Christian History Course Lesson 5

Lesson 5

 

What is Patristics

Patristics or Patrology is the study of early christian writers, known as the church fathers. The names derive from the Latin pater (father). The period is generally considered to run from the end of New testament times or end of the Apostolic age (c. AD 100) to either AD 451 (the date of the Council of Chalcedon). Among the persons whose writings form the basis for Patristics, i.e. prominent early Church Fathers, are Justin Martyr (c.100-c.165), Irenaeus of Lyons (c.120-c.202), Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215), Tertullian (c.160-c.225), Origen (c.185-c.254), Cyprian of Carthage (d. 258), Athanasius (c.296-c.373), Gregory of Nazianzus (329-389), Basil of Caesarea (c.330-379), Gregory of Nyssa (c.330-c.395) Theodore of Mopsuestia (c.350-428), Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Pelagius, Vincent of Lérins (d. bef. 450), Cyril of Alexandria (d.444), Nestorius (died c.451).

 

What was the significance of the title father of the churchand who usualy received the title ,who were the apostolic fathers.

Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come. The term is used of writers and teachers of the Church, not necessarily "saints", though most are honoured as saints in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Anglican Churches, as well as in some other Christian groups; notably, the heretics Origen and Tertullian are generally. The earliest Church Fathers, (within two generations of the Twelve apostles of Christ) are usually called the Apostolic Fathers since they were taught directly by the twelve. Important Apostolic Fathers include Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp of Smyrna. In addition, the Didache and Shepherd of Hermas are usually placed among the writings of the Apostolic Fathers although their authors are unknown; like the works of Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp, they were first written in Koine Greek.

How do the writings of the Apostolic Fathers help us in understanding the teachings and practises of the early christian church

Orthodox doctrine is determined by the consensus of the Holy Fathers—those points on which they do agree. This consensus guides the church in questions of dogma, the correct interpretation of scripture, and to distinguish the authentic Sacred Tradition of the Church from false teachings.

 

 

Christian History From ULC Seminary

Lesson 4 answers Christian history

 

How did the world in which the apostle Paul lived contribute to his life in ministry?

 

     The empire of Rome was a vast multicultural empire and as such the apostle Paul would be influenced by it this could not be helped as he was a man of two worlds .

     Paul was born of Jewish parentage and a roman citizen this gave him great advantages his teachings in the Jewish faith and access to synagogues and also as a citizen his ability to travel gave him a privileged outlook on life.

       The impact of Greek philosophy and wisdom had become a part of roman tradition this and his being an observant Jew would assist with his life in ministry.

          While under emperor Claudius there was a period of stability this gave Christians a chance to build up churches and convert the pagans when it was realized Christianity was a threat to other deities then the persecutions intensified .

 

In what ways was Paul a man of two worlds

The Apostle Paul was a man of two worlds due to his birth as a Jew and his citizenship as a Roman .These two worlds helped him with his education and teaching of Christianity ,as a Jew he was taught the old testament  and as a roman he would have access to Greek which helped him with the school of philosophy it could be stated his two worlds are when he converted to Christianity.

 

How did the Apostle Paul's work show a certain genius for missions and apologetics

 

The early church apologists were missionaries who understood the need to adapt to their intended audiences ."Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have(1Peter 3:15).

          Apologetics is not just for the intellectual it is something we all do we understand right and wrong but find aspects of the bible or the testaments hard and as such we apologize .

          Paul's genius was to be able to answer questions that were put too him as for his missions he was able to travel and advise his church accordingly so as to make them more fulfilling and a success as such he adapted to the needs of the followers in his mission.

Christian History Lesson 3

Lesson 3 Christian history.

 

Why was the Christian message given first to the Jews.

 

Jesus Christ was taught in synagogues and on the Old Testament his family and people he associated where predominantly Jewish.

The Christian way of spreading the word of the lord could be interpreted as a fulfillment of the lord's promises to the Jews that they are the chosen people.

When we look at these two short answers it becomes apparent that Christianity followed along with Judaism as such it was easy for the believers of god to follow Jesus approach as oppose to a none believer or someone who is confused by a Rabbis teaching could this also be why Jesus  would say " I say" to explain or answer a question.

 

What was the nature of the Jerusalem church and at what point did the Jerusalem church begin to lose its prominence.

