now make up our New Testament… Referring to these 27 books of the New Testament, Athanasius declared, ‘In these alone the teaching of godliness is proclaimed. No one may add to them, and nothing may be taken from them.’ This ‘closed canon,’ as declared by Athanasius, was recognized by the Christian church from this point onward.”
The 10 Most Important Dates in Church History – Journeyonline.com
Despite the previous metaphysical pronouncements related to the nature of Jesus, many still refused to agree with the “official” theology of the Church.
“Monophysitism taught that Christ has one nature—a divine one—not two. Eutychianism specifically taught that Christ’s divine nature was so intermixed with His human nature that He was, in fact, not fully human and not fully divine.”
What is Monophysitism/Eutychianism? – GotQuestions.org.
In the fourth and final great ecumenical council the argument is forever settled by denouncing the idea of “monophysitism” as heresy. Thus, setting up the possibility for future inquisitions.
“By affirming that Jesus Christ is one Person who is both divine and human, the Council of Chalcedon made it easier to identify error. The Chalcedonian Definition affirms the truth that Jesus Christ is fully divine and, at the same time, fully human. He is both the Son of God (1 John 5:10) and the Son of Man (Mark 14:21). Jesus, the Word incarnate, assumed perfect humanity in order to save fallen humanity. He could not have saved us unless he was fully God and fully man.”
What is Monophysitism/Eutychianism? – GotQuestions.org.
The Council of Chalcedon finally settles the theological debate regarding the nature of who and what Jesus was. However, it also opened the door for an eventual schism between the Eastern and Western Churches.
Another key theological influence was the conversion of Augustine to Christianity. A Roman, St. Augustine serves as the crucible for blending Greek metaphysics with a new Christian message of reality. Concerned with concepts related to a theory of knowledge, the inherent qualities of mind, obedience to the law, the nature of creation and time, and the doctrines of sin, grace, predestination, and free will, St. Augustine lays the metaphysical foundation for Catholic theology.
“Augustine’s conversion to Christianity in A.D. 386 would become a turning point in Catholic history. Bible scholars and historians view Augustine’s theological writings as timeless, for they contain explanations of pivotal doctrines that the Catholic Church continues to embrace.”
A History Timeline About Catholicism – History Timelines
Later, after the fall of Rome, Thomas Aquinas, an Italian Dominican friar and priest, would fill in the theological gaps in Catholicism. His goal of separating philosophy from theology sets the tone for the Enlightenment philosophy developed in the Age of Reason based on rationalism and empiricism. Aquinas believed that God could be demonstrably proven through natural reason as could other self-evident truths including the concept of individual human liberty.
“Empirical concepts in the physical world were uniquely different…”
However, Aquinas believed that divine rational theology was applicable only to the concept of God and the self-evident truths related to God. Empirical concepts in the physical world were uniquely different, they could be explained through natural empirical reason related to natural law, which later becomes the natural sciences.
“Many within the Catholic faith consider Thomas Aquinas to be one of the most influential writers and thinkers in all of Christianity. He wrote several notable works during the 13th century that outlined Christian doctrines and gave instructions on how to be a missionary. Today, theologians study the writings of Thomas Aquinas much like a writer would read and study the works of Shakespeare. Both Catholic and Protestant Christians hold Thomas Aquinas’s writings as essential explanations of core doctrines.”
A History Timeline About Catholicism – History Timelines
By the 12th century the essential theological foundation of the Roman Catholic Church had been developed, codified, and implemented into Church orthodoxy, dogma, and practice.
Next week we consider the Crusades and its enduring influence on our current reality…
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Interesting attempt, however it misses the point.
Jesus clearly was a teacher of non-duality, and this was promptly subverted into a dualistic teaching by Peter and Paul, though maybe it survived longer in certain other channels. The way to sort it out is by realizing that the sequence of the written evidence is first the Thomas Gospel from ca 35-50, then Mark from ca 55-65 and next Matthew/Luke from 75 or so. The Thomas Gospel is entirely free of the editorial hand of Paul and Peter c.s., and Mark begins to show some of it, and the "Christianization," of the story has begun, with Luke and Matthew, Jesus is completely turned into a wordly phenomenon that sets up the eventual acceptance by the Roman Emperor under Constantine. In second century gnosticism there is a brilliant flare up with Valentinus, who may be closer to what Jesus teaches than anything else. And in our day and age there is A Course in Miracles, which returns to the non dualistic roots of the teachings. Around the time when Jefferson was in Paris, this conceptual break between Jesus and Peter & Paul was an active topic of conversation, and again this led Jefferson to creating his "Jefferson Bible," which focused on what jesus said, and got rid of the surrounding narrative. Unsurprisingly, by focusing on the sayings, Jefferson produced an approximation of Thomas, 150 years before Thomas was rediscovered. Clearly it had been a primary sourse for the synoptics, along with the "X" material, which we can at best reconstruct as a source.