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History Of Christianity

Long, draw the history of Christianity was a difficult undertaking. Indeed, it was long confined to the apology of the Church dominant in the geopolitical context in which the candidate stood historian , we know that no doctrinal unity existed in early Christianity, and since Adolf von Harnack , the dogma creates the schism and the heresy and orthodoxy are system. Thus, the history of Christianity is a long series of fractures, but if its composition has often noted the ex post facto justification and anachronistic - unrelated to a strict search for the restitution of facts - historical method and the evolution of disciplines such as science of religion can now identify with the vicissitudes and illuminate the issues that led to its development.

Summary

Christianity from the earliest times

Christianity was born of theological controversies .

theological controversies of the 1st to 4th century

Mother of God ( ), mosaic in Hagia Sophia , Istanbul.

Separation from Judaism

Historians recent past thirty years instead say that no complete separation and decisive took place until the fourth century . For this part, you can see in detail how the debate arises in the special section the historical debate in the traditional Christian interpretation, Christianity becomes a religion separate from Judaism when Paul says that faith comes before the Mosaic law , and this assertion does not stand up to historical analysis , , . Those who share this point of view (reflected in the Gospel according to John , dating from the late first century, and which differs from the Synoptic Gospels by pronouncements anti-Jewish) face at once:

  • in rabbinic Judaism. It appears through the school Jamnia. Some wise to settle Jamnia after the First Jewish-Roman War and the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 ). They define practices that Judaism survives despite the destruction of the temple, in particular, the 613 commandments, designed to list the temple at the heart of man. "Around the year 90 , the Mishnah attests to a critique of other movements born of Judaism do not observe the strict Halacha in terms of " heresy " . Rabbinic Judaism is the wellspring of Judaism "modern"
  • the Judeo-Christians, who will give birth to Ebionism , even violently attacked by Origen and Irenaeus in the second century. The Ebionites who saw Jesus as " Messiah "but not the" Son of God "will be rejected by both Jews and Christians.

Question Gnostic

The first centuries of Christianity were a period of development theological , sifting through some Greek notions of rationalism to thinning. If we stick to Irenaeus of Lyons , The Gnosticism is an umbrella term for a series of currents of thought which, between 80 and 150, develop a design esoteric Christianity. According to the current knowledge is restricted to elected officials about the nature of evil and the means of escape. The Gnostics are dualists that the material world is alien to God and was created by lower powers. These beliefs are accompanied by trends or to the ascetic , or debauchery, which reflect both the same contempt for the material world. Although the idea of redemption is central, the redeemer is not necessarily Christ, given their reluctance of the material world. Some teach that Christ is a pure mind and its embodiment is an optical illusion and appearance (Greek Dokes) called This course: Docetism (second century). Redemption is limited to elected a divine spark resides. One of the most popular doctrines is the dualism of Marcion (second century), which distinguishes the God of the Jews of the Father of Jesus, and therefore rejects the Old Testament. Another splinter group formed around Montanus in the second century. A native of Phrygia , Montanus said that the Paraclete was speaking through him. The Montanism will experience some success in Asia Minor.

These doctrines create debate within the Christian communities and encourage theological study by the so-called afterwards the Fathers of the Church to oppose these trends and develop rebuttals of these doctrines. They do it in several ways:

  • insisting, as Ignatius of Antioch , on the role of the bishop, representative of God on earth under the apostolic succession , so it creates an ecclesiastical power.
  • developing a Canon of the New Testament that is to say a body of authoritative texts. On the Gospels, was eventually agree on four texts: the three synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) and that of John, staunchly defended by Irenaeus of Lyons. The Valentinians recognize in others, like the Gospel of Thomas.
  • developing over the councils, "a symbol of faith", that is to say a short essay that summarizes what to believe , and can build an orthodoxy in demarcation of with heterodoxy (Irenaeus of Lyons and Tertullian ).

Development of a particular theology

The 4th and 5th century, these debates, which relate to the nature of Jesus and the Trinity , the material or spiritual meaning of the Incarnation, from the 4th century, instead of the Virgin Mary , the doctrine of hello (the subject of soteriology ), etc.. are all the more violent they illustrate the rivalry between the great religious metropolis of the eastern part of the Roman Empire ( Alexandria , Antioch and Constantinople ) and personal rivalries.

In the 4th century CE, the Arianism is the first of these conflicts is an extension to the limits of the known world. Condemned at Nicaea I, it will be disseminated and maintained in the barbarian kingdoms , until their conversion to Catholicism , which was completed in the seventh century.

The Pelagianism was condemned by the Council of Ephesus in 431 and opposed by Augustine of Hippo , Manichean converted permanently influenced the theological debates: the doctrine that exalts human freedom in the role of grace (Christian) , is heart of the controversy Jansenists in the seventeenth century.

Churches of the two and three councils

Christological Councils

Main article: Catholic Faith.

The 7 Councils mentioned above, Christological council for the first 5 are recognized as ecumenical. ie they are recognized by both Catholics and Orthodox in which the separation will come much later. The councils operate like a court devantlequel are considered a man and his doctrine.

In 325 at Nicaea, when I first Council of Nicaea , called at the initiative of Emperor Constantine , the council condemned Arius, a priest of Alexandria. He said the Son "consubstantial (homoousios) with the Father." The bishops who refuse to sign are deposited.

Some son and successor of Constantine positions will significantly Arian ( Constantius II , Valens. Under Emperor Theodosius I that I first Council of Constantinople ( 381 ) resolved in favor of the theses of Nicaea , adding the consubstantiality of Spirit and saying the three people.

Nestorius , Patriarch of Constantinople (421), trained at the School of Antioch , said the distinction between human nature and divine nature of Christ, and deny the proposal of Cyril to give Mary the title Theotokos ("Mother God ") he sees in her the mother of a man:" I refuse to see God formed in the womb of a woman! "Qu'elel designs but is" Mother of Christ ", ie Christotokos." This is a position dual , opposed the school of Alexandria represented by Cyril. The call of the Council of Ephesus (431) must the tie. At first, Cyril advantage of the absence of supporters of Nestorius to convict him. When supporters of Nestorius arrived in Ephesus, they condemned Cyril. Both parties intrigued with the Emperor Theodosius II and maintain constant stirring.

After Ephesus , in protest of the theses of Nicea, some theologians develop the Alexandrian mononergisme , represented by the monk Eutyches a solution to the question of the nature of Christ there are two natures but one will (or energy in the lexicon of the time) , that of God. Accused of heresy , he maintains that Christ has only one nature ( physis ) human. After the Incarnation , the divine nature of Christ would have absorbed his human nature. This is reflected in the miaphysisme of the apostolic church armnienne.Ce new conflict provokes the calling of a second Council of Ephesus (449). Under pressure from the Emperor Theodosius II , Eutyches was rehabilitated. This episode is described by Pope Leo of Rome at Ephesus because of banditry qe Western theologians had not been asked . The 2nd Council of Ephesus is only recognized by the Eastern churches. It marks the beginning of the break between Eastern Christianity and Western Christianity .

On the death of Theodosius, Pope gets the new emperor, Marcian holding the Council of Chalcedon (451). This council will be one of the largest in the history of Christianity in that it makes the trinity. Participants retain the form of a single person and two natures, definition immediately challenged.

Schisms

Some councils produce schisms in their outcome.

Until the Arab conquest , the imperial policy will vary between repression against opponents of theses Chalcedonian and various attempts to accommodate theology: the Henoticon the mononergisme or monothelitism. Under Emperor Justinian , the repression of Monophysite leads to the formation of non-Chalcedonian Churches , also known as " the three councils , with a hierarchy parallel to that of the official church: the Syrian Orthodox Church , also known as Jacobite Church Syria, the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt, which comprise the majority of the faithful, or the Armenian Apostolic Church. Remains however a Chalcedonian Church, called " Melkite "(from the Syriac melek, "king").

From the 11th century until the 17th century, the Roman Catholic churches begin a reconquest of 2 and 3 councils. These are the Uniate churches who profess Roman Trinitarian theology but retain a certain extent, the liturgy and paramenter their churches of origin. Some of these communities and still refuses the union's witnesses Eastern Christianity former.