 

The Jerusalem church was possibly classed as the equivalent of a cathedral today in the sense that the senior disciples and members of Jesus own family e.g. James this would have gave it prestige in the eyes of most believers and followers. As times change and the apostles pass on and with Roman intervention a building could become less prominent .the followers would also open new churches in adjoining cities and countries where there was to be a stronger following due to religious tolerance .

The Jerusalem church served its purpose it could say it was like an oak tree it reached its maturity and spread its seeds around thus sprouting n different areas which in turn eventually happened again and again .

How does the spread of the Christian message in Judea and Samaria and ultimately to the gentiles illustrate the fact that Christianity is oriented towards missions.

 

Ministry work is to spread the holy word of the lord this be to all nations gender or race are not a pre requisite too the lords words all are welcome to listen and be converted and baptised ,if Jesus and his ministry limited the word of the lord to just Jews how far would Christianity have spread would it have just followed along with Judaism  and eventually lost its following ,as such Jesus started immediately with his teachings and speaking to one and all converting pagans and baptising new followers.

The holy spirit also directed the disciples to their future ministries anointing new followers and spreading the word of the lord and the teachings of Jesus.

Master of Mystical Christianity Lesson 19; Answers

Questions For the Heart and Mind How is spirituality different from religion? Spirituality is different from religion in that spirituality is the broad encompassing gift of our entire being - spirit, soul, mind and body - longing and reaching out to the Divine in all actions, thoughts and motivations each day and night. Religion is a pathway that leads to God, offering the support and structure - often communally - of rituals, prayers, laws and dogma. How would you define a mystic? Do you consider yourself to be a mystic? I define a mystic as a person who desires to dwell in God's Love, and to allow the essence of God to permeate her/his being in order to become one with God. I believe that Jesus Christ spoke of our integral call to mysticism when He said, "Does it not say in the Scriptures, 'I said, you are gods', and all of you are children of the Most High." The Hebrew word 'gods' translated is elohim, which literally means 'gods', or 'mighty ones', although the word is often rendered as 'God' - i.e. the true God-Creator. We are God's children enfleshed here on earth, growing through different stages of our own growth cycle as children of God, preparing for our final birth into Heaven in the fullness of our mystically grown being, ready to take up our eternal destiny as one of God's family for eternity. I consider myself a mystic as through my God-gifted soul enfleshed in the body I was gifted through my parents, I am a daughter of God. I am thus called to eternal Family with God, and therefore in spiritual relationship with Him and all in the human global family. As daughter of God on journey towards Him, I am thus a mystic - a person who desires to dwell in God's Love, and hopeful to allow His essence to permeate my being with His goodness, values and beauty.Scriptures are very helpful here. How do you experience the difference between your ego self and your True "I" Self? I experience the ego to be that part of my self that I present to the world. I experience my true 'I' self as my 'higher self', the part of me that is connected to God - i.e. my soul, my centre. My higher self speaks through my body. If, for example, I am anxious about a situation and am unsure what the right course of action should be, I might experience a headache, my higher self prompting me to examine my inner being and the decisions I need to make in the situation. My ego simply responds to the outer world outside my physical being; my higher self prompts my ego not to think only of myself, but to think about the welfare and happiness of others. Rev.Catherine Whittle Mystical Christianity

Answers to master of Christian History and PhD in Religious Philosophy Lesson 17

Please see attached. Also help me to post them to the private blogs

Christian History

This paper can be written on anyone or anything within Christian History from 1A.D. to 1054 A.D. I think that I would like to focus on the Roman Empire’ influence on Christianity. After the death of the man Jesus Christ of Nazareth. A man that we know existed because he was written about not only be his followers but by historians at the time.

It became then a matter of what you believed. Some believed Jesus to be the messiah sent by God to save the world. While others believed him just a man who was original and attracted many followers but still just a man trying to teach his beliefs to others.

Jesus was persecuted by the Roman government and the Jewish leaders of his time. Eventually they crucified him because they were afraid of the following that he was attaining. A common date used for his death is Friday April 3, 33 AD . On this date Jesus of Nazareth was taken to the Place of a skull and crucified along side of two common thieves. The charge was blasphemy (because he claimed to be the King of the Jews). This all took place in the first century.

Jesus is believed by his followers to have resurrected in three days and he stayed among his followers and taught others for 40 days and then was ascended to heaven. After this his followers then began to teach the gospels of Jesus. They were still functioning as faithful jews. They just believed that Jesus had been sent as the Messiah to save the world.

