Chapter 5
The Story of Christianity
Christianity in Canada
• Christians from around the world live in Canada.
• New Christian immigrants to Canada join those who have a long history in
this country (Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox).
The History of Christianity
The Following of Jesus
• Christians in Canada are part of a long and varied tradition dating back to
Jesus of Nazareth in the 1st century CE.
• All Christians believe Jesus is true God and true man, like us in all things but
sin.
• All Christian churches turn to Jesus for inspiration and the meaning of life.
Christianity’s Roots in Judaism
• Christianity is deeply rooted in the covenant faith of Judaism. They tell the
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same stories of Abraham, Moses, David, and the exile as their own.
To Christians, the new covenant of Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s covenant
with Israel.
Jesus is the Messiah promised by God.
Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity parted ways toward the end of the 1st
century.
At the same time, Christians were excluded from synagogue services.
Christianity Spreads around the Mediterranean
• Christianity spread to lands around the Mediterranean Sea and took root in
Greek cities and the Roman Empire.
• St. Peter and St. Paul formed Christian communities and established the
Church in Rome, establishing it as the centre of Christianity.
• St. Peter and St. Paul were put to death as martyrs for refusing to renounce
their faith in Jesus Christ.
The Foundation Stones of Christianity
• The early Christian Church was built on four major foundation stones:
1) Keeping alive the memory of Jesus: the disciples, the Gospels, and Letters
of Paul
2) Professing the one faith: the creeds
3) The ministers of the Church: the role of bishops
4) Ecumenical Councils
Foundation Stone 1: Keeping Alive the Memory of Jesus
• Jesus did not write down his teachings.
• His disciples told the story of Jesus to the peoples of the Roman Empire,
based on their memories of him.
• During the 1st century, the Apostles wrote down these memories, which
became the New Testament.
The New Testament
• The New Testament has 27 books.
• These books were added to books accepted by Judaism (Old Testament) to
become the Christian Bible.
The Gospels
• The Gospels are stories of faith.
• Each Gospel writer wrote about Jesus from a different perspective.
• The Church accepted four gospels as authentic accounts of Jesus, even
though each tells the story differently.
The Letters of Paul
• Paul’s 13 Letters were written in the 50s CE, before the Gospels.
• Paul was born as Saul of Tarsus in Asia Minor.
• Saul came to Jerusalem to study Torah because, as a Pharisee, he was
interested in Jewish law.
• He heard about Jesus there, but never knew Jesus personally.
• He found the Christian proclamation of the crucified Jesus as the Messiah
offensive.
• On his way to arrest Jesus’ followers in Damascus, he was surrounded by a
light.
• The Lord spoke to him, and Saul realized Jesus was the Lord.
• Blinded by the light, he was brought to Damascus, where he was baptized and
regained his sight.
• Years later, Saul (known as Paul) visited Peter and James and began a life of
preaching the Gospel to non-Jews.
• Paul wrote letters to various churches he visited, and the letters became part
of the New Testament.
• Paul was martyred around 64 CE.
Foundation Stone 2: Professing the One Faith: The Creeds
• Creeds are belief statements, almost like summaries of the Gospels.
• Early Christians developed these professions of faith to use in baptism and
Eucharist.
• The same creedal statements were used in all churches to ensure that
wherever Christians went, they professed the same faith.
Foundation Stone 3: The Ministers of the Church
• Within 30 years of the death of Jesus, churches were founded in Jerusalem,
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Syria, Turkey, Greece, Italy, and Spain.
Each church had a bishop at its head—an episcopos, or overseer.
Bishops were seen as the successors of the Apostles, responsible for
preaching the Gospel and keeping people faithful to the creeds.
This structure still exists today.
Many bishops and famous teachers gradually won over many people to the
Christian faith and led many to give up the Roman state religion.
– These bishops and theologians are known as the Church Fathers.
Foundation Stone 4: Ecumenical Councils
• Disagreements and conflicts arose occasionally in the history of Christianity.