The iconoclast crisis

The iconoclastic controversy is the last major theological controversy. It takes place in the High Middle Ages

The seventh century, the iconoclasm is a reaction to the worship of images (or " icons "). This worship is manifested in various ways, the illumination of the icon to the prostration, to the belief that the icon has a character acting by itself. The reasons for the crisis are not clear. Reliance was among others the influence of Judaism and Islam. The first steps are taken in Iconoclastic 725 by Emperor Leo III. He replaces Patriarch Germanos by an iconoclast, Anastase. Initially, there is no persecution. Leo's successor, Emperor Constantine V Copronymus, convened a council of iconoclasm which the official doctrine of the Eastern Empire. He faces opposition from the monks who are iconodules (followers of the cult of images). Under Empress Irene reaction takes place: in 786-87, a new council reversed the trend and restored the worship of images. The religious hierarchy follows the imperial will. In 815 , another emperor, Leo V the Armenian, amounts to iconoclasm. He faces strong opposition led by Theodore the Stoudiote. Upon the death of Emperor Theophilus in 845 , the worship of images is finally restored.


Christian Literature

After the death of witnesses, followers of the Jesus movement feel the need to write their understandings of the movement.

Early Christians stories

The Apostle Paul plays an important role in the development of Christianity. Under the name of Saul, the Jew born in Tarsus would first persecuted the Jesus movement and then experienced a dramatic conversion after Christ appeared to him was on the road to Damascus. He spends the rest of his life to proselytizing. Initially, the teaching of Jesus that is circulated within the Jewish community, then, following difficulties with the heads of synagogues , teaching is oriented towards non-Jews, Pagans , also called " Gentiles. " Among these, there is numerous, sensitive way of Judaism , they are called God-fearing, but do not cross, for the most part, no conversion, especially that of the circumcision . The issue is debated at a meeting held in Jerusalem around AD 50 retrospectively called " Council of Jerusalem. " It is endorsed as proselytes "Christians" will not have to first go through a conversion to Judaism. That decision instructs universalistic vocation of this heresy becoming Christianity.

Much of this literature takes the form of Epistles which are treated short of a moral or philosophical, which the authors are not always guaranteed .

Creation of the Biblical canon

Main article: Canon (Bible).

Contemporary sources for this period are few. The Acts of the Apostles (dated for years 80-90) are intended to be the movement's history during the first years after the death of Christ. However, their relevance is questioned by some theologians and are easily exploited by historians. The Gospels and the letters of St. Paul of Tarsus (dated 50s) are the earliest records of Christianity, which provide indirect indications of trends that run through early Christianity. The early Christians - the word did not exist - are not seen in Judea as anything but one of many sects within Judaism at the turn of the Christian era, the most important are the Pharisees , the Sadducees , the Zealots and the Essenes.


The Acts of the Apostles and the letters of St. Paul suggest a number of divisions within the first community of Jerusalem and the cons of Antioch, but are hardly prolific. It is thus a matter of contention between two currents of Judeo-Christianity : the "Hellenists" and "Hebrews" (from Palestine ), which is the subject of controversy among specialists.

Literature early Christian centuries

For the period after the disappearance of the apostles, are the Apostolic Fathers are a source, that must have a critical approach . This is the beginning of literature patristic (90-160 AD.). These texts, non- canonical , are concerned with education and preaching.

Faced with competition, centrifugal currents, but also skepticism pagan, Christianity develops a literature

Irenaeus wrote Against Heresies, "in which he attacked the Gnostics (see above). There is unity of the Old and New Testament and an optimistic vision of the fall of Adam and Eve, redeemed by Christ's sacrifice.

Origen laid the foundations of hermeneutics in Christian setting, the first by Henri de Lubac , the theory of the four senses , and Lectio Divina , which will subsequently be developed and widely practiced throughout the Middle Ages , especially in twelfth century , and the beginnings of the Renaissance.


Church agencies

In early 4EM century, Christians are few and diffuse together in communities. Christian communities are called to "churches" (Greek Ekklesia = assembly). They are really organized in the Middle East.

"Four sectors have many bishops, which assumes a priori a more advanced Christianity: Asia Minor, with 98 to 102 bishops, the block-Pa Syria Lestine, with 75 bishops, Egypt, with between 70 and 100 bishops, and on top of North Africa, which then counts between 200 and 250 bishops. "( Yves Moderan Status of the Emperor

From Constantine to Justinian, he was president of the churches .

Its position in the Church is clearly defined by Paul Veyne . Between the time Consantinople changes to become Byzantium , the person acquires a sacred character and and since Constantine I is "equal to the apostles" (isapostolos). It is not a priest, but yet, as priest, he entered the Holy of Holies, behind the iconostasis , and communion under both species.

The Emperor enforces the laws of the Church's code of Theodosius II and Justinian 's laws are intent elect civil law including the dogmatic. When the need arises, he will convene the ecumenical councils. In principle, the Patriarch, as head of the Church, is also an emanation of God. In practice, the emperor appointed the patriarch as he sees fit, although in theory it chooses from a list submitted to it. The patriarch chosen may even be a layman, as Photios I of Constantinople , who receives disaster all orders. During the first centuries of the empire, the emperor intervenes in matters of dogma. This intervention will culminate during the iconoclastic crisis (see below). Subsequently a delicate balance is established between the emperor and the patriarch. It should in theory harmony reign among them (as defined by the "Epanagog" of Basil I ) for the welfare of the State and the Church. The emperor is difficult to cross certain moral boundaries. We can give an example the fourth marriage of Leo VI , who caused a scandal. The patriarch Nicolas Mystikos refuses then the emperor came to St. Sophia. Although he forced to abdicate the patriarch, Leon will do penance. During the last centuries of the Empire, the rulers who want to move closer to Rome (see below) face opposition from the Church.

Metropolitans and popes

If, theoretically, all the bishops are on the same footing, some are gradually gaining more importance because of the importance of the first owners of the seat, this weight is not necessarily related to the place of the diocese in the administrative structure of the Roman Empire. On top of this hierarchy are five seats will be called the patriarchs from the reign of Justinian.

In the West, the direction of the first Christian communities of Rome is of type long synod and the rule of the Bishop of Rome is very progressive and it is gaining importance in the late fourth century with Leo 1 and all the powers it enjoys today in the West is acquired at the 9th century under Charlemagne , with Leo III in 800 , when its primacy of honor becomes a legal rule for the western part of empire.

Callistus I will first be referred to as the " Pope "like what was done previously for the patriarch of Alexandria . The Roman Patriarch Leo I oppose the canon 28 of Chalcedon (451) which made Rome the second siege of the Church of Constantinople equal. These claims of the Pope of Rome will be poorly accepted by the Eastern Churches, especially when it will intervene in doctrinal matters.

In the East, the Council of Nicaea (325) recognizes two major sites: Antioch and Alexandria , and with few restrictions on Jerusalem. The Council of Constantinople (381), and especially the Council of Chalcedon (451), to give Constantinople the same privileges that Rome and the second after it. Conflict between patriarchy to be much in the controversies rend the Church.

Besides the big five seats, there will be outside the borders of the Roman Empire, national churches, " autocephalous "(Armenia, Georgia, Persia).

the council as an instrument of governance

All bishops are part of the same Church which calls itself the Catholic communion and in the same faith. To ensure that unity of faith, we have implemented a specific institution: the council is to say a meeting of bishops. From the fourth century, the emperor convened general councils, some of which are described as ecumenical ("the whole earth"). As their decisions are infallible and have a universal authority, they may not be reviewed or corrected.

Local councils

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Councils and Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate

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Distribution in the Roman world

Religious Policy of the Roman emperors

The religious context of the 1st to 4th century

Christianity was not the only religion seeking and finding followers in the first century. Contemporary historians of the Roman world underscore the interest felt by the Romans to the mystery religions or mystery cults ; this interest beginning in the last century of the Roman Republic and developing at the time of the Empire Roman. Roman authors themselves, Livy , for example, tell the import "foreign gods" during difficult times in the Roman Empire. Religions that have the most success are the Mithraism , widespread among soldiers because of the relationship with death that he developed and Manichaeism. Christians considered the Manichean as particularly dangerous under the influence of Augustine of Hippo , who had been a Manichean in his youth the energy he devoted to the fight shows that this competition was still alive at the end of the fourth century.