These followers of Jesus had to meet secretly and keep to themselves because they were considered different and even considered a cult at that time and they were feared. But the spread of Christianity still started to happen. Then there was the great Pentecost when three thousand people were converted to Christians. This began to really scare the Roman government because of the number of followers and the power they could hold.

Christianity began to spread though and the Roman empire mad it easier because it was a large area focused on one law and one government. That unity made it easier to reach many people at the same time. The road system gave them easier access and more freedom, and the Roman legions enforced peace.

Around the year 50 Ad in the Council Of Jerusalem there was a split of the Gentile Christians from the Judaism laws. This making the Christian religion even more prominent. Christianity began to grow.

The Roman government banned Christianity because of it’s threat of competition for the peoples allegiance to the Roman Empire. Christians were seen as a real threat. They began to publicly persecute them in mob like scenes. In the year 250 AD the persecutions became organized actions of the Roman Empire.

In the year 258 AD the Roman Emperor Valerian I began Valerian’s massacre where he killed all of the Christian bishops, presbyters, deacons, Pope Sixtius II and the Anti Pope Novatian, and Cyprian Carthage. Trying to kill all of the leadership of the Christian’s.

When Roman Emperor Diocletian took over in 284 AD there was a fire that destroyed the imperial palace. It was never really confirmed who set the fire. But it is believed that it was ordered by other government officials to start more severe persecutions of the Christians again. Which it did from 303 AD to 311 AD Christian churches and scripture were burned, more Christians were killed, put in prison, and in work camps.

In 311 AD Galerius the new Roman Emperor issued an imperial edict that tolerated Christianity as long as it did not threaten the peace of the Empire. In 313 AD The Edict Of Milan issued by Constitine, Licinius and Galsrieus all Roman Emperor’s proclaimed religious tolerance and legalized Christianity.

In 324 AD Constantine I became the first Christian Emperor of Rome. In 325 AD in the Council Of Nicea the first unified Christian doctrine was formed. In 391 AD Christianity became the only legal religion in the Roman Empire.

This is how the Roman Empire helped to spread Christianity. Of course since then there has been a lot more spreading of this religion to all parts of the world. There has also been more separations in the religion. There are now many different denominations in the Christian religion now. I think that the different denominations weakens this religion.. I don’t believe in the separations. I believe that we all worship one God and that we all live under his rule.

By; Gwendolyn Kerr Simpson

I really enjoyed this course I learned a lot from it. The instructions were to write about a subject from this course so I chose this subject. I know that it is supposed to be ten pages but I feel that I have summed up the subject in the preceding pages and if I were to write more it would just be a lot of repeating of the same material. I hope that this paper is acceptable and if it is not that more explanation will be given to me and I can try again. Thank you so much for your time and your sharing of Knowledge.

