CTST 200 Study Flashcards

Lifetime of Jesus (4BCE to CE 33) → “facts”

• jewish rabbi, leader of reform movement (religion and political)

• historians agree that he existed, was teacher & leader was crucified

Lifetime of Jesus (4BCE to CE 33) → Christian understanding

Christians belived be was the divinely conceived Son of God and that he performed miracles and rose again, ascended into heaven

The Early Church: Pentecost

• Acts 2:1-4, RSVCE

• they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues

• so they could continue what Jesus started

Septuagint

….

Apocrypha

Means of doubtful origin (deutero-canonica)

• 2nd coming

• valuable, but not written with Gods influence

The Early Church: Worship & Life

• for the 1st decade or two, Christians continued to attend worship at the Jewish temple

• Christians also shared mush of daily life together (including, we read in Acts, their possessions)

• Attitude was one of joy & celebration (not sorrow/sin focus)

• House churches development in the early years (earliest church building predates 256, appears…

The Early Church: Participants

• Jews

• Gentile converts (later)

• some powwerful women

• urban centers—immagrants

• Galations 3:28 RSVCE

  • encourage participants from Jesus

The Early Church: Missions

• Diaspora Judaism (Septuagint)

• fall from Jerusalem

• Peter, John, Paul

• Urban, travel of slaves, merchants, exiles

The Early Church: Leadership?

Egalitarian vs. hierachy

Acts of Paul and Thecla

• 1st c.

• The story says Thecla leaves her family and life behind to avoid getting married, baptizes herself, and followed Paul on his holy travels

• didn’t actually happen, just a popular story

• women traveling and being part of the church was believable at this time

The Early Church: Key Debates & Teachers

Controversy → Counsils → Doctrines/Distinctions

Key Teachers in the Early Church

• Apostolic Fathers (c.50-150 c.)

  • Clemet of Rome (Bishop of Rome 92-122,one of the earliest after Peter

• Polycarp

  • 69-155

  • Bishop of Symyrna (Modern Turkey)

  • diciple of John

  • burned at the stake

• Ignnatius of Antioch

  • Bishop of Antioch

• Justin Martyr

  • (c. 100-165): brought Christianity into conversations with Greek philosophy

• Irenaus

  • (early 160-225 c.): first great Christian Latin writer coined Latin word for trinity (trinitas)

• Origen

  • (184/85-253/54): incredible biblical scholar; amplified Justin Martyr’s projects, presenting a Platonic Christianity

Key Debates in the Early Church

• Council of Jeruslem (48)

  • Acts 15: Gentiles not obligated to keep all of Mosaic law (esp. circumcision)

• Marcion (150) rejects Hebrew Bible (OT)

  • Tertullion wrote against him

  • leadership

  • gnosticism (spirit escaping evil flesh)

  • Montanist movement begins (172)

    • estatic prophecy, asceticism, challenging

Persecution in the Early Church

• 35: Stephen Martyred

• 62: James martyred

• 64: Fire in Rome, Nero blames Christians, beginning a period of imperial persecution

• persecutions continued on and off for 250 years (e.g., Christians who wouldn’t sacrifice/burn incense to Roman gods = “impious”).

• 202: Perpetua and Felicitas martyred

• 303: the great persecution begins under Diocletian.

Art in the Early Christian Church

• Catacombs, tombs

• Obscure, symbolic (Ichthys, peacock, lamb of God, OT figures, good sheperd)

Following the events of the early church, who brought on a major shift?

Constantine (313)

Church-State Relationships Dramatic Shift

• 313: Edict of Milan

• 321: Constantine gifts the church public property, begins church, property rights, and builds the first St. Peter's Basilica.

• 380: Christianity declared official religion of the Roman Empire

• 390: Decree outlaw most pagan practices in Rome

• 452: Pope Leo I convinces Attila the Hun not to sack Rome (though Rome is sacked by vandals in 455)

• 496: Clovis I, French pagan King converts

• 756: Popes granted indapendant rule of Rome (Donation of Pepin)

• 800: King Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III in St. Peter’s Basilica

First Council of Nicene (325)

• Emperor Constantine

• Question of Jesus’ status in relation to the Godhead: was Jesus fully God, fully equal with the Father?

• Arius of Alexandria: Jesus subordinate to God; Athanasius: Christ had to be truly God in order to bring about salvation

Roman Empire’s view vs. The Church’s

Empire = Kingdom of God the Father

Church = King of God the Son

Nicene Creed (325)

the Apostles' Creed

Popes that behaved well vs. badly

• Leo I (Leo the Great) (440-461) → convinced Attila the Hun not to invade Italy

• Gregory I (Gregory the Great) (590-604) → Gregorian chant

• Gregory VII (1073-1085) → Gregorian Reforms (lots of incest and other bad things that made this reform nessacary)

Significance of Emperor Leo III

• He said not to worship idols/icons

• Politition!!!

