Christianity: The Historical Jesus - Judaism Christian Islam | REL 2029, Study notes of World Religions

Download Christianity: The Historical Jesus - Judaism Christian Islam | REL 2029 and more Study notes World Religions in PDF only on Docsity! Christianity 10/4 The historical Jesus: Hagiography-biographical account that elevates the person in question to sacred heights Did he exist? Did Jesus exist? -consensus is that he did- there are other text that mention him, he existed b/c this movement existed (do you allow yourself to view a religion different b/c of your beliefs) - Jesus isn’t so remote historically - consensus that there is some figure, it is questioned where it was ever a different person or not, original Jesus figure? (kind of disputes argued during early christian history) what is thought of as true: *that there was a figure that lived in Palestine *born in 4 BCE *grew up in Nazareth *that he was a carpenter or stone basin, began to preach at age 30 *at age of 33, went to Jerusalem, confronted the authorities and was crucified --?--other figure--?-- Gospels: used to tell who historical Jesus was / written w/in the first century CE -historical perspective of the trial before his death is almost impossible to prove -- the fact that he had a trial before the roman governor was hard to swallow historically b/c trials by romans were for roman citizens Synoptic Gospels: *Matthew *Mark *Luke *John -harmony in the information that is provided -written by actual matthew, mark, luke? - not sure - original thesis in early 20th century says that there was a common Q source -John is different b/c its more like a philosophy and a theological essay -logos (divine word) (logos means word) *Matthew: stresses the role of Jesus as Messiah / addresses Jews b-c of the use of terminology / draws parallels b/w the life of Jesus and the life of Moses / *egypt, Jesus being in the desert for 40 days / *Mark: considered the simplest and most straight forward / probably the first written gospel / begins w- Jesus’ mature ministry / includes story that John the Baptist will be greater than him / 40 day retreat into desert also included / Jesus’ challenge to Jewish law / selection of 12 disciples / 12 important b-c of 12 tribes / begins preaching in Galilee *Luke: two more chapters than Mark / addressing a non-jew, gentile audience / truly innocent / gives lots of info on crucifixion *John: gives Jesus’ life cosmic significance / Jesus is both the son of God and the Messiah / son of God by divine word made flesh / a lot like Paul, Paul also called Jesus “Christ” (Christos, greek for messiah) / has lots of passages of where Jesus himself claimed that he was the son of God / mark has no such passage / presented a theology for the Jesus movement, giving Jewish community the opportunity of salvation through Christ How does Christianity more from a sect to a church? -Jesus is thought to think of himself as a reformer not as a starter of a new religious movement -establishes that there is common ground of Israelite heritage (JC vs. RJ / one is not older than the other) *Luke’s view: disciples experiencing the holy spirit / call to invite people to a new religion -not a wider movement, called to preach to fellow jews, vs. being a universal movement and call Galatians - controversy of being circumstance 70 AD, the temple destroyed / becomes dangerous to be jew Paul - often called the architect of christianity / was not an apostle / roman citizen and Jewish / a roman elite / comes from religious Pharisee background / high ranking in political views / originally persecuted Jews / encounters light on way to damascus / religion open to gentiles implemented: **works do not lead to salvation (not just about works, but about actual works / can get so bogged down in the works that you forget why you’re doing it) works do not lead to salvation, correct belief does, this is why Christianity is known as orthodox **to contrast life in the spirit should be contrasted with life in the flesh / a lot of people have blamed Paul on what is an unhealthy separation of spirit and flesh, that one corrupts the other?? found problems with this / the worldly can corrupt the spirit - 13th century becomes implemented in the catholic church By 65 CE, christian communities are all across the Mediterranean belt - early churches were Gnostic Gospels: gospels not within the “Bible” (book to get good info from: Elaine Pagels) - as ancient as the other gospels - those in charge of what would and wouldn’t be in the Bible, set fire them, someone who thought that they were important buried them and tried to save them - Movie 10/6/10 *Jesus wasn’t so out of the ordinary to the Roman society, any threat, major or small was taken down - the crucifixion is the sign of a warning - many others were crucified - after Christianity was accepted as the man religion of Rome, crucifixion was no longer practiced as a form of punishment -the different people, such as Herod, are seen as completely bad in Bible, but actually did a lot for Jerusalem 10/11/10 Scripture: -Canon (1st of Sacred Writings) -Jewish testament (39) -Christian testament (27) Canons: -E Orthodox 39 + 13 - R Catholic 39 + 7 Protestant 39 of original Jewish Canon There were alternate canons created during the Christian Movement: ex: Marcion - christian declare an absolute break with the jewish past, writings and definition of the jewish God - doesn’t even share the same God - angry vs. pure love -what would become the orthodox church (proto-orthodox) rejected Marcion’s idea -at this time there is no dominate religion- there was no official christianity as there is recognized today - didn’t know what the books of the Bible would be at this time - tied to jewish history b/c of legitimacy The christian bible today was implemented by Eusebius 300 CE Imperial Christianity: *when christian religion becomes the official religion of the roman empire -sins become crimes- christianity brings in the opportunity to become high ranking, to move up in social ranking, easier if you are a christian *Constantine