The Jews also received the converted, and in some cases, appeared actively proselyte . Acts of the Apostles The New Testament refer to a class of persons designated under the name of God-fearing they think I was about to convert, the more often it is assumed that these Gentiles which failed were not subjected to circumcision, they are hesitant before a serious operation for adults under conditions of asepsis at the time, either because they do not want to go that far . Philo of Alexandria refers explicitly the duty of Jews to welcome converts. It is not certain that the Judaism of the late first century sees "Nazoreans" as anything other than a trend, despite their desire to dissociate themselves , .

Integration in the religious landscape of the empire

Until the early fourth century, Christianity is experiencing vibrations of peace, especially under the reign of Gallienus , and persecution , especially under the reign of Diocletian. These persecutions mark the minds of Christians so that the beginning of his reign ( 284 ) will be until the sixth century the early Christian era, known as the "Era of Martyrs" or "Diocletian". In 312 , came to power, Constantine I adopted an attitude of tolerance that his colleague Licinius disagrees. After the victory of Constantine over Licinus, it displays a preference more marked for Christianity. It takes physical measures (donating money, land, etc..), But also laws, to include Christians in the structure of the empire (eg, elevation of Sunday, the day the sun, the number of holidays). It is involved in religious disputes, convening of councils (see below), by banning animal sacrifices , and founding the city of Constantinople , the capital replaces Christian Rome, still largely pagan at that time. It moves against the pagan institutions, but does not remove freedom of worship. At his death in 337, he converted to Christianity, a "personal whim" by Paul Veyne , becoming the first Christian Roman emperor. At that time, although Christianity was already established in urban affluent, 90% of Roman citizens , including Senators, were pagans or belonged to other times, like other subjects of the Empire although there were so large regional disparities in the distribution of Christian communities .

Except the short interlude of the Emperor Julian (361-363), nephew of Constantine, who wants to return to paganism without making an obligation , its successors are all Christians. It was under Gratian and Theodosius I (380-395) that the Catholic Church actually becomes a state religion. They enact a first series of edicts against "heretics" who disagree with the pagan-Christian syncretism created under Constantine. Under the influence of Ambrose , bishop of Milan, Theodosius prohibited all forms of pagan worship ( 392 ) and imposes Catholicism.

Geographic distribution

Each church assumes any apostle founder.

Christianity in Egypt

Marc , who suffered martyrdom in Alexandria in the first century would be the origins of the Church of Egypt. It is likely that a Christian community existed there around 50 AD. AD If at first, it was certainly composed of Jews, many in Egypt , the second century it became Greek after the annihilation of the Jewish community of Alexandria in 115 - 117. Christians have to face the competition of Gnosticism and Manichaeism. The orthodoxy is defended by Didascalia , an important school. Influenced by Neoplatonism , it counts among its members Clement of Alexandria and Origen (185-253), which established the doctrine of lectio divina and four senses of Scripture. As in North Africa, the Church of Egypt was torn by conflicts that followed the persecution of Diocletian in the early fourth century. The schism is caused by the Bishop of Meletius Lycopolis , which opposes the reinstatement of Christians who have renounced their faith during the persecution.

After the accession of Emperor Constantine , the Church of Egypt prospers. It will play an important role in the Christological controversies of the Fourth to sixth century , thanks to the strong personalities of some bishops of Alexandria, such that Athanasius and Cyril.

Monasticism

Monasticism was born in Egypt, the most probable refugee communities in the desert at the time of the persecution of Diocletian. Peter of Alexandria is carving a reputation of resistance . Egypt is strongly influenced by monasticism , Greek monachos ("solitary", "unmarried"). Some Christians take refuge in the "wilderness" to escape the world but also to oppose the power of local potentates as Simeon Stylites (392-459), who lived several decades in a column in Syria. Gradually, some of them, such that Antoine ( 251 - 356 ?), the disciples gather around them, and form communities of semi- hermits. Tabennesis of Pachomius ( 286 - 346 ) founded communities cenobites (Greek koinos bios , "common life"), with a higher than their head. These monks, often fanatical, will play a large role in the fight against paganism , one of the most notorious episodes was the murder of the philosopher Hypatia ( 415 ).

In the 8th century in the East, the real victors of the iconoclastic crisis are the monks, who have championed the images. From the 11th to the 13th century, they form a real party and do not hesitate to challenge the authority of the state. As they travel a lot (monks' gyrovagues "), they exert a great influence on public opinion. By their asceticism and their contempt for the world, they are an ideal life for the people and are considered the ultimate mediators with God, and among them, the "innocent" or "idiot" has the most direct contact with God. They helped to make it look anti-intellectual in Byzantine Christianity. The monks are more respected than the prestige of the secular clergy is low. During the last centuries of Byzantium, the patriarchs are also often recruited from among the monks.

Main article: swidden.

In the XIth century, monasticism in the West is spreading with the rule of Benedict of Aniane and the founding of the Order of Cluny , where he takes a completely different character to the thirteenth century parir

Christianity in North Africa

Main article: Religion in Africa.

Although Christianity is certainly implanted early in North Africa (that is, in Roman times, mainly present Tunisia and the region of Constantine in Algeria, with prestigious cultural center as Carthage ), we not have reliable information that from the late second century , with Tertullian and Cyprian , the first two Latin Fathers. The African Church of the early centuries played an important role in the life and development of Western Christianity the Latin, according to historian Claude Lepelley .

The presence of 71 bishops at the Council of Carthage in 216 showing the location of ancient Christianity in this region .

In all his writings, Tertullian stands in direct opposition to the pagan Roman culture and is the glorification of martyrdom. In 180 , the Acts of the martyrs scillitains describe the history of twelve martyrs of Scilla. Tertullian himself relates in the Acts of the martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas a famous episode of persecution in North Africa. Many Christians choose to be so apostate to save their lives. During the persecution of Decius (250), many African Christians "lapsi" (apostates), wish to return within the Church. Bishop Cyprian , a supporter of reconciliation after penance , faces a more relaxed group. He finds an ally with the Pope Cornelius , opponent Novatian which opposes any reconciliation. The middle road wins, and the position of Novatian holy pope by three Italian bishops supporters of intransigence, is condemned as schismatic.

Western Europe: evangelization of peoples called "barbarians"

Goths and Germanic peoples were converted by the Arian bishop Ulfilla commissioned by Constantine. Arianism was in fact the current chrien in which Constantine was baptized on his deathbed. He ignored his son Telever in this religion .

On the territory of the former Western Roman Empire , which disappears in 476, have installed various Germanic peoples. almost all are Christians, current Arian , this shows the limited scope of the conviction for heresy pronounced Council of Nicaea (325). Among these peoples are the Vandals in North Africa, the Visigoths in Spain and southern France, the Ostrogoths in Italy or the Burgundians . Arianism was used including a source of identity to these people, trying to avoid merging with the Romans, well underway by the fact that the son of chiefs were removed confequently and educated in Rome. The episode Arminius remained famous . They live more or less harmoniously with the local Catholic population. For cons, the Franks , who settled in northern Gaul and the Anglo-Saxons who invaded Britain were pagan. Conversion of barbarian Europe, between the fifth and the eighth century, is most often using subtle constraints rather than massive persecution, despite a few episodes of persecution of Jews , including Spain , or baptisms forced, like those made by Charlemagne .

The Vandals

The situation is tense in North Africa where the Vandals, who were Arians, who dominate the local Christians are Trinitarians. This will have important political consequences. The Vandals, isolated from the rest of the population will quickly defeated when the reconquest of North Africa by the Emperor Justinian.

