Western Civilization notes

Introduction to Western Civilization  

The definition of a civilization: 

• A social-political order that has advanced beyond a state of chaos, barbarism, and mere survival

The definition of Western civilization:

• The social-political order that emerged and has developed in areas where Christianity has been culturally dominant, especially in Europe and its colonies

Are all cultural/civilizational values morally equivalent? 

• Multiculturalism says: “Yes, all cultures are equal. No culture is better than another.”

  • They would say to leave all cultures to themselves 

• But consider: Are these morally equivalent? 

  • Pagan cultures of antiquity vs. Israel in the wilderness

  • Cannibalistic cultures vs. Non-cannibalistic cultures

  • German culture in 1942 vs. English culture in 1942

  • Widow-burning culture of India vs. Victorian England/Britain

• Affirmations to consider

  • All cultures are composed of sinners

  • All cultures are tainted by sin

  • However, some cultures have sunk lower into moral degradation than others

  • Some cultures have accomplished many valuable feats that are to be commended to all

In what ways is history subjective? 

• Historians have to make value judgments

• Historians are more than chroniclers

• Different historians have different individual perspectives which shape their telling of history

In what ways is history objective? 

• Real events actually happened in the past because of real causes and real motives; The past happened

• The God over all history has an objective and immediate knowledge of all that happened in the past and what its full significance is

• God has given us verbal revelation which provides with an objective framework for understanding and explaining history

What rescues the Christian historian from absolute subjectivity? 

• God’s verbal revelation provides the foundation for objectivity in history

Is there a Christian approach to history? 

• Yes

Elements of a Christian approach to history: 

• Orientation of history around the biblical timeline: Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation

• Recognition of Creation and Providence

• Scriptural system of value, right, truth, and meaning

• Christian view of mankind (value of life, family, love, manhood, womanhood, etc.)

• Special attention is given to God’s people in history

• Great age of mission and building the church

Non-Christians approach to history

• They write history by borrowing from a Christian approach

  • Meaning, morality, good and evil, human nature, etc.

  • A.D./B.C. (System of dates) - Christian dating system

• They can often write good history through this borrowing and “common grace”

The Christian narrative of the rise of civilization vs. the secular narrative

• The Secular Naturalisatic Narrative

  • Evolution narrative

    • Science is often reversed and is hard to base certainty on

    • Group think leads to a scientific consensus that is often based on guesswork

• The Judea-Christian Narrative

  • Began building civilizations very early on

  • Humans ave a God-given desire to build civilizations

    • Creating something beyond survival

  • If we can trust Jesus, we can trust the history of the Bible

    • Jesus regarded Old Testament events as true historical

River Civilizations

Main geographic features of Mesopotamia:

• Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

Early settlements and life in Sumer

• In the South-eastern part of Mesopotomia

• Has the oldest archeological sediments

• Generally, the first civilization

• Cities: Ur, Babylon, Urak, Girsu, Lagash, Eriudy

• Mudbrick construction, walled cities

• First to build arches

• Ziggurat - towers made of burned brick

  •  In each city; a big step pyramid with a temple on top

• Each city had its own kind & politics

  • Slavery

  • Social classes

• Kings had great power

• Largely agricultural economy; made metal & pottery stuff

• The sexagesimal system of mathematics

• Influenced modern measurements

Approximate beginning (date) of the earliest documentable civilization

• 3000 B.C.

Contributions of the Sumerians to Western civilization

• The sexagesimal system of mathematics

• Influenced modern measurements

• Geometry

• Lunar 12-month calendar

• Cuneiform writing

  • Wedge-shaped writing on tablet

  • Gilgamesh Epic 

Sargon and the Akkadians

• (c. 2300 - c. 2000 B.C.)

• Conquered Sumer

  • Led by Sargon

    • First military dictator in history

• Imposed military dictatorships in conquered cities through martial law

  • Not sustainable (End of the Akkadians)

Hammuri and the Old Babylonians (Amorites)

• (C. 2000 - c. 1500 B.C.)

• Capitol was Babylon

• Conquered Sumer in 2000 B.C.

• Hammurabi (c. 1810 - c. 1750)

  • Would become king of Babylon in 1792 B.C.

