History of the Church Part VII

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History of the Church Part VII

• Should the church have the power of the state?
  Why? Why not?
• If Americas government fell, to whom would the
  people turn?
• How much do you need to know to be saved?
• You evangelize a remote tribe in Africa. Theyve
  been worshipping at a pagan temple. Do you tear
  down the temple and build a church? OR, do you
  remove pagan elements and change the building
  into a church?

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Loose Ends

• Athanasian Creed
• Feisty anathemas and exhaustive propositions
• Earliest documented around 500 in France
• Deals with heresies from Arianism to
  Monophysitism
• 'Es ist also gefasset, dass ich nicht weiss, ob
  seit der Apostel Zeit in der Kirche des Neuen
  Testamentes etwas Wichtigeres and Herrlicheres
  geschrieben sei' (Luther, Werke, ed. Walch, VI.
  2315 from Schaff).
• Limited use in church history even the Roman
  Catholics only read it once a year on Trinity
  Sunday

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When we last left the church,

• Ephesus wasnt a bad council, but the road to it
  and from it was troubling
• Leading up to the council
• Rome pledged to vote Nestorius a heretic if Cyril
  and the Alexandrians pledged to vote Pelagius a
  heretic
• Not only had Cyril courted the Emperor, but also
  went over his head to get the Roman theological
  heavy weights in his corner
• Antioch was happy because Cyril endorsed the full
  humanity of Jesus
• Alexandria was happy because the Council endorsed
  the full deity of Jesus
• both remained skeptical of the other, but Cyril
  brokered peace
• After the council,
• There was relative peace until Cyrils successor
  as Patriarch (mini-pope) of Alexandria,
  Dioscorus, exploited the Alexandrian / Antioch
  rift
• How?
• If Nestorianism (a regular old guy with some
  divinity sandwiched on him) was extreme Antioch
  school,what about Alexandria?
• Enter a monk from Constantinople named Eutyches

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Eutyches The Robber Synod

• Eutyches taught
• Problem(s)?
• Enter Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria
• He manipulated a group of bishops in
  Constantinople to have Eutyches condemned in
  order to bring him to Alexandria to protect him
• His goal was to then call a council and endorse
  Eutyches views in order to say in your face to
  Antioch
• In 449 Dioscorus hastily coordinated a 4th
  Council which met in Ephesus,but in order to
  assure his victory he barred the gates with
  Egyptian warrior monks!
• They killed an Alexandrian representative and
  almost burned another!
• They declared Antiochan folks to all be Nestorian
  heretics they declared Eutyches orthodox, and
  the Emperor supported the ruling!

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the crisis of 450-451

• People began to appeal to Rome, over the
  Emperors head, to call another council
• Despite Pope Leos requests, Emperor Theodosius
  II refused to allow a do over council
• Docetism was about to reign, Nicea undone, the
  gospel over turned, but then a God thing
  happened
• The Council of Chalcedon was called,

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The Capstone of Chalcedon 451

• The Empress called the council, and Pope Leos
  Tome on the person of Christ was circulated
• On October 8th, 451, 500 bishops and 18 state
  officials met, with the imperial couple in
  attendance
• The orthodox Leo and Antiochenes sat on one side,
  Dioscorus and the Alexandrians on the other
• After a days worth of discussing the Robber Synod
  two things were agreed on
• First, Dioscorus should be exiled
• Second, we need one final statement to end all
  statements
• Four Fences - without confusion, without change,
  without division, without separation which
  protects the mystery of the incarnation while
  explaining nothing
• Fallout

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451 Everyman, church, state, for himself
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The West Comes into its Own

• ContextInvasion and Conquest
• In the space of 100 years, the greatest empire
  crumbled to the ground
• Unstable politics, cultural mixtures and conflict
  abounded
• Invading Barbarian tribes burned churches,
  murdered priests,
• The Emperor in the East washed his hands of the
  West
• Meanwhile,
• Monasticism was providing an stable opportunity
  for Scripture study and community
• Leo I and the Roman bishops had shown themselves
  theological victors and stable leaders time and
  time again,Chalcedon was another notch in its
  belt
• In an uncertain, unstable world, people went
  where there was stability and certainty, i.e. the
  church.
• So the world was conferring authority to Rome by
  appealing to and trusting the authority of Rome,
  but Rome had also begun to claim authority,

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Rise of the Papacy

• Innocent I (402-417)
• surpreme bishop, the head and apex of the
  episcopate
• Used decretals to mandate discipline
• Leo I the Great (440-461)
• Appealed to Mt. 1618 to show himself in the line
  of Peter and therefore entrusted with the keys
  of the kingdom
• Becomes known as primer inter pares
• Rejected the bone thrown to him at Chalcedon 451
  which said that Rome and Constantinople were on
  equal footing
• So influential, he was sent by the Emperor as an
  envoy to intercept Attila the Hun in 452. Rome
  was not sacked because of his intervention.

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Rise of the West and East

• Pope Gelasius (492-496)
• Semi Arian
• taught Two Swords doctrine
• Biblical problems? Political Problems?

• Emperor Justinian (527) in the East
• Codified roman law to revive the Empire
• Sought to be head of church and state
• Established the Byzantine Liturgy (Christian
  calendar, processionals, etc.)
• Administered the Lords Supper!
• Created a building that would fuel the entire
  Eastern Orthodox movement,

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Solomon, I have surpassed you Justinian, upon
completing the Hagia Sophia
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Gregory the Great

• Pope Gregory the Great (540-604)
• His life?
• His works?
• Moralia
• Regula Pastoralis
• His theology?
• Semi-Augustinian
• Semi-Pelagian
• Purgatory
• His legacy?
• Boosting the Papacy
• Boosting Missions

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The Middle Ages and Missions 400-800

• Pauls missionary journeys were to a world with a
  firm language base, structure, systems of
  communication, roads,not so for folks like
  Patrick.
• The spiritual condition stays the same
  though,idolatry abounds, and just like Paul,
  these missionaries named the idols
• Just like Paul, they were subject to beatings and
  death
• As church and state fused,
• the churchs missions endeavors were both to
  change hearts and to lay the building blocks of
  civilization
• As church and state fused, the most important
  person to bring the gospel to was the one in
  charge,

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Patrick (389-461)

• Early life and conversion
• Call to Ireland
• Wrote
• Confessions
• Letter to Coroticus
• Lessons from Patrick? Rom. 9
• The Fruit of Patricks mission endeavors?
• Resources How the Irish Saved Civilization

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Augustine (596)

• Resources
• Conversion of England by the Venerable Bede his
  Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation
  (672-735)
• Textbook example of the Roman Catholic missions
  mindset synthesis
• Letter to Mellitus from Gregory the Great

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Boniface (680-754)

• Pope Gregory IIs letter to Boniface
• Bonifaces missions mindset? 1 Kings 18
• Fruit of Bonifaces labor?

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Any Questions?