The Ostrogoths

The Ostrogoths, led by their king Theodoric , settled in Italy in 489. Theodoric, Arian built churches (some of which still exist in Ravenna ). The Ostrogoths are anxious to preserve their national identity. They do not mingle with local people and their religion contributes. Theodoric still gives its protection to Catholicism. However, he opposed the excesses of proselytizing , condemning the bishop of Ravenna to pay a fine when he learns that the city's Jews were forced into baptism . The Ostrogoths disappear from Italy, following the Byzantine reconquest.

The Visigoths

The policy of the Visigoths in respect of the Trinitarians, is generally quite tolerant. Alaric II faces civil unrest in the early sixth century, reproaching her Catholic subjects to adhere to Arianism . During the reign of Leovigild (568-586), the situation is more tense. King hopes to unify Spain under the banner of Arianism and Trinitarian fontt the subject of many annoyances. His successor Reccared made the opposite choice. He converted to Catholicism ( Council of Toledo in 589 ). The Spanish Church now maintains close links with royalty. In 615, King Sisebut orders on pain of death baptism of all Jews . The Spanish then immersed for a century in the religious troubles . In 694, EGIC reduced to slavery all the Jews of his kingdom, and awarded custody to the landowners (the possessor ) . The latter, in fact, are important channels for the spread of Christianity, using economic coercion to obtain conversions .

The Franks

The situation is quite different in the north of Gaul. The Franks established there are pagans. Under the influence of Remi , bishop of Reims , their king Clovis converted to Catholicism in 496 or 506. Clovis became the first barbarian king of the ancient Catholic Western Roman Empire. This event has certainly contributed to the success of the Frankish kingdom in its fight against the other barbarian kingdoms of Gaul. In 507 , Clovis won the support of the aristocracy Gallo-Roman times to chase the Arian Visigoths in southern Gaul. Like the Christian Roman emperors, he convened a synod of bishops of Gaul ( 511 ). His son, Childebert I , ordered the destruction of about 540 idols , but do not address directly the idolaters themselves . A century later, King Dagobert tent, about 633, to convert Jews by force, but the company, unpopular, unsuccessful . Herstal Pepin and Charles Martel constrain their new subjects, after the conquest of Friesland between 690 and 730, to convert .

Development outside the Roman world

Christianity was not confined to the Mediterranean and its hinterlands. It has spread wherever there are areas of diaspora (Greek word for dispersion) Jewish, among others in Mesopotamia outside the Roman Empire, where the population lived in captivity since Babylon , a town where grew much of the Talmud.

Christianity in Persia in the Sasanian Empire

Main article: Church of Persia.

Christianity spread in Persia from the second century. He runs up against a national religion, the Zoroastrianism Zoroastrian. Christians first appeared as likely to provide support to the Roman Empire and are persecuted. The monastery Mor Mattay , Rite Syrian Orthodox , is well founded in the fourth century. A synod of the Persian Church in 424 decreed its independence from the Church of Antioch , which allows the Persian Christians no longer appear as agents of the Roman Empire , the main opponent of the Sassanid. In the late fifth century, the Church of Persia passes Nestorianism , whose theses were condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431. But opponents of Nestorianism, the Monophysite , also held heretical, is also present in Persia, the Syrian Orthodox Church will be implanted with a special jurisdiction over these territories, which extend into Azerbaijan and Afghanistan today, the Maphrianat of the East.

Christianity in Armenia

The early history of Christianity in Armenia based on legendary bases: the country was evangelized by Simon Bartholomew and Thaddeus. We are on safer ground in the fourth century. The Roman emperor Diocletian installs Tiridates IV (298-330) on the throne of Armenia. The king is a pagan, but a preacher, the Illuminator Gregory I , persuaded him to make Armenia the first officially Christian state (the Edict of Milan (313) is not an edict of tolerance).

Following the partition of Armenia, under Theodosius I , and Shapur II , between the Roman Empire and Sassanid Persia (387), most of the country into the orbit of Zoroastrianism Persian, is threatened by acculturation. Yet at this time that the monk Mesrob Mashtots created the Armenian alphabet: the Bible is translated into Armenian. The Persian king Yazdegerd II (438-457) and his successors tried to forcibly convert the Armenians to Zoroastrianism, but without success . His pope takes the title of Catholicos (506).

Christianity in Ethiopia

Main article: Christianity in Ethiopia.

Ethiopian Christianity would have been incurred with the conversion of King Ezana of Axum by St. Frumence (or Frumentios) in the fourth century. Captured and enslaved during a trip, he was released by the king and Athanasius of Alexandria / A> it the first bishop of the country. Ezana's successors would be returned to paganism, and only the late fifth century that Christianity was firmly established in Ethiopia. The country has undoubtedly been evangelized by missionaries Monophysite : his church is non-Chalcedonian and its head appointed by the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria. It was adopted as a liturgical language the Ge'ez , the language of the kingdom of Aksum.

Christianity in the Far East

Doctrine

Main article: Ong Li M'H.

Nestorianism spread in the East, as adopted by the Church of Persia , then by the East Syrian Church of Malabar in India , and various churches called " of the two councils , as well as in China during the reign of Taizong and in Mongolia from the seventh century. The Chinese Nestorians were persecuted during the reign of Wuzong (en). It also diffused into the Mongol Empire , being practiced by several princesses of the family of Genghis Khan ( Sorgaqtani , wife of Tolui or Doqouz Khatun , wife of Hleg ).

Dissemination

Transported along the Silk Road , the Nestorianism reached China in the seventh century , under Emperor Taizong , before being subject, as with other religions , to persecution in the ninth century. It also extends into India ( Malabar Church ), who was influenced by Christianity from the first century , giving rise to the Christians of St. Thomas. When the Portuguese arrived in Malabar in 1498 , he established courts of the Inquisition to bring these heretics in the right way.

Eastern churches of Kerala ( Christian Thomas )
Western Syriac Eastern Syriac
Anglican Eastern Orthodox Eastern Catholics Assyrians
Malankara Mar Thoma Church Malabar Independent Church Malankara Orthodox Church Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church- Syro-Malankara Catholic Church Syro-Malabar Catholic Church Orthodox Church of Malabar

Late Antiquity: developing the concept of East / West

Main article: Late Antiquity.

The division of the Roman Empire ( 395 ) and the disappearance of the Western Roman Empire ( 476 ) under the onslaught of barbarian invasions , will have consequences for the progressive removal of the Christian East and West and the claim just as progressive an affirmation of the papacy in the former Western Roman Empire, where there is more supreme temporal authority. These joints chronology based on the crises of the Roman Empire are not very relevant to the history of Christianity, unless one wants to be confined to the history of the Roman Catholic church and suggest that it succeeds and replaces the Western Roman Empire as would attest to the Donation of Constantine document that Lorenzo Valla established in the 14th century it was a fake.

During the late antiquity , it is best to consider how Western Christianity affirms a face Byzantine Christianity, which eventually became a Christian East.

  • The seed is thrown during the period of dogmatization mentioned above with the establishment of churches on 2 and 3 councils which mark their rejection of 3rd and 4th councils (eg the Coptic Church in Egypt).
  • the fault is created at the Second Council of Ephesus which meets the Eastern theologians, Westerners have not been invited. On the one hand, it reflected pretty accurately the state of development of theology and , on the other hand, this lack of diplomacy led to the non-recognition of the council by the Western church in phase assertion since the first Leo the Great.
  • schism occurs in 1054. The Churches of the East, under the authority of Byzantium became Constantinople recognize themselves and is commonly referred to as the " Orthodox Church "or the" Churches of the seven councils , mostly to the patriarchate of Constantinople. Other Oriental Churches, called the Pentarchy, will be treated separately.

Creation of the West

The history of relations between the Western Church and Eastern Churches will become chaotic and reflect the context of personal rivalries and seats. The fifth to the eleventh century, is born, from Ireland to Poland, and Sweden to Italy, a new civilization. Spurred by Franks Creation of the East

In the ninth century , the first major problem revolves around the appointment of the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Emperor Michael III laid the Patriarch Ignatius , and replaced by Photius. Pope Nicolas I , who saw an opportunity to intervene in the affairs of Constantinople , eventually refusing to acknowledge Photius: the "schism of Photius." It evokes, for the first time, the question of " filioque "(an addition of Charlemagne the Nicene-Constantinople ). Although the pope is to be reconciled and Photius, the issue remains unresolved.

rivalry between Eastern Christianity and Western

Main articles: Uniate churches and Diet of Worms.

