Hist 297 - Midterm Review Notes

Hebrew scriptures

• Split into three parts:

1. Torah or Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy)

• Most important section for Jews because of its laws, commands, etc that are supposed to be followed

• Traditionally are also considered important because it was written by great Hebrew prophet Moses (nowadays people sometimes recognize that Moses may not have actually written them because the texts were edited/revised after Moses lived)

2. Prophets

3. Writings (miscellaneous collection of different types of writings)

• Jewish scriptures have previously been known as the “Old Testament”, which has its issues because “old” can imply that it needs to be replaced or updated or that it’s worn out

• Christian scriptures have typically been known as the “New Testament”

• Problematic because it implies that one religion is better than the other

• Now, scholars refer to Jewish texts as the Hebrew bible/scripture or the original/first testament

Septuagint and apochrypha

1. Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures

• Called this because according to tradition

• (c. 250 BCE)

• They got 70 translators together to translate scriptures from Hebrew to Greek and separately, they all came up with the same exact translation

• Basis for early Christian understandings of the Hebrew scriptures

• Contains some books that most Jews reject today (Judith and Maccabees)

• Catholic and Eastern Orthodox bibles still sometimes contain Judith and Maccabees

2. Texts that don’t appear in Hebrew scripture but do appear in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox scripture but don’t appear in Protestant scripture

Creation story #2

Probably the older story of the two but shows up second, tells the story of God creating the world in a very orderly fashion, creation of light on day 1, water on day 2, land and plants on day 3, and so on

• Creation finishes with humankind on day 6 and God rests on the 7th day

• Orderly and repetitive

• Contains no mention of any other gods (completely monotheistic), strain of polytheism that needs to be ‘cleaned up’

#2

Creation story info

• Some modern scholars use the creation stories as evidence against them, because some things are not scientifically accurate

• Scientific and narrative consistency wasn’t necessarily the goal of the ancient authors

• Hebrew bible has its own understanding of history and theology, working from ideas of myth to explain natural phenomena

• Point of the two stories is that both present God simultaneously in two ways:

1. Transcendent: God exists on an entirely different plane/level of existence that humans cannot comprehend

2. Immanent: God exists/is active in the world and is personally involved in people’s lives and in His creation

Prophets

• Some of the most important figures in Hebrew scriptures

• God’s speakers on earth, who act under His inspiration

• Sometimes would predict the future, but more often would urge people to re-commit to Abraham’s covenant more deeply

• The most important prophet in Christianity is Isaiah, and that book was written around the 700s BCE

• Isaiah wrote that there would be a Messiah (figure from God) who would eventually come to earth to get rid of evil and to save the good people

• Said the Messiah would be a child born from a virgin, the child will come from the line of David, and the child would eventually sacrifice Himself for the good of humanity

• Since Jesus isn’t the messiah in Judaism, most Jews believe we’re still waiting on a messiah and that Jesus wasn’t the messiah

• Since Jews are still facing a lot of persecution, their messiah still hasn’t come

• Difficult to tell exactly when Jews became fully and committedly monotheistic (hints in scriptures that there might be other gods) 

• ‘Hellenized’ Jews tried to emulate cultural practices of the ancient Greeks (usually a way of fitting in)

  • Often didn’t practice circumcision

Groups of interest

1. Pharisees: wanted to strictly follow the Torah in order to maintain Jewish identity while they were being ruled over by the Romans; had the most political power of all the Jewish groups

2. Sadducees: wanted to cooperate with the Romans to maintain social stability (assimilate into Roman culture)

3. Zealots: advocated for anti-Roman violence/open rebellion (we need to kick them out)

• Many Jews, regardless of group, believed that God would soon bring an end to the injustice they were experiencing (being ruled over by Rome) and looked for a Messiah figure who would rule as king and judge the wicked and righteous 

• The very first Christians were Palestinian Jews, who believed that Jesus was that Messiah that had been sent

Life of Jesus

• Four gospels are often called the canonical gospels because they form the ‘canon’ (official parts of the story)

• Gospels were written somewhere between 70 and 100 CE

• Gospel comes from the Greek word for “good news”

• Gospels are more interested in providing theology rather than biography

• There’s enough overlap between the four that we can piece together the career and teachings of Jesus

Theological elements of Mary and Joseph

• Immaculate conception: refers to Mary’s conception, not Jesus’

• It’s not that Mary didn’t sin at all, it’s that she was born without original sin

• Jesus was born in Bethlehem, sometime between 4 and 1 BCE

• Grew up in the village of Nazareth

Jesus’ ministry

• When Jesus was around 30, He went south to the Jordan River and was baptized by John the Baptist (Jesus’ slightly older cousin)

• John was a prophet who warned that God was coming soon to judge humanity, and said that sinners needed to be baptized in water as a sign of spiritual cleansing

• After Jesus was baptized, Jesus began a public ministry that lasted no more than 3 years

• Jesus performed healings, miracles, and was a very charismatic teacher, which gained Him followers and believers

• 3 main disciples are 3 fisherman: Peter, John, and James

• Jesus broke many social norms, such as befriending and eating with women

• As Jesus’ ideas and teachings grew in popularity, he aroused resentment among the religious establishment (ex. Jews who were in power in His area)

• Jesus arrived in Jerusalem just before Passover (which celebrates the escape of Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt; always in the spring)

  • For several days, He taught in the second temple

Jesus’ death

• Jesus celebrated the last supper (probably the Passover seder/ritual meal) 

• He was then brought before a council of Jewish leaders, who handed Him over to Pontious Pilate (Roman governor of the area)

• Pilate feared that Jesus was a threat to public order and had Him crucified within a week

• He was reluctant to crucify Jesus but felt he had no choice (but he could’ve said no)

• All 4 gospels state that the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus when he was baptized and this baptism was a way of renewing the covenant with God that Abhraham had made 

• Spiritual circumcision of the heart through baptism is more important than bodily circumcision

• Jesus didn’t come to renew the covenant but to fulfill it (meaning the old Jewish covenant with Abraham has come to and end and He is the new covenant)

• Women found an empty tomb and Jesus found the women and told them that He rose from the dead and proclaims to all people that they can now have an afterlife through Him

• Jesus remained on earth for 40 days after that, and then ascended to heaven

• The author of the book of Acts is the same as the author of Luke, tells us that these early believers in Jesus spent a lot of time together in the Jewish temple

  • They were Jews who continued to live and worship as Jews

  • It didn’t occur to them that their beliefs gave them a new religious identity

  • Thought of themselves as Jews who’d recognized the Messiah that had come

Teachings of Jesus

• Jesus most often spoke in parables (stories that use images from everyday life in order to illustrate bigger spiritual ideas)

• Often spoke of a future kingdom of God in which people respond with love and obedience to God’s will

  • This kingdom is open to everyone who repents and renounces sin

• The true meaning of the Torah was in the intention (it’s not enough not to murder someone - you shouldn’t hate anyone in your heart enough to want to murder them)

• This idea of a pure heart and love is at the centre of Jesus’ teachings

• You should love your enemy as yourself (if not more)

• You should love people with a similar love that you love God (without worshipping those people)

Sin and human nature

• People can be good, but ultimately, inherently, as human beings, we are unable to rise above sin

• Unable to be as loving, humble, generous, righteous, as we should be

• Christianity explains salvation by using the Jewish language of “sacrifice”

• During Jesus’ lifetime, the understanding of Jewish sacrifice was that the sins of people were ritually placed onto animals that were then ritually sacrificed

  • The animals are innocent victims for the sins of human beings

• Christianity directly uses that idea in describing Jesus as the sacrificial lamb

• Jesus has two natures: divine and human

  • Jesus’ divine nature allowed Him to do things for humans that they couldn’t do themselves (ex. escape sin) and He could atone for humanity’s suffering

  • The problem there is that as a divine being, Jesus can’t actually sin; can’t be sacrificed as a God

  • That’s where the human element comes into play - as a human, Jesus could suffer the consequences of other people’s sins and be killed for them