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Christian History

Master of Christian History final essay Rev. Edward Lindsay Lets take a good look at the history of the Church as to my understanding. It really all started with the resurrection of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Many people do not believe that Jesus is the son of God it has been debated since the resurrection even Christ's own Disciples had a hard time believing that Jesus rose from the dead. Since he was gone and there faith in the resurrection was truly lacking. Peter was given the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven even he had a problem with the resurrection when Christ was crucified on the cross. When the Romans took Jesus they questioned Peter as to knowing Jesus he deigned and even went so far as to hide from the Romans for fear of being put to death himself. It wasn't until after he repented that the Holy Ghost ascended upon him and he became the rock of the Church and also the first Pope. But why was the early Church almost doomed before it got started? They didn't have a doctrine to go by and everyone was going around doing there own thing taking bits and pieces of other religions putting them and calling it Christianity. The big thing was accusing other people of hierarchy. Gnostic's and the practice of Gnosis at that time was a big thing they even had there own Gospels or the Good News Gnostic's were active believing that you could find God and gain spiritual awareness and that knowledge was the way to Heaven and that you did not need a priest or minister to show you the way to spiritual awareness they also had a problem with Jesus being the son of God because he was a man and many Gnostic teachings that material things were evil. The easiest way to describe Jesus is God made into man or the word made flesh. After many years of struggle the early Church had nervous problems like what to believe and what to worship while keeping there Jewish roots. There were numerous Gospels floating around but most Church's had only one book or one Gospel and it was usually different from another church one of the problems is that it was expensive to own more than one Gospel as for most Churches were poor. And the Romans made it a point to persecute all Christians in the beginning the name Christian was a type of insult and it later became a badge of honor. Around 330-334 A.D. Constantine got together a group of scholars, clergy, and basically wise men and put together the Ecumenical Council to try and figure out what Gospels, creeds and anything else that needed to go into what we call the Bible today. Up until that point most Jews were following Judaism unless they had converted to Christianity. Constantine's conversion to Christianity was the boost the Church needed making Christianity the religion of the land and ending the persecution of the Christians. With the mixing of religions still to this day we call it Jew-daio Christian. Over the centuries Christianity went threw many changes some we care about some we don't. The thing that got me was threw the development of the Church someone always figured out a way to make money off of religion selling positions or indulgences and in the early church money and status played a big role. There is just to many things to list in the development of the church and it always seemed that if you didn't think like the Bishops or the Pontiff wanted you to then you were a heretic. As for the development of the church I believe that many Gospels were left out after the ecumenical Council; decided what went into the bible I feel they left out several gospels that should have been in it. These Gospels are known as the forbidden texts most of them are Gnostic teachings but without them there place in history is left unknown. But no matter how you look at the at the history of the early church it still revolves around money how do I figure this? lets take a good look right before the great schism 1054 of the early church the Western Church did not want a married priest why not if they allowed marriage of clergy then clergy would have children and wives and they would need an income housing and so fourth. That would conflict with the vow of poverty and the Church with there land grants they would actually have to support there clergy the catch is this nowhere in the bible does Jesus say that priest cannot be married that is a church law not God's. The Church over the years became more about power and money and all that appose them are heretics. Even though the Western Church practiced the sacrifice of the Mass. They actually split from the true Church of Jesus that Church is the Eastern Orthodox Church Orthodox meaning true and not the one that has developed to this day but the early one before all the changes. The Eastern Church is extremal spiritual in the sacrifice of the Holy Mass there high Mass is usually sung and there teachings for the most part go all the way back to the beginning of the Catholic Church. The effects and traditions of the early church can be seen today we have a set doctrine called the liturgy and the sacraments are the same. The Sacraments are as follows you have the rite of Baptism, Conformation, Eucharist, Penance, anointing of the sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony but it really started and got a good hold with Constantine being converted to Catholic that really set the roots for the early church and it was to be accepted through out the land. The Eastern Church had many problems with the West being heretics and standing by there traditions. The Eastern Church to this day is still the true church of Jesus Christ and that will never change they refuse to change there doctrine do to modernism and as the church goes threw major changes like Vatican II which most people think it modernized the church in essence it really destroyed the Roman Catholic Church now you have The Roman Catholic Church, The Traditional Catholic Church, And the Orthodox Catholic Church the Traditional Catholic Church is the Roman Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Church after Vatican II became the modern Catholic Church.but they still call it the Roman Catholic Church. The biggest change before Vatican II was the split between the East and the West the great schism of 1054. That split cost the church dearly the Western Church has thrown out all tradition the changing of the Mass makes that Mass invalid as by Papal decree the rite of Consecration has also been changed making it invalid making the Eucharist just bread and not the body of Christ although the modern Church will argue today that it is valid Papal decree and the the book of Mark say otherwise. The point being this if you are Catholic and you want the Church Jesus started then you would have to find an Orthodox Church the next best thing for a true consecration would be the Traditional Catholic Church but threw the hierarchy and schisms the church most of us know is the modern Catholic Church. I found this an interesting course with more information than I was expecting I spent 3 years studying under a Traditional Catholic Priest Church History was a must the problems of the early church still go on today and yes money talks. Since then I have now moved on to find a new church and I am looking for truth, this is an extremely good course for getting most of the information as to how the church came into being. And the answer is still yes if you want the church Jesus started you are looking for an Orthodox Church. I look forward to more future studies and any debates that one might have. May God bless everyone and may there ministries bring him or her the Joy and salvation they want. Reverend Edward Lindsay ******************** Ordination with the Universal Life Church, is free,  and lasts for life, so use the Free Online Ordination, button. As a long time member of ULC, Rev. Long created the seminary site to help train our ministers. We also have a huge catalog of Universal Life Church materials.  I've been ordained with the Universal Life Church for many years and it's Seminary since the beginning and have loved watching the continual growth of the seminary. Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar