Religion Exam 1

722/721 BCE

Assyrian empire destroys Israel

539/38 BC

Persia defeats Babylonians

520-515 BCE

temple rebuilt

336 BC

Alexander the Great conquered Persia, begins Hellenization (Greek culture) of Israel

Antiochus 4

sold office of high priest, creating tension btwn Hellenistic % non-Hellenistic Jews —→ rebellion started by Mattathias & Judas Maccabeus (rededicated temple to Yahweh)

Sadducees

-small, wealthy ruling party

-cooperative w/ Rome

-associated w/ temple & Jerusalem who controlled Sanhedrin

Pharisees (Paul)

-descendants of Hasidim (opponents of Hellenization)

-strict Torah observance

Essenes

-Jews rejecting Hellenization

-awaited overthrow of Rome upon return of Messiah

-precursor to monasticism

• reject pleasure, conquest of passions, no wedlock

• described by Josephus in “antiquities of the jews” + “wars of the jews”

non-canonical gospels

-35-50+

-Gospels of: Thomas, Mary, Judas, infancy of Thomas

historical veracity of Jesus

-Jesus of faith

-real Jesus

-historical Jesus: scholarly reconstruction

Jesus birth

btwn 6 & 4 BC

Gospel of Mark

-written first

-sources:

• un ID written

• kerygma (oral traditions)

-audience: Jews & Gentiles

-emphasizes Jesus’ deeds, passion w/ prologue (chronology)

Gospel of Matthew

-sources

• Mark’s gospel

• Q: hypothesized & reconstructed source common to Matthew & Luke

• M: oral/written material

-audience: Judaic-Christian

-grouping structure - teaching + healing

-infancy - baptism - ministry

Gospel of Luke

-sources

• Mark

• Q

• L

-audience: Gentile

-similar structure to Matthew (chronology)

Gospel of John

-last gospel

-possibly distinct source like L or M

-Gentile or mixed audience

-structure

• starts with prologur

• signs + discourse —→ passion

inception —> 312 AD

persecution of church dates

197 AD

-Tertullian of Carthage wrote famous apologia of Christinaity

• Ad Nationes & Apologeticus

• more persecution is better

2nd temple Judaism

538 BC —> 70 AD

Gamaliel

tells Sanhedrin to take caution with persecution

Roman persecution

-limited and local

-Myth of Persecution book

-sporatic

martyrs

-significant numbers

-Pliny the Younger complained of Christians’ stubborn persistence

Celsus

-2nd century Roman philosopher

-criticized Christian apologists

reasons for Christian persecution

-seen as atheists

-cannibalism

-incest

-sexual immorality

Ignatius of Antioch

-bishop of Antioch

-martyred in 107 AD (wrote to churches in Asia Minor otw to Rome)

-apostolic fathers

Polycarp of Smyrna

-bishop of Smyrna

-martyred in 155 AD

-student of Apostle John

-apostolic fathers

Justin Martyr

-martyred in 165 AD

-born into paganism

-wrote: 1st & 2nd apologies, Dialogue w/ Trypho

Athenagoras of Athens

-wrote the “supplication for the christians”

• appealed to emperor Marcus Aurelius

• apologetic literature

Diocletin

-Roman ruler

-began the great persecution in 303 AD

Constantine 1

-reunified divided Roman Empire from Maxentius

-sign from God

-issued Edict of Milan with Licinius, legalizing Christianity + ending persecution

Council of Nicaea

-325 AD

-orthodoxy wide before this

Ebionites

-sect of Judaizers (not Jewish) saying Christians had to follow law

-deemed unorthodox at Nicean Council

Antinomians

-grace>law (libertinism)

-deemed unorthodox at Nicean Council

monarchism

-defends oneness of God

-against tritheism

dynamic monarchism

Jesus is less than fully God

modalistic monarchism

-no distinctions between persons

-3 modes

gnosticism

-eclectic widespread movements from 1st-3rd centuries

1st century proto-gnosticism

-lacked a defined form

-combined ancient philosophy with Christianity

1st century gnosticism

-proto-gnosticism —> proper

-more identifiable

3rd century gnosticism

-labelled as heresy

tenets of gnosticism

1) spiritual reality is good and completely separate to material reality (all bad)

2) people are divine souls and trapped in a body, saved by being liberated from physical existence

3) liberation=secret knowledge

3) creation is brought about by the demiurge (sometimes ID w/ Yahweh, but evil bc created physical world)

marcionism

-developed as hatred for material existence & dislike of Jews

-Marcion

• said OT & NT gods were different

• made own canon (marcionite canon)

docetism

-somewhat subset of gnosticism

-said Jesus only appeared to have a body

arianism

-began as dispute btwn Arius (Alexandrian priest) & Alexander of Alexandria (his bishop)

-teachings of Arius:

• Christ was 1st born, but created

• christ is temporal

Council of Constantinople

-381

-Nicene orthodoxy accepted by most christians

apollonarianism

-Apollonaris

-tripartite human

-Jesus incompletely human & divine (only divine soul in incarnation)

-adoptionism

-condemned

Apollonaris of Laodicea

-apollonarianism (overcorrected trying to prove divinity)