Heaven

Perfect and eternal union with God; can be understood as a physical place or a spiritual state of being

• Christian scriptures never really describe heaven in detail, so there’s some ambiguity there

• References to a paradise and a future home of believers 

• References to an everlasting life and a great reward

• Have parts of your body that were lost being restored to you

Hell

Not so much a punishment for sinning, but more so the self-imposed consequences of rejecting God and Jesus as God’s son on earth

• Can be understood as a physical place or spiritual state of being

• Overall idea is that it’s pain and permanent, eternal separation from God

• Christian scriptures describe hell as a state of being separated from God

• Only gets the idea of being an actual physical place in the middle ages (500s-600s), as a subterranean pit of fire and horror

• Some people thought hell involved the body being broken down and broken apart

Purgatory

Specific to Roman Catholics, a kind of in-between place between earthly life and heaven, where the souls of the dead have temporary punishment for sinning

• Heaven is perfect, and you cannot allow sins into heaven

• So if you die without having gotten forgiveness for some of your sins, then you need to be cleansed of those leftover sins before you can get into heaven

• People believe in Jesus and Christianity but still have lingering stains of sin that they haven’t gotten atonement for

• An opportunity to finish repentance for your sins

• “Cleansing fire” that you will emerge from

• Will PURGE you of any remaining sins

• A painful process, you’re in a land of fire but it’s temporary

• Protestants reject purgatory because there’s no scriptural basis for it

• Idea of purgatory first shows up in texts that are from mystical visions of people who took a tour of heaven and hell (in the 500s and 600s); start to get developed more concretely and theologically in the 1100s and 1200s

• One of the major theologians of purgatory is Gertrude the Great

Josephus

• c. 37-100 CE

• Jewish man who allied himself with the Romans during a time in the late 60s CE when the Jewish people were rebelling against the Roman empire in order to regain control of their lands

• Jews were split (not every Jew wanted to rebel)

• Identified the leader of the Christians in Jerusalem as a man named James

• Says that James is Jesus’ brother (“brother” is unclear and has been debated for centuries)

• His text (story of Jewish rebellion) identifies Jesus as “the Messiah” but that’s probably a later edition of the text, added by a different author

• We know that there were some people around in the 60s who believed in Jesus as the Son of God, were calling themselves Christians, and people knew about them

• This Jewish rebellion against Rome didn’t end well for the Jews, so Rome put down the rebellion harshly and destroyed the second temple in 70 CE (a third one has not been built)

Pliny the younger

• Local provincial leader who wrote to the emperor Trajan at the time, and essentially asked “what do I do with these people who are calling themselves Christians?”

• Had to explain what the Christians were doing:

  • Met before dawn 

  • Sang hymns on a specific day of the week

  • Swore oaths not to kill, steal, or perform sins against each other

  • Took a meal of bread and wine after meeting with each other

• See very early descriptions of what becomes basic Christian rituals

Start of gospel writing

Around 70 CE:

• Peter (the Rock) was executed in Rome in 64 CE, and Paul (an influential early follower of Jesus) was executed around 65 CE

• Second temple was destroyed in 70 CE

• Lots of upheavals happening in a short period of time

• Eyewitnesses to Jesus were starting to die off at this point

• Very early Christians believed that Jesus was coming back to earth right away, but as more and more time passed, without Jesus returning, early Christians started realizing that they needed a written record that preserved these stories

Nag Hammadi

• Shortly after WWII, there was a complete chance discovery of a lot of these ancient texts (documents from 200s and 300s) found in Nag Hammadi, Egypt, found in a tomb

  • Our largest collection of the non-canonical/Nag Hammadi gospels

• A lot of gaps in the gospel of Judas because it was found in very bad condition

The gospels

• Generally believed that Mark was written first

• Matthew and Luke come next

  • The authors of these texts clearly had access to Mark and drew on Mark as a source

  • But, there’s significant information in Matthew and Luke that does not appear in Mark, which Matthew and Luke share (clearly getting it from somewhere that is not Mark) 

• Scholars believe that there was another older document that is now lost that both Matthew and Luke used as a source for their gospels

  • That text, the Q-source, has been lost to time

  • Q is from the German word Quelle, which means “source”

• None of the pregnancy, infancy, or childhood of Jesus is mentioned in Mark, but it is talked about in Matthew and Luke, indicating that there was another source

• Gospel of Thomas has been suggested to be the possible Q-source

• Syriac infancy gospel goes into more detail about Jesus’ childhood

• Two source hypothesis is generally quite well supported and agreed upon

• Mark either didn’t have access to the Q-source or was written before the Q-source was

Synoptic gospels

Follow the same general storyline and make similar points about Jesus, whereas John is a more mystical text (although it follows the same sequence of events)

• The followers of Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) almost certainly did not write their respective gospels, since they were mostly illiterate fishermen

• Matthew was a literate tax collector, but still highly unlikely that Matthew actually wrote the gospel of Matthew

• John was the last of the 4 gospels written, and wasn’t written down until the year 110 CE, and it’s extremely unlikely that John wrote down his experiences with Jesus when he was 110 years old

• Names that later editors gave to these texts when they were compiling them and the names just got stuck with the texts

• Not until the 300s that you get a set version of the 4 (and ‘only’) gospels

• There were early attempts to combine the 4 gospels into a single narrative

• St. Ignatius advocated strongly for the 4 gospels in the 100s to be classified as the only 4 gospels

Paul

• Majority of the New Testament is comprised of letters written by Paul

• Paul never actually met Jesus during his lifetime

  • Instead, he was a Jewish tax collector who wasn’t too keen on the Christians, until he had a mystical vision of encountering Jesus after Jesus had died

  • After this encounter, he converted to Christianity

• As a tax collector, Paul was literate and he wrote a number of letters, sent to different Christian communities throughout the Mediterranean 

• Out of these letters of the New Testament, 7 can be authentically confirmed to have been written by Paul, 4 are forgeries (letters written in the style that Paul used but not written by Paul himself; still became influential in Christianity; based on language, words used, and slight inconsistencies in theology, can tell that they weren’t written by Paul), and 3 letters that are up for debate (regarding whether or not they were written by Paul)

• Colossians, Ephesians, and first and second Thessalonians are the fraudulent letters

• First and second Timothy and Timus are the 3 up for debate

• Still some debate in the Christian community about whether or not all the letters were written by Paul

• There is evidence within Paul’s letters that he was in contact with Peter, James, and John around the year 48 CE, and they decided that Paul would preach to the Gentiles, and Peter preached Gentiles

• Paul sets up a lot of theological concepts of what would become Christianity

• Paul is sometimes seen as the founder of Christianity, since he takes the first steps in setting up a coherent theology of how all these things fit together (how to be a Christian)

Competing christianities general info

• Many competing Jesus groups, who all have the same general beliefs but the specifics vary between groups

• One version of Christianity won out, and persisted until the Protestant Reformation (and technically continues on in Roman Catholicism)

• Initially, people were okay with the different groups, until early church councils started calling some of the groups heretics (someone who believes the wrong thing about a religion)

  • Believes in the religion but is incorrect about some of their individual beliefs

  • A word that gets applied to other people

• All competing Christianities all end up being heresies

• No guarantee that they’d be the losing group

Theological questions

• Jew vs Gentile: 

  • Can only other Jews be Christians?

  • Or is this religion also open to Gentiles?

  • One council determines that this religion is also open to Gentiles

• God vs human: 

  • How this God can also have a human body that can feel pain and die (how do you kill a god?)

  • How do you have a god in a human body

  • How do you divide up divine and human (half and half or intertwined)

• The Holy Spirit:

  • What is the Holy Spirit?

