History of Christianity

History of Christianity

After the death of Jesus, the apostles took on the mantle of spreading the gospel and later, the leaders in church carried on with Christianity amid persecution and proscription from the Roman empire. Christianity had two main followers, the Western and the Easter followers. The Western had primacy in which the Eastern followers acknowledged but did not acknowledge their sovereignty to other Christians. They also disagreed with the Filioque clause, the Nicene Creed which they said was unilaterally written by the Western followers and forbid any alterations to it. There was also discontent on the rise in corruption in the church with agitators such as Martin Luther and Jans Hans being strident in its recourse leading to the rise of the protestant movement. Among the Protestants, a reform movement was later formed to address the modern interpretation of the bible which mingled with scientific explanation. The Protestants rooted for the traditional interpretation of the bible. This paper focuses on the origin of Christianity which is relevant to its evolution over the years (Kautsky, 2014).

The Death of Jesus

Christianity first sprung in the 1st century AD after the death of Jesus 30-33AD. Early Christianity was in two main phases; the apostolic phase and the Anti-Nicaea phase.  In the apostolic era, Jesus’ apostles began to spread the gospel first to the Jews and Romans.  At first, the apostles were proscribed and prosecuted for causing strife and an uprising among the Romans but later on, the gospel began to take root.  In the Anti-Nicaea era, bishops emerged who headed the Christian populace. Gradually, clergies, presbyters and later deacons became the overseers.  Clemence was a bishop of consequence who was believed to have been mentored personally by one of the apostles. In contrast to the apostolic era, the Anti-Nicaea phase is marked by diversity in the opinions of the Christian populace. Different cults and movements were formed to accommodate the divergence in opinions. This is evidenced by the letters of Paul, Peter, John and Jude on the conflict in leadership and orthodoxy (Tolstoi, 2018).

Persecution and Christian Legalization

Christians were earlier persecuted and proscribed by the Roman Empire who believed that they caused misfortunes and stirred an uprising in the Roman Empire. Martyrs such as Stephen and James, the son of Zebedee were assassinated. In 313, Constantine under the influence of his mother Helena became the first empire to advocate for tolerance of the Christian religion. Prior to the decree, his predecessor had issued an order to stop the persecution of Christians in the edict of Milan. As an aftermath, two councils were called upon. The council of Nicaea which came up with the Nicene Creed on faith and the council of Ephesus which reaffirmed that Mary bore Jesus. The council of Chalcedon was also called upon which established that Jesus had both the aspect of God and man, all at the same time. Contantine also encouraged Christianity by participating in the church activities, exempting clergies from paying taxes and being baptized before his death. However, his later successor dismissed these doctrines and practiced pagan worship under the influence of his adviser.

Christian Monks

There was an emergence of a group who renounces worldly pursuits and lived alone as hermits or in a monastery headed by an abbot. Originally, solitude living had its roots in Judaism with the example of John the Baptist who lived a life of seclusion. Other monks later emerged such as Antony the great. In need for spiritual guidance, monks started to live as a community.  The second wave of reform sprang from the reform the Benedictine rule. The abbey of clunny served as the heads of the monks and administrators of subsidiary houses served as deputies for the abbots. The third group of monk were known as the friars who lived a life of frugality and rectitude, with their main purpose on preaching, educating and ministering to people (Goldhill, 2016).

Divergence between the Eastern and Western Doctrines

Following the appointment of the Byzantine emperor Michael III of Photios as the Constatinople, there emerged a rivalry of power and jurisdiction between the Roman pope and the Contatinople.  Three main issues were brought to the fore, the use of the filioque clause in the Nicene Creed which gained traction with time.  The Eastern church, the Greek orthodox, disagreed with  the Western church, the Roman Catholic, on recognition of `the son’ as having two aspects: the father and the son instead of the father alone. Second, the Nicene Creed was originally put together by the ecumenical council who forbid any alteration to the creed. The Eastern followers perceived this to be dogmatic on account of the creed being made unilaterally.  The Eastern followers questioned the unilateral addition of the Holy Spirit as proceeding from both the father and the son while they only acknowledged that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the father.  Third, by the 5^th century the West were given primacy on ecclesiastical matters which they took in to include sovereign authority and universal leadership by the pope. The Eastern Church, accepted the primacy but disregarded the West as the sovereign authority. The Eastern Church believed that churches should emulate Simon Peter who reverenced Jesus as Christ.  Being Simon Peter’s followers, the church could not have one bishop having exclusive prerogatives over all churches (Campbell, 2019).

