-
What was the scriptural rationale behind monasticism?
- * Many Christians understood Scripture to teach a very rigorous lifestyle (mark 8:34, Matthew 10:21)
- * Example would be Tertullian�s treatment of celibacy- no sex in heaven so no sex on earth
- * Anchoritic monasticism began to be practiced in the deserts in the East (Syria, Egypt)
-
What were the three renunciations that characterized monasticism?
- * Chastity- renouncing the flesh
- * Poverty- renouncing the world
- * Obedience- renouncing the will
-
How could one characterize the life of a monk?
- * �athletes for God� or desert prayer warriors
- * Rigorous asceticism:
- o Fasting- bring one closer to God and enable one to battle with the devil. Eating every other day was common.
- o Sleep deprivation- giving into sleep was considered lazy, letting down guard. Some slept 1 hour while others tried to go 20 nights without it.
- o Solitude- moving into desert enabled person to focus on own struggle against temptation and devil
- o Prayer- goal of praying without ceasing was believed to be attainable
-
What did Antony, Pachomius, Basil the Great and Benedict of Nursia contribute to monasticism?
- * Antony
- o Began journey as a result of hearing Jesus� instruction to the young rich ruler- sell everything you have
- o Known for victory over temptation
- o Life of Antony caused many to imitate him
- * Pachomius
- o Popularized cenobite (communal) monasticism
- o Built 9 monasteries for men, 2 for women
- o Organized communities with set hours for practicing spiritual disciplines
- * Basil the Great
- o Placed monastic life under control of bishops in order to bring more order to the movement and to shun individualistic displays of piety
- * Benedict of Nursia
- o Founded a monastery at Monte Cassino, between Rome and Naples
- o Monastery was conceived as a permanent, self-contained, self supported garrison of soldiers for Christ
- o Brought modernization to the monastic life- combining spiritual/practical activities
-
What were the strengths and weaknesses of monasticism?
- * Strengths:
- o Keen insight into human nature was made possible as monks who fled the world discovered that the trouble was within
- o Monks kept scholarship alive when Barbarians conquered Roman Empire
- * Provided education, copied manuscripts of the Bible/patristic/ classical literature, and preserved and recorded history
- o Provided a place of refuge for outcasts and services to poor
- * Weaknesses
- o Distinction between higher and lower levels of Christian life became more evident and acceptable
- o Vow of chastity showed tendencies of discrediting the idea of traditional family
- o Some of the most committed Christians removed themselves from society (monastery or desert)
-
How did Rome become recognized as one of the leading areas of Christianity?
- * Natural advantages of Rome:
- o Capital of the Roman Empire- city full of people and had plenty of resources usually has the largest and wealthiest church
- o Power vacuum- remained stable in spite of instability everywhere else
- * Prestige of the Roman Church
- o Cult of martyrs began taking shape- increasingly prestigious
- o No major church rival- less concern with competition/ compromise
-
What biblical text was used to support the claims of the papacy to be superior to other church leaders?
* Matthew 16:18
-
How did Constantinople seek recognition as the new Rome?
* The council of Nicea and Constantinople declared that the �Bishop of Constantinople shall have the primacy of honor after the Bishop of Rome, because Constantinople is the New Rome.� Further enhanced the Council of Chalcedon- declared it had equal privileges with the �elder Rome.� Bishops of Rome argue that papal authority comes from the Bible, not councils.
-
What were the contributions of Leo, Gelasius, and Gregory?
- * Leo
- o Assumed civic leadership and developed church doctrine
- o Well respected because he persuaded Attila the Hun to turn back from Rome as the Barbarians were destroying everything
- o Viewed as an emperor because he stopped murder
- o Distinguished the Bishops of Rome from all others- Vicar of Peter
- o Claimed the authority of other Bishops was limited to own diocese
- o Authored the Tome- basis of Chalcedonian definition on the person of Christ
- * Gelasius
- o Instituted moral oversight over political leaders
- o Recognized two spheres of authority- spiritual and temporal (kings must submit to church in spiritual matters)
- o First Pope to receive the title � Vicar of Christ�
- * Gregory
- o Influential in establishing the prestige of the Papacy in the Middle Ages
- o Began a rebuilding process for Western Europe- collect taxes, administer relief to poor
- o Assumed military functions
- o Extended influence of church westward
- o Established much of catholic orthodoxy
-
In what ways did politics, culture, and theology reflect the divisions between the East and West?
