RELI 1001 - Exam 2

Four Gospels

Mark, Matthew, Luke, John

Three members of the Holy Trinity

Father (God), Son (Jesus), Holy Spirit

Three major branches of Christianity

Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestantism

Seven Sacraments (which sacraments are accepted by all three branches + which sacraments are recognized by only Catholics and Orthodox)

Baptism, Communion, Confirmation, Confession, Marriage, Holy Orders, Anointing of the sick

Three authoritative creeds

Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed

Two major early church councils

Council of Nicaea, Council of Chalcedon

Five other early church councils

Constantinople I, Ephesus, Constantinople II, Constantinople III, Nicaea II

Figures associated with the Protestant Reformation (name at least 2)

John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, Henry VIII, Thomas Crammer

The three solae of the Protestant Reformation

Scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone

Early church heresies/Christological controversies (name at least 2)

Arianism, Docetism, Nestorianism, Monophysitism

Theories of atonement (name at least 2)

Satisfaction, Ransom, Recapitulation, Penal Substitutionary

Christianity’s most important holy days

Christmas, Easter

Story of Christianity

• Death enters world through Adam and Eve; covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses

• Jesus – believed to be the Messiah and the Son of God by Christians; resurrected from the dead

Historical Jesus

• Vast majority of scholars think Jesus existed, but...

  • The four Gospels were all written after his death

    • All differ in how they present Jesus’ life

    • Earliest Gospel (Mark) written decades after Jesus died

  • Only a few external sources: Tacitus, Josephus

Which “stage” of Judaism Christianity developed out of?

Late Second Temple Judaism

Which “stage” of Judaism Christianity developed alongside?

Rabbinic Judaism

Strict monotheism of modern Judaism vs. “soft” monotheism of Christianity

• Christians believe in the Holy Trinity

  • i.e., one God who exists in three persons – Father (God), Son (Jesus), Holy Spirit

• As strict monotheists, Jews only ascribe divinity to God, a single being in a single person

Christianity in Today’s World

• Biggest religion globally (32% of world pop., 2020)

• Shrinking in Europe; growing in Global South

• Biggest branch globally: Roman Catholicism

• Smallest branch globally: Eastern Orthodoxy

• Note countries where each branch is most popular (e.g., the US for Protestantism)

Problem and Solution in Christianity

Sin and Salvation

Sin

Refers to violations of God’s commandments

• Actual sin: what you do

• Original sin: what’s passed down

• Ancient sin: prevailing view that you are guilty for sins you personally commit

Atonement

The mechanism by which this solution works to solve the problem, accomplished by Jesus’ death on the cross

Theories of atonement

Ransom, penal substitutionary, recapitulation; satisfaction

Salvation by faith alone (Protestants) vs. salvation by faith and good works (Catholicism, Orthodoxy

• Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians view the performance of good deeds and participation in the sacraments as an important factor in salvation

• Protestants stress sola fide, “faith alone,” as the only prerequisite to salvation

Christian scriptural canon

• Old Testament, New Testament

• Criteria for being considered canon: inspired by God; accepted by consensus; authenticity of claim to apostolic authorship

• Muratorian fragment – earliest list of books considered NT canon

• New Testament

  • 27 books in total

  • Four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John); Acts; letters (Pauline, Deutero-Pauline, General/Catholic); Revelation

  • The Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew Luke); theories of how the Synoptics are related (two-source – Mark 1st, Matt. and Luke used Mark and Q as sources; Farrer – Mark 1st, Matt. second, Luke used Mark and Matthew

Paul

• The Jesus movement

• Background of Paul:

  • Paul started out as a Pharisee named Saul

  • Paul had a vision which led to his conversion

• Paul’s theology: Jewish law is no longer necessary for salvation – only the “good news” of Jesus’ death and resurrection; salvation did not come solely through one’s own efforts, but through God’s help

Early Christians in the Roman Empire

• Christians viewed as atheists (why?); rumored to be cannibals (why?) practice of communion

• Emperors that persecuted Christians... Nero, Domitian, Marcus Aurelius

• 250 CE: Decius ramps up persecutions (why did he do this?) punishment for the decline of Greco-Roman religion

• 303 CE: Great Persecution – Diocletia

Constantine

• 312 CE – came to power

  • Note: Battle of Milvian Bridge; vision Constantine had there; significance of “Chi-Rho”

• 313 CE – edict of Milan

• 321 CE – makes Sunday official holiday in the Roman Empire

• 325 CE – presides over the council of Nicaea

Post-Constantine

• 380 CE: Edict of Thessalonica (Christianity = official religion of Roman Empire)

• 391 CE: pagan worship illegal in Roman Empire

Early Christianity – “heterodox” group

• How to deal with Christianity’s Jewish heritage: Marcionites (God of Judaism is evil) vs. Judaizers (Christians should follow all Jewish laws)