decriminalizes christianity - recognizes the power and utility of christianity - watching people who watched martyrs began to admire those dying, gave integrity of religion, no one else was lining up to die for their beliefs -it was christians who began to volunteer themselves for death in the arena's, to take path of Jesus, dying by trial - declared suicide - the one’s who critiqued it most were the gnostics *Constantine says that there will be no more persecutions - just recognized it as a religion in rome -accepts christianity as one of the religions of the empire because his mother was a christian chance to confess your sin and given a penance - if someone kept charging you of being a heretic, you were burned at the stake, sometimes hanged - if worst offender, burned alive - Various council decided for penalties: 1) expulsion from the church 2) imprisonment 3) confiscation of property By 1184: Canon Law was in place - carried out an episcalple exhibition, go out and search for practices considered to be heretical and weed them out By 13th Cent: 1233 Pope Gregory IX established tribunal, established new patterns for inquisitions - exhume the bodies from christian cemeteries - bury them else where other than sacred ground Attacker may now remain anonymous - don’t have to identify self - may go to death and never know who accuser was - guilty until proven innocent - those who confessed assigned very penances, those who did not remained in prison until they discovered their heresy IN 1252 CHANGES AGAIN: Pope Innocent IX said that you could use torture to extract confessions - allowed torture but did not do it themselves - any civil server could do it, but not the state - now once you confess it’s a death sentence, to be carried out in five days In 1486: Publication of “Witches Hammer” written by two German dominicans, authorized by church to seek out and irradicate witch craft in Germany - women had a degree of autonomy in the home, afraid that the women were teaching the children that the church was wrong in various aspects, women tend to be the vessels of a culture - 10/18/10 Med. Christian Theology: -Anselm (1033-1109) - arch bishop of Canterbury / distinguish between scriptural authority (revelation) and reason / it is not enough to say that God exist because the Bible says it does (this is circular logic) - find another way to confirm your argument, then make it / for Anselm, God exist as a necessary being, not because the Bible says so - we are not necessary, we are contingent, our existence is based on something else, creator and creation / -Thomas Aquinas (1225-74) - Dominican from Naples (today’s Italy), a teacher in Paris, influenced by Islam philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes) / believed that Dogmas could ever be defended by reason / 5 rational ways of proving God’s existence: 1) Cosmological Argument - change or motion in the universe is evidence of a prime mover 2) God exist as a first cause (patterns of cause and effect point to the existence of a first cause - things don’t happen by themselves, there is an initial cause) 3) nothing is generated from nothing (things don’t come out of a vacuum, nothing can be created by a vacuum) (Ex-Nihlo) 4) Gradations of quality - Goodness and virtue in this world only exist because there is a perfect and absolute goodness somewhere in the universe 5) (based on plan or design) the design of the universe is a sign of the divine planner (universe itself is evidence of a divine planner) *our world is just a shadow of the real universe *prime mover - possible creator, any motion in the universe is evidence behind a prime mover Protestant Reformation: -Jan Hus (-1415 -John Wycliff (-1384) -Martin Luther (-1546) - 1517 “95 Theses” - 1521 Edict of Worms - 1529 Diet of Speyer Med. Christian Theology: Reason and Revelation - Justinian closes the Academy in Athens (a school of philosophy) in 529. / implication that there is revelation over reason, reason is out of favor *Dogma (statement accepted or rejected, can not be defended) vs. Doctrine (statement of faith or belief that can be defended) - (could be a thinker and jewish, could be a scientist and a jew...this kind of thinking thrown out of whack during Med. time) **Plato: there is some force (a first cause) and it creates through emanation of itself (universal mind) / creation emanates out - sparks of divinity - (neither thinks nor does it consciously) **Aristotle: a mechanical universe / study the material world around you only in a material way / there is an initial first cause perhaps, but creation functions on its own - doesn’t need the creator anymore (the clock maker is not involved in the functioning with the clock anymore) - basis of scientific thought today - cause and effect / didn’t disagree w/ Plato, just went further 1277: arch bishop of Paris condemned teachings of Thomas Aquinas (method of how he gets to that point is the problem) 1567: Pope Pious the 5th, declares Thomas Aquinas the doctor of the church 1879: Thomas Aquinas doctrine made the official theology of the Catholic Church (can be condemned in once century and accepted the next) (religious doctrine is not static like we were raised to believe) Mysticism in Medieval Europe: -more prominent in the East *Theosis: that our souls are always longing for a unification with God, sparks of divinity, when we break off as sparks with God, God became man so man can become God - our ultimate purpose is to live and die and to be reunited with God - the point of us being here, for God to know itself, to know oneself...in this model God doesn’t know himself - how do you know anything about yourself if you don’t know what your limits are, what you tolerate, what would can’t tolerate, break of bits of yourself so you may become familiar with yourself - creation may be seen as a mirror, God becomes aquanted with love and evil and hate, all the things we come to know through this life -organized mysticism: there isn’t one school of thought of mysticism, at it’s core, Christianity personify God as a human form is a mystical