  • Understood military oppression was not a good idea

Significance of Hammurabi’s Code 

• Cuneiform writing

• Detering criminal activity

• An idea of justice/ethics

• Proportional justice: Punishment should fit the crime

• Crude & blunt

• Punishment is affected by class to keep the lower class in their place

• No sense of Equal Justice

• Revenge ethic?

• Doesn’t take motive/intent into account

• Rule of Law is better but only one step above military dictatorship

Geographic features of Egypt

• Isolated by desert

• Nile River sustains the Egyptian civilization

• River flooded yearly, consistently, normal/not catastrophic

• Fertile soil = grain

• Valleys are 12-31 miles wide

King Menes

• 3100 B.C.

• Conquered lower (north) Egypt & united the kingdoms

• Normer palette

• Composite crown

Significance of the Rosetta Stone

• Stone with a statement in 3 languages

• Helped us understand hieroglyphics in 1799

Defining elements of Egyptian society

• Dominated by:

  • The Nile; no Nile = no Egypt; mythology, agriculture, etc.

  • Pharaoh worship; especially in Old Kingdom Egypt

  • Obsession with the afterlife; mummification, etc,

Contributions of the Egyptians to Western Civilization (Western fascination, papyrus)

• Papyrus; durable, cheap, lightweight paper; fibrous material; forerunner of paper

• Wonder & awe

• We don’t get a lot from the Egyptians because we couldn’t read hieroglyphics until 1799

The Hebrews

Who conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel?

• The Assyrian Empire

Who conquered the Southern Kingdom of Israel?

• The Neo-Babylonian Empire, led by Nebuchadnezzar II

Details of the Contribution of the Hebrews:

Jewish Monotheism

• Creator; distinct from creation

• Plurality in unity; the trinity; “us,” “our,” has no needs

• Infinite-personal; He’s above everything but is near

• Transcendent; above everything, but He is near

• Imminent; near us

• Spiritual; has no bodily needs; God is Spirit

• Eternal; He has no beginning or end

• Omniscient; all-knowing; because He is also transcendent

• Omnipotent; all-powerful; No external limitations

• Omnipresent; fully present; always in everything, everywhere

• Universal; all people will be held accountable to His judgement

• Completely righteous and good; He has no dark side/darkness

• In convent with Abraham and his offspring; Different from pagan gods

Hebrew Law

• Transcendent morality; laws should be rooted in a moral order

• Religious duties and obligations; governments/laws should respect religion

• Sin against God must be punished

• Crimes against others must be punished; justice

• Equal justice under law

• Protection for this accussed; 2-3 witnesses to protect from false accusations

• Proportional justice

• Capital punishment

• Restitution

• Compassion to the poor and needy

• Way more sophisticated than Hammarobi’s Code

Hebrew view of man, marriage, gender, sexuality, marriage, children

• Uniqueness of Human Life; image of God is in every human life

  • Human Right

• Man created Good; created with great capacity to creaty

• Man as fallen; great capacities to do evil

• Dignity of human work; work is not a product of that fall

• Basic equality of men and women

• Complementary roles of men and women; equality doesn’t mean sameness

• Monogamous heterosexual marriage

• Family as the basic unit of society

• Children as good and important; (Genesis 3:15) No children = no Messiah

Hebrew view of politics

• Publically elected Magistrates (Deuteronomy 1:13); elections

• Popular consent of the governed (Exodus 19:8)

Hebrew view of kingship and government

• Limited government; we are under God’s rule first, human governments should respect that

• King subject to the law and the Divine Law-Giver

• The possibility of living freely under the law with no king

• The need for a king (book of Judges)

• The dangers of a king (1 Samuel 8)

• We need a divine king (i.e. Jesus Christ)

Hebrew view of private property

• “Thou shall not steall”

  • You should leave their possessions alone, and they should yours alone

Hebrew view of history

• Linear view of history; promise leads to fulfillment; beginning leads to the future day of the Lord

• Design and purpose in history; providential hand moving history intentionally

• Future orientation of history (the Messiah)

Significance of the Hebrews for Western Civilization (vs. ancient river civilizations)

