2nd century: Justin Martyr
One of the first great Christian apologists, lived and died
around the time of the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
Gonzalez hypothesises that Justin was one of the brightest Christian
minds of his time. Justin started a school
in Rome the purpose of which was to teach the “true philosophy” which is
Christianity. Justin dedicated much time
to the defense and logic of Christianity, mostly directed toward the pagans
accusing Christians of being ignorant peasants.
Justin is an important part of Christian history because he was one of
the first to present Christianity as an intellectual- as well as faith-based
system of belief; although he placed great emphasis on philosophy within
Christianity, he nevertheless faithfully accepted martyrdom, earning him the
name Justin Martyr.
3rd
century: Tertullian and the doctrine of the Trinity
Early in the third century, Tertullian of Carthage (c. 155-220)
was considered to be one of the greatest theologians. Gonzalez states that Tertullian,
although he became part of a heretical sect (Montanists) within Christianity,
wrote much of the backbone of orthodoxy throughout his life. He wrote many treatises, one of which was
called “Against Praxeas.” In this
treatise, Tertullian counters Praxeas’ modalism by introducing the belief of “one
substance, three persons,” as well as the christological concept of “one
person, two natures.” These two “formulas,”
as Gonzalez calls them, became a hard and fast facet of orthodoxy.
4th
century: Arianism
During the reign of Constantine (306-337), the emperor who
legalised and normalised Christianity for the first time, the Arian controversy
grew. Arians believed that “there was
when [Christ] was not;” in other words, Christ was the first and greatest of
God’s creations. This heresy, although
not new to the church at this time, became a wedge in the Eastern Church. Constantine’s solution was to call a great
council at Nicea in 325 in order to address a number of theological
disagreements causing strife within the church.
Arianism was directly addressed and anathematised in this council. Arianism is an important aspect of Christian
history because it, among other debates, forced the church to organise and
defend its orthodoxy in the form of the Council of Nicea and its product, the
Nicene Creed.
5th
century: The Sack of Rome
In 410, Alaric and his Goths had taken Rome, and the Western
Empire crumbled. Although the Byzantine
Empire survived for another millennium, the unified political structure of the
West disintegrated. After the extensive
rampage of Germanic tribes and the parcelling out of parts of the empire to various
rulers, the only unifying structure in Western Europe was the church. The church not only “provided continuity with
the past,” as Gonzalez says, but offered structure and order for the
future. The papacy survived the dissolution
of the empire, and the church was given renewed life in the form of
monasticism.
6th
century: Benedictine Monasticism
Although monasticism was influential in both the West and
the East, Western monasticism placed far greater emphasis on mission –
outward-looking ministry – than that of the East. Among the most influential definers of Western
Monasticism was Benedict of Nursia, who wrote a document called the Rule which outlined an orderly method of
monasticism, particularly stability and obedience, but also including hard
work, prayer, and dedication to study.
It was this Rule which provided
a backbone for much of Western monasticism and eventually church policy, and steadfastly
guided the West through a tumultuous time of political and social upheaval.
7th
century: Muhammad
In 622, an Arab trader named Muhammad led a contingent of
followers out of the city of Mecca into Medina.
Muhammad proclaimed a series of visions from Allah, the one God, and
passed them on to those around him. The
five pillars of Islam are monotheism, ritual prayer, “almsgiving,” fasting, and
pilgrimage. Although Muhammad himself
only lived another ten years after the first great pilgrimage to Medina, the
influence of Islam quickly spread throughout Arabia and into the Middle East
and northern Africa, eventually conquering as far as Spain. Islam was unexpected and posed the first
major political and religious threat to the Christian empire in the East.
8th
century: Feast of Orthodoxy
Gonzalez names iconoclasm – that is, objection to the use of
images or icons in the church – as the last in a long series of Christological debates
in the seventh and eighth centuries. Emperor
Leo III as well as later his son, Constantine V, condemned the use of icons in
churches as he apparently feared that their presence might lead to
idolatry. The empire was soon divided on
this matter, and it was not settled until 787 at the Seventh Ecumenical Council
in Nicea, when worship was defined in two ways: latria, due only to God, and dulia,
which is a lesser form of worship (veneration) for images. This distinction led to the reinstatement of
842 images, and the Eastern church celebrated with the Feast of Orthodoxy.
9th
century: Revival of Learning
After Emperor Charlemagne was crowned on Christmas Day in
the year 800, a period of relative peace in the West ensued. During this time,
the newly reunited empire enjoyed a revival of learning which included various
theological controversies (including those of predestination and
transubstantiation). For the first time
in many years, the Western Church was given the opportunity to further define
and debate theological issues in relatively peaceful circumstances.
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