Church History Overview: Class 1: Introduction and History to Constantine the Great

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Church History Overview Class 1 Introduction
and History to Constantine the Great

• Ann T. Orlando
• IAP 2005

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Introduction

• Purpose Provide a basic introduction to Catholic
  Church History in 4 one-hour lectures
• Church periods for this class
• Wk1 Beginning to Constantine the Great (in the
  beginning to 312)
• Wk2 Constantine to Charlemagne (312 to 900)
• Wk 3 Medieval Europe (900 to 1500)
• Wk 4 Reformation and JPII (1500 to 2000)
• NB I am teaching a semester long class in Church
  History at St. John Seminary. Feel free to go to
  my website for this class at http//web.mit.edu/ao
  rlando/www/ChurchHistory/

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Overview of Week 1 Lecture

• Background to the beginning of Church history in
  three strands
• Story of people Israel (Old Testament)
• Secular history
• Philosophical history
• New Testament as historical document missionary
  activities first council
• Second Century
• Complete break with Judaism
• What is canon of Scripture
• Relations with Empire
• Who has authority in Church
• Third Century
• Imperial Chaos and Empire-wide martyrdoms
• Impact of neo-Platonism
• Development of Christianity in North Africa

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In the beginning

• The Bible tells the theological story of the
  Church and Gods revelation to the Church
• Adam, Eve, the Fall and God establishes a people
  with a special relationship to Him dateless,
  timeless Genesis
• Moses c. 1250 BCE (BC) Exodus through Deuteronomy
• David c. 1000 BCE Samuel, Kings, Chronicles
• Destruction of 1st Temple 586 Babylonian
  Captivity by Nebuchadnezzar Isaiah, Jeremiah,
  Ezekiel,
• Return and rebuilding of Temple (Second Temple)
  539 BCE by Persian King Cyrus Ezra, Nehemiah
• Israel between two great Greek powers 330 BCE to
  160 BCE Maccabees appeal to Rome for help
  Daniel writes about whore of Babylon, but really
  is referring to Seleucids
• Palestine a client of Rome 160 BCE to 4 BCE
  (death of Herod the Great)
• Jesus Christ 1 to 33 CE (AD)
• Palestine revolts destruction of Second Temple
  in 70 CE occupied by Rome until 600 CE and
  Moslem conquests
• New Testament written 50 and 90 CE
• Rome as whore of Babylon in Revelation

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Secular History Background

• Alexander the Great
• Son of Philip of Macedonia Student of Aristotle
• Conquers the world by age of 33
• Founds Alexandria, center of learning for next
  600 years
• Dies in 323 BC leaving his generals in charge of
  various parts of his conquests
• Hellenistic (Greek) Empires 323 31 BCE
• Macedonians Greece, Sicily, southern Italy
• Seleucids Asia Minor, Syria and Mesopotamia
• Ptolemies Egypt and Cyrene
• As a result of this extended period of Greek
  rule, the lingua franca of the Mediterranean
  was Greek from the 4th C BC until the 5th C AD in
  the West and the 15th C in the East
• Israel between two major competing Empires
  Seleucid and Ptolemy
• Rome
• Traditional founding date of 753 BCE
• Started as a Republic ruled by Senate
• Punic Wars, conquers and destroys Carthage 202
  BCE
• Maccabees ask Rome for help against Seleucids 160
  BCE
• Julius Caesar conquers Gaul 80 BCE
• Augustus defeats Anthony and Cleopatra (last
  Ptolemy ruler of Egypt) at Actium in 31 BCE
  Roman Empire established
• Roman Empire existed in some form between 31 BC
  and 1453 AD

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Philosophical (Greek) Background

• Athenian Philosophy Before Alexander
• Socrates and Plato Platonism (and indirectly
  skepticism) Academy
• Aristotle Platos student, founder of Lyceum and
  Aristotelianism
• Hellenistic Philosophy
• Epicurus, fought in Alexanders army opposed to
  Plato, founder of Epicureanism the Garden
• Zeno opposed to Epicurus, founder of Stoicism
  the Stoa
• Neo-Platonism centered in Alexandria 250 CE
• Catholic Christianity has always used
  contemporary philosophical methods as the
  language of theology and as an aid to interpret
  the Bible philosophy as the handmaid of
  theology. Example Virtue

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Roman Society

• Do not judge ancients by modern standards
• Roman religion was a public, civic obligation
• NOT a way to have a personal relationship with
  Divine
• mystery religions became very popular in 1st
  through 3rd Century Roman Society (Cults of
  Mithra Isis and Osiris Dionysius)
• Anyone who did not offer sacrifice for the good
  of the state was considered an atheist
• Roman Emperor increasingly was a soldier who was
  adopted by current Emperor (Augustus). Cult of
  Roman Emperor as god in his lifetime was started
  by Nero
• Roman household was composed of patron (father)
  and clients (wife, children, slaves, business
  associates dependent upon him)
• Father had complete control of clients
• Adoption was very common
• Owning property was far more prestigious than
  commerce
• Excellent road and mail system throughout the
  Empire
• Note that the most Latin (least Greek) part of
  the Empire was North Africa