It was again raised at the Great Schism of the East ( 1054 ): the papal legate Hubert Moyenmoutier and the Patriarch of Constantinople Michael Cerularius s'excommunient another. Things take a more serious turn during the Crusades , interspersed with a multitude of incidents between the "Latins" and "Greeks".

Crusades

Main article: Crusade.

In 1204, the sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders will use the break. On two occasions, the Second Council of Lyons in 1276 and the Council of Florence in 1439 , to obtain the support of Western armies against the Muslim conquest, the Byzantine emperors recognize the primacy of the Pope of Rome, but disavowed by the hierarchy what we can now call the Orthodox Church. After the fall of the Eastern Empire, the XIth to the XVth century , the Western Church has always insisted that to win back small churches so to isolate the Orthodox churches of Pentarchy.

Moreover, the emergence of Islam in the seventh century and its gradual expansion will compete with Christianity on certain lands. Thus, the passage of a large portion of Christians in the Middle East under Muslim domination (seventh century), following the first Arab-Byzantine wars , profoundly changed the landscape of Eastern Christianity. Furthermore, Maghreb and the Visigoth Spain , renamed Al-Andalus , fall under the influence of Islam.

Emperors, patriarchs and monks in Constantinople

The Byzantine Empire saw their image of the heavenly kingdom and in their sovereign emperor's image of heaven. It is the "lieutenant of God," and it is from Him that derives its power (Deo gratia). The coronation in St. Sophia by the Patriarch of Constantinople symbolizes the divine sanction. Even in cases of theft clearest, the patriarch has never denied. This design has meant that the emperor is the only lawful sovereign of the earthly city. In the name of this design that the Byzantine emperors always considered any other fiercely Christian ruler as their subject. In XIV century , when the empire goes to a close, the patriarch of Constantinople, reminded the Grand Duke of Moscow , which sees itself more as submitted to the emperor, that "unique is the universal emperor."

Conversion of the Slavs

In the sixth century , the peninsula of the Balkans is invaded by tribes Slavic pagan. The re-Christianization is accomplished in several stages and is accompanied by friction with the Western Church.

Cyril and Methodius

In 862 , Rostislav , Prince of Great Moravia , asked Byzantium to send priests to form a local church. Patriarch Photius sent her two brothers Cyril and Methodius , from Thessaloniki and knowing the Slavic world. Cyril developed the first Slavic alphabet, the Glagolitic. Their mission is a success. If, initially, they are supported by the pope, they face opposition from supporters of the use of "three languages" (which admit only the Greek, Latin and Hebrew as a liturgical language) and especially the hostility of the French bishops, who do not want the region to escape the political influence of Germany. After their death, their successors will be expelled from Great Moravia.

The Bulgarians , hereditary enemies of the Byzantines, were converted at the same time. In 866 the Bulgarian Khan Boris ( 852 - 889 ) is called, resulting in the conversion of all the Bulgarian people. Bulgaria hesitated at first between Rome and Constantinople. Constantinople is who wins and Bulgaria is still currently one of the Orthodox world. It's the same for a number of other Slavic principalities, corresponding roughly to the Serbs today. The adoption of Christianity is consistent with that of the Byzantine civilization. So at this time that starts in the Balkans a new frontier: the world between the Orthodox and the Catholic world.

Another important event is the conversion of Russia to Christianity. Princess Olga, sister of the Prince of Kiev ( Rus ) Igor had already converted in the mid- tenth century. In 989 , Prince Vladimir I , anxious to consolidate his power more firmly, negotiates with the Byzantines and the baptism of his subjects and his marriage to a Byzantine princess. Russia reports directly to the Patriarch of Constantinople, who appointed the Metropolitan of Kiev. For nearly 400 years, it will be Greek and help anchor Russia in the sphere of Byzantine influence. In the tenth century , Mieszko I of Poland , Hungary Gza , his son, the future Saint Etienne and I Boivoj Bohemia , husband of holy Ldumila and grandfather of St. Wenceslas are among the first rulers to convert to Christianity.

The spheres of influence of the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire determine, from north to south of Europe, a religious and cultural boundary that still exists.





The Anglo-Saxons
The Celtic cross , a symbol of Irish Christianity.

From the fifth century , the British (who would later become England), is gradually invaded by the Anglo-Saxon pagans who repress the Britons Christians. Patrick Ireland at the same time to have founded the Church of Ireland Island, where monasticism quickly takes central importance. During this dark period, it is difficult to know how Christianity was able to persist in invaded areas. Only from the late sixth century that the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms are evangelized after the mission of Augustine of Canterbury , sent by Pope Gregory the Great , which converts thelberht , King of Kent ( 597 ) and founded the diocese of Canterbury. St. Columban (540-615) for his evangelising the Scots and Picts and founded the monastery of Iona in 563. Nearly a century later, Irish and Scottish monks of the monastery of Lindisfarne convert King Oswald of Northumbria ( 634 ). Other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were converted under their influence. Following tensions between the missionaries of Lindisfarne (the mission "Celtic") and others (the mission "Roman") regarding the method for determining the date of the feast of Easter , held an important council at Whitby ( 664 ). The Celtic church rallied to the Roman rite, although differences persist until the twelfth century. The king of Wessex Cdwalla requires baptism to the inhabitants of the Isle of Wight after his conquest in 686-688, to prevent a rebirth of autonomy does the substrate of a pagan identity .

Middle Ages

The Western Church in Carolingian feudalism

In the mid-eighth century, the papacy and the Carolingian develop relationships that will prove beneficial to both parties, and serious consequences for the rest of the story of the West. At the request of Pepin the Short , Pope Zacharias brings a letter from his moral support to the elimination of the Merovingian dynasty : Pepin is crowned king. In exchange for this support, Pepin led two expeditions to Italy in order to remove the threat that the Lombards posed Rome. It is in these circumstances that created the Papal States, which will disappear in 1870. This alliance is even closer as the son of Pepin, Charlemagne. It passed the Roman liturgy, at a time when the expansion of the Frankish kingdom is that of Western Christianity (with the exception of the British Isles and the small Kingdom of Asturias ). During the war against the Saxons of Germany (772-805), Charlemagne also ordered the mass conversion, and by force, population, in order to humiliate his opponent . It is also under Pepin the Short and Charlemagne as an ancestor of Gregorian chant , the chant messin , develops under the influence of the bishop of Metz Chrodegang , which operates as an intermediary between Pepin the Short and papacy.

The complexity of the relationship between church (spiritual) and state (time) in the eleventh and twelfth centuries

Main article: Gregorian Reform.
"A single city and two branches: the pope and the emperor. "

- Jean Danielou and Andr Duval.

In the tenth century , the papacy was at its lowest Peak of Western Christian society in the thirteenth century

The process started with the XI - XII centuries culminating in the thirteenth century under the pontificate of Innocent III. This design has a high pontifical function. On the spiritual plane, his authority is exercised without division and throughout Western Christendom by sending papal legates. At the time, he makes a distinction between the pope's auctoritas and potestas, that sovereigns take the pope. Innocent III intervened in the temporal affairs of many states by excommunicating the applicant or sovereign. He also gets many of these rulers declare themselves vassals of the Holy See (including John Lackland , king of England). His successors take over the fight against the empire embodied by the Hohenstaufen Frederick II. Thank you without the conflict that opposes the Guelphs (supporters of the Pope) the Ghibellines (supporters of the emperor) turned to the advantage of the papacy with the support of Charles of Anjou , the Hohenstaufen dynasty is extinguished and eliminated the Holy Roman Empire in Italy. The papacy also triumphed in the East: the Second Council of Lyons ( 1274 ) the emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus , a supporter of the "union of churches", recognizes the primacy of the Pope of Rome. These successes are short-lived after the death of Michael VIII, Byzantine Church rejects the union, while in the West King of France Philippe le Bel , irritated by the interference of the Holy See, operates a coup : During the episode known as an " attack at Anagni , he physically attacked the Pope Boniface VIII ( 1303 ), who dies from the shock of this humiliation.