• On the topic of Marcion: also note Marcion’s Bible – omitted entire Hebrew Bible; lots of (what are now) New Testament texts

• The kind of person Jesus was: Christian Gnostics; Docetists (Jesus only “seemed” human); Arians (Jesus was a created being

1st church council: Council of Nicae

When to observe Easter; early form of Nicene Creed; addressing Christological (pertaining to Jesus/Christ) controversies (esp. Arianism)

Other major councils

Nicaea and Chalcedon

Authoritative creeds in Christianit

Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Cree

Schisms

• Council of Chalcedon: Nestorians (now Church of the East) and Monophysites (now Oriental Orthodox) break away from the rest of the Christian church, post-Chalcedon

• Great Schism (1054): role of filioque (“and from the Son”) in East/West split; authority of Rome vs. authority of other bishops, patriarchs in the Christian church; differences in practice (Latin vs. Greek; unmarried vs. married clergy; etc

Medieval Christianity

• Scholasticism

  • Anselm of Canterbury

    • Make note of: Anselm’s satisfaction theory of atonement; Anselm’s ontological argument for God’s existence

  • Thomas Aquinas

    • Make note of: Summa Theologica (1265-74); Five Ways of knowing God’s existence

  • Mysticism

    • Francis of Assisi: patron saint of animals; founded Franciscan order; voluntary poverty

  • Julian of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love; God as love, Jesus as mother

Forerunners of the Protestant Reformation

• John Wycliffe (1331-84)

  • Note: criticism of transubstantiation; role in translating Bible into English; opposition against indulgences, pilgrimages, praying to saints, clerical celibacy

  • Lollards – followers of Wycliffe

• Jan Hus (1369-1415): admirer of Wycliffe; Bohemian reformer; burnt at the stake in 1415

Other factors leading up to Protestant Reformation

Invention of printing press

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

• 95 Theses (1517)

• Diet of Worms (1521) – refused to recant his belief

John Calvin (1509-64)

• Two core principles: God’s total sovereignty, human beings’ total depravity

• Ran Protestant Geneva (1541 onward); Michael Servetus burnt at the stake in 1553 under his leadership

• Synod of Dort (post-Calvin – 1618-19 – principles of Calvinist thought) and TULIP

  • Total depravity

  • Unconditional election

  • Limited atonement

  • Irresistible grace

  • Perseverance of the saints

English Reformation

• Initiated by Henry VIII (conflict over marriage annulment – why? note also: Henry VIII wasn’t a Protestant)

• Resistance to Protestantism in certain areas of England (Cornwall; Devon; Prayer Book Rebellion, 1549)

• Mary I briefly returned England to being Catholic; England Protestant again after the end of her reign

• Anglicans/Episcopalians – members of the Church of Englan

Radical Reformation

• Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531)

• Anabaptists – “rebaptizers” (opposed infant baptism)

  • Legacy: Quakers, Mennonites (Amish

Reformation theology

• Rejection of transubstantiation

• The solae: sola scriptura (scripture alone); sola gratia (grace alone); sola fide (faith alone

Counter-Reformation

• Council of Trent

  • Clergy allowed to preach in vernacular language

  • Sale of indulgences forbidden

  • Practice of simony condemned

• Index of Forbidden Books

  • Published in 1559

  • Reading these books would result in excommunication

  • Included…

    • Works by Luther and Calvin

    • Many translations of the Bible

  • Continued to be updated and published until 1948, including thousands of titles by the end of its lifespan

    • Non-exhaustive list of books, authors included on the list here

  • Formally abolished in 1966

First Christians to come to the Americas

Roman Catholics – Spanish and French colonizers

First Protestants to come to the America

Pilgrims, 1620

Pilgrims

Also called Separatists, responded to this disagreement by forming their own congregations outside of the Church of England

Puritans

Sought to ‘purify the Church of England

Deism

• Deism departed from traditional Christian thought on several points

  • God as a distant creator

  • Jesus as a ‘great moral teacher,’ not a divine being

  • No Trinity

  • Disdain for organized religion

• That said, Deists were not atheism

  • Believed in God’s existence

  • Believed in an afterlife

• Founding Fathers and Early Presidents

  • Benjamin Franklin

  • Thomas Paine

  • George Washington

Unitarianism

• Broke away from the Congregationalists over differing opinions on the existence of the Holy Trinity

  • Congregationalists affirmed the existence of the Trinity

  • Unitarians denied the existence of the Trinity

    • Stressed God’s unity

    • Influenced by theologians like Michael Servetus

• Additionally, Unitarians rejected the doctrine of original sin, as well as the idea that Jesus died on the cross to atone for humanity’s sins