• Ancient Israel, at its best, was a civilization that was vastly superior to those around it

Assyrians

Traits of the Assyrians

• They invented crucifixion

• Very brutal

• Successful military; first army with iron weapons; very cruel

• Black Obelisk; column with descriptions/depictions: found in 1846 (helps prove the OT)

The Hebrew King Jehu vs. the Assyrians 

• The Black Obelisk (1846)

The Hebrew King Hezekiah vs. the Assyrians 

• Hezekiah’s Tunnel, Siloam Inscription

Sennacherib and the sieges of Lachish and Jerusalem 

• The Lachish Reliefs

The Defeat of Sennacherib 

• Sennacherib’s Prism

  • Account of the cities the conquered, including account of his failure to conquer Jerusalem

Contributions of the Assyrians 

• Warfare, Iron Weapons, Cavalry

Babylonians (i.e. Neo-Babylonians)

The Babylonians in biblical history 

• Conquerors of the Southern Kingdom

Accomplishments of Nebuchadnezzar 

• Babylon, Hanging Gardens, Ishtar Gate

Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2; Belshazzar’s dream in Daniel 7

• Head-Gold and Lion (winged) represent Babylon

• Chest & Arms-Silver and Bear represent Persia

• Bronze and 4-headed winged cheetah represent Greece

• Iron & Clay and Hideous Beast with 10 horns represent Rome

• Stone from heaven and One like a Son of Man represent The Kingdom of God

Contributions of the Babylonians

• Astronomy, mathematical calculation of the solar year

Persians

The Persians in biblical history 

• Jewish exiles allowed to return

Cyrus the Great 

• Allows the Jewish exiles to return

• The foretelling of Cyrus in the Bible—Isaiah 44:28-45:7

Darius and the beginning of war with Greece 

• The Persian War

Contributions of the Persians 

• Roads and postal service, satraps, popularized coin-making)

The Greeks

Geographical features of Greece and the Greek Isles

• Above Mediterranean Sea

• Island, country

  • 6000 islands (today); 200 are inhabited

• Small isolated cities

• Mountainous region

• Main land, Peloponnesus Penisula islands

  • Not great soil; more trade and sea to get food

Minoan Accomplishments and Culture

• Named after their mythical king Minas

• Occupied the island of Crete (big southern island)

• Built the first sea empire

• Developed no defensive walls

• The Minoans possibly developed the myth of Atlantis

• Technologically advanced

  • Built a palace (Krossos) with running water, glass windows, dams)

• They were extremely artistic; pottery, decor; paintings

• They were not Greek; they spoke/wrote Linea; conversed with the Greeks though

• Minoan civilization ends 1500 years before vanishing

  • Unknown cause of disappearment

Mycenaeans and the Trojan War

• First Greek speaking people

• Arrived from the North

• Warfare

• Heavy

• C.1250 B.C. - Trojan WAr/Conflict with Troy; besieged for 10 years; Trojan horse; Greek’s won

  • Thought to be myth, Iliad; Troy was found in the 1800s

• Civilization vanished for unknown reasons

• Left behind some ruins and artifcats

The Greek Dark Ages

The Greek alphabet and the writings of Homer

• Writing disappears (they go dark on us)

• Population decline

• Alphabet develops (from the Phoenicians)

  • 24 phonetic sounds/letters

  • Alpha-beta = alphabet

  • Allowed them to write in a new way

• Homer’s writing marks the end of the dark ages

  • Illiad & Odyssey

Archaic Greece

Politics and life in Archaic Greek City-States

• Politically independent cities

  • City to states

  • Over 700, some big, some small

  • Athens is the largest

  • Ruled by “the elites”/aristocracy

Colonization, Hoplite phalanxes, tyrants, pre-Socratics, Hellenic identity)

• Established colonies on the islands to get food, etc.