  • An abstract concept, and never 100% defined

  • A difficult concept to understand

• Christianity kinda seems monotheistic (one God) but also polytheistic regarding the trinity

• Simultaneously Jewish and Christian; not easily understandable

• Takes centuries to figure out, and in the meantime, different possible views/answers to these questions aris

Marcion

• Circa 85-160, Marcionites, son of a bishop (had grown up with very early Christianity), well-educated 

• Had read Hebrew scriptures

• Argued that the God of the Hebrew scriptures was not the same God that Jesus proclaimed

• The Hebrew God was really angry and wrathful (destroying the world, back and forth with Hebrews not following God and then He sends punishment and they apologize and recommit and then go back to worshipping other gods and the cycle repeats)

• This didn’t make sense to him, because Jesus spoke about a single God of salvation, forgiveness, and love

• Marcion started his own movement (got some followers) advocating for this TWO-GOD theory

• In doing so, he created his own collection of holy texts and said that the only thing Christians needed were 10 of Paul’s letters and an abbreviated, shortened version of Luke

• Other Christians found these ideas fairly concerning, because Marcion was very charismatic (good speaker), and was quite convincing with what he had to say

• He was on the verge of becoming the bishop of Rome (later known as the Pope)

• If that’d happened, Christianity today would be very different from how we actually understand it

• Obviously, his movement failed

• He was the first person who said that we did need a set group of scriptures/texts for this religion**

• Some other early bishops disagreed, and wanted to form their own set of texts

• But Marcion’s ideas are ultimately the beginning/foundation of the creation of the New Testament

Gnoticism

• Not a defined movement; more of a loose group of people who tended to believe in similar concepts

• Involves a concept of cosmic dualism (difference) between the spirit and the flesh; between the spiritual and physical world

• There’s a God and then a very powerful spirit (who’s not a god)

• The God creates the soul/spirit/life force/intelligence and that’s all GOOD

• The powerful spirit creates the material/tangible world (body, physical objects, plants, animals, the earth, etc) and that’s all BAD

• It’s a dualistic battle between the good senses and soul vs the bad flesh and body and world and temptations of the flesh

• Tends to be a very mystical form of Christianity

• Deals a lot with being an esoteric religion (AKA “revealed religion”, one that you learn in stages - video game level up)

  • Develop a basic knowledge and then get to level 2 and so on

  • Texts are usually not beginner-level; designed to be for people who are already familiar with the basics 

  • Information was only given to those who have demonstrated full knowledge of the basics 

  • In contrast, the opposite is Judaism/Christianity/Islam where the basic beliefs are just laid out for you (might need help interpreting/understanding but it’s pretty obvious what you’re supposed to believe in)

• Knowledge may not be accurate because those counterarguments present a distorted, biased view

• Gospel of Judas wasn’t written until the late 100s, and tells Judas’ story (presents him as Jesus’ best disciple) 

  • The other disciples are presented as bad people

  • Jesus is always laughing at them

  • Was written to go against the practice of becoming a martyr

• Gospels exist of Peter, the Marys, Thomas, etc

Docetism

Believed that Jesus didn’t suffer and feel pain on the cross when He was being crucified (denies the human side of Jesus and undermines His sacrifice); a movement in very early Christianity

• Shows up very briefly in the gospel of Peter (supposed to be Jesus’ disciple Peter)

• Very similar to the canonical gospels, but declared non-canonical/heretical because of docetism

• People found this concept problematic

• If the movement hadn’t happened, the gospel of Peter would probably be in the New Testament today

• Knew of gospel of Peter’s existence because of texts that argued against it

Arianism

Believes that Jesus didn’t always exist and that God the Father came before God the Son; and that God the Father is above/more powerful than God the Son

• Made beliefs appealing to Germanic (warrior) groups coming into contact with the Roman Empire in the 300s-500s

• Biggest and longest lasting movement heretic movements (lasted for centuries before it was eliminated)

• Preached by the bishop Arius in Egypt

• Contrast to Arianism is Nicene Christianity (what ultimately becomes Roman Catholicism; based on Nicene Creed); determined at the council of Nicea (year 315) which was called together by the Emperor Constantine (Roman emperor who somewhat converted to Christianity) and made it legal to be Christian in the Roman Empire

• Constantine was about order and stability, and saw all the different Christian groups floating around and said we need ONE version that everyone agrees on

• So, he called together the council of Nicaea (bishops and priests) to settle some of the disputes on Christianity, which resulted in the Nicene Creed

• Arius was one of the bishops at the council, and because he wouldn’t shut up, one of the other bishops slapped him to shut him up (St Nicholas)

Donatism

Completely opposes denying being Christian, saying that you’ll go to hell if you do that, and says that all Christians should be ready to die for their beliefs

• Donatus (died around 355)

• Grew out of the idea in early Christianity (before Constantine legalized Christianity) that some Christians were persecuted for being Christians

• Some died for their beliefs, but not every Christian became a martyr

• Some people went back to their original religion, whereas others denied being Christian in front of Roman authorities

• Those who did die for their beliefs received a lot of praise and were seen as the ‘best’ Christians

• For the majority of people however, being willing to die for your beliefs is a step too far

• Donatism dies out because it’s too strict and demanding too much of people

• Doesn’t last long after Donatus’ death

Centrist christians

• Don’t like most ideas and beliefs in these movements, and consider them to be too extreme

• Put forth their own ideas and ideologies and advocated for their own group of sacred texts

• Some scholars consider this group proto-Orthodox

  • Problem with this is that it suggests that what ultimately becomes the Orthodox Christianity was always going to win, but in reality, it could’ve been almost any of them

Irenaeus

• C. 130-202, theological grandson of one of Jesus’ disciples

• Really pushed for the 4 canonical gospels

• A very learned influential bishop, who had been taught by Polycarp (69-155)

  • Polycarp had heard the teachings of one of Jesus’ actual disciples, John the Evangelist, and is the last known direct link to Jesus’ disciples

• Irenaeus is the source for what a lot of other gospels and texts say (writing against those texts)

• Sometimes his summaries line up, other times, not so much (sometimes due to his own biased understanding or agenda, or because he didn’t have access to/be able to read absolutely every possible text)

• Sometimes he wrote about what other people told him they’ve read (second or third hand information about what a text says)

• What we think and what we have about Christianity today is not just limited to the 4 official gospels, and there are many other texts and movements that exist

Weird christianity

• Most religions at the time were polytheistic, and Christianity is monotheistic

• Religious cannibalism (transubstantiation)

• Proselytizing (spreading the word and trying to convert people to your religion)

-

• Jews were monotheistic and the Romans thought they were weird too, but the Jews weren’t proselytizing, so Rome was willing to tolerate them

• Because Christianity was spreading throughout the Roman Empire, Rome began to see them as a serious problem/threat to the Empire itself

• Some Roman emperors took that threat seriously so there were times when Christians were tolerated, and other times when they were very heavily persecuted

• Some Jews believed Jesus was the Messiah (later called Christians) but most Jews just believed that the Messiah would come eventually

  • This belief in Jesus as the Messiah was the start of a new religion

Perpetua

• c. 182-203

• She was imprisoned for being Christian

• She kept a diary while she was in prison (firsthand account of her suffering); finished by another author after her death

• Not a lot of biographical information known, but can we assume:

  • She was from the upper class because she was literate

  • She had converted to Christianity was very adamant/committed to her beliefs

  • She was a young mother with a nursing infant

  • She was in Northern Africa

  • She was executed with some friends and servants who were also Christian

• Felicity was one of Perpetua’s servants who was executed with her

Sebastian

• c. 255-288

• Middle of the spectrum of historical and legendary 

• Young man in Rome who is always depicted with arrows coming out of him because he was shot with arrows as part of his torture

• The arrows are part of his iconography (the study of images; often religious in nature)

• According to tradition, he was shot with arrows because he was Christian, as a way of torturing him

• He was rescued and healed by another saint (Irene) 

• Shortly after he recovered, he went to the emperor Diocletian to tell him he was a horrible person and why he was wrong and what was going to happen to him as a non-Christian and that he was going to hell

• The emperor had Sebastian beaten to death by clubs

Diocletian

• Ruled from 285-305, anti-Christian

• Joined the army, rose through the ranks, and became emperor with the support of the army (common at the time)

