SummaryThe relevance of Christianityis as hotly contested today as it has ever been. A New History of Early Christianity shows how our current debates are rooted in the many controversies surrounding the birth of the religion and the earliest attempts to resolve them.
What is early Christianity?
Christian-History.org does not receive any personally identifiable information from the search bar below. Early Christianity is easily the most important and exciting area of Christian history. The Church was young, on fire for God, and confident they would change the world.
How did Christianity become a world religion?
By looking to the Gentile (non-Jewish) world and carefully dissociating itself from the Zealot revolutionaries and the Pharisees, Christianity made possible its ideal of a world religion, at the price of sacrificing Jewish particularity and exclusiveness.
Were the early Christians righteous?
There is a second bried description from the early Christians themselves at my Beginning of Christianity Page. The Scriptures say, The righteous are bold as a lion ( Prov. 28:1 ). The early Christians must have been righteous because they were most certainly bold.
What was life like in the Middle Ages for Christians?
In the middle of the second century, numerous letters were written in defense of Christians. None of them appeal to dogma or doctrine. Instead, they focus on the incredible lives of the Christians. The early churches were free, with small congregations and often no collected Scriptures of their own.
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What did Polycarp tell the Proconsul?
He had called the people atheists and told the proconsul that they weren’t worthy to hear the doctrines of Christianity. The crowd, in a fevered rage, brought enough wood to build a bonfire, and Polycarp was burned alive at the stake. That, my friends, is early Christianity. Ancient Antioch.
How old was Polycarp when he stood before a Roman proconsul?
Polycarp of Smyrna. But it was not just boys and young women …. The Bold MartyrdomofPolycarp of Smyrna. Polycarp was 86 years old when he stood before a Roman proconsul, condemned to die. The proconsul felt sorry for him. He gave him repeated instructions on how to avoid the punishment in store for him.
How old is Polycarp?
No better. The 86-year-old Polycarp was up to a face-to-face confrontation.
What does the book Polycarp talk about?
It talks about the way they should be tried (an example of which we have here with Polycarp), what should be done with them, and—best of all—the extent of their influence.
What is the rule of faith?
The Rule of Faith was an attempt to preserve what the apostles taught pure and unchanged.
What was the rule of faith in the early church?
When the apostles died, they left no pope and little church hierarchy. They relied on a basic set of beliefs, learned at baptism, called the Rule of Faith.
What were the early churches like?
The early churches were free, with small congregations and often no collected Scriptures of their own.
What was the role of the Church in the Middle Ages?
In the early Middle Ages, Johnson argues, the Church represented enlightenment and humane values , but later the papacy came to represent financial extortion and corruption associated with indulgences, simony, and sexual license. Johnson claims that the crusades of the twelfth and thirteen centuries were disastrous for Christianity. Not only was there little attempt to convert the Muslims, but the East’s Orthodox Church also suffered.
What was the goal of Desiderius Erasmus and the New Learning?
Desiderius Erasmus and the New Learning envisioned a return to the early days of Christianity. However, the Protestant Reformation of Martin Luther and John Calvin led not only to a new departure but also to the breakup of the medieval paradigm. The author sympathetically admires the Christian humanists such as Erasmus, a third force in the struggle between the Protestant reformers and the Catholic Church’s Counter-Reformation.
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Was Christianity in retreat?
By the second half of the twentieth century, the author claims, Christianity was in retreat, with the notable exception of Africa. In Europe, few attended church on a weekly basis. In the United States, where church attendance remained higher than elsewhere in the Western world, Johnson notes that most American Protestants had long ago abandoned actually reading the Bible. The election of John XXIII as pope opened the window of the Catholic Church to change, but the authoritarian structure of the Church outlasted his papacy. However, even if the West has entered into a post-Christian world, Johnson argues, Christianity has never been just about mere numbers in a territorial context; rather, it concerns the moral and theological impact on individual believers. Johnson ends hopefully, noting the growing ecumenicalism at the time he wrote.
Who wrote a history of Christianity?
In A History of Christianity, Paul Johnson, an English Catholic who has written prolifically on many political and religious subjects, gives his readers a comprehensive and accessible narrative of the Christian religion from its earliest days to the late twentieth century. Published in the mid-1970’s, A History of Christianity was written at a time when Johnson was shifting his political focus from left to right. A political liberal during the 1950’s and 1960’s, he later moved to the right, insisting that the biblical account of nature is literally true. However, in the 1970’s, he wrote an admiring biography of the liberal Pope John XXIII at about the same time as his publication of A History of Christianity .
Who is Paul Johnson?
In A History of Christianity, Paul Johnson, an English Catholic who has written prolifically on many political and religious subjects, gives his readers a comprehensive and accessible narrative of the Christian religion from its earliest days to the late twentieth century. Published in the mid-1970’s, A History of Christianity …
Review
"An expert guide through Christian history…. The outstanding quality of Green’s writing is honesty. The Church is presented here, warts and all."
About the Author
Vivvian H. Green, DD, FRHistS, was formerly Fellow and Rector of Lincolm College, Oxford. His numerous publications include Renaissance and Reformation, Medieval Civilization in Western Europe, and the Madness of Kinds.
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What were the groups that supported Rome?
Other groups were the Herodians, supporters of the client kingdom of the Herods (a dynasty that supported Rome) and abhorrent to the Zealots, and the Essenes, a quasi-monastic dissident group, probably including the sect that preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls.
What was the predominant note of Palestinian Judaism?
In Palestinian Judaism the predominant note was separation and exclusiveness. Jewish missionaries to other areas were strictly expected to impose the distinctive Jewish customs of circumcision, kosher food, and Sabbaths and other festivals.
What was the relationship between the early church and Judaism?
Christianity began as a movement within Judaism at a period when the Jews had long been dominated culturally and politically by foreign powers and had found in their religion (rather than in their politics or cultural achievements) the linchpin of their community .
Who are the main targets of criticism in the Gospels?
In the canonical Gospels (those accepted as authentic by the church) the main targets of criticism are the scribes and Pharisees, whose attachment to the tradition of Judaism is presented as legalistic and pettifogging. The Sadducees and Herodians likewise receive an unfriendly portrait. The Essenes are never mentioned.
Who established God’s rule?
God’s rule would be established by an anointed prince, or Messiah (from mashia?, “anointed”), of the line of David, king of Israel in the 10th century bce. The proper course of action leading to the consummation of the drama, however, was the subject of some disagreement.
Who was the king of Palestine in 168-165 BCE?
But the attempts of foreign rulers, especially the Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (in 168–165 bce ), to impose Greek culture in Palestine provoked zealous resistance on the part of many Jews, leading to the revolt of Judas Maccabeus against Antiochus.