In my opinion...

When the topic of Christianity came up in class I had thought I knew everything I wanted to know about the subject, which was not much at all, I stand corrected. When the topic started I had no idea where the religion originated from, much less that it had a similar developmental frame as Buddhism, a religion that is regarded today as so different from Christianity. The term salvation religion had been foreign to me, and seems like something lost in the past when looking at how religion is today and the amount of money that goes through churches. Churches in my hometown seem to compete to have the nicest buildings and the largest congregations. I can relate this now to the time when Constantine announced that he had converted to Christianity and money from the empire went into building great structures devoted to Christianity and spreading the word and the belief of the religion.

I feel that for some, in our times and in the time of Constantine and the formation of Christianity and other Universal religions, the true sense was somewhat lost. People felt more inclined to be part of a group then they felt a spiritual connection to the religion. I have noticed this in some, I am not saying all, people in Michigan who go to church and are motivated by an outside source. I feel that in the beginning they had it right, fighting for what they want and for what they believe in, no matter what beliefs. The closest I feel that we have come to the type of religious persecution in individuals in my generation would be political differences involving voting. Religious uprisings are present everyday in countries all over the world, causing wars and death, however it is sad to look at the US and see how this goes relatively unnoticed. I feel that people of my generation, the 20 something’s of the world in the US need to start believing in something if we ever hope to understand where the foundations of our society, religion, and culture come from.

Living in a Christian World

Last week my blog discussed how St. Paul spread the Christian beliefs, this week I am going to discuss what happened after many people begun believing and following St. Paul's ideas on Christianity. "Christendom" was the term used to identify the group of Christians that had faith in Christ and followed the ways of the bible. After time this group grew to be very large, and it is categorized into three different time periods: The early Christendom, middle Christendom, and the late Christendom.

The early Christendom period was when Christianity was first introduced to the Western world during the second century. Christianity was a different belief system and many felt unsure about the ideas it contained, so therefore many were prosecuted for believing these ideas.

The middle Christendom was during the Renaissance period. During this period Christianity was brought into more aspects of everyday life, economics, social life and especially politics. The church was now considered an institution and the Byzantium Empire was becoming a member of the "Christendom". Many would unsure if the Christian beliefs of the political leaders were something that would continue into more recent generation, or if it was only popular because Christianity was still new to the world. The Byzantium empire eventually lost control over the Islam and Muslim territories, resulting in a major decline of the Byzantium empire. This event ended the middle Christendom.

During the late Christendom the Western church had control over the majority of European Christians. A true pope was identified by the splitting of the Western world into the complete control by three men that were chosen by politics. Each of these men were claiming to be the true pope. This crisis caused each state to operate on an independent level. The Western world was no longer depending on other states. These changes caused centralized monarchies to form and also the Hundred Years' War to increase in process. At the end of the war enough money was raised from taxation of the public to officially establish the English Church.

The Christendom period had several of changes, and each change led the Western world a little closer to the development of the English Church. Without these doubts and wars fought about Christianity, it would not be as strong as a religion as it is to this day. Here is a video of the artifacts, artwork, and famous cathedrals during the rise of Christianity. I find the song to also have meaning to the rise of Christianity. Many truly did view Jesus as the sun, because it was a fresh idea and the results of following Christianity were appealing and bright!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christendom

Constantine (the Great?)

A Roman emperor by the name of Constantine I stopped the persecutions of Christians started by his predecessor, Diocletian. During Diocletian’s rule, Christians were not allowed to practice their religion; instead, they were required to follow the Roman gods. In order to enforce this, Diocletian persecuted those who were Christians. In 313, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan which allowed citizens to practice any religion without being punished.
Why did Constantine create the Edict of Milan and convert to Christianity?
Constantine led the Romans to many military victories including the Battle of Milvian Bridge. However, this battle differed from his other battles. Constantine faced Maxentius, a rebellious Caesar, making this a civil war. During this war, Constantine claims that he saw a symbol (The Labarum) which changed his views of Christians from that point on. Constantine believed that the symbol and Christianity helped him win the Battle of Milvian Bridge, so he converted to Christianity. Constantine created the Edict of Milan, supported the Church financially, built basilicas, granted privileges to clergy, and promoted Christians to high office positions.
Constantine earned “the Great” from Christian historians, but should he have deserved this title because he was a Christian? Constantine could have claimed the title through his military achievements as well.
In 337, Constantine fell ill. At this point in his life, he decided to be baptized in the Jordan River (where Jesus himself was baptized). Why did he put off baptism until the last days of his life? Some thought Constantine did this to be forgiven for as much of his sin as possible. However, all sin is forgiven as long as an individual confesses them and attempts to live life according to God. For this reason, I do not believe Constantine to be a good Christian. This is much like Christians today who claim to be Christian because they attend church, but they do not live the way God intends them to live. In both cases, I think hypocritical describes the situations, and for this reason I believe that Constantine does not deserve the title of “the Great.”
However, without Constantine, Christianity could be non-existent today. Constantine’s work of making Christianity popular and ceasing the persecution of Christians helped the religion stay alive and spreading. Today in America, Christianity is the most popular religion, and without Constantine, many Americans, including myself, would follow some other religion. For this reason, I think Constantine deserves the title of “the Great.”

First Council of Nicaea

The First Council of Nicaea is a significant historical event in Christendom. It was a council called by Emperor Constantine I in 325 CE. Its purpose was to basically organize Christianity and set the movement straight. It did this by determining the debates of this early time, for example, when Christ's resurrection should be celebrated.
An important outcome of this event was the first agreed upon doctrine of Christianity. It is known as the Nicene Creed and was stated as follows:

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father [the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God], Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance (ὁμοούσιον) with the Father; by whom all things were made [both in heaven and on earth]; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made man; he suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
And in the Holy Ghost.
[But those who say: 'There was a time when he was not;' and 'He was not before he was made;' and 'He was made out of nothing,' or 'He is of another substance' or 'essence,' or 'The Son of God is created,' or 'changeable,' or 'alterable'—they are condemned by the holy catholic and apostolic Church.]

As we can see from this, the council engaged heavily in technical Christology for the first time. Clarifying the divinity of Jesus was vital for the religion as it is the key to Christianity, even today. Along with this Creed, the council developed roughly twenty decrees.
The significance of this one event is incontrovertible as it has had lasting effects for hundreds and hundreds of years. It was the first time that numerous representatives of the Church agreed upon a specific doctoral statement. Along with this, it was the first time the Emperor played a large role in calling members of the Church under his power. Overall, this council remains a major event in the history of Christianity.