– In the early 4th century, Arius proclaimed Jesus was not God, but only the
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first and highest creature of God.
– Conflict over the issue became so intense that Roman Emperor
Constantine feared for the unity of his empire.
This controversy led to the establishment of Ecumenical Councils.
The first one took place in 325 CE to deal with Arius.
Emperor Constantine wanted the bishops to clarify the divinity of Jesus.
The Nicene Creed, still prayed today, came from this council.
Ecumenical Councils bring together bishops of all churches.
There have been 21 Ecumenical Councils in the history of the Church.
The Development of the Western Church
in the Middle Ages
• In 313 CE, Roman Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan.
– The edict declared that Christians were free to worship without
interference.
– Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.
• The Roman Empire underwent great change:
– By 330 CE, the capital had moved from Rome to Constantinople, and was
the centre of the eastern empire and the centre of Eastern Christianity.
– In the West, the empire declined. In 410 CE, the Visigoths invaded and
destroyed Rome.
– Rome’s population decreased from 500 000 to 50 000.
– Islam developed, and the southern shore of the Mediterranean came
under Islamic control.
– The West’s economy, which depended on the Mediterranean trade
routes, plunged.
• Without a clear political and economic centre, a period of poverty began.
• Christianity became the common bond that unified Western Europe.
1. The Structure of the Church
• After the collapse of the Roman empire, the Church’s organizational structure
remained:
– Each bishop was head of a local church.
– The bishop of Rome was the leader of all bishops and called “Pope.”
– Local churches, led by the pope in Rome, became a source of continuity
and stability.
2. The Role of the Scriptures
• The Bible unified the European communities and helped them cope in difficult
times.
• Christians made and distributed copies of the Bible and biblical commentaries
to tie European communities together and connect churches.
• A unity of teaching and doctrine developed in the Church.
3. The Theology of St. Augustine
• The teaching of St. Augustine helped the church become a stable force in
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Europe.
Augustine became one of the most prolific writers in the history of the
Church.
He wrote about his vision of God and the Church and addressed the
controversies of his day.
In The City of God, he outlined how Christianity could continue without the
protection and customs of the Roman Empire.
It explained how Catholic teachings could form the basis for a way of life for
all believers.
4. Monasteries in the West
• Monasteries greatly influenced how Christianity sees holiness and spirituality.
• They created a form of Christian life that centered on prayer, work, and
learning.
• Monks spent many hours each day tending the fields and caring for the
animals they raised.
• In times when Christianity was weak and needed reform, monasteries were
often places of stability and dedication to the Gospel.
Schism: The Church East and West
• Christianity in the West and the East developed differences over key issues
about how they lived their faith.
Icons
• In early times, Christians decorated their worship spaces with paintings or
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mosaics of Jesus, angels, and saints.
In the East, people began giving greater devotion to the images, sometimes
using them in processions and praying to them for protection.
Some Christians agreed with the Jewish and Muslim prohibition on images of
God.
This belief led to iconoclasm: the destruction of icons.
The controversy was settled in favour of icons and confirmed by the Second
Council of Nicaea in 787 CE.
The Western Church felt the East had gone too far in “worshipping” icons.
Creed
• The second controversy developed when the Western Church added the
phrase “and the Son” to the Creed.
• The East believed this addition theologically unacceptable.
• In 1054, this and other conflicts led to a break between the Eastern and
Western Church that has not healed to this day.
Conflict
• Eastern Christians felt the threat of Muslims armies around Constantinople.
• In the Fourth Crusade. against the will of the pope, the Christian armies
attacked Constantinople.
• In 1453, the Byzantine Empire fell to the Muslim empire of Ottoman Turks,
and Christianity in Constantinople went into decline.
• Christians often faced persecution, and taxation penalties, conscription to the
army, and forced conversions to Islam weakened Orthodoxy.
Orthodox Christianity
• Eastern Christianity developed its own structure of churches, liturgical
traditions, and customs.
• The Eastern Church does not have a leader in a position similar to the pope.
• It has a number of self-governing churches.
