MODULE 1: HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHURCH

A. Foundation of the church - after the ascension of jesus to heaven, here comes the pentecost (AD 33)

• 2 celebrations here

1. Descent of the holy spirit

2. Birthday of the church

BIBLICAL FOUNDATION - after the christ’s death the apostles feared for their lives, their hopes crumpled all around them, through christ’s resurrection the apostles found new hope.

• The resurrection of christ is the starting point of christian faith

THE RESURRECTION - the reports of jesus’ resurrection, or rising from the dead, led to the spread of a new religion called christianity

ASCENSION OF JESUS - refers to the time when jesus stopped appearing to the disciples in visible human form

• Before he ascended into heaven, jesus commanded his disciples to make more disciples, baptize them, and instruct them in faith

PENTECOST - the name of a religious holiday in both judaism and christianity

• Is the 50th day after another important religious event

• In judaism, pentecost is also called (Hag) Shavout, and was the 50th day after the passover offering of a sheaf of wheat

• Was originally a harvest festival that came to be associated with moses’ law-giving at mt. sinai

THE FIRST PENTECOST - peter told those who asked that they had to repent and be baptized in the name of jesus for the forgiveness of sins; then they would receive the holy spirit

• 3 thousand were baptized and the church was born

• Then the apostles and disciples began the mission/process of evangelization/conversion with this slogan or battle cry - accept jesus as lord and savior and be baptized (mt. 28:19-20)

• They began to grow in numbers, were able to win converts by proclaiming the resurrection of jesus - risen and the glorified jesus and be baptized

• Early christians lived in unity and charity and put everything in common under the inspiration of the holy spirit

THE BEGINNING OF THE APOSTLES

St. Peter - St. Paul

• Apostles had a tremendous impact on the early church

• Provided the first interpretation of christ’s message, along with his life, death and resurrection

• They celebrated the first liturgies

• They make the first disciplinary and doctrinal decisions

• Their initial interpretative acts are the beginning of christian tradition

THE PERSECUTION OF THE EARLY CHURCH/CHRISTIAN

From the 1st century until 313

• Persecution of christians under the roman empire started the roman empire started from the 1st century until 313 ended in the declaration of the edict of milan

THE FATES OF THE APOSTLES

Simon peter - crucified up-side down

Andrew - crucified - st. andrew’s cross

James the greater - beheaded

John - boiled in oil then imprisoned in the island of patmos

Philip - crucified

bartholomew /nathanael - beaten and crucified

matthew/levi - mortally wounded with a sword

Thomas - stabbed with a spear

James the lesser - thrown from the temple pinnacle then beaten with a fuller’s club

Simon the zealot - crucified

jude/judas/thaddeus - crucified

Judas iscariot - suicide by hanging

Matthias (replaced judas iscariot) - stoned then beheaded

Were explanation or reason given by historians for their persecution: for treason, various rumored crimes, illegal assembly, introducing an alien cult that led to roman apostasy, cannibalism and immortality

• These are the misconceptions against the early christians

Some hostile roman emperors towards the early christians

• Nero, decius, diocletian, trajan, marcus aurelius, domitian and others

• These emperors had shown brutality and harsh oppressions against the early christians

  • The more the early christians grow in numbers

CAESAR NERO - EMPEROR (54-68 A.D)

• First emperor to persecute christians

• Fire rome in 64 AD

• Blamed the christians (they had a reputation for starting upheavals in jewish synagogues)

• Nero executed the christians publicly in his gardens and in the circus

CAESAR DECIUS EMPEROR (249-251 A.D)

• empire -wide persecution

  • Required libelli (certificates)

OPTIONS

• Commit apostasy

• Send a slave

• Bribe someone for a libelli

• Confess your faith

• Confessors imprisoned

• Certificates created

LIBELLI & CONFESSORS

LIBELLI - were documents notarized by roman authorities to certify that someone had offered sacrifice to the gods

• In times of persecution these documents were accepted as proof that someone was not a christian

CONFESSORS - were christians who confessed their faith

• They were imprisoned for their faith, where other christians flocked for strength and guidance

• Many christians even sought them for forgiveness of their sins, which became controversial in the church

CAESAR DECIUS EMPEROR (249-251 AD)

• “They seized first an old man and commanded him to utter impious words. They beat him with clubs, tore his face and eyes with sharp sticks, and dragged him out of the city to stone him. Then they carried to their temple a faithful woman. As she turned away in disgust, they bound her feet and dragged her through the city over the stone-paved streets, dashed her against the millstones, scourged her, and stoned her. Then they rushed to the homes of the pious to steal and plunder. Then they seized the most admirable virgin and broke out her teeth. They threatened to burn her alive if she would not utter impious cries. She leaped eagerly into the fire. There was no street, nor public road, nor lane open to us, by night or day; for always and everywhere, all of them cried out that if any one would not repeat their impious words, he should immediately be dragged away and burned.”