The Great Schism

• Divides east and west

• 1054

• Divided so language, culture, and religion is different

• Filioque

Filioque

• means from the son

• West beliefs: Father + Son = Spirit

• East beliefs: Father = Son & Spirit

• still debated today

Mission Movement spread the Faith

342-988

Augustine’s Confession

• born 354 in North Africa

• was with a concubine who he had a son with

• Mocked christianity (though it was primitive)

• Was part of other religions prior

• his mom convinces him to listen to Bishop Ambros

• Starts to feel more and more compelled to Christianity.

• doesn’t want to give up sex

• he fully converts (after the death of his mother) and later becomes a bishop.

Fourth Lateran Council (1215)

• called by innocent III

• Transubstantiation

• Papal authority

• Every cathedral is a school open to the poor

• Jews and Muslims in Christian lands must wear distinctive clothing

Unam sanctam (1302)

• Importance of this word = places like france have kings trying to assert their power while the pope was trying to do the same (church is in charge over politics).

Western Schism (1378)

• 1309—The pope lived in Avignon (French King pressured him to)

• 1377—The rest of the world views that as corrupt so the pope moves back

• to try and solve this, a second pope is put in power

• the two popes are seen as “invalid”

• a 3rd pope is elected as the “real” pope

• this mess lasts until 1417

Inter caetera (1493)

• If Christians didn’t own the land, they could take it

Dum Diversas

allowed the ownership of any non-christian slaves

Martin Luther’s 95 Theses (1517)

• he didnt agree with the modern church

• he wanted to return to faith, grace, and scripture (scripture > traditions)

English Act of Supremacy (1534)

• renders church sepret from Roman Catholic church

• henery the 8th

• no other churches churches before this

• now the anglican church

Council of Trent (1545-63)

• condemned Protestantism

• regulated the clergy and indulgence

• ordered founding of seminaries

• promoted study of Thomas Aquinas

• granted authority to Uulgate (Latin translation of the Bible)

• named traditions as equal to scripture in authority

• confirmed seven sacraments

• gave shape to the mass for centuries to come

Thirty Years’ War (1618-48)

• Holy Roman Empire

• less religious freedom given by Ferdinand

• wars emerged across Europe.

• politically in charge would choose the religion of the land

• after there was a bit more religious acceptance

Galileo’s trial (1633)

he says the sun is the centre of our universe (against currents beliefs)

French Revolution (1793)

• tension between church and state

• leading to other tensions

• Pope Pius IX (pope 1846-1878)

• Longest-reigning elected pope

• defined dogma of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary (1854)

• wrote the syllabus of Errors (1864)

• convened first Vatican Council (1869-1870)

• last pope to rule Papal States (fell to Italian nationalists in 1870)

The Debate over Papal Authority

• Gallicanism & Liberalism

• Ultramontanism

The Syllabus of Errors (1864)

• listed 80 errors including rationalism, naturalism, socialism, liberalism, etc

• Catholic religion should be treated as the only religion

• seige mentality

First Vatican Council (1869-1870)

• most against

• about 20% liberal

Rerum Novarum (1891)

• an encyclical of Leo XIII (pope 1878-1903) in response to the injustices of the Industrial Revolution

• founding documents of social Catholicism

• move away from seige mentality

Crisis over Modernism

• Neo-Scholastic movement

  • Supported by Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) with his encyclical Aeterni Patris exalting St. Thomas Aquinas

  • Begins with dogma

  • Emphasis on obedience and faith

• Modernists

  • Historical and critical methods of biblical/theological scholarship

  • Belief in intellectual freedom

  • Led to questioning of biblical inerrancy, for example

Expansion: Missionary and Immigrant

• C19 missionary societies and orders (among Protestants and Catholics)

  • Asia

  • Africa

  • (trouble of colonial message)

• Growth of American church

  • Irish, then German immigrants

  • Network of parish schools, hospitals, colleges

Vatican II (1962-1965)

• produced 16 documents

• style of dialogue, collegiality, love

• lasting effects

  • change in liturgy

  • move from church as pyramid to church as people of God

• ecumenism

• acknowledgment of history, change, past mistakes

• call for dialogue with modern secular world

Later 20th Century

• pope Paul VI Humanae Vitae

• Conscience

• ongoing negotiations

Opere Operato

• sacrament is only powerful because of God, not a priest

• person has to be engaged to receive fruits of communion

• priest could be a bad person but Gods power overshadows that

• Grace conveyed through God’s grace, not humankind.