• Considered to have stabilized the Roman Empire (outside threats and was undergoing a general malaise) 

• Fixed through tetrarchy (four rulers of the Empire, too big to govern efficiently by one person), so he sets up a hierarchical system to keep things orderly and flowing in terms of handing off rulers when one dies (assembly line - 2 becomes 1, 3 becomes 2, etc)

  • The thought was to gain experience before becoming the main emperor

  • Can respond more quickly to local concerns but still have centralized control

• Also stabilized taxes and instituted a rule that if you were a man, whatever your father did for a living, you also did (he was all about stability)

• Change in governance was a really big shift in the Empire

• Yet you still have a group of Christians that are growing in number and not practicing the Roman religion (he saw this as very destabilizing)

• His reign saw the largest persecution of Christians of the Roman Empire

• One of the members of the tetrarchy was Constantius, and he rose from being a lower-level ruler to being one of the more senior ones, but is ultimately not that important

  • Even though he did destroy some predominantly Christian towns under Diocletian’s orders, he doesn’t seem to have actively persecuted Christians himself

  • Didn’t take initiative to go after Christians on his own

  • Some indication that he himself might’ve been Christian (evidence is mixed)

Constantine

• c. 272-337

• Emperor who legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire

• But didn’t make it the official religion

• Some question as to how Christian he was, he may have been Christian while also still worshipping some of the Roman gods at the same time

• Battle of the Milvian bridge, in which he fought to become the only emperor (tetrarchy ended with him)

• The night before the battle, he saw an image in the sky: (source 1) it was a cross (source 2) it was a chi-rho (p with an x, first two letters of the word “Christ” in Greek)

  • Both versions say that Constantine heard a voice that said “By this sign, you shall conquer.”

• He had the image put on shields and won the battle

• Sources tell us that this convinced him of the power and reality of the Christian God

• In 313, he issued the Edict of Milan, that made Christianity legal for the first time

Abraham

• 1700 BCE: Abraham’s historical existence is questioned

• Abraham is a patriarch: one of the founders of what becomes Judaism (no fully formed Judaism at this point)

• Abraham is the most important figure of ancient Judaism

• Makes a covenant (holy promise) with God that says Abraham and his descendants will populate the earth if Abraham shows obedience to God and if his descendants continue to show that obedience

• God also says that Abraham (who was from modern day Iraq) should settle in the land of Canaan which is more or less modern day Israel and Palestine

• Abraham’s problem with populating the earth is that his wife Sarah are childless and they’re in their 90s

• To solve this, Sarah gives her slave girl (Hagar) to Abraham to have sex with and produce a child

• Ishmael is Abraham and Hagar’s child (Muslims trace lineage back to Abraham through Ishmael)

• God reappears to Abraham and renews their covenant/promise, says Abraham will have a child with Sarah in the next year

• Sarah then gives birth to Isaac (Jews trace their lineage back to Abraham through Isaac)

• Hebrew scriptures say Hagar and Ishmael are banished

• God tests Abraham’s obedience by telling him to sacrifice Isaac (we know how that ends)

• Islam has the same story except it’s Ishmael who’s being sacrificed

Hebrews’ struggle

• ~500 years later~ 1200 BCE, Hebrews find themselves in Egypt enslaved by Pharaoh 

• While the Hebrews are enslaved in Egypt, the hero Moses emerges

• Moses considered to be favoured by God

• Egyptians who have enslaved the Hebrews are not favoured by God, so He sends a series of plagues onto the Egyptians

  • Ex. plague of frogs, locusts, Nile River turning to blood

• Eventually, Pharaoh gets fed up and lets the Hebrews leave

• Moses and the Hebrews pack up and get out of Egypt because the Pharaoh changed his mind and said wait I’m gonna pursue and re-enslave you

• Moses parts the Red Sea, and all the Hebrews make it across, but Pharaoh and his army get drowned

• Hebrews return to Canaan and settle there

• Hebrews are not a cohesive, centralized nation (loosely-connected group of city states that are united by the same religious beliefs and speaking the same language)

• A pattern starts to develop: when the Hebrews are faithful to God, He blesses them and they prosper (ex. conquer neighbouring groups, good crop yields, lots of kids), but they keep messing up by worshipping other gods, and then God punishes them (ex. sending famines, having them lose battles), and then they’re like sorry and the cycle repeats

• Central theme is that it’s very difficult to keep people from worshipping other gods and to maintain monotheism and resist the temptation of worshipping additional gods

Hebrews want king

• Eventually, around 1000BCE, the Hebrews start wanting a king to unite them and to bring more order

  • God doesn’t think that’s a great idea, but eventually makes Saul

• Saul is a good man but doesn’t always worship God like he should

• So then, God sends Samuel the prophet to name a new future king named David

• Samuel didn’t kick Saul off the throne but said a new and better king named David will be coming

David

• David ends up in Saul’s court, and is a good warrior

• Initially Saul likes David (he’s good at playing music which helps Saul fall asleep), but eventually Saul gets jealous and starts to see David as a rival/enemy, and tries to have David killed

• David flees to the south and becomes the king of the southern tribes of Hebrews

• Two years later, northern tribes also accept David as king, and Saul dies in a battle against the Philistines, making David king of all the Hebrews

• David is a complicated figure because he is sometimes presented as a great king of a golden age for the Hebrews, favoured greatly by God, whereas other times, he’s portrayed as a serial adulterer, had mistresses’ husbands killed, and had a very dysfunctional household (ex. one of his sons rapes his half-sister and tries to stage a coup against David)

• Eventually, northern tribes break away and form their own kingdom (partially because of David’s chaos)

• Regardless, David is understood to be favoured by God

• Jesus claims descent/lineage from David

• After David dies, his son Solomon becomes king

Solomon

• Solomon has his own issues, he lives very richly and luxuriously, but most people are very poor at this time

• He practiced a lot of polygamy, which in that time and culture was considered okay (what IS a problem is that Solomon often married foreign/non-Hebrew women and Solomon’s court was seen as polluted by foreign influences)

• Solomon built temples to other gods (not cool dude) but also built a large main temple for God (temple of Solomon, which became the main temple for practicing Judaism)

  • Temple doesn’t last very long, but it’s a concrete, dedicated temple to God

• Solomon is generally viewed positively, very wise

• Hebrew people split into 2 groups (Israel in the north, Judah in the south) after Solomon’s death

Hebrews being conquered

• Assyrian empire conquered Israel in 721 BCE and Judah managed to hang on (“Jew” likely derived from Judah) but has to pay special taxes and tributes to the Assyrians

• 598 BCE, Judah was conquered by Babylonians who had conquered the Assyrians

  • Solomon’s temple was destroyed and many Jews were (forcibly) sent off to Babylon; sometimes called the Babylonian captivity

• Doesn’t last long, because the Persians end up conquering the Babylonians and in 539 BCE, the Persian emperor (Cyrus the great) paid to rebuild Solomon’s temple to God and allows the Jews to return back to their original area

• Second temple of Solomon lasts from 539 BCE up to 70 CE, when it’s destroyed by the Romans

  • This 600 year period is called the “second temple period”

• exact dates are NOT important

• In the 300s BCE, Alexander the Great (part of Greek culture) conquered the Persians and many other nations, and the Jews were under his control

• When Alexander died, his empire was split into 3

Jewish rebellion

• In 167 BCE, Jewish unhappiness under Greek rule and culture led to a rebellion led by Judas Maccabeus and the Jews regained control of the holy land for the first time in 500 years

  • This successful rebellion is celebrated as Hanukkah, specifically with the idea that after they’d conquered the land and driven out the Greek ruler Antiochus IV, they went to the temple to pray and discovered there was only enough oil to keep the lamps lit one night, but it lasted for 8 nights instead

• Only hold onto the territory for ~100 years

• In 63 BCE, the Romans conquer the territory

Apostolic/petrine succession

• Apostle Peter (d. c. 67-80)