• 303 AD: 4 Edicts

  • Destroy churches & scriptures

  • Imprison clergy

  • Demand clergy to sacrifice to gods

  • Demand all to sacrifice to gods

TERTULLIAN (155-220 AD)

• A famous apologist had said “the blood of martyrs is the seed of christianity”

  • Christianity is a religion founded on the blood of jesus and by the early christians even today”

APOLOGETICS - the study of the defense of faith by the used of reason

APOLOGIST - a person who is an expert in defending the faith by using reason

EDICT OF MILAN (313) AND EDICT OF THESSALONICA (380)

Edict of Milan by emperor constantine and emperor licinius gave christianity legal status and a reprieve from persecution but did not make it the state church of the roman empire

• The edict of milan put an end to the persecution of the early christians

Edict of Thessalonica (380 AD), by Emperor Theodosius made christianity, specifically nicene christianity, the official religion of the roman empire

4 councils of the church responsible in combating the heresies or false teachings during that period

These early councils aside from the NT writings indeed laid down the theological data (systematic study) of jesus and army in the church

• The declarations of these councils were decisive to our catholic doctrines

FOUR EARLY CHURCH COUNCILS

NICAEA (325) - formulation of the Nicene creed (against arianism)

CONSTANTINOPLE (381) - dogmatically define the divinity of God the Holy Spirit (against apollinarianism)

EPHESUS (431) mary as mother of god (against nestorianism)

CHALCEDON (451) - christ had two natures, divine and human except sin and true god

CHRISTOLOGICAL HERESIES

ARIANISM - derives from its founder, arius

• The Son was created by God the Father, before time and from nothing, therefore, the Son be pre-existent or eternal; he is a creature but not one of the creatures. It denied that the Son was of one essence with the Father.

ARIUS (256 - 336) a presbyter (pastor) at alexandria

ARIANS - opposed by council of nicaea in 325

Who led the fight against the arian heresy?

• St. athanasius never gave up despite five times being exiled

APOLLINARIANISM - combated by diodore of tarsus, gregory of nyssa, gregory nazianzen and various orthodox bishops

• Christ has a human body but not a human soul (no human mind or human will)

• Condemned by council of constantinople (381 AD)

NESTORIANISM - Nestorius taught against the prevailing use of the title ‘Theotokos’ for Mary as the ‘Mother of God’ as being loose thinking, and thus entered into controversy with powerful leaders. He suggested a better title was ‘Christ-bearing’ (Christotokos).

• The heresy attributed to nestorius – that jesus is two person

• The heresy fails to do justice to the union of Christ’s two natures in one person and the union of the logos with a human nature in Christ.

• There are two natures but not a real union between the two

• Combated by Cyril of Alexandria, who used his greater political experience to outwit Nestorius.

CHRISTOLOGICAL HERESIES

• Condemned by Council of Ephesus, 431. Mary shouldn’t be called “Mother of God,” since she’s mother only of the human side of Jesus.

MONOTHELITISM - means ‘one will’ in Greek (hen thelema).

• Condemned by chalcedon in 451

MONOTHELITES - were Monophysites who particularly opposed the idea of two wills in Christ, as well as two natures. They taught that Christ only had one will.

THE MIDDLE AGES BETWEEN 5TH AND 15TH CENTURIES

The Middle Ages was the period between the 5th and 15th centuries, starting at the collapse of the Roman Empire.

This time can be split into three main sections: The Early Middle Ages, High Middle Ages, and Late Middle Ages.

The Early Middle Ages were characterized by social and political changes due to the Roman Empire’s collapse.

During the High Middle Ages, there was a lot of population growth in Europe, as well as technological advances. The Crusades took place during this time as feudalism became popular.

The Late Middle Ages were a more depressing time; the Black Death occurred, killing millions of people. There was also controversy concerning heresy within the church.

Medieval period was also the heydey of Monasticism - thousand and thousand of monasteries were scattered all throughout europe

MEDIEVAL CHURCH AND REFORMATION

Theocracy in Europe - Church and the State are one and Feudalism was the order of the day. The worldview of this period.

THEOCRACY - a form of government in which God or a deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler, the God's or deity's laws being interpreted by the ecclesiastical authorities.

• a system of government by priests claiming a divine commission.

FEUDALISM - a social system that existed in Europe during the Middle Ages in which people worked and fought for nobles who gave them protection and the use of land in return.

BY THE TIME OF THE MEDIEVAL AGES, THE CHURCH HAD AN ESTABLISHED HIERARCHY

POPE - the head of the Church

CARDINALS - advisors to the Pope; administrators of the Church

BISHOPS/ARCHBISHOPS - ecclesiastical superiors over a cathedral or region

PRIESTS - ecclesiastical authorities over a parish, village, or town church

MONASTICORDERS - religious adherents in monasteries supervised by an abbot/abbess.