• US presidents

  • John Adams

  • John Quincy Adams

  • Millard Fillmore

Four characteristics of Evangelicalism

• Conversionism: the conversion experience

• Biblicism: divine inspiration of the Bible

• Crucicentrism: doctrine of Jesus’ death on the cross

• Activism: missionary and evangelistic effort

Key figures in the early Evangelical movement

George Whitefield, Charles Finney, John and Charles Wesley, Jonathan Edwards (specifically his most famous sermon)

First and Second Great Awakening

• First: more Calvinist

• Second: more Arminian; shift in demographics of Christianity (more African Americans converted during the Second Great Awakening)

New religious movements in the US

• Millerites – William Miller; Great Disappointment

• Seventh Day Adventists

• Mormonism

Mormonism

• Smith received a vision from the angel Moroni, who led him to a box of ancient golden plates. These plates formed the basis of the Book of Mormon, the “new testament of Jesus Christ” and a key source of Mormon doctrine.

• Mormons repeatedly getting driven from place to place (New York

  -> Ohio -> Missouri -> Illinois -> Utah)

• Missouri Mormon War, Illinois Mormon War, Utah War

  • Mountain Meadows Massacre (Utah War)

• Now headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah

• Controversial practices: theocracy, polygamy

• Controversial beliefs: Smith as prophet; exaltation; acceptance of other books into Scriptural canon beyond the Bible (Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine and Covenants

Fundamentalism

• Lyman Stewart

• Defending the “fundamentals:” biblical inerrancy, virgin birth, atonement, resurrection of Jesus, miracles of Jesu

Pentecostalism

• Developed out of Holiness Movement, which itself developed out of Methodism

• Focus on spiritual gifts (speaking in tongues, healing, prophecies)

• Azusa Street Revival, 1906

• Widespread global success, esp. in Latin Americ

Sacraments

• Sacrumentum: an oath taken by Roman soldiers

  • Adapted for use in a Christian context by Tertullian (160-240)

  • Theology further developed by Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

    • Signs that sanctify by being efficacious

    • A ‘visible sign of invisible grace

Baptism

• Action performed three times while saying the Trinitarian formula: “In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

• Considered an ‘initiation ritual’ alongside confirmation and communion

Variations in how baptism is performed

sprinkling, pouring, immersion

Communion

• Also known as…

  • The Lord’s Supper

  • Eucharist (from the Greek εὐχαριστία, ‘thanksgiving’)

  • Mass’ (in Catholicism) or ‘Divine Liturgy’ (Orthodox) refer to the celebration of communion

• Instituted by Jesus in the Gospels during the Last Supper

  • cf. Mark 14:22-24: “While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, ‘Take; this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”

Elements of communion

bread, wine

Different views of communion

Transubstantiation, consubstantiation, spiritual presence, symbolic

Holy Days

Easter and Christmas

Easter

• Commemorates Jesus’ resurrection

• No fixed date

Christmas

• Commemorates Jesus’ birth

• Celebrated on:

  • December 25th (Catholics, Protestants)

  • January 7th (Orthodox)

Lent and Holy Week

• Palm Sunday recalls Jesus’ procession into Jerusalem

• Maundy Thursday commemorates Jesus’ last supper with his disciples

• Good Friday commemorates Jesus’ crucifixion

• Often celebrated with Easter vigil or sunrise services

The Virgin Mary

• Significance/role in Catholic Christianity (Marian devotion)

• Ave Maria (Hail Mary

• Catholic Church declaring visions of Mary’s apparition as valid or invalid

Icon

• Meaning: Image

  • Stylized depictions of religiously significant figures…

    • e.g., Christ, Mary, or saints

  • …or an event of religious significance

    • e.g., the Last Supper; the Crucifixion; the Resurrection

  • In Eastern Orthodoxy

    • Process of icon creation referred to as ‘writing’

    • Style

      • Unrealistic perspective and proportions

      • No sense of time

      • Symbolic colors and material

      • Example…

        • Use in worship

          • Viewed as ‘windows into heaven’

        • Iconostasis

Birth and Death

• Birth

  • Only ritual traditionally associated with birth is baptism

    • In Catholicism

      • Baptism performed ‘in the first few weeks’ of child’s life

      • Sponsors assigned to ensure child “lead[s] a Christian life”

• Death

  • Christians traditionally bury their dead

  • Accordingly, Christians traditionally avoided cremation

    • Officially banned by Roman Catholic Church in 1884

      • Ban lifted in 1963

      • Practices associated with cremation (e.g., scattering ashes) condemned in 2016

    • Rejected in Eastern Orthodoxy

    • In the contemporary era, cremation is more widespread in majority-Christian countries

  • Funeral rites

    • Christian funerals may feature…

      • Readings from scripture

      • Singing of Psalms and/or hymns

      • Prayers

        • From the Book of Common Prayer: “In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to Almighty God our brother N.; and we commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The Lord bless him and keep him, the Lord make his face to shine upon him and be gracious unto him, the Lord lift up his countenance upon him and give him peace. Amen.”