Tuesday 11/30/10
• Warm-up: In your notes, create a Venn
diagram for Christianity and Judaism
• Turn in your homework!
Early Christianity
• Romans focused on
Jerusalem
• Jews rebelled against
Romans –Jewish Temple
destroyed but the
western wall (holy)
• Jews exiled from
Jerusalem-Diaspora
• Christians refused to
worship Roman gods
• Thousands crucified,
burned, used for
entertainment
• Martyr-someone who
dies for their beliefs
Roman Emperor Constantine I
• 312 AD –prayed to God to win
a war-saw image of crossWON!
• 313 AD -ended persecution of
Christians
• The Edict of Milan – Emperor
Constantine gave credit to
“God” and created religious
freedom in the Roman Empire.
• Constantine also began
financially supporting the
Christian Church allowing
them to grow and build
amazing churches.
• St. Peters Basilica is
commissioned by Constantine.
• Sunday as the Sabbath and
day of worship.
• The liturgical calendar and the
significance of the cross to
Christians all come around
during Constantine's reign.
Christianity Formalized
•
Church structure-Pope, Bishop,
Priest
•
Christianity holds that Jesus
charged the apostle Simon
Peter with the task of creating
a church.
•
Simon Peter went to Rome and
became the first “pope” of the
“Catholic” church. Although
those terms weren't used until
later.
•
325 CE The First Council of
Nicaea – Codified and unified
Christian Beliefs.
•
Defined what it found to be the
teachings of the Apostles
regarding who Christ is.
•
Decided when Easter would be
celebrated.
•
Settled the debate on whether
Jesus was the literal or
figurative son of God.
•
DID NOT CREATE THE
BELIEFS.
The Catholic Church
• The term Catholic means
Universal and was first
used by Ignatius of
Antioch.
• The Universal has
multiple meanings when
related to the church. It
deals with the fact that
the church is for everyone
but is also used to
distinguish its supremacy.
• Video-Rome