NOTABLE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE CHURCH DURING THIS TIME

EDUCATION - in the middle ages, monasteries conserved and copied ancient manuscripts in their scriptoria

MEDICINE - Monastic pharmacies stored and studied medicaments, wine, beer, chocolates, coffee, agriculture among others.

• Monasteries and convents are locally renowned for their cooking specialties.

• Christian monks cultivated the arts as a way of praising God.

• Gregorian chant and miniatures are examples of the practical application of arithmetic, astronomy, music, and geometry subjects.

• Monastic and cathedral schools laid down the foundation of the university learning systems

1500 AD/ 16TH CENTURY

The rise of protestantism or the reformation movement brought by martin luther, john calvin, zwingli among others

The Reformation of the 16th century, sometimes known as “Protestant Reformation” in order to distinguish it from a Catholic “Reformation,” was a pan-European movement that called for reform of the Roman Catholic Church as well as the entirety of Christian society.

REFORMATION AND CHURCH COUNTER REFORMATION

Its religious aspects were supplemented by ambitious political rulers who wanted to extend their power and control at the expense of the Church; Those greed and scandalous lives of some clergies created a split between them and the peasants;

Money making, split was more over on doctrines than corruption

MARTIN LUTHER AND COMPANIONS - (protestant churches) religious issues turned into political issues

• Many monarchs sided with him

• Introduced new doctrines contrary to the official teaching of the church, bible alone and faith alone as the only means for salvation

KIM HENRY VIII (CHURCH OF ENGLAND OR ANGLICAN) - political issues to religious issues

CHURCH COUNTER REFORMATION

COUNCIL OF TRENT (1545 - 1563) - it began here and largely ended with the conclusion of the european wars of religion in 1648

• Not actually a form of direct counter attack against protestantism but more on the personal/internal conversion of the church

REFORMS - the foundation of seminars for the proper training of priests in the spiritual life and the theological traditions of the church

• Reforms of religious life by returning orders to their spiritual foundations

• Latin became the official language of the church and the sacred liturgy or the mass is in latin

FIRST VATICAN COUNCIL (1869 - 1870)

• Convened by pope pius IX to address contemporary issues

• - its first dogmatic constitution, dei filius, boldly defended the reasonableness of faith and the compatibility of faith and reason

• The council condemned rationalism, anarchism, communism, socialism, liberalism, materialism, modernism, naturalism, pantheism, and secularism.

SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL

• Commonly known as VATICAN II, was the roman catholic church’s 21st ecumenical council, proclaimed by pope john XXIII on january 25, 1959, as a method of spiritual renewal for the church and an opportunity for christians separated from rome to engage in a search for christian unity

• The council highlighted the role of the laity in the life of the church by proclaiming that they carry out for their own part the mission of the whole christian people in the church and in the world

SAINT AUGUSTINE’S TEACHING ON THE CHURCH

Saint Augustine (354-430) - father and doctor of the church

• He attributed the origins of the church to god’s invitation to men to enter into communion with himself

FATHER OF THE CHURCH

• Belong to the ancient church (1st to 5th century AD)

• Holiness of life

• Great contribution to the data of theology (literatures / written works) of the church

• Proclaimed by the church as saint

• Orthodoxy of doctrine - consistent to the teachings of the church.

DOCTOR OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH (latin: doctor ecclesiae universalis)

• A title given by the catholic church to saints recognized as having made a significant contribution to theology or doctrine through their research, study, or writing

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (CCC)

• What the ccc says about the church’s origins and historical development receives a very rich elaboration in saint augustine’s teachings

TWO ASPECTS OF THE CHURCH

Church as a spiritual reality

• First members of the church were the first man and woman created

• Sin entered the picture and shattered adam and eve’s initial communion with God

• God did not abandon them

• God promised to save them right then and there

GOD’S THREE-FOLD “VISITATION”

• First age, before the law (ante legem); time before the Mosaic Law was given to the people of Israel

• Second age, under the law (in lege); the time of the Old Testament governed by the Mosaic Law

• Third is now, which is the age of grace (tempus gratiae).” the time inaugurated by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

St. Augustine uses this threefold division of time to demonstrate that even those who lived before the coming of the Messiah had the possibility to be saved.

1st AGE: ante legem (before the law)

• “You should not think that the church is only present in those who became holy after the coming and birth of Jesus. All the saints of every period belong to the church …. How can we then exclude Abraham from the church?” (Sermo 4.11).

• T. Van Bavel rightly comments, in this regard: “from the moment that people are called to holiness, there is church on earth… all the righteous have Christ as their head”

2nd AGE: sub lege (under the law)

• God had decided to give his people a written law to follow. Its observance would have distinguished them from the other nations and kept them in communion with God. In this way, the second age (sub lege) started.

