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Narratives : Early Christianity http://www.zum.de/whkmla/sat/texts/narrechr.html |
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The New Testament reports on the precarious nature of Roman rule in Palestine; King Herod, and later Roman
Governor Pontius Pilate expected a Jewish revolt at any given moment and their policies aimed at preventing the
outbreak of such a revolt. Even more unpopular than Roman rule was Hellenistic culture, pantheism with its
explicit display of sexuality; it collided with the monotheistic tradition of the Hebrews and their moral code. The
Graeco-Roman economy, accumulating enormous wealth in the hands of a few, this wealth being based on the
exploitation of conquered provinces and of slave labour, was appalling. A prophet (the biblical term for priest) by the name of Jesus not only taught traditional Jewish ethical rules, but emphasized brotherly love and the hope for a better life after death. He addressed the underprivileged, taught that slavery was essentially wrong and taught that wealth and property would spoil the character. He is said to have belonged to the Jewish sect of the Essenes. St. Paul is credited with having turned christianity from a Jewish sect into a religion open to anybody. Early christianity rejected the cult of revering the Emperor as a God, and Roman authorities responded by launching persecutions, the first major such persecution under Nero (64 A.D.). Christian communities thus were secretive, meeting in remote places, such as the Roman catacombs. The church revered martyrs, regarding them as saints. Early christian communities practiced communism, sharing property, labour and profit. In the first, second and third centuries, christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire, at times persecuted, at times unmolested, always in competition with paganism (i.e. Hellenistic pantheism) and other new, spreading religions, such as manichaeism. The christian parish was lead by a priest - in Latin pastor (shepherd); the church regarded the parishioner sheep, unable to make their own decisions in religious matters, and depending on the guidance by qualified men - priests, who again were guided by bishops. The campaign of Alexander to the Indus River had begin the cultural period of Hellenism, a period of cultural exchange between the Mediterranean basin and the Indian subcontinent. Early christianity seems to have, in this context, received a number of impulses, particularly from Buddhism. The concept of trinity includes the Indian concept of reincarnation; the emergence of asceticism and monasticism may have been inspired by the knowledge of these traditions in Buddhism. The latter also state the political instability and economic decline of the era, where a number of intellectual minds prefered to go into isolation and separate from the outside world. Monasticism began in Egypt in the late 3rd century. With Roman Emperor Constantine, a new era began; christianity was elevated to a state religion (next to paganism). The Council of Nicaea was held with the purpose of standardizing christianity and reorganizing it (325); here, the first dissenting views were declared heresies. The tradition of communist parishes was discontinued; the leading authorities were the patriarchs (i.e. unless an ecumenical council was held). The bible, consisting of the Old Testament and the New Testament, was translated into Greek and into Latin (the latter, by St. Jerome (the Vulgata)). Numerous authors differed on the matter of trinity or on the nature of Christ; the prevailing line often branding the dissenting view a heresy and attempting to suppress it. Among those heresies were Arianism, Monophysitism, Nestorianism. Donatism was condemned because the Donatists rejected the church hierarchy which had given up their scriptures during the persecutions. Constantine in his later years favoured Arianism, and so did his immediate successors. During those years, Ulfilas (Wulfila), a Gothic prisoner of war, was converted to Arian christianity, ordained a priest; he translated parts of the New Testament into Gothic and began mission among his people. Not only the Visigoths (to whom he belonged), but also the Ostrogoths, Vandals, Burgundians, Suevi and Lombards converted to Arianism. Under Julian the Apostate, a brief period of persecution of the church followed. Theodosius established Catholicism as the official interpretation of christianity and suppressed both Arianism and Paganism, ordering pagan institutions such as temples, the Academy in Athens, the Delphic Oracle and the Olympic Games to be closed down resp. terminated. Now, Catholic christianity was sole state religion. He also finally partitioned the Roman Empire among his sons; of the five patriarchates, 4 were located in the East, only one in the west - Rome. The collapse of the Western Empire in 410/476 produced a spiritual vacuum, which the Bishops of Rome filled. The Roman Catholic population living under the rule of Arian Germanics looked to the Pope in Rome for guidance. When Clovis and his Franks converted to Catholic christianity in 496, they established a French church hierarchy in agreement with, and under, the Pope in Rome. Thus, the Papacy, in western Europe, acquired a position of supremacy over the Catholic church she later claimed to be universal, based on the notion that the first bishop of Rome was the foremost of the apostles, St. Peter. Since the Council of Nicaea, the Catholic Church was exclusive, branding a number of dissenting views and radical groups as heretics. On the other hand, it was inclusive. The dates for the birth and resurrection were fixed, not with the notion of historical accuracy, but on dates which were of great importance to an agricultural population - winter solstice respectively the biological beginning of spring. So, if a pagan people converted to christianity, they could continue to celebrate their traditional festivals (perhaps with overformed rites) which indicated these calendar events. Both the tradition of christmas trees and easter eggs are believed to be pagan (there are no spruce trees in Palestine). While the early church completely rejected Hellenistic culture (and, to some extent, the knowledge that came with it - Hellenist scholars knew the earth was round; christianity took over the old testamentarian concept of the earth being a flat disc), christian monasteries became the centers of learning and the preservation of classical civilization. |
| click here for an older WHKMLA narrative on the history of the Barbaric Peoples' Migration |
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EXTERNAL FILES |
Ecole Initiative, Hypertext Encyclopedia of Early Chruch History Catholic Encyclopedia, 1908-1912 edition |
| REFERENCE |
Bart D. Ehrman, Lost Christianities. The Battle for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew, Oxford : UP 2003 Bart D. Ehrman, Lost Scriptures. Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament, Oxford : UP 2003 |
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This page is part of World History at KMLA First posted on May 19th 2004, last revised on December 2nd 2005 Click here to go Home Click here to go to Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster Click here to go to Statistics |