  • The sending city was a Mother-city (today-metropolis)

• Military unit that could withstand a lot

  • Hoplite = citizen-solider, heavily armed

  • Learned how to work together

  • Phalanx = military unit

• People who rose up and tried to rule the city states

  • Lasted a few decades

  • Made Greece wary of individual ruler

• Philosophy “love of wisdom” phileo-sophia

• Presocratics were the philosophers of this era

  • Cosmology; nature of being nature of reality

  • Thales: everything is composed of water

• Olympic games

• Mythology

• “People of Helen”/shared stories of the past

• Language

• Literature

• Religion (Oracle of Delphi)

Life in Athens 

• Main land, to the North

• Direct democracy state

  • All men were involved in affairs of the state

Athenian leaders: Draco, Solon, Pisistratus, Cleisthenes

• Drace (620 BC)

  • Established the laws of Athens; lots of use of death penalty and construction

• Solon (590 BC)

  • Reforms the law

  • Ended hereditary priviledges

  • Democratic direction

• Pisistratus (550 BC)

  • The tyrant of Athen

    • Charismatic figure

• Cleisthenes (510 BC)

  • Democracy

  • Tyranny

  • Demos the people voted/decided

Athenian democracy, ostracism

• They would vote on who the most dangerous man was, every year, at exile him for 10 years

• 10 prevent democracy from failing

Life in Sparta

• On the peninsula

• Strange, unusual place

• The state has absolute power

• Militaristic state

• Is like one big military camp

• They conquered their neighbors

• Helots: slaves to the state of Sparta

  • Did the work so the men could devote themselves to military arts

• Started at age 7, lived in barracks at 20, became a citizen at 30, remained in service at age 60

• The whole system was to make the best soldiers

• Spartan (word): only the necessities, basically

• Practical problem: population problem because they blew up the family

• Unsustainable

Classical Greece

What begins the Greek classical age?

• The overthrow of the Athenian tyrant Hippias

The Persian War: Battles of Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis

• Greeks vs. Persians

• Marathon: Athenians vs. Persia

  • 10,000 soldiers

  • Turn, pivot, crush

  • Athenians win, the Persians flee

  • Man ran 26mi to tell Athens Persia was coming

    • Where marathons come from

• Thermopylae & Salamis:

• Story of the 300 who hold the Persians off for 3 days during Athenian evacuation

• Salamis ended the Persian War 

• Narrow pass

• Greece lost in the end

The Age of Pericles: Accomplishments in Athens

• Golden Age of Athens

• Plato, Aristotle, etc.

• Athens began to prosper; exerts it’s power over its allies

The Peloponnesian War and Its outcome

• Sparta vs. Athens

• Weakened overall Greek state

  • Conquered by Macedonian

Philip of Macedon

• Took control in 338 BC

• Was the father of Alexander 

• Aristotle tutored

Alexander the Great

• Took control in 336 BC

  • Spread Greek culture; conquered all Persia; largest empire all the way to India

• Died in 323 BC from a fever

The Hellenistic Period

• The whole ancient world was Greekefied (Hellenized)

• Division (4 nations)

• Decline

• Diffusion: Greek culture was spread everywhere

• Greece becomes a Roman territory in 146 BC

Greek Contributions:

Political Contributions 

• Plato:

  • Power to the people, problem cause they give it to a tyrant and the cycle resets

  • Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy

  • “Philosopher Kings”

  • In Plato’s view: collectivist utopia, the state is everything; no family dynamics

• Aristotle:

  • Little involvement of the family; the state is supreme

  • Everyone belongs to the state

American founders’ assessment of Greek political arrangements

• It’s pagon; no emphasis on the individal

Philosophical Contributions 

• A lot from philosophy, math, and science

• 3 traditional branches:

  • Cosmology-what is ultimate reality and what is it made of?

  • Epistemology-knowledge, how do we know things?