• The Mosaic Law then became the point of reference of the Israelites’ (and later the Jews’) holiness and salvation. All those who abided by it and faithfully observed it could be saved. Saint Augustine writes: “if He had not come visiting in time of the law, He would not have given the law” (Sermon 72.3).

• Unfortunately, with the passage of time, people assumed a very legalistic attitude and paid more attention to the meticulous external observance of the Mosaic Law rather than to its spirit.

3rd age: tempus gratiae (age of grace)

• After the law, the householder came in person; He suffered, died and rose again; He gave the Holy Spirit; He had the gospel preached throughout the world.

• We are now living in the age of grace (tempus gratiae). For Saint Augustine, this is the final stage in the historical manifestation of the Church –“eschatological time” where the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit as she makes her way towards her final destiny.

ST. AUGUSTINE - “the Church progresses on her pilgrimage amidst this world’s persecutions and God’s consolations”

• The Catholic Church indirectly recognizes Saint Augustine’s distinction between the three “ages” in the Church’s historical development.

• Thus, the 1964 dogmatic constitution Lumen gentium speaks of the Church at the very beginning of the world, the Church in the present era, and the Church at the end of time

• At its final stage, the Church will gather within itself all the just men and women, from Adam and “from Abel, the just one, to the last of the elect”

• Augustine as Bishop of Hippo never waiver in his defense of the doctrines of the church. He always defended the primacy of the bishop of Rome.

DONATISM - He taught that there is only one Church, but within that Church, there are two realities:

• the visible (institutional hierarchy, the Catholic sacraments, and the laity) and the

• unseen (the rest of the world) (the souls of those in the Church, who are either dead, sinful members or elect predestined for Heaven)

  • The former is the institutional body created by Christ on earth that proclaims salvation and administers the sacraments, whereas the latter is the invisible body of the chosen, composed of real believers of all eras and known only to God.

  • This notion contradicted the Donatist argument that only individuals in a state of grace were the "real" or "pure" church on earth, and that priests and bishops who were not in a state of grace lacked the power or capacity to administer the sacraments

• The validity of the sacraments does not depend on the sanctity of the ministers. The one who administers the sacraments is Christ himself.

AUGUSTINE AGAINST DONATISM

• Heretics and schismatics can bestow baptism as long as they do it in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, because the true source of baptism is God, not any human creature.

• However, your baptism received outside of the Church will not be effective until you return to the Church. You are not required to be re-baptized.

ST. AUGUSTINE’S ECCLESIOLOGY

• Love is a necessary component of the church

Augustine also expressed his compassion and concern for the Donatist heretics, pleading with them to return. As a result, he first resisted using force to bring them back in favor of polite conversation and education.

Later, however, he saw a practical necessity to deal with the brutality of armed Donatist fanatics and cited Luke 14:23 ("compel them to come in") to justify the use of force, which the Church ultimately embraced to legitimize the Inquisition

MANICHAEISM - Augustine responded to this heresy by asserting that God is All-powerful, Supreme, Infinite, and Immutable, and that Satan did not exist from the beginning of time.

According to Augustine, free will is initially designed to be good, but the loss or lessening of the moral rectitude that free will is endowed with is conceivable, and when this occurs, as in the case of Adam's fall, it produces moral evil, which is sin regarded the body as bad.

AUGUSTINE IS A MANICHAEAN

- According to his Confessions, after nine or ten years of adhering to the Manichaean faith as a member of the group of "hearers," Augustine became a Christian and a powerful opponent of Manichaeism (which he expressed in writing against his Manichaean opponent Faustus of Mileve), seeing their beliefs that knowledge was the key to salvation as too passive and incapable of effecting any change.

PELAGIANISM - was named after Pelagius, a British monk who, as a contemporary of Augustine, emphasized Christians' moral ability to remain sinless even in the absence of supernatural assistance from God.

According to Pelagius, divine grace is simply the fact that we have free will, the law, and the gospel. He also denied original sin, claiming that what we face is simply Adam's terrible example, which we can overcome by moral efforts.

Augustine was persuaded of the ineffability of God's grace and of humanity' complete reliance on God. In 412, he was called by a Carthaginian imperial official to confront the Palegian heresy.

Augustine acknowledged the truth of original sin when he stated that the entire human race shares Adam's sin in terms of "guilt" and "corruption." Our free will is harmed and enslaved as a result of corruption.

As a result, God's mercy is required to liberate free will from its damage and captivity to sin. However, with the liberation of free will, God's grace is also required in order for it to act via freed free will.

Augustine referred to these two distinct stages of divine favor as:

• "working grace" (gratia operans)

• "co-operating grace" (gratia cooperans).