PASCO HERNANDO COMMUNITY COLLEGE
WESTERN CIVILIZATION (EUH 1000) CLASS NOTES
. Instructor: Dave Tamm / Term: Spring 2008 .
EMERGENCE OF CHRISTIAN CHURCH
its members belonged to something bigger than their local church.
christians were a united group, and st. peter was the first. no pagan
cult had any kind of organization like this. catholic = universal. the
church interacted with roman state. did it help or hinder it? a
universal religion?
AN INSTITUTION
How did Ecclasia, a called community, gathered l'leglise, ecclasie
Kirche, church = the lord's house. an abstract idea of solidity. both
ways let us see the creative tension.
Bishops were just pious people, then from higher social origins, and
as roman state became more intrusive and claimed people's loyalty
less, they directed it to christianity and the christian authorities
got more of that authority.
distinctive clothes were introduced. patronage, property wealth,
intervention in legal and heveanly affairs. Well, in the 400s they
came from same families as their traditional roman secular
counterparts. continuity and change both. emergence of bishops of
rome, and pope is a term of endearment (daddy). papa.
succession of apostles who, as matthew tells, 'go forth and teach,'
hand on the imperative to successor after successor. all bishops reach
back to apostle by their lineage (i learned from x who learned from x
who learned from John. add an x in each generation).
Matthew says: Peter is the rock upon which which i will build my
church. the gates of hell will not prevail against it. I shall give
unto thee the keys to the kingdom of heaven. whose sins you shall bind
on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whose sins you loose are loosed
in heaven. Vatican flag has keys on it.
Peter. Peter is designated the leader, he explains apostles decisions,
and is always listed first. so those who followed Peter followed in
his leadership role. Peter went to Rome and died there, and his
successors were the bishops of Rome.
THEOLOGY CONTROVERSY
played out in 4th and 5th centuries- between cities like alexandria
and antioch, and constantiople, etc. and these guys would appeal to
the bishop of Rome. this was turned into a right to speak in the first
place. then a precedent.
emperor theodosius promoted pope. one emperor, one pope one religion.
Pope Leo I (440-461) is the great theoritician of papal leadership.
the idea is spelled out and finalized. so in 5th, he can take for
granted he is leader of all christians viewed as a community. Gregory
I the Great (590) takes over responsibility in Rome for everything.
the food and water supply, the defense against Lombard barbarians.
Quasi emperor or king of rome. but should it be just the pope? sole
ruler? collegial view says no, monarchical view yes. collegial way
says 'all cardinals should vote'.
popes like Leo could not really impose their will all around the
mediterranean.
CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND ROMAN STATE
Christians encountered the Roman state through persecution. blood of
martyrs is the seed of the church. Nero scapegoated them. Domitiian
outlawed them. So now they were not persecuted, but prosecuted! Pliny
wrote about it to Trajan, from asia, "what am i supposed to do about
christians?" and trajan said "they are around there, so well, oh well.
don't worry about them too much. So, no systematic relentless
persecution. But there were pogroms. round ups. passions of the
martyrs were drawn on model of passion of christ. martyr is someone
who gives witness. not dies. Decius later, in 200s really persecuted
them. sporadic until Diocletian, who persecuted them further. Part of
an overall ideological program. He had everyone denounce christianity
and burn incense to the roman gods.
Constantine's mother was catholic, but he didn't convert till he was
an old man. In 313 edict of milan granted toleration and tax
exemptions and fiscal privilages to the church. He donated and had
built the Original Church of St. Peter, St Paul outside Rome, and
Lateran Basilica.
Some pagan revival, but it was clear that paganism was on the way out.
Theodosius 378 made christianity the state religion. In late 500s,
Jolasius wrote to rome: when the church is in conflict with the state,
the church must take prescedence because it is concerned with men's
eternal souls, while the state is concerned with their earthly bodies.
jesus stood before pilate, jolasius stood before emperor- "my office
is more important than yours". took 5 centuries but it happened.
A canon of scripture was formulated: what scriptures? rabbis already
compiled the jewish part, the hebrew scriptures. should christians use
them? of course. it became the old testament. catholic bibles today
have septuagent books, from the greek translation, but the protestants
do not. they use the hebrew.
how about the New Testament? it was written in greek, but rome spoke
latin. latin versions appeared and St. Jerome made an official one for
all the scriptures. he made the vulgate bible in 382. so, basic texts
are made up. church did it!
DOCTRINE PROBLEMS
exposed when freedom came with edict of milan. 3 in 1? oh my gosh. 3
persons in one God? Well, Arius taught that Jesus was subordinate to
God the father. In 325 the Council of Nicaea- developed the Nicene
Creed. Many Germans converted to Arianism.
Another problem: is Jesus true God or true man? How does a God die? In
451 it was decided that yes, Jesus was true both. The man had to die,
the God was reborn. Already we have a long history for Christianity!
