Final Essay for Master of Christian History
Rev Sharon J. Mayer, DD
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Rev Sharon J. Mayer, DD
The course gave an overview of history of the early church in a basic chronological order. We were asked to cite all references on a paper to be submitted to ULC Seminary and to Rev Loy. It was noted that Rev Loy did not add any citations to his lessons which would have been extremely helpful in continuing a study of the history. Since there was a number of years covered in the course I used my collection of reference materials to extend my study of the subjects, persons, and history for the time period.
References used included varied internet sites, articles in magazines, and newsprint. From my library:: What Jesus Meant and What Paul Mean, Garry Wills; The Complete Gospel, Robert J. Miller, Editor; Forbidden Faith, The Gnostic Legacy, Richard Smoley; Lost Christianities, The Battles for Scripture and The Faiths We Never Knew and Lost Scriptures, Books that Did Not Make It into The New Testament, Bart D. Ehrman; varied translations of the Bible, and Hammond Atlas of World History with Time Lines. Other reference books as appropriate.
The course explained many of the reasons for beliefs of the modern church. It touched lightly on the politics of the time and the thoughts of those who have been considered the great thinkers of the church. It did with further delving into other areas explain that many of the ideas and practice of the church came from the thoughts of man. The people who were to become the church leaders had ideas from other religions and thought that they had been exposed to over the course of their lives and incorporated it into the theology of the church. .
People can only relate to what they know and it seems that many of the early men of the church had thoughts about sin and how to overcome this problem. It is clean from this course and other reading that many did not understand what the original concept of the teachings of Jesus was. Paul disagreed with those who had been with Jesus and because he was a master at promotion and an excellent salesman of his ideas of faith his way predominated in the early church. .He seemed to disallow any thought that did not conform to his ideas of the aspects of the true faith. We have only parts of letters he wrote in response to questions from the churches he founded and the wording has been expanded by those who wanted to use that as a means to expand church thought and holdings.
As the Roman Empire grew the church followed the soldiers into areas of the world that had other beliefs. If they could not control the population as wished with the faith they brought they incorporated the “pagan” rituals into the church. What had began as a simple message of love and hope was transformed into a manmade religion with many rules and procedures given by church leaders to conform to their own way of maintaining the church powers. .
The course touched on the thoughts of those who were to become the church fathers. The church become a small country with wealth and power as it grew with the Roman Empire and the simple message seems to have been forgotten and the thoughts of men who were trying to overcome their early lives took over the church. There was much corruption, war, in -fighting, killing, and collection of personal and church wealth during the later part of the time frame covered. Those who did not go with the flow or believe as the church wanted, or could not be controlled were put to death. There was to be no dissention and all were to believe as told.
Books of what became the Vulgate and King James Bible were chosen to help promo gate the beliefs that were to be followed. As the monasteries s flourished members were taken in to copy the books. The problem was most could not read and only copy what was given to them. The church owned the books and as being man could do interpretations of the material to suit their ideals. Many interpretative errors were made and possibly great parts of manuscripts were corrupted or left out.
During the timeline of the course Islam come into being. Mohammad had it in mind that the church and religions of the area he knew had become corrupt and he wanted to return to a simpler tradition. His ideas seemed to be popular as he garnered many followers. He did believe that Jesus was a wise man and had been sent to teach the word but he was not part of those who thought he was also God. As he garnered followers and apposed those who were Christian there was of course battles to prove who was correct. Even today there are still battles for religious ideas. The basics of the original religions and faith have given way to much thinking of what should be followed by varied religious leaders. Some of this came about as a play for power and to hold the people for control.
As I took the course and went through the references I came away with the feeling that the true message was lost because of input by man. The simple message that was given by a simple person(s) who only wanted to explain love and caring for your fellow man would make a more perfect world was lost in major pronouncements and multiple writings. There needed to be no explanations for sin or how to obtain God’s love and care. Only a small voice that said “Love thy neighbor as you would be loved, care for your neighbor as you would be cared for, want nothing as all is provided for you that is needed if you ask, and be at peace for you are loved and cared for always as you learn your purpose in life.”
References used included varied internet sites, articles in magazines, and newsprint. From my library:: What Jesus Meant and What Paul Mean, Garry Wills; The Complete Gospel, Robert J. Miller, Editor; Forbidden Faith, The Gnostic Legacy, Richard Smoley; Lost Christianities, The Battles for Scripture and The Faiths We Never Knew and Lost Scriptures, Books that Did Not Make It into The New Testament, Bart D. Ehrman; varied translations of the Bible, and Hammond Atlas of World History with Time Lines. Other reference books as appropriate.
The course explained many of the reasons for beliefs of the modern church. It touched lightly on the politics of the time and the thoughts of those who have been considered the great thinkers of the church. It did with further delving into other areas explain that many of the ideas and practice of the church came from the thoughts of man. The people who were to become the church leaders had ideas from other religions and thought that they had been exposed to over the course of their lives and incorporated it into the theology of the church. .
People can only relate to what they know and it seems that many of the early men of the church had thoughts about sin and how to overcome this problem. It is clean from this course and other reading that many did not understand what the original concept of the teachings of Jesus was. Paul disagreed with those who had been with Jesus and because he was a master at promotion and an excellent salesman of his ideas of faith his way predominated in the early church. .He seemed to disallow any thought that did not conform to his ideas of the aspects of the true faith. We have only parts of letters he wrote in response to questions from the churches he founded and the wording has been expanded by those who wanted to use that as a means to expand church thought and holdings.
As the Roman Empire grew the church followed the soldiers into areas of the world that had other beliefs. If they could not control the population as wished with the faith they brought they incorporated the “pagan” rituals into the church. What had began as a simple message of love and hope was transformed into a manmade religion with many rules and procedures given by church leaders to conform to their own way of maintaining the church powers. .
The course touched on the thoughts of those who were to become the church fathers. The church become a small country with wealth and power as it grew with the Roman Empire and the simple message seems to have been forgotten and the thoughts of men who were trying to overcome their early lives took over the church. There was much corruption, war, in -fighting, killing, and collection of personal and church wealth during the later part of the time frame covered. Those who did not go with the flow or believe as the church wanted, or could not be controlled were put to death. There was to be no dissention and all were to believe as told.
Books of what became the Vulgate and King James Bible were chosen to help promo gate the beliefs that were to be followed. As the monasteries s flourished members were taken in to copy the books. The problem was most could not read and only copy what was given to them. The church owned the books and as being man could do interpretations of the material to suit their ideals. Many interpretative errors were made and possibly great parts of manuscripts were corrupted or left out.
During the timeline of the course Islam come into being. Mohammad had it in mind that the church and religions of the area he knew had become corrupt and he wanted to return to a simpler tradition. His ideas seemed to be popular as he garnered many followers. He did believe that Jesus was a wise man and had been sent to teach the word but he was not part of those who thought he was also God. As he garnered followers and apposed those who were Christian there was of course battles to prove who was correct. Even today there are still battles for religious ideas. The basics of the original religions and faith have given way to much thinking of what should be followed by varied religious leaders. Some of this came about as a play for power and to hold the people for control.
As I took the course and went through the references I came away with the feeling that the true message was lost because of input by man. The simple message that was given by a simple person(s) who only wanted to explain love and caring for your fellow man would make a more perfect world was lost in major pronouncements and multiple writings. There needed to be no explanations for sin or how to obtain God’s love and care. Only a small voice that said “Love thy neighbor as you would be loved, care for your neighbor as you would be cared for, want nothing as all is provided for you that is needed if you ask, and be at peace for you are loved and cared for always as you learn your purpose in life.”
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