  • Ethic

  • Aesthetics-beauty

Pre-Socratics (e.g., Thales)

• Mostly concerned with cosmology

  • Everything is water

  • Corporal monisms

Sophists

• “The wise ones”

• Skeptics

• Man is the measure of all things

• Purpose: rhetorical & pragmatism

Socrates

• 470-399

• Challenged the sophists

• Put on trial

• Corrupting the youth

• Opposing the state

• Plato wrote the dialogue on him

Plato

• C. 424-348

• Transcendent realm of the forms

• Cave analogy

• Rationalists

Aristotle

• 384-322

• Plato’s student

• Observation and reasoning to make inferences/generalizations

• Empiricists

Writings and literature 

Archaic period writers 

• Homer and Hesiod

Classical Period writers and writings

• Aeschulus, Sophocles, Euripides (Drama)

• Aristophanes (Comedy)

Greek historians 

• Herodotus and Thucydides

Art and Architecture 

• Cherishing balance, order, and symmetry

• Colums (going back to the Minoans)

• Parthenon

• Pariclus

• Temple to Athena

• Sculptural realism

• Very complicated to include balance, order, and symmetry

Early math and science 

Contributions of Pythagoras, Euclid, Archimedes, Aristarchus, Eratosthenes, Hippocrates

• Pythagorean Theorem

• Algebra

• Geometry

• Pi

• Physics

• The sun is at the center of the universe (heline centric)

• Circumference of the earth

• Hippocrates: father of medicine

• Ethical code

• Hippocratic oath

The Romans

The founding of Rome and Rome before the Republic

• Founded along the Tiber River c.755 by Romalus and Remus who were raised by a she-wolf

• For 10-100 years the Etruscans ruled

  • Had different language

  • Conduit from the Greeks to the Romans

  • Greeks set up about 50 colonies in lower Italy/Sicily

Roman Republic: Features of Its Government

• Mixed Republican Government set up

• Senate

  • Most powerful part

  • The elder statesman body

• Popular Assembles

  • Assemply of Centuries (military), Tribes (public projects, and Curiae (city/people)

• Two Consult (Annually-Elected)

  • Magistrate power

The struggle between Patricians and Plebeians

• 2 social classes

• Patricians: 5-7%; the elites; only they could be senators & consuls

• Pleberians: Everyone else

Rome’s management of its conquered people

• Followed the Persian idea of setting up small governments in conquered cities that were under the larger federion

• Loyal conquered people could become citizens

• They built 55,000mi of roads

• They oppose the masses but don’t go as far as Greece

Carthage and the three Punic Wars

• First: over Sicilly

  • Rome built ships and surrounded the island

  • Rome won

• Second: Carthage’s army was led by Hannibal

  • Rome won

• Third: Carthage broke the treaty

  • Rome destroyed Carthage as a result; burned to the ground

The Battle of Cannae

• Romans were defeated in this massive battle: CAnnae

• Hannibal terrorized the Italian countryside for 15 years instead of attacking Rome

Hannibal and Scipio Africanus

• Scipip attacks Carthage, forcing Hannibal to return

• Rome won

The Greek influence on the Romans

• The Romans gradually adapted and adopted Greek religion 

The Decline and Fall of Rome: the Gracchi, Marius, Sulla, Pompey

• Gracchi: Two tribes who introduced reforms to help the poor

  • The senate had them killed out of fear of their power

• Marius: Changed the composition of the military; dependent army and the requiremnts to join the army; poor people join and are dependent on the generous

• Sulla: General who invaded Rome and got himself named dictator without the limitations

  • Was dictator for 3 years

• Pompey: Demanded the senate appoint him consal, give him money, and give him land for his troops

  • The senate grew nervous and began denying

The First Triumvirate: Julius Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey

• Military alliance to get money and land grants

  • Caesar united Pompey & Crassus and became 

  • Successful

Caesar and the Roman Civil War

• Pompey+Senate vs. Caesar

• Senate declared martial war

• January 11, 40 BC Caesar crossed the Rubikon

• Pompey fled Rome to Greece the Egypt

  • Caesar followed and killed him

The elevation of Caesar (44 BC)

• He allied himself with Cleopatra before returning

• Increased senate size

Brutus, Cassius, and the Death of Caesar

• After Caesar attained the status of dictator for life in 44 B.C.E., these officials decided to strike the ultimate blow against his power

Octavius Caesar and the Second Triumvirate: Octavius, Mark Antony, Lepidus

• Marched against the Roman senate

• Octavius charged with conspiracy

Cleopatra and Mark Antony

• Mark Anthony chased him to Egypt

• Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide instead of being killed

The Age of Augustus (i.e., Octavius), Augustus’ accomplishments, and the Pax Romana