East-West Schism

The prolonged estrangement between the Eastern and the western doctrines lead to schism among the different cults and movements. The schism was further intensified by the cultural and linguistic differences. In 1054, the incumbent Constantinople and the papal legates were officially excommunicated. An attempt for reconciliation was futile in the East but bore fruit in the West with the rise of the Eastern Rite Catholic.  The Greek orthodoxy acknowledged the primacy of the Roman Catholic but refused to reinforce their monopolization of authority to all churches.

In 1453, the Ottoman empire conquered the  Byzantine Empire and led to the fall of constatinople. Some of the Easter followers latter fled with literal material to the West after failing to submit to the Ottoman rule. Orthodox communion of the Balkans and the Near East were isolated from the West and draconian rules were instilled to encourage the Eastern Church to adhere to Islamic laws.  The new Ottoman empire advocated for tolerance of Christians and established rights and freedoms of Christians. However, the rights and freedoms were not practically enforced. The sultan was given the discretion to decide what constituted their rights and freedoms. Missionary work was outlawed and a conversion into the Islamic culture encouraged. However, those who wished to covert back to Christianity were prosecuted.

The church of orthodox was also subjected to corruption. Those who aspired to be patriachs had to be from high social standing or affluent to afford the remittances to the government. Patriarchs in turn started taxing local parishes and the clergies. The number of deaths of patriarchs assassinated was also on the rise with few patriarchs dying a natural death.

Western schism was brought about by the political rather than doctrinal conflicts.  It had been a long practice for popes to choose to reside in Avignon rather than in Rome.  This decision brought a lot of tension in Rome with its dwindling political influence. With time two popes were appointed both from Avignon and Rome. However, the popes conflicted in their decisions and the kings and princes took advantage of the conflict to stir up more rivalry between the popes.

The Western schism was also marked by the agitation for change from John Wycliffe and Jan Hus. John Whcliffe was an English scholar who admonished corruption in church and helped in the translation of the bible from Latin to English.  He also advocated for a personal relationship with God without the necessity for a priest’s interception.   Jan Hus, a theologian from Czech carried on with Whcliffe’s mantle in condemning corruption in church.  He also spearheaded the protestant reformation. He was latter on excommunicated and brutally assassinated by the council of constance (Campbell, 2019).

Protestant Reformation

The reform was spearheaded by Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin.  The publication of the ninety five thesis by Martin Luther In1517 spurred a lot of uproar by the Roman government who reproached Luther and subdued his supporters by confiscating their property. Luther condemned the doctrinal corruption in the church; the holding of several offices by the same person, the sale of indulgences and simony.  Three of the traditions that emanated from the Lutheran reform grew to be the most prominent.

The protestant reform was partitioned into two distinct movements; the magisterial reform and the radical reform. The magisterial reform characteristed by agitators of the movement such as Martin Luther and John Calvin liaising with secular magistrates. The radical reform was characterized by anti-baptists who often formed doctrinal that clashed with the council of Nicaea and Chalcedon.  The movement spread widely in Northern Europe though followers were excommunicated and persecuted in an attempt to suppress their influence in the Catholic church ( Schorch, 2019).

Ulrich Zwingli

Ulrich Zwingli was a Swish scholar and a parish priest of consequence. His doctrine of justification converged with Martin Luther’s but diverged on his belief that the reverence of icons was idolatry which was against the first commandment in the bible.  Ulrich also questioned the practicality of eucharism. The divergence in the reforms of Luther and Ulrich brought about other traditions from Ulrich’s followers. Unfortunately, the political tension between Switzerland who strongly rooted Ulrich and the catholic emperor Charles V heightened leading to his death ( Schorch, 2019).

English Reform

King Henry VIII was a devout catholic and named the defender of faith by pope Leo X who defended the papacy against Luther in his book. His stance shifted radically when he wished for the support of the church in annulling his marriage but failed to secure it. His wife was the aunt of Emperor Charles V who ardently supported the Catholic church.  As an aftermath, the England church was headed by the monarch.  The Catholic supporter were proscribed to Spain and other catholic lands. The reform birthed the Elizabeth Religious settlement and a state church that identified themselves with the reformists and catholic teaching but not to Protestants ( Schorch, 2019).