• For the Orthodox Church, Jesus is the head of the Church, and the Church is
the body of Christ.
Traditions of Western Christianity:
Catholic and Protestant
• During the Middle Ages, Christianity united Europe and pervaded all aspects
of life.
• In the 15th century, the unity in Europe began to break apart:
– Trade was increasing, and a new class of people emerged—
tradespeople.
– Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press and the Bible was the
first book printed.
– Now, more people could own books and read the scriptures without
the influence of the Church.
– People began to question the power and authority previously held by
nobility and leaders of the Church.
– At that time, a number of popes sought too much power and luxury,
clergy were poorly trained, and monasteries had become too powerful
and wealthy.
• A reform movement began that broke the unity of the Western Church.
Martin Luther and Lutheranism
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In 1517, Dominican friar John Tetzel began to sell indulgences in Germany.
Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk, protested against this practice.
In 1517, Luther posted his criticisms in the form of 95 Theses.
He set off a series of events that led to the development of a new movement
in Christianity known as Lutheranism.
– By 1520, he recommended a rejection of the authority of the Catholic
Church.
– The pope condemned 41 propositions from Luther’s writings, insisting he
recant them (take them back).
– In December 1520, Luther publicly burned the papal document.
– In the spring of 1521, Luther was asked again to recant, but he refused.
– He was declared an outlaw.
– Under the protection of Prince Frederick of Saxony, Luther began to
translate the Bible into German.
– He continued his writing and work in reforming the churches of Germany
• Luther died in 1546, and his notion of freedom became one of his legacies.
• Gradually, individual freedom from the authority of the Church became
freedom from authority of tyrannical rulers, and freedom from laws over
which people had no say.
Other Reform Movements
Calvinism
• John Calvin was another reformer.
• His key beliefs are the main teachings of the Reformed tradition.
• Calvinism, or Reformed theology, has had an impact in Holland, Scotland,
France, Northern Ireland, and has spread to the U.S, Canada, South Africa, and
Indonesia.
Anabaptists
• Anabaptists were reformers who did not identify with Luther or Calvin.
• Anabaptists include the Mennonites.
– The Mennonite faith was founded by a priest named Menno Simons.
– He rejected Catholicism in favour of adult baptism only.
– He also rejected the militancy of some Anabaptists and promoted
pacifism.
– Mennonites have faced persecution for their separate ways.
– They are very devoted to the Bible and to social justice.
– Approximately 200 000 Mennonites live in Canada.
Anglicanism
• During the early years of the Protestant Reformation in Europe, the ideas of
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the Reformers did not take a firm hold in England.
But in 1530, King Henry VIII wanted his marriage to Catherine of Aragon
declared invalid so he could marry Anne Boleyn.
The pope denied his request, so Henry declared himself the head of the
Church of England, breaking away from the authority of the Catholic Church.
The religious climate under Henry VIII and his successors, Edward VI, Mary I,
and Elizabeth I, was volatile .
Catholics were often persecuted and there were many English martyrs.
Christians on both sides suffered or were killed in the conflict.
Anglicanism (cont’d)
• Henry VIII was not ideologically Protestant, but many of his advisors were more
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radical.
Under Henry’s successor, Edward VI:
– Protestantism became more firmly established.
– Latin Catholic Mass was replaced with an English service structured by the
Book of Common Prayer.
– Church images were dismantled, vestments were forbidden, and stone
altars were replaced with wooden communion tables.
Edward was king for only a short time before he died.
His Catholic half-sister Mary assumed the throne, dismantled Edward’s reforms,
and re- established England as a Catholic nation.
She died five years later, and Elizabeth became Queen of England and ruled for
45 years. Under her rule:
– Protestant control of the Church of England became permanent.
– Edward’s reforms were re-established, including the Book of Common
Prayer.
– Many ancient traditions of the Church were kept.
Anglicanism sees itself as a middle way between Catholicism and Reformed
Protestantism.
The Catholic Reformation
• In response to Protestant Reformation, Catholicism began to renew itself.
