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Christianity
The major religion of the western world, its founder being Jesus Christ. This religion, and Western philosophical traditions, mutually influencing each other, account for the peculiar characteristics of Western culture, including its ideal of progress, its doctrine of temporal passage, its ethical meliorism, and the development of science and technology. Reese, 90
In the two thousand years since its origin, Christianity has appeared in many forms. At one extreme we have the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), a tightly managed organization whose headquarters are an independent nation, Vatican City. Through a global hierarchy, it serves the religious needs and tries to control the religious views of about a billion people.
At the other end of the spectrum is the cloud of individuals, with no formal allegiance to any church, who guide their lives by the Christian ideal: love of god (the whole) and neighbour (the individual).
'Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?' Jesus said, 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: you must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets also.' (Matthew 22:35-40)
The literary foundation of Christianity is the Bible and the works of the 'Fathers of the Church'. (Minge Latin, Minge Greek) Christianity grew from Judaism. The New Testament exposition of Christianity sees itself as the fulfillment of the Jewish Old Testament. The rather remote and lonely God of the Old Testament became human in the person of Jesus. Jesus revealed that there were in fact three persons in the divinity. He also explained in great detail the divine plan for humanity.
Three hundred years after its foundation, Christianity was the dominant religion in the Roman Empire, and began to formalize its beliefs in the form of Creeds. As time went by, the Church became more deeply involved in government, so that doctrinal matters became political. In 1054 the Christian Church split into Eastern and Western branches over the words 'and the Son' ('Filioque' ) in the Nicene Creed.
The Western (Roman) Church split again over its political and economic roles, an event comprising the 'Protestant Reformation' and the 'Counter Reformation'. The Protestant Reformation is considered to have begun with the publication, by Martin Luther, of 95 theses concerning errors and abuses in the Roman Church. Friedenthal. The principal event of the Counter Reformation was the Council of Trent (1545-1563) held by the Roman Church to respond to the Protestants.
The Council acted against many of the abuses in the Church and arrived at comprehensive definitions of Christian doctrine. Many Catholics returned to the reformed Church. Unfortunately some of the Council's definitions were repugnant to the Protestant reformers, and the Council failed to heal the schism between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
In recent decades an 'Ecumenical Movement' has sprung up which attempting to heal the differences between the Christian Churches. Progress has been slow, possibly because the dominant Roman Catholic Church is convinced of its own supremacy, and finds it hard to see Christian unity as anything other than unity under a Catholic umbrella. Goosen.
Books
| Friedenthal, Richard , Luther, Weidenfeld and Nicholson 1970 Jacket: At midday on 21 October 1517, Luther launched the Reformation by nailing his 'ninety-five theses' against Papal indulgences to the door of the Schlosskirche at Wittenberg. The world has yet to come to terms with the issues he raised. ... In this new biography Richard Friedenthal portrays the living human figure behind the accretions of pious and hostile legend. ... Interwoven with the story of Luther's life is an intricate picture of Europe as a whole undergoing the agony of the Reformation, with centuries old beliefs and customs being turned upside-down in a chaos of furious religious controversy, social upheaval and constant clashes between bishops and princelings, imperial troops and mercenaries. ...' Amazon back |
| Goosen, Gideon, Bringing Churches Together: An Introduction to Ecumenism, E J Dwyer 1993 Jacket: 'A down-to-earth book on ecumenism. ... Polemic themes are not avoided, but they are treated with full candour, evenhandedness and hope. The invitation is to participate in the thrill of the ecumenical movement.' Emilio Castro, General Secretary, World Council of Churches (1985-92)back |
| Jones, Alexander (ed), The Jerusalem Bible, Darton Longman and Todd 1966 Editor's Foreword: '... The Bible ... is of its nature a written charter guaranteed (as Christians believe) by the Spirit of God, crystallised in antiquity, never to be changed ... . This present volume is the English equivalent of [La Bible de Jerusalem] ... an entirely faithful version of the ancient texts which, in doubntful points, preserves the text established and (for the most part) the interpretation adopted by the French scholars in the light of the most recent researches in the fields of history, archaeology and literary criticism.' (v-vi) Amazon back |
| Matthew, and Alexander Jones (editor), in The Jerusalem Bible, Darton Longman and Todd 1966 Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels: '[Matthew is] a dramatic account in seven acts of the coming of the kingdom of heaven. 1. The preparation of the kingdom in the person of the child-Messiah. ... 2. the formal proclamation of the charter of the Kingdom ... i.e. the Sermon on the Mount ... 3. The preaching of the kingdom by missionaries ... 4. The obstacles that the kingdom will meet from men ... 5. Its embryonic existence ... 6. The crisis ... which is to prepare the way for the definitive coming of the kingdom ... 7. The coming itself ... through the Passion and resurrection.' (12) Amazon back |
| Minge, J P , Patrologiae cursus completus. Series graeca. (vols 1-166), 1857-87 back |
| Minge, J-P, Patrologiae cursus completus. Series latina. (vols 1-221), 1844-82 back |
| Reese, William L, Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion: Eastern and Western Thought, Humanities Press/Harvester Press 1996 'The present volume ... has many encyclopedic features, including analyses of the thought of all major philosophers and religious leaders. ... One of the key features of the volume is the extent of its cross references. ... The reader is thus encouraged to undertake his own explorations of the themes, movements and thinkers important in philosophy and religion.' Amazon back |
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Related sites:
Concordat Watch
Revealing Vatican attempts to propagate its religion by international treaty
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