• 31 BC-14 AD

• Octavius reduced senate size

• Succesful centralization of power which led to peace and stability

• The establishment of a ruler cult

  • Assigned Julius Caesar as a Roman god

• Cultural creativity

• Pax Romana

  • Roman peace

The early emperors (Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero)

• Open displays of absolute power

• Tiberius was emperor when Jesus was crucified

Diocletian and the Division of the Empire

• 293, he divides Empire into east and west

The sack of Rome by Alaric and the Visigoths

• Germanic tribes/barbarians

The Fall of Rome (476)

•  Last Western Roman Emperor deposed

Roman Contributions:

Polybius and the Government of the Roman Republic

• A mixed republic government

  • Relatively stable (450 years)

  • Separation of powers

  • Checks and balances

• A model of government for America

Roman Law: Cicero (Natural Law) & Justinian (Corpus Juris)

• Foundational developments for western legal tradition/constructs

  • Corporations, contracts, estates, rights, powers

• Cicero: Natural law theory

• Justinian: Byzantine emperor, Corpus Juris (the body of laws)

  • Very good; high point in Rome

Roman Calendar: Months and Days

• 12-month calendar; 30 days/month

• 8-day week originally, changed to 7 due to Christianity

Roman Engineering and Architecture (contributions and examples)

• Roads

• Arches & vaulted domes

• Aquaducts

  • Just massive arches

• Bathhouses

• Colliseum

• Concrete for wide-scale use

• Pantheon

• Arch of Titus

• Arch of Constantinople

Roman Historians, Statesmen, and Poets

• Historians: Polybius, Livy, Tacitus

• Statesmen: Cicero, Cato the Younger

• Poets: Virgil and Horace

Things to Avoid: Roman State Worship, Cultural Decadence, and Tyranny

• State worship, Decadence, & Tyranny

  • Obsession with empire worship

  • Decay of cultures

Constantine and Christendom

• Christian & kingdom

• Christianity became the religion of Rome

• Church & state united

The Christians

The unique advantages and disadvantages for Christians when Christ was born

• Advantages:

  • Daniel’s prophesies (fulfillment)

  • Pan Romana: peace and political unity

  • Ease of travel

  • Flourishing of trade

  • Universal usage of Kaine Greek

• Disadvantages:

  • Syncretism: blend of religions

  • Christians were tempted to add things to join in/blend in imperial worship

  • Persecution

Early Christian symbols and practices

• Small assemblies in secret places on Sundays

• Sing, read scripture, pray, eat together, caollect offering for the poor

• Anchor, fish,Icthus; chi-rho

Early internal threats to Christianity: Judaizes, Gnostics, and Marcionites

• Judaizers:

  • Taught that one must follow the old covenant law to be a true follower of Christ

  • Dealt with in Galatians

  • Undermines the concept of grace

• Gnostics:

  • Developed from Greek Platonism

  • Taught that there is a secret knowledge one needs to be complete

  • Taught that the body is bad

  • Paul deals with it in Colossians

• Marcionites:

  • Taught that anything “Jewish” was not for Christians

  • The God of the OT is not the same as the Christian God

The three responses to the internal threats: Canon, Bishops, and Creeds

• Response 1: Discerning the Canon

  • What writings are divinely inspired and authoritative

  • Incomplete lists appear around 180

  • Canonical list confirmed by 367; it was probably settled by 200, but the earliest copy comes from 367

• Response 2: Bishops (overseer)

  • To guard, shepherds, and oversea the church

  • Iranaus: supremacy of the Roman bishopilineal succession of Biships

  • Bishops widely established 250

• Response 3: Creeds

  • Statements of belief

  • Old Roman Creed (c. 340)

  • Apostle Creed (c. 700)

Early persecution of Christians and the apostles

• Stephen was the first Christian martyrs by unbelieving Jews

The first imperial persecution: Nero

• Fire burned down most of Rome; rumors accused Nero; Nero shifted the blame to Christians, cue persecution

Why were the early Christians hated by the Romans?