Crisis of the Church in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries

After moving temporarily to Avignon to prepare the Council of Vienne , the French Pope Clement V ends remain, given the security situation in Italy. This situation is perpetuated by his successor John XXII and Benedict XII. The papal administration will reach a hitherto unparalleled degree of centralization, including papal taxation, but the claims of the papacy to govern the Christian world are attracting more and more opposition, especially from theologians like Marsilius of Padua and William of Occam. The Western monarchies like France and England, also on the path of centralization, bristle. But it is the luxury of the papal court which eventually offend many Christians. The writer Petrarch trafficking "new Babylon" and Catherine of Siena denounces in even more violent. Sensitive to these criticisms, Pope Gregory XI moved back to Rome in 1377. At his election, his successor Pope Urban VI , extremely authoritarian, conflicts with the Cardinals. Pretext that they have elected the new pope under the constraint of the Roman population, a majority of them proceed to elect a new pope, Clement VII , who moved to Avignon. Urban VI refused to fade. This is the beginning of the Great Western Schism ( 1378 - 1417 ).

Execution of Jan Hus.

The quarrel of obedience divides the entire Western Christian world. The schism continues after the death of the two protagonists, each with a successor. The Council of Pisa ( 1409 ), confuses even more the situation by electing a third pope. In Western Christianity disoriented questionings doctrinal emerge: that of England John Wyclif condemned 1382 and mostly in Bohemia that of Jan Hus , the less radical but more durable. The Emperor Sigismund convene the Council of Constance in 1414. It condemns theories of Wyclif and Hus. The latter is run. The council then deposited the three popes and elects a pope who is finally unanimously: Martin V. If the unity of the Church is restored, the need for reforms I continue to be felt. Some theologians see the solution in the regular holding of councils ( ecclesiology ). These arguments are found elsewhere in the decrees Haec sancta and frequency of Council of Constance. The Council of Basel just met in 1431 , it was dissolved by Pope Eugene IV. Participants at the council bristle and refuse to disperse. This mini-schism ends in victory for the pope who skillfully maneuver by convening a new council to Ferrara and then Florence.

If the primacy of the pope on the councils is acquired for long, the papal power is still being undermined on many fronts, whether the independence of national churches, as in France where the king promulgated the Pragmatic Sanction Bourges , or the persistence of radical movements, as in Bohemia, where the pope has to deal with the Hussites. Moreover, conflicts at the top of the church have cast confusion in the minds of the faithful, whose devotion takes a more personal nature. In the fifteenth century, Western Christianity is crossed by a mystical, including Meister Eckhart and John of Ruisbroek are the best-known representatives.

The time for reforms

The Reformation

Origins

In the late fifteenth century, the Church was in crisis. At the top of the papacy and clergy crisis manifested itself through practices and behaviors that had no relation to faith.

a) the popes were at war and were more concerned to get rich than to uphold religion. They practiced nepotism, that is to say, they placed their protected (often illegitimate children) to important positions. b) the higher clergy practiced accumulated profits church. c) they sold the sacraments and we indulged in the sale of indulgences (forgiveness of sins) d) the lower clergy from the people is barely educated and help to make religion a set of practices closer to superstition than of faith. Belief in witchcraft is widespread.

It is among the Catholics you meet the first reaction to this situation. Humanists contribute to this challenge.

The Reformation in Germany

/luther

Luther (1483 -1546) was a monk tormented by his hello, it therefore raises questions about the situation described above. From 1515 he begins to "rethink" religion, and in 1517, when the envoys arrived to sell indulgences, it shows on the door of his church 95 entries, in which he condemned the sale of indulgences and other abuses of the Church. The pope summoned him to withdraw and its refusal to face excommunication. Luther will also face the Emperor Charles Quint. The latter, anxious to spare both the pope and the princes of the Empire, some of which had already rallied the Lutheranism (name of the doctrine of Luther), hesitates between repression and tolerance. First, Luther hunting but the protests of some Lutheran princes (hence the name of Protestantism), it grants each prince the right to choose his religion, his subjects are obliged to follow. Luther's ideas:

  • The believer must be able to appeal directly to the Bible as religion is a matter of personal contact between the creature (man) and his creator (God). In this spirit Luther translated the Bible into German
  • S'esprer salvation can only by faith and not by doing works.
  • The role of the clergy is considerably decreased. It is no longer necessary intermediary between God and men.
  • Luther simplifies religion (removes the cult of the Virgin and saints, keeps only three sacraments and denies the existence of purgatory).

From the political point of view he will side with the privileged against the peasants and common people who had expected to find support in its doctrine and rebelled against their rulers.

The Reformation in Switzerland

In Switzerland, the Reformation took place at the same time in Germany. The ideas of the Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli ( 1,484 - in 1531 ) are initially similar to those of Luther. From 1529 , he moved away from Lutheranism and loses the support of German princes. He was killed in 1531 at the Battle of Kappel, who opposes the Catholic cantons Zurich. The military defeat hinders the development of Protestantism in Switzerland. The French reformer Calvin (see below), called, chased, and then recalled to Geneva ( 1541 ), makes this city a bastion of Protestantism. He condemned to death and burned one of his opponents, Michael Servetus.

The Reformation in France

Main article: Wars of Religion (France).

Luther's ideas inspired a French lawyer, Jean Calvin (1509-1564). This propagates the first Lutheranism , then turns it into a doctrine more severe. For Calvinism , man is entirely subject to God, each is pre destined to receive or not grace: the debate between divine grace and free will, the former clearly predominates. We must govern according to the Scriptures (counting total places of worship, rules of dress, jewelry, etc..).

This doctrine, whose success is partial in France, is required in Switzerland, in the northern United Provinces (present Netherlands) and in Scotland. Furthermore, Calvinists persecuted in England emigrated to North America, including the United States.

In France, the Reformation led to the persecution of the Huguenots and the bloody wars of religion. In 1598, the Edict of Nantes to put a temporary end by allowing the reformed religion, to the revocation of the edict by Louis XIV in 1685. The Huguenots were again persecuted by Dragonnades and forced to convert to Catholicism.

The Reformation in England

In this country, the motives are political and not religious King of England, Henry VIII , will be the one to control his kingdom (absolutism). So he wants to get rid of power held by the Pope over the Church of England. He finds a pretext (refused a divorce by the Pope), and in 1534 , proclaimed himself head of the Church of England or Anglican. The Anglican Church is a "mixture" of the Calvinist doctrine of the Catholic hierarchy and ritual (decorations, pomp necessary to celebrate the glory of the absolute monarch). The Calvinists who do not tolerate this adaptation are persecuted and went into exile (see Puritanism ).

Radical reform , Jacobus Arminius

The Counter-Reformation or Catholic Reformation

Main article: Counter-Reformation.

Before the crisis politico-religious, the Catholic Church encourages the movement of the Counter-Reformation , under the banner of the Jesuits , a sort of "army" in the service of the pope in charge of intellectual training (colleges) and evangelizing missions , including in the New World and Asia (which will cause the Rites Controversy in the late seventeenth century ). The Inquisition , the religious court set up to thirteenth century , was restored. She is torturing and burning heretics. In 1543 , the Index of "forbidden books" is introduced.

To put those decisions, the pope finally agreed to convene the Council of Trent ( 1542 - 1563 ). He decided:

  • put an end to many abuses (concubinage of priests, non residence of the bishops, intellectual ignorance many priests)
  • to maintain the Catholic doctrine in its dogmas (the power of the intercessor Virgin Mary and saints , the Eucharist , the power of images ...)
  • keep the traditions of the Roman Church (prayer and Bible in Latin, the priest is not a man so like another obligation of celibacy ), that is to say, regardless ideas humanists (including Erasmus )

The development of the Counter-Reformation did not follow the same course in different Catholic countries. In an adverse political against the pope and Spain, France would not accept the principles of the Council of Trent and categorically opposed to the Inquisition. The Counter-Reformation did not begin in France in the 1580s. It reached its zenith under the reign of Louis XIV. In Germany, the Counter-Reformation led to the Thirty Years War.