Sacraments of Christian Initiation

• Baptism (the beginning of new life)

• confirmation (it’s strengthening)

• the Eucharist (which nourishes the disciple with Christ’s Body and Blood for his or her transformation in Christ)

Sacraments at the Service of Communion: Holy Orders

• The whole church is a priestly people

• Ministerial priesthood differs in essence from the common priesthood because it confers a sacred power for the service

• bishops, presbyters, and deacons

Sacraments at the Service of Communion: Marriage

• signifies the union of Christ and the Church

• gives spouses the grace to love other with the love that Christ loves his church

• perfects the human love of the spouses and strengthens their unity

• helps each other reach eternal life

Sacraments of Healing: Reconciliation

• "The sacrament of Penance is a whole consisting in three actions of the penitent and the priest's absolution. The penitent's acts are repentance, confession or disclosure of sins to the priest, and the intention to make reparation and do works of reparation."

Sacraments of Healing: Anointing of the Sick

• "The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick has as its purpose the conferral of a special grace on the Christian experiencing the difficulties inherent in the condition of grave illness or old age."

Indelible Seals

"The three sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders confer, in addition to grace, a sacramental character or 'seal by which the Christian shares in Christ's priesthood and is made a member of the Church according to different states and functions. This configuration to Christ and to the Church, brought about by the Spirit, is indelible; it remains for ever in the Christian as a positive disposition for grace, a promise and guarantee of divine protection, and as a vocation to divine worship and to the service of the Church. Therefore these sacraments can never be repeated."

(Catechism of the Catholic Church

Scripture and Tradition

• the church doesn’t draw its certainty about all revealed truths from Holy Scriptures alone

  • Scripture

  • Tradition

  • Reason

  • Experience

Ecumenism and Vatican II: Three Drafts

• First draft: "there is only one true Church of Jesus Christ...[which Christ] entrusted to Saint Peter and his successors, the Roman pontiffs, to be governed; therefore only the Catholic Roman has a right to be called the church."

• Later draft: the church of Christ "is (est) the Catholic
  church."

• "This church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world, subsists in (subsist in) the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him. Nevertheless, many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside its visible confines."
  ." (Lumen Gentium 8)

Sacraments of Christian Initiation

• Baptism ("the beginning of new life")

• Confirmation ("its strengthening")

• The Eucharist ("which nourishes the disciple with Christ's Body and Blood for his or her transformation in Christ")

Distinctions of the Roman Catholic Church

• Pope

• Celibacy

• Communion as sacrifice

• popular devotions

• real presence of Christ

• transubstantiation

• infant baptism

• saints

• Mary

• Tradition and Scripture

Mary Reichardt’s Between Human and Divine: The Catholic Vision in Contemporary Literature

• Historical traditions, culture, theology, and/or spirituality of Catholicism

• involves Catholic subject matter isn’t a requirement of a catholic novel, neither is having a Catholic author

• must involve some understanding of the Catholic faith, Catholic life, or Catholic tradition

According to Mary Reichart…

• Post-Vatican II Catholic literature is often less distinguished by subject matter than by a shared vision that is:

  • Incarnational

  • Sacramental

  • Fascinated by the “mystery of the cross”

  • Characterized by “intense encounters with suffering and evil”

  • open to the existence of another world beyond the senses.”

  • sometimes marked by hope

How is The Power and the Glory “Catholic Literature”?

From Mark Bosco, SJ, in Graham Greene's Catholic Imagination

• Characteristics of French Catholic novel (per David Lodge), which influenced Greene:

• the idea of the sinner "being at the heart of Christianity"

• The idea of "mystical substitution"

• The implied critique of materialism

• The tireless pursuit of the erring soul by God, the "Hound of Heaven" in Francis Thompson's famous metaphor

• "Conflict between the corrupt flesh and the transcendent spirit"

Graham Greene (1904-1991)

• Oxford educated; journalist;

• novelist

• Big "Catholic novels": Brighton
  Rock, The Power and the Glory, The Heart of the Matter, The End of the Affair

• Converted in 1926 under the influence of future wife Vivien

• Didn't like to be called a "Catholic novelist": preferred to be called a novelist who happened to be
  Catholic

Mexican context

• 1500s→ Spanish colonization

• brings Roman Catholic religion

• religious enculturation > Mexican
  Catholicism

• 1810-1821 war of Mexican independence

• period of struggles

• includes Mexican-American War (1846-

1848) and internal struggles

• 1910-1920 Mexican revolution

• leads to anti-clerical constitutions (church associated with ruling elite)

• 1940 pro-Roman Catholic president

• changes, but not to constitution

• 1992 constitutional reform

• 1500s→ Spanish colonization

• brings Roman Catholic religion

• religious enculturation > Mexican
  Catholicism

• 1810-1821 war of Mexican independence

• period of struggles

• includes Mexican-American War (1846-

1848) and internal struggles

• 1910-1920 Mexican revolution

• leads to anti-clerical constitutions (church associated with ruling elite)

• 1940 pro-Roman Catholic president

• changes, but not to constitution

• 1992 constitutional reform