500 years.
A certain number of christians opted out of the visible institution,
the urban life. those who became monks and nuns.
AGE OF CHURCH FATHERS
a group of thinkers called church fathers, patristic age. there is no
matrist. not my fault, you'll have to take that problem up with
others.
church fathers addressed questions like 'How does one live as a
Christian in a pagan world?' we looked at christian intellectualism
but also art and architecture. first of all though, doctrines and
understanding scripture.
pagan conceptual framework had no way to talk about a single
metaphysical being that was both god and man, so christianity had to
figure out how. also, what does christianity have to do with classical
culture? what has athens to do with jerusalem? christianity came up
near the end of a long cultural stream!
Fathers: Ambrose 339-397. nobleman in milan, becomes a bishop, and is
a speaker for the roman tradition, now the christian. unifier. bridge
builder, he opened up the world of greek-christian thought to the
latin people. he used allegory in the latin west as a mode of biblical
interpretation, like origin of alexandria. some passages in the bible
were contradictory, or didn't make sense. Ambrose builds the idea that
many passages are symbolic, hiding layers upon layers inside them.
what is on the surface is important, but it conceals something deeper,
that one can extract through allegory. Learned persons can do this.
what is on the surface shouldn't be ignored, but is never going to
exhaust the meaning of a passage of scripture. Ambrose introduces
allegory, and this is crucial.
Jerome: translator of the vulgate bible, but here we have another
roman blue blood! his letters explained complex problems. built a
salon society, where noble romans including women came to see him.
Renaissance people sought Jerome for his superb latin usage. they did
not leave classical culture behind!
and the greatest: Augustine. he rises through talent, no silver spoon.
he studied and taught rhetoric, and moved to Rome, greener pastures.
then Milan. knew Ambrose there, and told him "Paul's letters are not
written very well, and the old testament is full of old wives tales
and shouldn't be taken seriously!" But he heard Ambrose speak, and
came away converted. the was won over somehow.
and augustine became the champion who stood against the crises and
problems of the day. in the confessions, he chronicles his own
conversion. it was the first work of introspection. even marcus
aurelius' meditations were concerned with politics and philosophy.
bears out his soul, bears out his quest for God. in polished,
beautiful moving, language. ON Christian Doctrine related how that you
will have to learn your Latin and rhetoric, history etc. then you will
understand it. And then, City of God. 410 as we said, was a
distressing year. IN the grand scheme Rome does not matter. SHOCK!
Recall Virgil, who everyone knew, and who said "I place for them no
end in space or time, they will rule forever." In the Roman psyche,
emperors and rome will be here forever. we believe that about america.
can we imagine a world without america? or something like "america
falls?" they couldn't, but rome was sacked and burned. augustine told
people that from the creation to the judgement day, we have a single
line, a linear history. history marches on, in a direction, to
ultimate redemption.
Last of the fathers: Gregory I ran the city of Rome after the fall,
and he also wrote biblical commentary, lives of saints. the Pastoral
Rule. it was a manual of how to be a bishop. what kind of person you
ought to be, how you ought to do things, and it was profoundly
influential.
EASTERN FATHERS: Basil the Great (330-379) was a formidable biblical
scholar who laid down the fundamental trinitarian doctrine. John
Crystostom was patriarch of constantinople, of enormous skill. wrote
how a Christian may live a moral life while still functioning in the
world. took position that one should criticize wrongdoing.
THOSE WHO OPTED OUT
Some turned backs on wealth, intellectual achievement... there had
always been asctetics, most religions have them. So in human
communities, some of us believe that if i deny myself, if i deny
myself food, companionship, sex, power, i may purify myself, and that
is as being close to God. Sometimes they were solitary, some
communities of monasticism. It rises in the 4th C., in Egypt. Aramitic
monks (desert) who go off on their own). Anthony was a solitary, who
had followers visit him.
Then there were senobitic monks, living a common life together. Monks
(monakoi = lone ones). a wonderful paradox. Lone ones who live
together. they live in a monestaria, a house of lone ones!
After 'Life of St. Anthony' was written, people read it and respected
the idea. st. Jerome led the monastic life, and popularized it and
wrote about it. people went to visit these religious masters, and went
back and taught what they learned, like visiting yoda.
In Gaul, St. Martin of Tours popularized it. Spread to Ireland through
St. Patrick. And finally came St. Benedict (480-550), who went to
Monte Cassino and started something that would set the standard. He
wrote the Benedictine Rule at Monte Cassino: prayer and work.
He didnt intend to start a religious order (way of life), but he did,
as this Rule of St. Benedict spread through Pope Gregory to anglo
saxon england, and to the franks, where Charlemagne will impose it.
CHRISTIAN EFFECT ON CULTURE
Chruch fathers and monks. they enriched greek-roman culture with
providing for it a new conceptual framework in which to work.