Counter-Reformation

The reformation sprung from the protestant movement that strongly censured catholic doctrines. The council of trend which was initiated by Pope Paul III addressed the criticisms from the protestant movement and rejected them. The council also strived at educating more parish priests to increase and enlighten more people. The catholic reform aimed at eliminating the flaws in their moral structure and having new missionary activities. The reform adopted new spirituality from Spanish mystics and the French school of spirituality.  Politically, the counter-reform brought about the proscription of Protestants, the captivation of children with protestant parents to teach them of the catholic doctrines and war between the two denominations (Issa, 2017)

Ecumenism

It is movement among Christians aimed at achieving unity and convergence. It is in two distinct groups; the catholic and protestant movement.

The Catholic Movement

The Catholic Church attempted to converge their doctrinal beliefs with the Eastern Orthodox Church. Some of the issues that were raised were on the primacy of the Catholic Church and whether the catholic church would impose sovereignty on other orthodoxy churches. The issue of filioque, the essence of God and the fourth crusade were among the issues that were raised. Commissioners were also tasked with establishing dialogues and documenting doctrinal values and beliefs between the Catholics and the Protestants such as the Doctrine of Justification produced with the Lutheran World Federation in 1999 (Renan, 2016).

The Pentecostal Movement

Second, the Pentecostal movement began in 1902 with an aim of reaching out to more people.  American evangelists Charles Alexandera and Reuben Torrey crusaded in Australia and converted 8,000 people to Christ.  In 1904, Alexandra and Torrey began the Welsh revival which led their follower Jessie Penn-Lewis to write a book on the `war of saints.’ Christian fundamentalist movement later emerged to address key issues that evoked confusion among Christians. The movement sought to encourage its followers to stick to the traditional interpretation of the bible and dismiss the scientific assumptions by atheists. Fundamentalist evangelical movement was partitioned into two; the fundamentalists and the evangelical (Renan, 2016).

Ecumenism within the Protestants

The movement extended to all groups if they believed in the trinity, that Jesus is the way to have forgiveness and eternal life and that he died and rose again (Renan, 2016).

In conclusion the origin of Christianity can be traced down to the death of Jesus. His apostles or those who oversaw the church in the Anti-Nicaea era spread the gospel. At first, Christianity was meet with a lot of resistance from the Roman empire who perceived Christians as being ominous and stirring an uprising within the empire. Christians were proscribed and some put to death. In 313, the then constatine encouraged the tolerance of Christians and partook in their activities such as baptism. He also exempted clergies from paying taxes and built churches. Among the Christians; the Western (the Latin, Roman Catholic) and the Eastern (the Greek orthodoxy) differed strongly in their opinions. The Western church which had primacy also wanted to monopolise the control and authority of other churches which the Greek orthodoxy disagreed with. This led to Western and Eastern schism with either parties trying to suppress the followers of the other in their movement and wage war on their opponents. The main issues that were disagreed by the west were the Filioque, the aspect of Jesus as both God and man and the sovereign authority the West wished to exercise. To date, some of this issues have never been laid to rest.

REFEREENCES

Campbell, S. (2019). The Rise and Fall of Jesus: A Complete Explanation for the Life of Jesus and the Origin of Christianity. Tectum Wissenschaftsverlag.

Goldhill, S. (2016). What has Alexandria to do with Jerusalem? Writing the history of the Jews in the nineteenth century. The Historical Journal, 59(1), 125-151.

Issa, B. T., Issa, T., Issa, T., & Issa, T. (2017). Readings in the 20th Century Genocide of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch (Sayfo). Nova Science Publishers.

Kautsky, K. (2014). Foundations of Christianity (Routledge Revivals): A Study in Christian Origins. Routledge.

Renan, J. E. (2016). The History of the Origins of Christianity-Book I: The Life of Jesus. Lulu. com.

Schorch, S. (2019). Isaac Mayer Wise’s “The Origin of Christianity” (1868) in the Context of 19th Century Research on the New Testament. Wissenschaft des Judentums Beyond Tradition: Jewish scholarship on the Sacred Texts of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, 99.

Tolstoi, L. (2018). The Kingdom of God is Within You-What is Art?. BoD–Books on Demand.