- * Political unity
- o Rome and Constantinople were major political centers in Roman Empire
- o Emperor Theodosius the Great divided Roman Empire between his two sons- one in east and one in west
- o Spread of Islam weakened in the east as Christians were in the minority
- * Cultural unity
- o Latin- language of west, Greek- language of east
- o People of west tended to think/ write impractical terms, while people in the east were more mystical/ speculative
- * Theological unity
- o West viewed pope as head of church while east shared authority among patriarchs
- o West accused the east of Caeseropapism
- o West argued for celibacy among clergy and used unleavened bread for Eucharist- east allowed clergy to marry and used leavened bread
- o Tensions increased as missionaries converged in same location
-
How did the use of icons, filioque, and the role of Michael Cerularius serve to bring about further divisions?
- * Icons
- o Very prominent in eastern Orthodox churches
- o Controversy because icons seemed to be the same as idols- those who used them were punished by God and some were tortured by leader
- * Filioque
- o Means the son
- o Council wanted to take out the term in the Nicene Creed
- o The creed was known to churches in east and west- west believed the Holy spirit proceeds from the father and son
- * Michael
- o Appoints Photius to patriarchal office- leaned toward secular world
- o Photian Schism divides east and west
-
What was the reason behind the crusades?
- * Urban offered remission of sins for everyone who fought and or died in battle
- * Economic factors
- * Sense of adventure
-
How did they serve to further distance the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church from one another?
- * Overall were a failure
- * Jerusalem was captured by the Egyptians and remained in Muslim control until 1917
- * East and west never had the same relationship as before, crusade weakened churches in the east and assumed the superiority of the west
- * Relationships between the Christians and Muslims have been difficult
-
What issues served to undermine papal supremacy?
- * Rising nationalism- people began to see themselves loyal to a nation and reacted adversely when they believed the church was impeding their process
- * Moral decline- many priests took concubines/ engaged in illicit relationships
- * Excessive taxation- tithes, annates, purveyance, right of spoil, Peter�s pence, and other fees
- * Theological imprecision- church had major influence in beliefs about God, but no doctrinal system they could understand
-
What was the Babylonian Captivity of the church?
- * Philip IV of France and Edward 1 of England at war
- * Both men taxed their citizens in order to support war, taxing clergy became an effective way of raising support
- * Pope Boniface
- o Issued a papal order which threatened excommunication for any lay ruler who taxed the clergy
- o Further conflict with Philip of France
- * Avignon Papacy
- o Serious decline in finances led to increase in creative taxes
- o Anticlericalism became more pronounced
-
How did the papal schism come about and how was it resolved?
- * Came about:
- o Under threat of mob violence, College of Cardinals elected an Italian as Pope- immediately falls out of favor with everybody so they elected new Pope. Now there are 2
- * Countries were divided, money was raised to support both offices, and questions arose over the validity
- o Council of Pisa created 3 Popes
- * Resolved:
- o Council of Constance- each nation was granted one vote and a unanimous vote was required to settle this issue
-
How did Humanism and the invention of the printing press help the Reformation to come about?
* Humanism:o Led to the practice of textual criticism, which seeks to determine an accurate reading of ancient texts* Printing Presso Reformation ideas could be produced quickly and cheaply- easily replaced, everyone who could read was included, and books could go where people could not
-
What was the significance of the conciliar movement with respect to papal authority?
- * Canon law declared that only the pope could call a general council to decide matters of the faith.
- * Majority of cardinals from both sides determined that necessity overruled previous canon law- called council to settle the issue of who was the proper pope
-
What were the contributions of Erasmus, Wycliffe and Hus to the decline of papal supremacy?