• They refused to worship Roman gods

The destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 AD

• Domitian (81-96); similar to Nero

Other persecuting emperors: Domitian, Trajan, Decius, & Diocletian

• Trajan:

  • Not sought out but if someone was accused they were given the opportunity to recant and renounce Christ

  • Many martyrs: Polycarth

  • Fueled the spread of Christianity

• Decius:

  • Things get really bad

  • Ordered everyone to perform a sacrifice to the gods or get killed

  • Divided the church, orthodox vs. novationists

• Diocletian:

  • Worst

  • Set out to systematically destroy & persecute Christians

The conversion of Constantine and the Edict of Milan (313)

• Ended persecution and gave favored status to Christianity

Emperor Theodosius and Christianity made the state religion of Rome 

• Persecuting anyone who refused to become a Christian

• Non-sincere Christians

The Council of Nicaea and the Nicene Creed

• Settle the dispute over the teaching of Arius

The Rise of the Papacy: Irenaeus, Innocent I, Zosimus, and Leo I

• Irenaeus:

  • Direct line of bishops from the apostles

  • Early elevation of the bishop of Rome

• Innocent I:

  • Romans bishop must approve all church decision

• Zosimus:

  • No one can question the Roman church

• Leo I:

  • Leo the Great

  • Diplomat of Rome, kinda, 

  • Persuaded Attila the Hunt to not attack Rome (452)

  • Strong voice at the Council of Chalcedon (451)

  • Asserted Petrune Sumpermacy

Monasticism: Anthony and the Desert Father, the Stylites, and Benedict

• Anthony and the Desert Father:

  • Born in Egypt

  • He went into isolation

  • Anthony is the father of monastic movement

• Stylites:

  • Lived on top a 60ft pillar

  • Pillar saints

  • The monastic movement gave way to bizarre, fanatical ideas

• Benedict:

  • Saved monasticism

  • Communities of Monastics

  • Poverty, charity, and obedience rules

  • Work, prayer, solitude

The contribution of the monastics to Western Civilization

Patrick and Columba

• Patrick:

  • Spread Christianity to Ireland after he became a slave and escaoed and went back

• Columba:

  • Irish but went to Scotland, set up many monasteries, exiled on an island after

  • Iona monastery spread Christianity in Britain

Early Church Leaders:

• Tertullian:

  • Carthage

  • Most significant writer

  • Apologist & theologian

  • Doctrine of the Trinity

  • Resistant of the influence of Greek philosophy

  • Defended Christianity

• Eusebius

  • Father of church history

  • Ecclesiastical history

  • Celebrated Constantine

• Athanasius

  • Bishop in Alexandria

  • Persistently defended the deity of Christ

  • Exiled 5 times

• Jerome

  • Opposite of Fertallian in terms of views on Greek philosophy

  • Translated the Vulgate (Latin) Bible to the Apocrypha

• Ambrose

  • Bishop in Milan 

  • Denied the Emperor has power over the church

  • Bishops have authority over the church

Augustine and his Confessions

• First autobiography

• Sin

• Goes against the Greco-Roman view of virtue

Augustine’s conflict with Pelagius and view of sin and grace

• Augustine got into a conflict with Pelagius over his views

• Pelaguiys was a British monk who believed that man is born good

• Augustine believed that we are dead in our sins and we need God to bring us from death to life

  • Protestants tend to like this part of Augustine’s teachings

Augustine’s view of the church and sacraments

• He had a high view of the church

• Sacramental grace

• Appealed to the Roman Catholics

• Argued against donatists

Augustine’s and Eusebius’s views of the church’s relationship to Rome

• They were not reliant on one another

Augustine’s City of God

• The people of God are the city of God, not some man made city

• Fall of Rome

Dates to know:

c. 3000 BC – Sumerian civilization begins

2100 BC – Abraham arrives in Canaan

586 BC – Babylonian Conquest of Judah

539 BC – Persia’s Conquest of Babylon 

c. 500 BC – Classical Period of Greece Begins

264 BC – First Punic War Begins (Roman Republic vs. Carthage)

44 BC – Elevation of Julius Caesar

70 – Destruction of Jerusalem

313 – Conversion of Constantine/Edict of Milan

325 – Council of Nicaea

476 – Fall of Rome (Western Roman Empire)