• Pope Paul III called the Council of Trent between 1545 and 1563.
• The Council of Trent clarified Catholic teaching on important issues and
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addressed how to prevent abuses of church offices.
The Council
– affirmed the importance of the teaching tradition in the Church as a
necessary interpretation of the scriptures.
– affirmed the importance of the seven sacraments.
– responded to Luther’s insistence that people need faith for salvation, but
rejected his idea that faith “alone” without good works was all that was
needed.
– insisted that priests needed improved education so they would be better
equipped to instruct and serve the people.
The Council of Trent and the reform of the Catholic Church did not succeed in
restoring unity in Christianity.
The main effort was to convince the Protestants of their error and bring them to
conversion.
Sometimes this worked, but in many countries Catholics and Protestants fought
each other.
From Intolerance and War to Tolerance
• Catholic–Protestant conflicts in England during the 16th century were
sometimes bloody.
• During the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), nearly one-third of the population
of the German states died.
Religious Tolerance Begins
• The idea of religious tolerance started to become popular with the
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Enlightenment.
The tolerance was twofold:
– tolerance between religions, and
– tolerance by governments for the different religions practiced in their
countries.
The Enlightenment also led to opposition toward religion in general.
Catholic and Protestant conflict settled down as nations began to develop
laws of religious tolerance.
Not until the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) did official dialogue and
openness between Catholics and Protestants become a reality.
Recent Movements
• Churches of the Protestant Reformation eventually lost enthusiasm.
• They had to deal with day-to-day issues and they needed to address
changing times.
Evangelicalism
• By the 18th century, Protestants felt a need for reform.
• In England, John and Charles Wesley tried to revive the evangelical fervour
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of early Protestant Reformation spirituality.
– The Methodist Church was established to break away from the
Anglican Church.
Similar movements occurred in Lutheran and Reformed traditions.
In the U.S., this movement (the Great Awakening) gave rise to
Evangelicalism.
Evangelicalism involves a call to personal conversion as a conscious
experience—“being born again.”
Some characteristics of Evangelicalism are:
– Renewed emphasis on the authority of the Bible
– Emphasis on righteous behaviour
– Baptism for adults only
– De-emphasis on official church membership and formal creeds
– The spread of the Gospel through missionary activity
Fundamentalism
• Protestant Fundamentalist churches teach that the Bible is without error, Christ
is God, and Jesus died for our sake on the cross.
• They reject Darwin’s theory of evolution in favour of the biblical story of
creation.
Liberalism
• In Christianity, Liberalism means finding some common ground with modernity
and its search for reason, with science, technology, and modern political
structures.
• Some churches disagree with the union of Christianity and the modern world.
• One of the largest movements against liberal Christianity is Pentecostalism.
Pentecostalism
• The Pentecostal movement accepts the Bible as the Word of God without error.
• Pentecostals believe the Holy Spirit guides them in how they should live.
• This movement
– preaches God’s judgment of the world and that the message of Christ
and the modern world will not last.
– waits for the Second Coming of Christ at the end of history.
– believes people can seek to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
– believes in signs of the Holy Spirit’s presence, such as speaking in tongues
and slaying in the Spirit.
Christianity Today
• Christian churches have many things in common, but many contradictions.
• Contradictions can lead to ambiguity and confusion.
• In its efforts to bring about unity, Christians recognize the need to do away
with contradictions and conflict while maintaining the richness of their
diversity.
The Ecumenical Movement
• Ecumenism is the movement toward unity among churches.
• 20th century: churches of the Protestant Reformation realized that divisions
within Christianity were hurting the mission of the church.
• 1910: the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, started the
modern ecumenical movement.
• 1948: the World Council of Churches was formed.
• Almost all Christian churches agreed that divisions went against Jesus' desire
for unity among his followers.
The Goal of Ecumenism
• At first, the Catholic Church refused to participate in the World Council of
Churches (WCC).