- * Erasmus
- o Most famous Christian humanist
- o Discovered Catholic translation is false
- o Exposed doctrines taught by the church, but not found in scripture (penance= making up for sin, repentance= stop sinning)
- * Wycliffe
- o �Morning Star of the Reformation�
- o On Divine Lordship= God has complete control over creation, God lends authority to individuals, such authority can be repealed
- o On the Power of the Pope= advocated biblical authority, advocated translation of the Bible into English
- o On the Eucharist= rejected transubstantiation, priests could not withhold communion
- * Hus
- o Similar ideas to Wycliffe
- o Bible is supreme authority in the church
- o Christ is the head of the church , not the Pope
- o Summoned to the Council of Constance to defend his views, but was burned at stake for heresy
-
What was the Gelasian principle, and how did various popes attempt to implement it?
- * Recognized the pope as being above the emperor
- * Since the church must give account to God for the deeds of kings (emperors), the king must submit to the church in spiritual matters
- * Emperors function was to protect the church- church plays mediator between us and God
- * Relationship was symbolized in a coronation ceremony
-
What was significant about�Charlemagne becoming Holy Roman Emperor?
- * Pope Leo appealed to Charlemagne for help
- * He convinced Charlemagne he was innocent by placing hand on Bible and taking oath
- * Charlemagne was crowned by the Pope as Holy Roman emperor- the pope still viewed himself has having authority over emperor (future popes will continue to crown emperors)
- * This was significant since Charlemagne had conquered areas stretching from France, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, and Italy.
- * Relationship between the two soon changed
-
How did the Donation of Pepin and the Pseud-Isidorian Decretals enhance the claims of papal power?
- * Donation of Pepin= made pope a temporal ruler over the Papal States
- * Pseud-Isidorian= contained decrees from popes prior, included donation of Constantine (stated emperor had given land and domination to the pope, declared Roman Bishop had power over all Bishops)
-
What did the practices of lay investiture and simony suggest about the nature of politics in the church during the middle ages?
- * Lay investiture= Bishop knelt before the emperor, promised him loyalty, and received in turn a symbol of authority
- * Simony= buying and selling of church offices
- * Having power is not cheap
-
What was the significance of the interdict?
* Interdict was the excommunication of an entire nation- spiritual weapon
-
Be Familiar with the Following:
- Edict of Milan- Letter signed by emperors Constantine and Licinius that proclaimed religious toleration in the Roman Empire
- Julian the Apostate- Roman Emperor, philosopher, and Greek writer, attempted to revive religious practices at the cost of Christianity
- �All truth is God�s truth wherever it may be found�-
- �What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?�-
- Theodosius- last emperor to rule over both the eastern and western halves of the Roman Empire
- On first principles-
- Hexapala- six-fold Bible
- Diatesseron- a harmony of the four Gospels that was long the only life of Jesus�
- Easter Letter of Athanasius- The first list of "canonical" books that names the same twenty-seven writings found in our New Testament
- Tritheism- belief in three distinct gods
- Modalism- the unorthodox belief that God is one person who has revealed himself in 3 forms
- Docetism- the belief that Jesus Christ did not have a physical body/ rather an illusion
- Hermetic monasticism- individual
- Cenobite monasticism- communal= men and women, established hours of spiritual disciplines
- Life of Antony- caused many to imitate Antony, enrollment in citizenship in heaven/ sell everything (Popularized by Athansius)
- Rule of St. Benedict- brought modernization to the monastic life, combining spiritual and practical activities
- Augustine- Monk who brought Christianity to England
- Patrick- introduced monasticism to Celtic lands (Ireland)
- Boniface- established churches in medieval Germany
- Clovis-
- Jerome- dreamed he was at final judgment, �You are a follower of Cicero, not of Christ�/ embraced monastic lifestyle/ responsible for translation of Bible into Latin
- Concordat of Worms- brought an end to lay investure. Bishops were elected by clergy in presence of the monarch. Ceremony would distinguish between spiritual/ temporal symbols
- Unum Sanctum- �it is altogether necessary to salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman pontiff�
- Sacrosancta- declared that primary authority of the church resides in councils
- Frequens- called for frequent councils at appointed times in the future
|
|