• Peter becomes Jesus’ successor  (1st pope)

• Greek word “Petra” means rock/stone

• Peter was crucified in Rome and before he died, he handed over leadership to Linus, which sets up the concept of an apostolic/Petrine succession

  • The leader of the church in Rome has direct connection all the way back to Peter

• Originally, the pope was just the bishop (church figure who has authority over a certain geographical area) of Rome 

• Pope technically still is the bishop of Rome today

• Equally powerful other bishops in other important cities (ex. Constantinople, Alexandria, and other major cities in the Roman Empire)

• Bishop of Rome was considered to be powerful, but he was one among other equals

• Over time, as the Roman Empire in the west got weaker, and eventually ended in 476 with the death of the last emperor in the west, the bishop of Rome started to claim additional power as the administrative structure of the Empire got weaker in the west

• The institutional church takes over some of the administrative functions that the Roman government had been responsible for up until that point (bishop of Rome is now in charge of them)

• Rise in power of Roman bishop was contested/argued about by other bishop, particularly those ones in the Eastern part of the Empire

• In Europe itself, the bishop of Rome did gain power and eventually developed this position of the Pope (in charge of all other bishops in Europe)

Gregory the great

• c. 540-604

• Considered to be the first true Pope (ruled from 590-604)

• Real power, authority, and ability to be recognized as the leader

• Took a while to get a figure strong enough to assert the power of being the Pope

• Expands papal powers to establish the position beyond just being the bishop of Rome (I’m at the top of the hierarchy)

• Brought together/standardized a lot of early Christian thought into single, coherent documents 

• His administrative structure in the church is much stronger than what remained of the governmental structure of the Empire

• Also known for organizing the first large-scale missionary movement, based out of Rome itself

  • Augustine travelled to Canterbury in England and converted the English people in that area to Roman-based Christianity (he was sent by Gregory)

• The idea of the pope having more power came with some controversy

  • During the Middle Ages, popes had their own large lands/nations, usually located in Central Italy (both a religious and political ruler)

  • Not everyone agreed with that - didn’t like it when the pope tried to conquer some of their territory and take it for himself

Diocese

Territory that bishops control; overlapped significantly with ancient Roman administrative divisions during this time

• Were usually modelled very closely with older Roman setups

Mary of Egypt

• She’s an example of a desert mother (from Egypt and it’s a desert) 

• Important because her story gets combined with other Marys (happens a lot with holy figures - their stories often combine with one another)

• Zosimus is a priest who encounters Mary of Egypt and who gets told her story and gives her communion

• She walked Jordan River back and forth

• Removed herself from a life of sin

• No one is beyond the grace of God

• Respect the priesthood

Hagiography

Study of the sacred or holy

• Usually biographies of holy figures who often become saints

• Used to teach people about how to live a good, moral, holy life 

• Teach about deeds of martyrs/holy people of the past

• Designed to be inspirational, didactic (educational), and entertaining

• Have meanings/purposes/goals

• Was used as a way to accessibly communicate with illiterate people

Christian monasticism

• Ascetic: comes from the Greek ”askesis”, which means disciplined

  • In Christianity, you discipline the body for the good of the soul

  • This idea comes from the desert fathers and mothers, and it spread when the people themselves spread out

• People who lived disciplined and regimented lives in the name of their religion

• Had anything you need, almost like little towns in the Middle Ages

• Monasteries started being built in the 400s-500s

• After Constantine and Christianity being legalized, you couldn’t really become a martyr anymore in the Roman Empire

  • Roman Emperor Julian (360s), was pagan and persecuted Christians for a couple years before he died

  • Small blips on the radar of mini persecutions, such as above example

  • After Constantine, most emperors were Christian as well so they didn’t go back on his legalization

• Yet at the same time, Christianity is spreading more and more

  • But if you can’t die for your faith anymore, and can’t prove your total and utter commitment to Christ by dying for your religion, if you’re really invested, you do the imitatio Christi

Imitatio Christi

Latin, meaning “in the imitation/style of Christ”

• The idea is that Jesus willingly suffered so significantly for humanity that you have to give Him a “thank you” and acknowledge His suffering

  • One way to do that is to suffer yourself, in the imitation of Christ

• You’re never actually going to suffer as much as He did, but you want to make an effort to take on some of the suffering yourself

• This leads to things like fasting, sleeping on the floor, denying yourself sleep, flagellating yourself, etc

• For very early Christians (200s and 300s), they looked at some of the gospels and believed that you needed to go into the desert in order to withdraw yourself from worldly temptations and benefits of being in a city, as a way to imitate the sufferings of Christ 

  • Became the early desert fathers and mothers

• Ends up (around 300s) that the deserts of Egypt are full of Christians trying to prove their devotion (deserts were quite populated)

• Stories often involve rich people who give up everything to go live in the desert (built on the idea that is seen in Matthew and Luke that it’s easier to put a camel in the eye of a needle than a rich person to enter heaven)

Those who withdraw

1. Achroite: ascetics who did it completely alone (ex. living alone in a cave); earliest ascetics

2. Cenobite: ascetics who lived in a community (ex. monks and nuns) and do their disciplinary practices as a group

   • Tend to be less severe than the achorites

• Anchorites continue to exist, but became fewer as time went on

• Cenobites started as few but became more numerous over time (way of life was more doable since humans are social beings), but then declined significantly leading up to present day

• Eremetics: hermits, wander by themselves

• Gyrovagues: groups of monks that wander about aimlessly (but were technically supposed to be alone)

  • Both groups often looked down upon, seen as insufficiently committed to the faith

Rodriges and Harding

• Hard to define religion because people have many different ideas and opinions on what that constitutes

• “Being grasped by an ultimate concern”

• You can do things religiously without them actually being religious too, adding to the complexity

• It’s more about what’s in your heart than what you do

• Often a supernatural aspect to it

• Religious education = bias, attempting to sway someone or impose your views upon them, studies religion while immersed in it

• Religious study = more open, often self-guided, often less bias, sees religion as the object of study, more detached

Matthew, Luke, Romans

• Lots of parables explaining the kingdom of heaven

• Some things aren’t meant to be taken literally

• People didn’t thank Jesus very well for His generosity

• Romans is scary

Gospel of Thomas

• …what

• Some contradictory stuff with the canonical bible

• More gnostic because it requires a certain level of understanding to interpret it

• Easy to find connections to the canonical bible

Martyrdom of St Perpetua

• On the spectrum of history and legend

• Perpetua had visions about her martyrdom and other Christian related things

• In the end, it was HER choice to die

• Mystic special people doing special things

• She had God’s support

• Checks a lot of martyrdom boxes

• She was imprisoned for being Christian but refused to renounce her faith, despite having numerous chances to do so

• She cared more about her modesty than about surviving in the place with the animals

St. Benedict’s Rule

• A lot of rules for monks

• Some don’t make a lot of sense to an uneducated-in-that-area person

• Abbots are leaders of monasteries

• Apparently on the more achievable side of rule books for monks

• Emphasis on silence, reverence, and obedience

Afterlife

Originally, there isn’t a concept of good vs bad in the Hebrew afterlife 

• Initially, everyone goes to a watery, murky, dark place (sheol); not really a punishment place

• It’s only much later that Jews develop the idea of a paradise-type heaven and a punishment-filled hell

• Even today, not all Jews agree with the newer idea of the afterlife

• By the time that Jesus lived, the idea of there being a heaven and hell did exist in parts of Judaism

• It’s what Jesus and His followers would’ve believed 

ID: David

Time period: ~1000BCE

Location: Israel

Facts: 

• Samuel prophet dude says David will take Saul’s place as king

• Ends up in Saul’s court, a good warrior

• Music helps Saul sleep

• Saul tries to have him killed because he started seeing him as a rival

Significance: 

• Became the king of all Hebrews

• Favoured by God

• Jesus claims lineage from David

ID: Q source

Time period: ~40-50CE

Location: possibly Syria but unknown cuz it hasn’t been found

Facts:

