Teaching the Catholic Tradition - Report Example

hing the Саthоliс Тrаditiоn Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Three Key Periods in the History of the Catholic Church Introduction According to Hitchcock (2012), the development of church emanated from the selection of the first apostles by Jesus. However, since then the church has undergone various stages and period that are characterized by conflicts, disagreements, and political influence (Tanner, 2011). The following paper describes the three critical years of church development and their significance to the classroom teaching of religious education in local diocesan context. Græco-Roman Civilization (Christ to the Trullan Synod, 692).) In this period, the development of fixed standards of ecclesiastical life took place but with the limits of Græco-Roman civilization (Bokenkotter, 2008). The geographical extent of the church in this period as only confined to the lands of Mediterranean in the Roman Empire. However, it was in only a few places that the church overstepped the Mediterranean boundaries. Græco-Roman civilization can further be divided into three phases, which include the foundation of the church, by the apostle, the expansion and interior formation of the church, and the close union between the state and church. The apostolic epoch refers to the early period of church establishment by Jesus’ apostles. The period was shot, but the significance of this phase is that the messengers of the kingdom of God were chosen directly by Jesus himself. The period was instrumental in laying the foundation for the development of the church (Furlong, 1952). On the other hand, the expansion and, the interior formation of the Catholic Church were depicted with violence from the Roman government. The period has been termed as “epoch of persecutions” by many scholars due to the prevalence of violence against the Christians (Hitchcock, 2012). In addition, different provinces in the Roman Empire sprang into life in this period Christianity spread as apostles continued with their work. Despite the opposition and sanguinary attempts at repression from the Roman government, these communities increased in membership (Schwaller, 2011). The membership and expansion form the foundations of later developments of the Catholic Church, where ecclesiastical hierarchy, religious life, and worship assumed fixed forms. The last epoch was characterized by the close relationship between the church and the state. The continued spread and internal formations of the church made the authority realize that the church was grounded. This realization and affirmation saw the clergy take the privileged position in the state, which led to the complete conversion of the Roman state to The Christian Empire (Schwaller, 2011). During the Græco-Roman civilization, the church councils were established to steer the development and administrative aspect of the early Catholic Church (Tanner, 2011). At the same time, the primacy of the pope continued to take shape, which would later explain the next church’s development. Administratively, the Catholic Church continued to take shape and support not only of the empire but also outside. The period also saw the emergence of artwork in the church work, which played an instrumental role in spreading the gospel. It is critical to note that in the Eastern side of the Roman Empire, which was initially called the Byzantine Empire the development of the church went on with many problems. However, in the west, the political conditions were changed by the barbarian invasion which would later impose on the Catholic Church the significant and urgent task of converting and educating the new Western nations on the role of Christianity in the society. The church carried out this role with great success after many Western countries followed suit and converted to Christianity. The new conversion and increased membership of the Catholic opened another era of church development as described below. Secession of Oriental Christendom and Overthrow of the Byzantine Empire (From Trullan Synod-Leo X, 1521) The period saw the Catholic Church being considered as mistress and the sole guide to the Romantic, Slavic, and German states of Europe. It is also the period through which secession of Oriental Christendom to place the ecclesiastical life and unity as well as the final overthrow of Byzantine Empire. In this regard, three epochs are observed which includes the first centuries that saw the development of the close relationship between the papacy and the new Western countries (Tanner, 2011). The close union between the two was attributed to the falling of the Orient from the center ecclesiastical, life in Rome. In this epoch, the Catholic Church carried out massive work of making barbarian nations in Europe civilized. The activities were diverse, thus touching the political and economic as well as social conditions of such countries. , which saw the creation of the Western empire. The relation between the pope and the West was imminent during this period, which played a pivotal role in the formation of the medieval Catholic Church (Schwaller, 2011). However, few years later the relation between the papacy and the wet would decline as the Carolingians. The decline in the relationship would not only be manifested in Rome but also in the center of the Catholic Church. Therefore, the factious Roman aristocracy was using the popes as the political tool in Roman Empire and different parts of the West. However, the German emperor helped the pope resume his rightful position but the Catholic Church continued to experience heavy influence from the secure power of governments. It must be pointed out that it is at this period that the action of Photius, who was the Patriarch of Constantinople, led to a rupture with Rome (Schwaller, 2011). The second period was characterized by the growth of the Western Christians into a great fellowship, which would be manifested by the supreme guidance of the universal religious authority (Bokenkotter, 2008). The development saw the continuation of the so-called “popular life” that would reflect Catholic Church’s universal manifestation. However, even with the continued conflict with the secular power of the government, the Pope was successful in carrying out the ecclesiastical reforms and at the same time starting a great movement of Crusades in the West (Furlong, 1952). Therefore, all pubic interests were centered on the ecclesiastical life including political and economic decisions. At