-bishop

-opponent of Arianism

Council of Chalcedon

-451

-fully God & fully man

nestorianism

-says Mary was not Theotokos (didn't give birth to divine Jesus)

-Nestorius

Nestorius

-monk

-patriarch in Constantinope, summoned by Theodosius 2

-deposed due to Council of Ephesus (431)

Cyril of Alexandria

-bishop

-developed Mary as Theotokos

Council of Rome

-430

-Pope Celestine condemned nestorianism, retaining full divinity & humanity

“the presence of God” books

-Benard McGinn

-monasticism, encountering God in a consistent mode of life

Therapeutae (healers)

-precursor to monasticism

-Philo of Alexandria (On the contemplative life)

eremitic monasticism

-emphasized solitary existence

-said to be most advanced by Benedict of Nursia

cenobitic monasticism

community

sarabites

-illegitimate monasticism

-soft, no rule

gyrovagues

-illegitimate monasticism

-drift btwn regions

Paul the Hermit

”father of christian monasticism” by Jerome in Life of Paulus

Anthony of Egypt

-hermit (monasticism)

-large influence

-became more solitude overtime

-biography “the life of Anthony” by Athanius of Alexandria

Macarius

-disciple of Anthony

-paidiogram (young with wisdom)

-monasticism

Pachiomius

-monasticism

-gathered 1st community of monks in cenobium/monastery

-communal itinerary

Basil of Caesarea, Macrina

-Cappadocian Father, major contributors to monasticism

-led defense of Nicene orthodoxy

-founder of E cenobitic monasticism

Benedict of Nursia

-founder of W cenobitic monasticism

-less strict Rule

monastic ideals

charity, chastity, obedience, silence, comtemplation, prayer & work

invasion of Roman Empire by Germanics

-5th century

-E: Byzantine empire emerged

-increased papacy importance in W due to “authority vacuum”

papacy in Rome theological reasons (Petrine authority)

-Matthew 16

-Peter is rock of Church

Joseph Ratzinger

said papal primacy emerged in 1st century

R. Dean Peterson

said papal primacy emerged in medieval era

Leo the Great

asserted papal primacy in its fullest sense, convinced he succeeded Peter

Gelasius 1

claimed Pope has church and civil authority

Gregory the Great

-son of Roman government official

-took on monastic & benedictive orders est by Benedict of Nursia

-appointed ambassador of Constantinople by Pope Pelagius

-returned to Benedictine monastery and became abbot

-heavily contributed to Roman issues as Pope (broken aqueducts/walls, disease, ecological disasters)

-developed doctrines of purgatory & relics

-pastoral reformer

• remedied abuses of bishops

• wrote “the pastoral rule”

expansion of christianity in the west

-Nicene faith spread throughout old Roman Empire

-orthodox Christianity eventually embraced by Germanics

• Visogoths took over Spain (mostly Arian)

• after 200 yrs, king Recared converted to Nicene

expansion of christianity in England

-overrun by Anglos and Saxons after Roman control

-left behind preserved Celtic Christianity (indigenous + quasi-orthodox)

expansion of christianity in ireland

-never controlled by Rome

-Patrick of Ireland

• raised in England (Celtic)

• shared faith after returning to Ireland after being enslaved there

expansion of christianity in Scotland

-Columbanus

• missionary

• founded monastery of Iona island, becoming important

Augustine of Canterbury

-monk

-commisioned by Gregory the Grear to re-establish church in england

-influenced King Ethelburt to Christianity

-1st archbishop of Canterbury

Foyer model of purgatory

-incorrect

-dead people opt for purgatory at last second

Middle state model of purgatory

-incorrect

-location of last judgment

Catholic model of purgatory

-cannot escape judgment

-for people who die in grace and need purification

-saints exempted

Gregorian letters of contribution to relics

-Anastasius: healing

-John the Abbot: blessing

-Leontius & Dynamius: frees from sins

-Constantia Augustas: powerful effects

9th century medieval church

disagreement about transubstantiation

Gottschalk of Orbais

-supported transubstantiation

-said medieval church distorted earlier teaching

Paschasius Radbertis

-”The body and the blood of the Lord (831): elements transformed through priest by God

4th Lateran Council (1215)

transubstantiation declared dogma

The Hospitality of Abraham (Rublev)

-icon

-Genesis 18 scene of Abraham showing hospitality to 3 strangers

-reps trinitarian God

Christ the Pantocrator (Hagia Sophia)

-ruler of all theme

-commemorated on last Sunday of Christian year

Michael the Archangel (13th century, Russian)

-late medieval

-Kievan style

-assist worshippers in parish church

Hodegetria (15th century)

-depicts Theotokos holding Christ child

-”points the way”

St Nicholas of Myra (16th century, Velikoretsky)

-surrounded by pictures

-4th century bishop

-what (Christian) St Nicholas is based on

idolatry

worship of idols, not icons

iconoclasm

-says icons are idols & should be prohibited completely

iconodule

says icons and idols are distinct

Islamic influence

-led to iconoclasm

-any picture is bad in Islam

Christian iconoclasm

Paulicians/Gnostics said all material things are bad