• Mark either didn’t have access to it or was written before it

Significance:

• Links Matthew and Luke together

• Info in Matt and Luke that are NOT in Mark, so it’s from somewhere

• Believe it got lost, other gospels have been guessed to be q source but nothing for sure

ID: Perpetua

Time period: 182-203 CE

Location: Northern Africa

Facts:

• From a wealthy family

• Imprisoned for being Christian

• Kept a diary while in prison

• Young mother with nursing infant

Significance: 

• Executed/martyred for being Christian and refusing to renounce her beliefs

• In the end, it was HER choice to die

• Mystic special people doing special things

• She had God’s support

• Checks a lot of martyrdom boxes

ID: Francis of Assisi

Time period: 1186-1226

Location: Italy

Facts:

• Patron saint of animals, ecology, and Italy

Significance:

• Heavily emphasized poverty (both individual and institutional)

• Had stigmatas magically appear on him

• Founder of franciscans

St Sebastian

• Always depicted with arrows, and varying levels of clothing

• Arrows weren’t actually what killed him

St Catherine of Alexandria

• Tortured by being strapped to a wheel and spun around quickly, until the wheel broke and she died

• Always shown with a broken wheel and often a palm branch 

• Palm branch is a sign that people were martyrs

St Agatha

Tortured by having her breasts cut off, so she’s always shown with a platter with her breasts on it

Mary of Egypt 2

• Always shown very thin, emaciated (can see her ribs easily)

• Always shown with her cloak being exposed (reminder of her prostitute past that she had overcome)

2

Gospel dudes

Matthew: shown with either an angel or another human 

Mark: often represented as a lion, usually has wings

Luke: always shown as an ox

John: always shown as an eagle

Abba Anthony

• 250-350 CE (supposedly - 100 years is a stretch)

• From North Africa

• Wealthy parents died when he was 20

• He heard in the church (based on sermons) that he should sell everything and move to the desert

• Kept a little bit of money behind for his younger sister whom he was responsible for

• Otherwise, he sold everything he had, gave the money to the poor, and went into the desert

• Started practicing for this journey by sleeping on the ground, and going without food

• Found an old cave and had a friend enclose him in it so he could battle his demons (stayed there up to 70 years)

• Is often depicted with winged demons swooping down to harass him out of being an anchorite

• When he defeated the demons, he knew he was ready to go out into the desert

• Did become so famous that people would come visit him and look at him 

  • Like a living tourist attraction

• In 360 CE, Athanasius (bishop of Alexandria) wrote the hagiography of Anthony and presented it as a “how to” guide

  • Written at the request of other monks living in the desert who wanted some guidance

• There are later how-to guides for people who lived in groups

• Being an anchorite is for the superstars, and not for everyone

  • So, it develops in the 300s and 400s that groups of Christian people who wanted to discipline themselves started living together (rise of the Cennebites) 

• Cennebites kept each other in check and monitored each other to ensure discipline and supported and encouraged each other

Monasticism

• Monasteries with monks and convents with nuns, develop where you can live in a group while being devoted to Christ

• Benedict of Nursia (480-548 CE) 

  • St. Benedict wrote a stern-but-negotiable rulebook for monks to follow

  • Became extremely influential, and was the standard set of rules for monasteries for centuries

  • Recognizes that you’ve made a commitment to living devoted to Christ, but that you’re also a human being and there are times when you mess up/fall short of the ideal

  • Still consequences for breaking the rules, but still the idea that you can break the rules while still being able to stay in the monastery and be devoted to Christ (not all or nothing)

  • Benedictine monks still exist today

• There were other sets of guidelines circulating, and Benedict was familiar with them (but they’re much stricter)

• Benedict’s rule is achievable to follow (still hard but doable)

• Also shows the increase in belief/desire to be a monk/nun during this time period

• Christianity is still spreading and sorting itself out during this time

• Most famous monastery in the Middle Ages is the Abbey of Cluny, located in France

  • Extremely powerful and influential

  • Was founded in 909 CE with a very special foundation charter

  • Cluny reported directly to the Pope and ONLY the Pope

  • If the monastery reports JUST to the Pope, that means the influence of local bishops on the monastery doesn’t exist, so it can operate independent from local power politics and secular authorities (lords, knights, and kings)

  • Specifically, Cluny was a protest against Simony (the idea that someone could buy a position in the church)

  • Benefits of Simony:

    • Power

    • Land ownership

    • You look like a good person for funding the church

    • You get tax money from peasants

    • Can influence beliefs of those around you

    • Seen as an easy ticket to heaven

    • Shortcut to getting a job (don’t need education or necessarily follow all the rules)

    • Control over local monasteries

  • Also a protest against the intertwining/overlapping that had happened between the monastic life and the life of the aristocracy 

    • Most of the monks in the monasteries were coming from rich/noble families

Those who pray

• The idea is that you’re welcome to pray to Jesus yourself, but the prayers of monks and nuns who have devoted their lives to Jesus may have more weight than yours

• If you can get a group of monks/nuns to pray collectively for you, you got some good prayers coming your way

• Monasteries (Cluny especially) ended up getting really rich because if you’re wanting to have this group pray for you, you can leave them land when you die

  • Could also sell excess crops and animals to get more income

• Cluny and Benedictines were called black monks because their robes were dyed black, made with expensive dyes

  • Had colourful things around them in the monastery

  • The fact that Cluny specialized in prayer got them very wealthy

• Ended up being 1500 daughter-houses (network around Europe) that were monasteries affiliated with Cluny (were also exempt from control from local bishops and secular rulers)

• The success of Cluny and the fact that it was a reflection of secular society led to backlash and reform movements (new groups of monks)

  • Thought they were living too fancy

  • Several of these movements

• Tonsure: monk hairstyle, meant to visually identify them as a monk, sign of renouncing the secular world since rich people had long hair

Cistercians

• Most successful reform movement of Cluny

• Founded in 1075 CE in France, with a total of 8 monks initially, out in the swamps

• Followed the Benedictine rule

• Thought of themselves as the true followers of the rule (they were doing it right) because they were still following the vow of poverty

  • Individual monks own nothing

  • You’re not supposed to live in luxury

• Daily life included prayer and manual labour (ex. growing food, repair work, washing habits)

  • Benedictines had peasants to do this labour for them, but these people did it for themselves

• Rejected what had become the traditional monastic ways of making money (ex. conducting funeral services in exchange for money, accepting land donations in exchange for prayers)

  • Instead, they got money through manual labour and agriculture that they did themselves

  • Also often raised sheep

  • Sold the surplus of their crops 

• Located remotely and were supposed to be far away from towns and cities

• Each monastery was autonomous/independent and equal to the others

• Once a year, the Abbots met at a council to address issues 

• Their robes are undyed, off-white colour

• No fancy paintings or statues, and walls are grey

• Lived in undesirable areas for agriculture (ex. swamps, wetlands)

• Ended up becoming rich because they could drain the swamps and farm on them (fertile soil)

• Expanded rapidly

• In 50 years, they go from 7 monasteries to 50 monasteries

• Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) was the most famous Cistercian, and he preached about the second Crusade, encouraged Christians to re-take lands in the Middle East

  • He had a phenomenal influence, even getting popes, nobility, and kings to listen to him

  • Engaged in mysticism, specifically regarding Song of Songs (got largely interpreted by Brenard) - mystical union between souls and Christ

  • Most widely read and written about text during the Middle Ages

  • Holy, mystical, bridal imagery of the union between Jesus and the church

  • He also talks about Jesus as a mother (nurturing, caring, female-coded)

  • Comes from medieval medical theory (said that during conception, the father provides the soul and intellect/spirit for the infant, and the mother provides the flesh)

    • Since Jesus doesn’t have an earthly father in Christianity, His human form is all material-provided by Mary (all feminine, no human male spirit component)

Churches

• Medieval people usually only went to church once a year on Easter, which wasn’t even mandated until 1215, when the pope just asked people to show up once

• Churches were still communal, common areas (usually biggest building in town)

• Kind of also became community centres (people were often in the church, but weren’t necessarily going to church)

• Churches were sometimes used for trading, livestock, sex, meetings

• Hear stories like Mary of Egypt in church orally, but can sometimes experience such stories visually (ex. paintings, statues, stained glass, which all had an educational purpose)

  • Artwork tells you who a saint is and reminds you of their story

• The buildings themselves are also buildings an illiterate person can get meaning from

  • Had arches, windows, higher ceilings, designed to differentiate them from buildings of everyday life

  • Religious figures have specific attributes/qualities that allow you to identify them

  • In many cases of early Christian martyrs, iconography usually reminds you of how they died

Romanesque architecture

• In the early middle ages (up until 1200), architecture style was romanesque

• Term that was applied later on

• Characterized by thick walls, not a lot of windows, dark interiors, rounded arches

• Primarily the style of churches up until 1200

• Shorter buildings

Gothic architecture

• Around the year 1200, gothic architecture became a thing

• Characterized by thinner walls and more windows when compared to romanesque architecture, lighter interior, taller buildings

• Made possible by the vaulted arch: arch that comes to a point at the top, redistributes weight, allowed for thinner walls and more windows

• Cathedral: usually the biggest/most important church in a particular area because it’s the bishop’s church

  • Comes from Latin Cathedra, meaning “throne”

  • Cathedral is the seat/throne of the bishop

  • Most people would be at their local, smaller, less fancy church

  • Administrative centre of an area

• Gothic churches built from around 1200-1500 (renaissance, architectural interests shifted)

• “Gothic” was created by Italian scholars during the Renaissance and was meant as an insult

• Renaissance: bringing back classical styles

Monasteries

• Plan of St. Gall was the idealized, perfect monastery, but was never built

• The manuscript is from the 820s

• Components of it show up in monasteries show up, but the whole building was never built

• Many buildings throughout the monastery, and was made to be like a little town

• Orchards, vineyards, farmland, pastures, etc

  • All places where peasants would work so monks could focus on prayer, reading, and studying

• There would be a wall around the monastery, meant to be a self-sufficient location

Cruciform plan

• Many churches end up with a cruciform plan (body of Christ while being crucified)

• Nave: biggest, longest part of the church, meant to represent the torso of Christ (Christian body of people congregate)

• Transept is the crossway part, representing arms of Christ

• Chancel is in the middle of the transept is the “heart” of the church;  monks sit and sing in this are

  • Immediately before you get to the altar

• Altar is where you celebrate the mass and Eucharist

• Apse is behind the altar, representing the head of Jesus, where the most sacred, holiest objects/relics are kept

• Rectangular cutout bits are small chapels, funded by individual families that are dedicated to themselves; also find holy relics in these as well

Rood screen

• Especially common in Spain and England, you often have this, located between the high altar and the nave

• Usually made of wood or iron

• Quite decorative

• Architectural decoration, meant to separate the clergy from the holy people (congregation)

• Rood means “cross”

• Separates the best of church from the rest of the church

• The main thing that happens during the mass is turning the wafer and wine into the body and blood of Christ

• Not in all churches, and often a door that the congregation can pass through

• Often only decorated on the side that the congregation can see

• Veil is supposed to represent absence of the holy, and reminder of separation of sin and holiness

  • Still ring the bell but you can’t see the consecration 

  • Intentional division because it creates a sense of mystery, and there are miracles happening, heightening the impacts of the spectacle

    • Heighten emotion and anticipation

    • Imposed unity and collective identity

• Could go to mass anywhere in Europe and it would be virtually the same; unity among all Christians

Mass ritual 1

• Performance communicated verbally and visually

• Highly orchestrated

• Performed at the altar, mostly in Latin

• Kyrie Eleison is in Greek

  • Brief prayer that opens the mass

  • Translates to “Lord have mercy”

• Gloria in excelsis “Glory to God on high”

  • Hymn sung after Kyrie Eleison

• Nicene creed, created under Constantine

  • States belief in Christianity and the nature/makeup of the trinity

• Sanctus, another hymn in adoration of God

  • Holy holy holy Lord God of hosts… 

• Canon, another prayer that asks God to accept and bless the offerings of the people (money)

  • Asks for help from God for the entire church, including Pope, Bishop, congregation

• Paternoster is the “Our Father” prayer

• Fraction is the formal breaking of the bread 

• Agnus Dei is the lamb of God prayer that is sung right before communion

• Then they ring a bell to get people’s attention (most is done in Latin, most people don’t speak Latin)

  • The consecration is about to happen, bringing about the miracle of transsubstantiation

  • Priest faces the altar and lifts the bread

  • Bell ringing and holding up bread is a ritual that stuck

Mass ritual 2

• Priest gives the bread to the congregation and drinks the wine himself because there was a fear that the congregation would accidentally drop/spill the wine

• Ends with a final reading of the gospels at the end of the mass

• Priests re-enacts the sacrifice of the cross, and is a mediator between God and man

• Does the mass itself separate the priest from the average person or bridge the gap? (how much did the congregation actually understand about what was going on?)

• Priest’s back is to the congregation the whole thing and the rood screen somewhat blocks view of what’s going on

• During Lent, some churches have a huge veil around the rood screen that completely blocked the congregation’s view and some of the sound

• Priest takes both kinds of communion whereas the congregation only gets the bread

• Stories/sermons were usually done in the local language

Mendicant orders

Consist of Franciscans and Dominicans

• Early 13th century

• Medicant: beggar

• Don’t do farming or land donations

• Everything they have comes from the donations of people who they’ve influenced

• Have a monastery but are not enclosed in it

• Out and about in the town/city doing things and interacting with locals

Franciscans vs dominicans

1. _

• Founded by St. Francis of Assisi (1186-1226)

• Heavily emphasized poverty (both individual and institutional)

• Wore brown habits (robes)

• Stigmatas miraculously appeared on St Francis

2. _

• Founded by St. Dominic (1770-1221)

• In competition with Franciscans 

• Focused on preaching and ensuring people were practicing Christianity correctly

• Black and white habits

• Became leaders of the inquisition

• Heavily involved in witch hunts

Affective piety

• Draws on the idea of imitatio Christi

• Affective = emotional

• Strong emphasis on the human side of Jesus

• Up until ~1200, Christians had really emphasized the divine component of Christ

  • Depictions of crucifixion had Jesus looking somewhat indifferent (judgement)

• In the 1300s, crucifixion depictions involved more suffering and pain (passion)

• Developed empathy for the suffering saviour

• If Jesus could really feel pain, then as a human, we should try to replicate that as a thank you to what He did for us

• Practiced by both men and women, but more so for women

Fourth lateran council

• Creates the body and blood of Christ

• When the priest prays over the bread and wine and consecrates them, they become the actual body and blood of Christ

• Transsubstantiation (Latin “substantio” = substance, “trans” = across)

• Idea of actual body and blood of Christ had been in development for a while, got some pushback, but in 1215, at the Fourth Lateran Council, it became official church doctrine

• Ends up creating questions and concerns, such as “doesn’t taste like body and blood but it’s supposed to be the real thing so…?” 