• 1965: during the Second Vatican Council, the Church passed a Decree on
Ecumenism and committed the Catholic Church to dialogue with other
Christians.
• Now, the Catholic Church participates in all the WCC’s commissions, even
though it is not a full member of the WCC.
Communion
• Ecumenism’s goal is to unite all Christians through dialogue.
• Two things bind all Christian churches together:
1. Confession of Jesus Christ
2. Baptism
• The biggest differences are in how the churches confess Jesus Christ, how they
view Eucharist, baptism, and leadership in the Church.
Dialogue
• Dialogue means living, studying, and working together in solidarity, and
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overcoming the divisions that separate churches.
A universal church of Christ will not be identical to any existing church.
The Catholic Church believes:
In the Catholic Church, the fullness of the Church of Christ continues to exist.
– This is a wounded fullness as long as there is division among Christian
churches.
– Important elements are present in other churches.
– Other churches do not have the Catholic Church’s fullness of the
Church of Christ.
For Catholics, full communion must have:
– A consensus on the core doctrines as found in the scriptures and the
Creed
– Acknowledgement of the importance of the sacraments, especially
Eucharist
– The ministry of priests, bishops, and pope
Not all churches see what it means to be church the same way Catholics do,
nor do they want to be church in the same way.
Ecumenical dialogue’s goal is to clarify what it means to be the church of
Jesus Christ.
Dialogue of the Churches East and West
• During Vatican II, after 1000 years of separation, the Catholic Church of the
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West and the Orthodox Church of the East began to see themselves as “sister
churches.”
There are differences between the churches:
– different liturgies and Church orders
– different theological opinions on the role of the pope as being first
among equals
However, these churches have accepted each other’s Eucharist.
Their differences are both obstacles and a source of enrichment.
Through those differences, the Western Church has gained a new awareness
that unity can exist with a lot of diversity.
Dialogue among the Churches of the West
• Dialogue can be between the Catholics and churches of the Protestant
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Reformation, or among churches of the Protestant Reformation.
Dialogue has begun to build unity:
– In Canada in 1925, the Methodists, Congregationalists, and 70% of the
Presbyterians joined to become the United Church of Canada.
Catholics and Anglicans have reached a high level of agreement on most
questions centered on the Church, such as:
– the role of the Church and bishops in our salvation
– the role of the pope and bishops
– the meaning of Church and its mission
Major issues that separate Catholics and Anglicans are:
– the ordination of women and homosexuals (some Anglican dioceses
began ordaining women in the 1970s)
– ethical issues such as divorce, remarriage, artificial birth control,
abortion, and in vitro fertilization
Dialogue has not yet led to a shared Eucharist.
But, people are coming together to talk about their faith, pray together and
address issues of social justice.
Ecumenism: A Difficult Task
• Christianity is the fulfillment of God’s desire to gather together all of
humanity to do God’s work.
• Therefore, the divisions in Christianity must be healed.
• This reconciling and healing is very difficult because:
– It is difficult for people to let go of their lifelong beliefs.
– Each person’s convictions inform that person’s identity.
– It is hard to listen to other people’s convictions when people feel their
own convictions are the truth.
A Renewed Ecumenism
• Sustaining the ecumenical movement has become more difficult because:
– Most Christians do not understand why the churches separated to
begin with.
– Many feel these battles are not theirs or the issues no longer matter.
– Christians today focus on issues such as war and peace, poverty,
economic justice, and the environment.
– Young people can be impatient with the slow pace of arriving at
agreements.
How can Christians contribute to ecumenism?
1. Study the scriptures, which are the foundation of Christian life and the
Christian churches.
2. Pray always, especially the Lord’s Prayer; take part in the week of
Prayer for Christian Unity.
3. Bring people together. Always be hospitable, never exclude anyone,
always be in solidarity with the poor and the oppressed, and be a friend
to all.
4. Take part in local ecumenical activities involving Catholics and other
Christian groups, such as meetings, retreats, or volunteering.
5. Visit churches and talk to people who belong to them to find out what
they believe and how they live.