statement in itself / informal mysticism in Europe - sainthood (a human being has somehow transcended beyond others, they have become closer to God) *intuition is something felt, not seen as something to rightfully believe in* Jon of Ark - example of mysticism (one believing in mysticism) 10/25/10 The Protestant Reformation: -John Wycliff (1384) - englishman, prof at oxford, launched attack against the Eucharist - that it actually becomes the blood and body of Christ, taking objection to the literalism of this - the Bible is the final authority exceeding that of the Pope - attacking the power of the Pope and the intellectual traditions of Catholicism -Jan Hus (1415) - a bohemian scholar who criticized the church on similar grounds as Wycliff and was rewarded w/ burning at the stacks -Martin Luther (1546) - german monk, catholic priest, and a theology professor - 95 theses * 95 theses - tacts his 95 these, critics of the church that needed to be reformed, on church door - and invited all catholic scholars to debate these issues / ex: buying your way out of sin through the means of catholic clergy, corruption of the true spirit of christianity / that the church was a wealthy institution / popes w/ children by mistresses / protestant reformation causes the catholic church to back up / why are they living in lavish homes when people are poor? / critiqued the priesthood itself even though he was apart of it, that the priest was a mediator between man and God --- Two main arguments: 1) salvation could only be won by faith and God’s forgiveness (catholic church emphasizes faith and works together) 2) Pope is a false authority - only true authority in christianity was the bible What made the Protestant Reformation possible: -Proto-Nationalism: -Printing Press - was able to be distributed to others / literacy rates are rising above and beyond any other time in history at the same time *1520 Pope Leo X demands retraction - demand a retraction from Martin Luther *1521 Edict of Worms - church council convenes in Worms, in this edict the Pope declares Martin Luther an outlaw * Exile in Wartburg - Prince Fredrick hide Martin Luther here for political gain / while at Wartburg, Luther translates Bible from Greek to German, ordinary people should be able to read their own holy text / when emerged from exile, he saw different things were, in response to his criticism priest now wore regular clothing and called themselves ministers / religious services in the church were being held in german not latin / clergy that heeded his words began to take wives and Luther took a wife in 1524 * 1529 Diet of Spiers - several German princes got together where they publicly declared their support for Martin Luther / became known as the protesting princes (aka: protestant) why is it important for people to want power in religion in their own regions? -populous - represents the nationalization of europe (every nation is secting itself with different beliefs, and taxes are going through the church, becoming state churches) 16th Century Branches 1) Lutherans - most popular in Germany, in Scandinavia known as the Evangelical, celebrate the Eucharist in the local dialect, emphasize the important authorities are scripture and the holy spirit, did retain a priest hood governed by bishops who could marry (and only recently are women allowed to join), became state church in Scandinavia - means that church receives money from the state to support it - spread through out northeast part of US 2) Anglicans - spread by royal decree Henry the 8th (died in 1547, announced that this is the new religion of state), wanted a divorce and a male heir, why he wanted to break away from the catholic church, also because he had to send money to Rome - starts nationalizing all church land -in 1527 makes a formal request to gain request, married his brothers widow, thought there was something wrong with this / Pope says no / 1534 passes what is known as the act of supremacy - it proclaimed him king and his successors king by parliament, not by the Pope, only supreme head in the earth of the church in england, declares him king and head of the church and declares rights for his descendants -- *Tomas Cramer- arch bishop of Canterbury under one of Henry’s sons, becomes famous for cleansing of catholic church in the British Iles, removed all the sacred objects, when it came to the Eucharist as a symbolic meal rather than a literal event -- Mary- under Mary, Thomas Cramer got in trouble, he wrote a book called “the Book of Common Prayer” where he outlined his critiques with the Catholic Church - Mary had him burned at the stakes for his heresy - in 1559, “Book of Common Prayer” revised (obviously not by Thomas himself) - her amendment was to enforce both the literalism and the symbolism of the Eucharist, book of common prayer holds both of these views - doctrines and practices not that different from the Lutherans - in US not known as the Church of England, known as the Episcopalian 1) Calvinists - John Calvin lawyer and scholar, was actually ruler of Geneva for a time, ruled Geneva in strict conformity with doctrine and conduct - wrote institutes of the Christian religion 1) God is omintiant and omipitant (everything thing is pre destined) 2) Humans are dependent on divine grace and unable to achieve salvation (was decided before you were born, all predestined) 3) like Luther all authority was in the Bible: Scripturally bound - spread to France, Hungry, and Scotland, as well as US (Presbyterian) - large population in South Korea, approaching upon Buddhism, and New Zealand, and South Africa -Anabaptists: forms out of Calvinism - anti-establishment underground church - replacing the trained clergy of the church with a lay clergy - main figure: Menno Simms - menno simms began advocating in other worldly approaches, turn your back on confrontations, pursue good, don’t engage in worldly confrontations with the state (ex- Amish, huge variations of this as well) -Unitarians: reject the trinity - called humanist movement - lots of professors belong to unitarian churches