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History of Church in New Testament

• Pauls Letters are the oldest Christian documents
  we have. However, Paul was not writing a general
  history, he was responding to specific problems
  in specific communities (except for Romans)
• Paul and Peter martyred in 64 AD by Nero
• Gospel of Luke and Acts of Apostles
• written in an ancient historical style Luke
  gives an ordered account of Jesus and the early
  Church
• Council of Jerusalem in which Pauls position
  that Gentiles do not need to convert to Judaism
  is affirmed (Acts 15)
• Story of how the Church was spread by Pauls
  missionary activity
• Revelation (most scholars believe) is based on
  persecution of Christians in Asia Minor during
  Domitians reign Rome as whore of Babylon
• Note Johns Gospel is most philosophical Jesus
  as Logos

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What Happened to Judaism in this Period

• Before and during Jesus life there were many
  types of Judaism
• Pharisees upholders of the Law (Torah)
• Sadducees from aristocracy and high priests, did
  not believe in resurrection of dead closely
  associated with Temple
• Essenes disgusted with impurities in Temple
  left for desert
• Zealots terrorists against Roman occupation
• Diaspora Jews not living in Palestine but
  scattered around Mediterranean Greek Jews
  (Hellenists in Acts of Apostles)
• Jews in Mesopotamia who did not return after the
  exile in 6th C BC
• During the First War with Rome 66-73 AD, the
  Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots were destroyed
• In 117 AD the Emperor Trajan destroyed the
  Hellenistic Jewish community in Alexandria after
  this the Greek Jews seemingly either converted to
  Christianity or rabbinic Judaism
• The Pharisees were the group out of which
  rabbinic Judaism grew in the 2cd and 3rd C CE.
  They reestablished contact with the Mesopotamian
  Jews and their theology rejected use of Greek
  philosophy and parts of the OT written in Greek,
  not Hebrew
• Hellenistic Jewish theology was taken over,
  preserved and used by early Christian
  theologians, especially in Alexandria

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Second Century ChristianityKey Issues

• What constitutes Scripture?
• Multiple gospels (some rather bazaar) were used
  by Gnostics
• Status of OT some (Marcian) wanted to reject all
  of OT and most of NT
• What is role of philosophy is Christianity?
• How to interpret the Scriptures
• Philosophical understanding of Trinity
• Relationship with Empire
• How to deal with sporadic (but very real)
  persecutions
• Can a Christian also be a good citizen?
• Internal Church authority
• Who decides and teaches what is orthodox

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Second Century Issues Resolution

• Scripture
• Based upon the Greek OT the Septuagint which
  includes the deutero- canonical works and the 27
  Books of the NT
• St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, was among the
  first to reject other books of Scripture and to
  support these
• Philosophy
• Early Orthodox theologians used Stoicism
• Multiple levels of meaning of Scripture
• Jesus, although God, had a real body that
  suffered
• Justin Martyr developed the idea of Jesus as
  Logos
• Relation to Empire
• Christians tried to be good citizens and
  encouraged praying for welfare of Emperor
• Christians tried to explain themselves to
  intellectuals of their day in apologies (Justin
  Martyr, Tertullian)
• Viewed with suspicion by pagan neighbors because
  they were a new religion (superstition) period
  of sporadic persecution
• Authority in Church
• What the Church prays the Church believes
• Development of structure of bishops assisted by
  deacons and presbyters (elders)
• St. Ignatius of Antioch, martyred. c110 in Rome
• Apostolic succession of bishops (but NOT special
  secret knowledge)

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Third Century Issues

• Empire-wide Persecutions
• Instability in third century empire led to
  increased persecutions
• Waves of persecutions led some to apostasy then
  want to return to the Church
• How best to remember the martyrs
• Development of liturgy
• Organized, standardized prayers for Eucharist
• Organized approach to catechumens
• How to include new philosophical methods

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Third Century Resolutions

• Donatist Controversy
• Donatist, especially strong in North Africa, did
  not allow those who had apostatized to return to
  Church the Church of the pure Ministers had
  to be especially pure
• Orthodox church allowed lay and ministers to
  return to church with appropriate public penance
• Beginning of hermits in desert who wanted to
  escape civilization to lead a pure life
• Certainly Eucharist before third Century (Pauls
  Letters, Gospels, Didache) but specific practice
  developed in third century St. Hippolytus
• Rites for ordination of bishops
• Rites for instruction of catechumens and baptism
  at Easter Vigil
• New philosophical developments neo-Platonism
• Origen and how to think about Jesus and Trinity
• Augustine and how to think about evil
• Guided Christian theological developments until
  13th C in West

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Whats Next Week?

• Constantine the Great
• The Christianity goes from being persecuted to
  being the official religion of the Empire
• Model for Church-State relations for next 1000
  years
• Defining beliefs more carefully
• Councils of Nicea, Ephesus and Chalcedon
• Great theologians East and West
• Fall of Rome (in the West)
• The Church as the social and educational backbone
  of Europe
• Rise of Islam
• Charlemagne
• Breakup of Charlemagnes Empire