From the seventeenth totwentieth century

The Catholic Church and the Enlightenment

At the end of the seventeenth century , the first critical text of the Bible began the intellectual monopoly of the Catholic Church, while the Copernican Revolution had challenged the dogma of the geocentric , which had won Giordano Bruno to be burned alive in 1600. The Vatican agrees to abandon the dogma that in the mid eighteenth century , under Benedict XIV. If it admits a relative aperture of the Church to the modern world, however, severely condemning Freemasonry ( Provides Romanorum , 1751). At the same time, philosophers atheists (such as Diderot and D'Alembert ) or deist (like Voltaire ) do not hesitate to criticize the Church, fanaticism and superstition.

Although some, like Maurice Sachot The Catholic Church and the French Revolution

The French Revolution questions the report of the State and the Church in countries Catholics.

In the wake of the Gallican , the Constituent Assembly adopted a set of French measures that are radically transforming the structures nuns in France:

  • It abolished in February 1790 the monastic vows and actually removes the religious orders and congregations,
  • It takes 12 July 1790 the Civil Constitution of clergy that makes the Church to the State, shall establish dioceses corresponding departments, and priests and bishops elected.

The property of the clergy are also confiscated. This decision causes a schism between the Church 'official' point of view of the Revolution (that is to say "sworn") and members of the clergy remained loyal to the pope (the priests "refractory"). In November 1791 , a decree is passed against the refractory priests. After several years of outright persecution of religion , Napoleon negotiates with the Pope the Concordat of 1801 , which later served as a model in many countries. This agreement marks the sake of appeasement and still allows the pope to assert its authority over the Gallican Church. The nineteenth century was marked by the ultramontanism , a current of thought that recognizes the infallibility and papal supremacy.

The Catholic Church and modernity

The "modern" world, which emerges from the Napoleonic wars , has profoundly changed, and despite its efforts, the Catholic Church will never regain the position it occupied during the Old Regime. In many countries the secularized society. However, the Vatican sends many missionaries in the colonies , thus sowing the seeds of a lasting settlement in what is called the twentieth century the Third World.

In France , the pro-clerical policy of the Restoration (Law Bonald abolishing divorce , the sacrilegious act of punishing the latter the death penalty , etc..) is carried away by the revolution of 1830. The religious question, however, continues to be debated throughout the nineteenth century and even after the Falloux Act of 1850 to promote religious education, the law of separation of Church and State from 1905 through the laws Jules Ferry on secular education, free and compulsory .

In Italy , the Risorgimento , seeking the unification of Italian states , helping to enact the State against the Church. The Papal States , the last vestige of temporal power of the papacy, are absorbed by the new Italian State , in 1870 , the pope sees himself as a prisoner in the City of Vatican. This case will be definitively resolved only under Mussolini by the Lateran Treaty ( 1929 ).

With the loss of the Papal States , the Church gradually loses the temporal . With the support of politicians, Napoleon III and Cavour , it attempts to strengthen the spiritual authority of the pope. The proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception by Pius IX in 1854 , even before that of papal infallibility in this direction. The positions of the pope are more reactionary in 1864 , Pope published the encyclical Quanta cura , plus the document usually called simply the " Syllabus ", which strongly condemns 80" modern errors. Moreover, many witnesses of the modern works are put to the Index. This trend culminated in the ecumenical council Vatican I ( 1870 ), the main decision is to proclaim the papal infallibility , the pope when he speaks ex cathedra, and as Supreme Doctor of the Church, can not, in This dogma is wrong. Some bishops are at odds with the decisions, which give rise to a mini-schism in the second half of the nineteenth century : that of the Old Catholic Church. Pope Leo XIII is trying to repeat something that eludes more to the Church in matters intellectual.

Following the Syllabus , the Church must confront intellectual currents atheistic and anticlerical. In France, the positivism of Auguste Comte shakes the foundations of metaphysics and religion. Thinkers such as David Friedrich Strauss and Ernest Renan launched the quest for the historical Jesus and founded the religious sciences and critical exegesis of the Bible which the Church responds with the anti-modernist oath that creates the Catholic fundamentalism. The progress of natural sciences, geology and paleontology in particular, symbolized by the publication in 1859 of The Origin of Species by Darwin , undermine the literal reading of the Bible and lead to the invention of creationism. Faced with the erosion of Christian society, the papacy responded by stiffening doctrine . In his encyclical your Mirari ( 1832 ), Gregory XVI condemned liberal Catholicism advocated by the French Lamennais.

In response to the papal infallibility on the one hand and the impact of religious studies on the evolution of reading the Bible in the nineteenth century , the conservative American churches meet in churches fundamentalists. The modernist crisis in Catholicism , seems to find a solution with the embryo Second Vatican Council (1963-1965) launched by John XXIII , the commentators say that the initiative was hampered from the pontificate of Paul VI 's pontificate while Benedict XVI confirms the return of the Roman Catholic church to its traditional path.

The Catholic Church and the social question

Social problems resulting from the Industrial Revolution ( Rebellion Canuts ...) pushed the Christians and the Church to a renewal of their social thought. Indeed, the profound economic, social and political impossible for the Christians and existing structures of the Church to exercise charity in the same conditions. It should rebuild the social action.

The first to challenge the idea that poverty was inevitable and even necessary were the clergymen and thinkers Catholics. One can cite Frederic Ozanam and Lamennais in France, Monsignor Ketteler , Germany.

Some of these thinkers were first condemned by religious authority. We must distinguish different attitudes that individuals ( priests , Catholic intellectuals), the national churches and political parties that are linked, and that of the pope.

Gradually, the official position of the Church in relation to the social problem took shape. It ended in 1891 with the promulgation of the encyclical Rerum Novarum by the highest authority of the Church, Pope Leo XIII. This attitude forced the national churches to change their point of view and admit that the policy measures were needed to alleviate poverty.

At the political level, this new movement eventually gave rise to various political groups who gather later under the name of Christian Democracy. It was long opposed by a significant portion of the Catholic episcopate.

Protestant churches since the Reformation

From the sixteenth century , grow in the most radical reform movements play a role in the development of Protestantism: the Puritanism in England and the Baptist in Central Europe. Moreover, the new English colonies in North America for refuge to many persecuted groups in Europe. This explains why the U.S. is still currently one of the most vivid of homes Protestantism with Northern Europe ( Sweden , Denmark , Lithuania , Netherlands ) and Central Europe ( Germany , Switzerland , Hungary ).

In England the Puritans or Nonconformists felt that the Anglican Church has not sufficiently clear of Catholicism, they are particularly opposed to the Episcopalian organization to which they prefer community elders and synods, that is ie design of the Congregational Church. They are also supporters of greater moral rigor. Faced with opposition and persecution policy of most English monarchs (except under Cromwell ) of XVI and XVII century, they migrate first to the United Provinces , where they come into contact with the trend Baptist. Baptists are opposed to infant baptism (pdobaptme), which they prefer adult baptism. They practice baptism by immersion rather than sprinkling. Themselves reject the term " Anabaptist ", whose affublent their opponents: it can indeed be a matter of" re-baptism, "since the children can not be considered valid. Their idea of Congregationalism goes further than the Puritans: the interpretation of Scripture based on the consensus that resulted from a discussion in which each community member can take part. This is a very democratic conception of Christianity. The excesses committed by a small group of fanatical Anabaptists who had seized power in Mnster in 1534 helped them to stand against the authorities of both denominations. The majority of Anabaptists were pacifists, however, as evidenced by the preaching of Menno Simons ( 1496 - 1 561 ), one of their main leaders, which is named the Mennonites. Another group of Anabaptist, located in Moravia , the name of Moravians.

From the early seventeenth century , Protestantism flourish in North America. Most of the English colonies were founded by Protestant groups vary widely. One of the most famous is that of the Pilgrim Fathers or Pilgrims who founded Plymouth in Massachusetts in 1620 , composed of English Puritans. From 1639 , Roger Williams , driven from Massachusetts, founded the Baptist Churches in the Colony of Rhode Island. The Quaker English William Penn ( 1,644 - 1 718 ) founded in 1682 the colony of Pennsylvania. It prompted the German Mennonites, persecuted in their country, arriving by the tens of thousands. Scottish and Dutch Calvinist communities based Presbyterian.

Protestant churches Governance

to follow

the intrusion of religious studies and theological liberalism

Higher Criticism to follow

Ecumenism

2nd alarm U.S.

to follow

See also


a deal



Notes

  1. Francis Blanchetire, Survey of the Jewish roots of the Christian movement, ed. CERF al. Initiations, 2001 ISBN 2204062154 cf. Introduction
  2. Walter Bauer, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity, ed. Sigler Press, 1996 ( ISBN 978-0962364273 ) (rd.) Original English Translation (1934) Online
  3. Adolf von Harnack, History of Dogma, ed. Cerf, 2nd ed. corr., 1993 ( ISBN 2204049565 )
  4. Walter Bauer. Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity (Philadelphia: Fortress) (1932 in German, Englis, 1971, 2009 French)
  5. Spain: Spanish Jews in the Middle Ages, Luis Fernandez Suarez
  6. Francis Blanchetire, Survey of the Jewish roots of the Christian movement (30-35), ed. Cerf, March 2001
  7. Peter J. Tomson, Jesus and the New Testament authors in their relationship to Judaism, ed. Cerf, March 2003
  8. Daniel Boyarin, A Radical Jew, Paul & the Politics of Identity, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994 Available online
  9. Dan Jaffe , Judaism and the advent of Christianity, orthodoxy and heterodoxy in the Talmudic literature I and II th centuries, CERF and directed by Philippe Abadie and Jean-Pierre Lmonon , Judaism at the dawn of the Christian era, the eighteenth congress of the ACFEB (Lyon, September 1999)
  10. See confession of faith
  11. the Immaculate Conception dogma deviennentt late nineteenth century) in a particular intellectual and political context
  12. Richard E. Rubenstein, the day when Jesus became God, Discovery, 2000
  13. Richard E. Rubenstein, op.
  14. When Christianity changed the world, chapitre09, p.154 Maurice Sachot Edition Odile Jacob
  15. Rgis Burnet, Epistles Letters and first-second century. Paul of Tarsus to Polycarp of Smyrna. Paris, Les Editions du Cerf (coll. "lectio divina", 192), 2003
  16. Rgis Burnet, Paul, the bully of the Gospel, ed. Descle de Brouwer, 2000, Available online :
    "The Acts of the Apostles, which is attributed to the evangelist Luke, have for some years the costs of historical criticism. If the biographers of yesteryear have given them a credit history without measure, historians today have noticed the inconsistency of the figure of Paul of Acts with that which emerges from his letters and his relationship with the Church Jerusalem or his conception of Judaism. The reason is that the author of Luke-Acts all written for the edification of e readers using a well-defined theological program that provides a key to the interpretation of historical events. "
  17. two theories on what is balanced, or they would come from the Jewish diaspora Hellenizing ), or they would be following the Hellenized Jews reign of Antiochus IV, who Hellenized Judea and Samaria to the death. See Article ancient Christianity to the full discussion and bibliography
  18. Enrico Norelliet Pouderon Bernard , History of Greek Literature Christian, 1. Introduction. Initiations to the Fathers of the Church, with Pouderon Bernard et al, eds. Cerf, 2008, Cerf, 2008
  19. Henri de Lubac , Medieval Exegesis
  20. Yves Moderan, conversion of Constantine and the Christianization of the Roman Empire Online
  21. expression is president of Paul Veyne, op.cit. infra
  22. Paul Veyne , When our world has become Christian (312-394) Paris, Albin Michel, 2007 review in News of Social Sciences of Religions
  23. Louis Brehier , the institutions of the Byzantine Empire, the evolution of humanity, Albin Michel
  24. Helene Ahrweiler , The political ideology of the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine Studies Review, 1976, Volume 34, Number 34
  25. The World of the Bible, Bayard, special issue: "The origins of the modern papacy," Fall-Winter 2002, Bayard
  26. History of the Papacy 2000 years of mission and tribulations. Edited by Yves-Marie Hilaire Points Seuil, 2003
  27. John Scheid Religion and piety in ancient Rome, Editions Albin Michel, Paris, 2001, 192 p. ( ISBN 978-2226121349 )
  28. John Scheid , op.cit.
  29. Francis Blanchetire , Early Christian missionaries were they? (30-135), CERF 2002
  30. Peter J. Thomson, Jesus and the New Testament authors in their relationship to Judaism, CERF
  31. Dan Jaffe , Judaism and the advent of Christianity. Orthodoxy and heterodoxy in the Talmudic literature of the first-second century, CERF, 2005
  32. Editor Francis Blanchetire and Moshe David Herr , Jewish Origins of Christianity, Leuven
  33. a , b , c , d , e and f When the world became Christian , account books cross Veyne Paul and Maurice Sachot in Humanities.
  34. Richard E. Rubenstein, op.cit.
  35. Peter Brown , Society and the Sacred in Late Antiquity, History Points
  36. Alain Corbin , History of Christianity, Ed Seuil, 2007 p.120 (St. Augustine)
  37. One of the most quoted passages of Tertullian speaks about this:
    "We are of yesterday, and already we have filled the earth and all that is yours: cities, islands, fortified positions, the townships, towns, camps themselves, the tribes, decuries, the palace, the senate, the forum, we've left the temples! "

    - Apology, XXXVII, 4

  38. Richard E. Rubenstein, op.cit.
  39. a , b , c , d , e , f , g , h , i , j , k , l , m , n and o Dumezil Bruno, "The forced conversions have they existed? " History No. 325, November 2007, p.69-73
  40. inspired by the miaphysisme monoenergisme taking into account the remarks of Nestorius on human nature and divine nature. See the website of the Armenian Church
  41. Journal of Late Antiquity EPHESS,
  42. Paul Veyne , Peter Brown , Aline Rousselle , Genesis of Late Antiquity, Gallimard
  43. Western delegations at previous councils were feeble or arrived late for several weeks. That fact is evidenced in Richard E. Rubenstein, the day when Jesus became God, the discovery
  44. F. Amsler, O. Bauer, P. Gisel, A. Gounelle, T. Laus, J.-D. Macchi, The Christology between dogmas, doubts and questioning, Proceedings of the liberal theological University Fall, Van Dieren
  45. See Encyclical Who Pluribus Impar
  46. See Secularism and Dierkens Alain, ed. "Religious pluralism and secularism in the European Union," Problems in the History of Religions, Volume 5, Editions de l'Universit de Bruxelles, 1994.
  47. See Dierkens Alain, ed. "The religious liberalism," Problems in the History of Religions, Volume 3, Editions de l'Universit de Bruxelles, 1992.
  48. Editor Alain Dierkens The changing European intelligentsia (1850-1875). Darwin, the Syllabus and their consequences, Problems of History of Religions, Volume 9, 1998
  49. See also Franois Laplanche, The Crisis of the original science of the Gospels and Catholic history in the twentieth century, Paris, Albin Michel, coll. "The Evolution of Humanity", 2006,
  50. Emile Poulat, history, dogma and criticism in the modernist crisis, Albin Michel

See also

Internal Links

External Links

Bibliography

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  • Brown, Peter , The Rise of Western Christendom: triumph and diversity. 2000-1000, Le Seuil, 1997
  • Chaun, Stone , Time to reform IT Crisis of Christendom 250-1550, T. II The Protestant Reformation, Editions Complexe, Brussels, 1984
  • Danielou, Jean , The early Church, Le Seuil, Points History, Paris, 1985
  • Glaser, Klaus-Peter , The Christian theology in the nineteenth century
  • Glaser, Klaus-Peter , The post-modern theologies
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  • Hilaire, Yves-Marie (edited by), History of the Papacy, Le Seuil, Points History, Paris, 2003
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  • Riche, Pierre , Quantities and weaknesses of the Church in the Middle Ages, Les Editions du Cerf, Paris, 2006
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