Christians used greek and latin, preserving them. they added much to
the vocab of both languages. The Christians took much from the
classical world, but they did not bow to it, succumb to it or
compromise with it. Christian patronage began a building boom of
churches and cathedrals. These became the centers of all the towns.
inside peoples homes, that used to be floral or other, many now used
mosaics and frescos and the themes were.... christian. a christian art
would come out. Christian poets carried on classical tradition. the
spiritual deepness of christians gave them great poetic powers.
It gave celebate men great authority, in a world of sin that may be
forgiven. martyrs (great for how they died) and saints (great for how
they lived), were a new kind of hero. Before you had the strong, the
heroes of the illiad, great because they were strong in power. Now,
you could be a hero of the spirit. A new morality secured women a
place in society, the same morality applied to them, Christian ethics
come into use pervading secular law! So the law is going to marked by
Christianity.
So Italic - German kingdoms appear, and the early medieval age,
Christendom, is born.
ISLAM
3 Heirs of the Roman empire: Islam, Byzantium, Germanic West.
Really, heirs. they bequeathed to inherators. East Rome will have some
kind of future: yes, Byzantium. Western half will transform into
germanic kingdoms.
What no one could have predicted, was the emergence of the Islamic
faith and the Arab peoples. Tribal groups. Arabs south of the
Byzantine and Persian Empires. Arabs had been subject to
Judeo-Christianity. But they were not
MOHAMMAD 570-632
From an old and wealthy Mecca family, entered caravan trade. earned
good reputation for being reliable. married a noble woman older than
him. retired to a cave near mecca and was visited by the angel
gabriel, who taught him about Allah. based on this, preached to his
family and friend about it, this monotheistic faith. Also in Mecca to
others. encountered trouble. contrary to traditional religions. arabs
had many polytheist cults that acknowledged a strange shrine in mecca,
containing a black stone, surrounded by a black kaaba. now inside the
great mosque.
people made pilgrimages to mecca to visit this. mecca's nobles thought
mohammad was 'bad for business' (people would no longer visit mecca).
IN 622 he left for Medina, the Hidera, the 'flight'. Medina had a
problem with religion, many sects. Mohammad was viewed as a unifier
with his religion.
Koran; scriptures, Hadith 'sayings' of the prophet, and the sunna
(good practice). becomes the practice of 'Sunni' muslims.
Koran is the work of Allah, through Mohammad, who did not author it.
Allah authored it. Like that... bible... but most of the biblical
authors are known. isiah, gospel of john etc. but in the koran,
allah's word is handed to mohammad straight.
BASIC REQUIREMENTS
People have to make Al-Islam, the surrender, to Allah. Completely. A
person who has made Islam, is a Muslim, a surrenderer. 5 Pillars.
Profession of Faith. In christianity, the Nicene creed is very long.
IN Islam, very short. Other 4 are practices. Like 10 Commandments. 2.
Fasting during Ramadan. 3. Prayer facing Mecca. 4. Alms, giving to the
poor, Mohammad is building responsibility to community. 5. Go to
Mecca. Hajj. Was it a concession to Mecca's elites. Yes. Stress laid
on conduct, not your intellectual ascent to a doctrinal teachings. No
popes in Islam, no clergy, etc. no rabbi types.
THE UMMA MUSLIMA
community of everyone who has made al-Islam. a community that
transcends all borders. There is no successor to Mohammad. He is the
last prophet.
ABU BAKR
successor to prophets political, miltiary leadership. over time,
caliphs would begin to be custodians of the faith. Apostates fell
away from Islam, and by 634 brought them all back by force. Then, over
the course of one century, the armies of Islam fought tremedously.
THE HOUSE OF WAR ATTACKED
Lightning campaigns compared to Rome which took 5 centuries to expand,
Islam did it in one. how? Their main enemies were worn out. Persia and
Byzantium fought each other and their armies were spent. There was an
opportunity.
Raiding and plundering had been a way of life for centuries. Now,
Islam taught to raid and pillage others, not Muslims. And finally,
Jihad. Dar al Islam, and the Dal ar Hab: House of War. It was
understood that Christians and Jews were "peoples of the Book" so they
were not forced to convert, though the Quaryza Massacre and others
were done. Usually they just had to pay taxes. Infadels were pagans
and non peoples of the book.
And it was extraordinary: Muslims ruled Arabia under Mohammad, Took
Mesopotamia, Levant, half of Anatolia, Caucasus, Persia and Egypt and
Libya by 661, and took the rest of North Africa, Iberia and Bactria,
and the Indus Valley by 750. Fought Persians, Byzantines, Egyptians,
Spaniards and the Franks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_conquests
In 661, Abu Bakr's family died out and a new family of caliphs took
over, from Damascus Syria, the Umyyads. They created tax collecting
procedures and roman style bureaucratic organization. Capital moved
from Mecca to Damascus. Ruled for a century. Many peoples along
frontiers, and a revolution. Abbasids then took over, and they built a
new city: Baghdad. Great houses of study were built, and like at
Alexandria, a scholarly center. Greek science and philosophy was
popular. Abbasids were the 'golden age' of Islam. By the 800s, a new
universal faith, a new chosen people, the Arabs, and a new holy book,
the Koran. One deeply rooted in the ideals of classical antiquity.
BYZANTINE EMPIRE (lecture 30)
If the arab islamic power growth was the most unpredictable, the
Byzantine Empire was the most predictable. that "Rome" goes on was
somehow. East Rome had less frontier problems, unlike west with the
long Rhine and Danube. Yet, serious ones did exist in the east, but
not contemporaneously. plus, east had good rulers, west did not. east
was more prosperous. the Romans chose to take their stand in the east!
and it did stand for a thousand years.
RELIGIOUS DIVISIONS
Orthodox (right believers) and Monophysites (the one nature of Christ) not 3.
In 5th C, no one believed they were anything but Roman. but east and
west christianity began to drift. contintinel drift, slow. but they
would split in 1054.
JUSTINIAN
He waged a series of wars, vs. vandals, ostrogoths visigoths of spain,
to recover the lost western provinces. we can see this was not fully
successful, but he tried, and to him it was desirable to do this.
recover lost imperial glory. separation between civilian and military
power is eroded, not on the side of civilian rule, but military.
THE CORPUS
IN 529 he issued 'Body of Civil Law'. Now, Theodosius revised Roman
law, and Justinian is the next reformer, but the last great ancient
collection and publisher of new law. This was the most influential
legal collection in human history. Wow, bold but true. Some ironies:
issued in Latin and had to be translated into Greek. So, Justinian
looked back to the wellsprings of Rome, and what is more roman than
law, his collection in Latin had to be translated into Greek in order
to be useful. So, if Rome means Latin, and now it's law is in Greek,
something is changed indeed.
Monophysite stressed divinity over humanity of Christ. He is just God.
Justinian and his advisors tried to find a theological formula to
reconcile monophysites with orthodox. Cohersion was out. He ignored
pope, who said "leave it alone." well. east is willing to make its own
way in matters of theology, to put it mildly. Division is begun.
HAGIA SOPHIA
Justinian's symbolic masterpiece was this. "Solomon, I have outdone
thee." Mathemeticians designed it. It's huge. It nods to traditional
roman architecture. Arch, dome, details were roman, decorative detail,
etc. All Roman. But, the sense of space, color, marble stone of green,
purple, beige, brown. It also speaks to the east. Armenia, Georgia.
This is something new.
HERACLIUS hera-k-leus
The other great emperor of byzantium, 610-641, faced the persians.
Then, faced the muslims. Terrible irony: fought a brilliant campaign
against the Sassanid Persians. defeated the empire, exhausted the
military and treasury, and was defenseless when the armies of islam,
by surprise, from the south, in the mid 600s. The war vs. persia and
islam taught byzanines something: it was the eastern frontier that was
critical.
The balkans were byzantine, and that frontier was threatened under
heraclius by south slavs and bulgars. less of a problem than east
problems, but little attention could be paid to western rome. it
couldn't. East Rome carved into military districts and soldiers were
paid with land to settle, in a new reworking of roman military
structure. "Themes" they were called, and they were headed by a
"strategos" (general), from which we get the word strategy. No more
paying pro soldiers with roman taxes, now its more basic: a more
military than civil establishment. Heraclius called himself 'Emperor
of the Romans'. big deal, except he did it in Greek.
LEO III AND SON
Byzantium was ruled by Leo III "Isaurian" and then his son Constantine
V "Isaurian" in 700s. Wars fought only in Anatolia and Balkans. Themes
went on. In 726 Leo issued a new law code, which abridged Justinian's
corpus.
RELIGIOUS
Neither Greek nor Latin Christians admited the other existed as
different from their own. But they slowly parted, first in liturgy.
Rupture still 200 years away, and no one wished for it. Byzantines:
Priests can marry. Bishops no. Latin's no marrying. Byzantines used
leavened bread, Latins unleavened. Monks's hair was cut in Latin from
the back, in Byzantium, from the front. and Icons. beautiful religious
pictures that in the east were not only beautiful pictures, but that
they were holy in themselves. they embodied the power the aura of the
holy person they 'were'.
So, Byzantines we call them, but they called themselves Romans.
BASIL I
In 800s, they rolled back the muslim advance in anatolia, they won
eastern europe's new barbarians slavs to christianity, and won the
russians to orthodoxy as well This threatened realm ushered in a
serious identifying characteristic of eastern europe by doing so.