  • Answer: it’s the substance that changes but God keeps the taste, feel, and look the same so that it’s palatable for humans (accidents are the surface-level components) 

What is a saint

• Intercessor: ultimate purpose of a saint, can intercede on your behalf (can pray to the saints, asking them to put in a good word on our behalf to Jesus)

• Patron saints: saints who have a particular interest in certain areas of life, usually some connection between the saint’s life and their connection

• Relics: body parts of saints or items that they’ve been in close contact with (contact relics), on display in many churches throughout the world (mostly Europe), and if you pray in front of the relic, it serves as a reminder that the saint actually lived, shows devotion to that saint and worship of God, makes the saint more likely to intercede for you

• Reliquary: highly decorated holders of relics

  • Speaking reliquaries means that the reliquary is in the shape of whatever part of the saint is in it (tells you what the relic is)

Veneration of saints

• Best intercessor is the Virgin Mary, since Mary is considered extremely holy and if Mary tells Jesus to do something, you do what mom says

• All purpose, anytime intercessor

• Immaculate: not tainted with original sin, makes Mary capable of giving birth to Jesus

• Theotokos: god-bearer

Catherine of Siena

• 1347-1380

• Major practitioner of affective piety

• Starved herself to death, took fasting a bit too far

• Mystical marriage to Christ - not unusual for religious virgins during the Middle Ages

  • Odd swellings in stomach as if they were pregnant

  • Visions of marriage to Jesus 

  • Marries Jesus, virgin Mary officiates wedding, John the Baptist plays music, other saints are in attendance

  • Official hagiography: Jesus gives her a gold wedding ring (invisible)

  • In Catherine’s vision, Jesus gives her his foreskin as a wedding ring (also invisible)

  • In another story, Catherine treats a woman with breast cancer, and the smell of the pus makes her nauseous, and she decides that this physical reaction to the smell is the devil’s attempt to keep her away from practicing charity so she fills a bowl with that pus and drinks it

    • That night, Catherine has another vision where Jesus was impressed with her actions and lets her drink His blood from His side wound

    • She was craving Jesus’ blood so much because she wasn’t officially a nun, and was a tertiary instead, meaning she was affiliated with the Dominicans but never took formal vows, making her part of the laity, meaning she didn’t have access to the blood of Christ

Catherine of Siena texts

• Her hagiography is 400 pages (average is 20-30)

• 383 letters that she dictated to family, local religious leaders, kings, the pope

• 200 page dictated theological text

• Dictated prayers from her

• Lower-middle class

• She also received the stigmata (first woman to do so)

• Took 80 years to get canonized

• Died in Rome, getting very involved in papal politics and was in Rome anyway

• City of Siena wanted part of their hometown saint, but were only able to get her thumb and head, which are displayed in the city

Hebrew history essay

1. Scripture

• Original testament/Torah is found in both Judaism and Christianity

• Both Jews and Christians observe the laws in the original testament

• Took roots of Hebrew scripture and applied it to their beliefs, adding Jesus

• Christians took Jewish roots and beliefs and transformed them into Christianity once they had Jesus’ story to add

• Beliefs were updated with Jesus’ teachings while staying faithful to God in Hebrew scripture

• Jesus based some teachings on the Torah, especially surrounding the importance of good intentions and loving others, even if you don’t like them

• Abraham seen as ‘founder’ of both religions in a way, is an important figure in Christianity as well as Judaism

2. Lineage from David

• David, initially a prominent figure in Hebrew history, became important to Christianity 

• Young warrior, defeated Goliath and got brought to King Saul’s court

• David became king over the Southern tribes of Hebrews, eventually becoming king of all Hebrews once Saul died

• He is thought of as being highly favoured by God, despite possibly doing some questionable things (ex. being an adulterer) 

• Jesus descent from David, now an important figure to Christians as well as Jews

• David, along with many other Hebrew historical figures, provided the foundation for Christian beliefs and stories, gaining new importance/significance once associated with the life of Jesus

3. Paul, founder of Christianity

• Despite never meeting Jesus himself, and originally being against Christians as a Jewish man, Paul had a huge impact on early Christianity

• Wrote letters to groups of Jews, Gentiles, and early Christians about Christian theology

• Put together coherent theology for early Christians and how all the elements of Hebrew beliefs + Jesus’ ministry fit together to form new religion

• Coming from a Jewish background = credibility in eyes of Jewish people considering converting

• Vision of encountering Jesus likely a good conversion point for those who listened to him preach

• Bridge between Jews and early Christians through letters, which eventually became part of the Christian New Testament

• This successfully helped differentiate between Judaism and Christianity and pave the way for Christianity to evolve further

Competing christianities essay

1. Marcionism vs Gnosticism

• All attempted to answer the central questions of Christianity at the time: who can be a Christian? Understanding relationship between humanity and divinity in Jesus, and the Holy Spirit

• Marcionism believes Hebrew God and Chrisitan God that different, similar to Gnosticism - God is one aspect of the divine, but also adds a powerful spirit who is not a god - both question God in terms of the relationship between Hebrew understanding and Christian understanding (and the differences between the two)

• Marcionism focuses more on historical Hebrew texts and contrasting them with the teachings of Jesus

• Contrasts with Gnosticism - less-defined movement, emphasizes differences between the material and spiritual world

• Gnosticism’s esoteric religion, Marcionism is not

• Significance: Marcionism importance of having scripture/texts for Christianity, and laid foundations for creation of New Testament

• Gnosticism important - contributions of now-lost texts that now indirectly add to our understanding of Christianity back then and the different perspectives that were circulating at that time

2. Docetism vs Arianism

• Docetism and Arianism connected views of Jesus that (divert) from what is generally accepted

• Docetism - Jesus did not feel pain on the cross due to His being divine

• Arianism - Jesus did not always exist, and was preceded by God the Father

• Both views of Jesus = extremely heretical and were likely the recipients of strong backlash from most Christians at the time

• Difference: one presents a different view about Jesus’ sacrifice, and the other about His very existence, compared to what is generally accepted

• Significance: Docetism its revelation of the gospel of Peter, which, had it not been for the heresy associated with this view, would have likely been included in the New Testament

• Arianism important: created the opportunity for the majority of church leaders of the time to develop opposition to beliefs, which led to the Nicene creed, which is widely used and referred to in Christianity today

3. Donatism vs Centrist Christians

• Both Donatism and Centrist Christians strongly incorporate the acts of believers in their philosophy, emphasis on the person’s involvement within the religion

• On the one hand, Donatism strongly advocates for martyrdom, saying that true Christians may never deny their religion, even in the face of death

• Centrist Christians on the other hand, believe themselves to be much more moderate in their beliefs and ideologies, even going so far as to put forth their own sacred texts

• Significance: Donatism intensity allowed for other movements to arise that opposed such strong emphasis on martyrdom, and instead emphasized strength of belief and moderate stances (not particularly impactful in the long term because most people saw it as too extreme, and it died out soon after its founder passed)

• In contrast, Centrist Christians have notable importance because many believe that they paved the way for Orthodoxy in Christianity

Medieval church essay

1. Frequency and understanding

• Only attend church on Easter every year

• Sometimes not even that much, until the pope urged all Christians in 1215 to at least come that often

• Most of the mass in Latin, and most common people didn’t understand Latin (didn’t really understand what was going on)

• Sermon done in common language

• Mass highly orchestrated, all conducted at the altar, priest facing away from the laity/congregation the entire time

• Hymns, Nicene creed, Eucharist to laity, blood of Christ reserved for priest

2. Separation and community

• Rood screen = architectural separation between clergy and laity made of wood or iron

• Had many purposes

• Most common in Spain and England

• Usually only decorated on the side laity can see

• Intentionally divided two groups of people, sense of mystery, meant to heighten impacts of the spectacle 

• Intentional division and imposed unity of the laity with one another

• During Lent, a veil hung over rood screen (absence of the holy, sin separates us from God)

• People often socialized during mass and only really paid attention during consecration of bread and wine

3. Uses and appearance

• Churches used for variety of purposes, since usually largest buildings in town

• Common space for people to gather, socialize, trade, house livestock, have meetings, etc

• Most common people were illiterate, church used other visual techniques to remind people of the holiness of the place

  • Artwork of saints and their stories (intentional iconography)

  • Statues of holy figures

  • Architectural choices (ex. arches, high ceilings, stained glass) to set the building itself apart

• Church was laid out intentionally, floor plan that resembled a cross

  • The nave was the longest part, meant to represent the torso of Jesus

  • Transept - crossway, arms

  • Chancel - heart, middle of transept, monks

  • Altar - celebrate mass here

  • Apse - behind altar, head, most sacred relics her