the same time the spirit of, faith and religious belief grew tremendously. Consequently, the Pope rose to the zenith power both religiously and in the temporal domain (Schwaller, 2011). This saw the introduction of new orders such as the mendicant, which fostered a truly religious life in the society. In addition, educational institutions such as universities were used as centers to pass on religious knowledge by teaching theology (Schwaller, 2011). Moreover, magnificent church buildings were established to act as worship places for the Christians. This manifested the religious zeal and self-confidence of the worshippers and the inhabitants. However, it must be admitted that the increased power of the churches and its representatives was marred with many problems such as the worldliness of the leadership hierarchy, the opposition, due to the excessive centralization of the church activities in the papal curia as well as the antagonism of nations and princes (Norman, 2007) . On the other offhand, the political power among the ecclesiastical superiors, especially about the papacy, was the main problem in the early church as can be manifested in the current church leadership situation. The conflict in the authority of the early Catholic Church would lead to the next period described below. The third epoch under this period is characterized by the reaction against the evils that were being observed in the church, widespread worldliness and the decline in the sincerity of religious life (Norman, 2007). It is important to point out that although the papacy got the famous victory with the German Hohenstaufen, the authority of the papal position would later be influenced by the king of France. Therefore, the papacy lost its influence to the Western Schism where it faced difficult moments especially before the reform councils of Constance, Pisa, and Basle when the church wanted to stem the strong anti-papal movement. Further, it is in this period that the civil authority grew tremendously and became more secular in temper and conscious of itself (Schwaller, 2011). The hostility against church would, therefore, increase including the multiplication of the civil encroachments in the church leadership and administration as well as in the ecclesiastical domain. However, this could be attributed to among others the lack of clear definition of the rights of the church, secular authority, and the responsibility of the stated in church matters. The introduction of Renaissance established a secular and new element into the intellectual life by dethroning the supremacy and long dominant studies of ecclesiastical nature as well through disseminating materialistic and pagan ideas (Michael & Palgrave Connect, 2008). Consequently, the scholasticism ideas, which had already degenerated, were also opposed. Therefore, the new heresies would later take a general character that called for reforms (Tanner, 2011). The voices of reforms were mostly heard in the councils, which were justifying the strong opposition against ecclesiastical authority. In the councils, it was agreed that the church should be under supreme administration and with an immemorial primacy of the papacy. At the West, religious persecution continued where Christians were killed and abused in detentions. At the same time, the Turks overthrew Byzantine Empire, while Islam gained strong ground in the Southeastern Europe threatening the entire Christian West Empire. Reformation of the Church and the Collapse of Religious Unity (From 1521-19th Century) The third significant period in the development of the Catholic Church is the breakdown of the unity of two Western nations and the reformation that took place within the ecclesiastical life, which was accomplished in the great heresies period. The period is characterized by immense geographical expansion of the Catholic Church due to the efforts applied by the missionaries where Northern America, Southern America, parts of Asia, and Africa also became part of the Catholic faith. The period, which brought spans to the current nature of the Catholic Church also, consisted of short time epochs that played a critical role in the development and history of the church. The first epoch is the period through which the civil life of various Western peoples was seen as going against the aims of the Universal Church (Norman, 2007). Therefore, the period witnessed rise in the Protestantism that cut off across nations in respect to the disagreements that occurred within the Catholic Church. Additionally, the Ecumenical Council of Tent laid the foundation through which the reforms within the church would be implemented. Consequently, the reforms would be done through the introduction of new orders such as the Jesuits and the series of the “great saints” (Norman, 2007). The reforms also saw popes devoting themselves to carrying out religious obligations by applying more efforts. Additionally, the new Western countries, as well as the improved relationship between the Eastern nations and the Europe, played an instrumental role in boosting the morale of missionaries in their efforts of converting more pagans into catholic. Therefore, the number of converts into Catholic grew tremendously (Michael & Palgrave Connect, 2008). The second epoch of the period also shows the decline of the ecclesiastical influence a well as the religious life (Norman, 2007). It is crucial to note that since the beginning of the seventeenth century, there were three great religious organizations. They included the tried true Catholic Church, the Greek schismatical church that found a powerful protector in Russia, schismatical churches of the East. The Greek schismatical church and the schismatical churches of the East were affiliated Protestantism, which later came to accept the direct supremacy of the secular power. The acceptance saw the growth of Protestant spared across the globe, some countries as a national church, which also furthered absolutism of states. In most of the Catholic countries, the princes attempted to use as an "instrumental reign", to weaken the authority of the papacy (Tanner, 2011). The efforts applied to fight the Catholic Church made it lose the salutary public contact that it had gained over the years. Further, the philosophy of skepticism against the Catholic Church that was spread in many parts of the world increased the number of Protestants who also joined their colleagues in attacking the church. However, it must be admitted that the political angle of the events across the world played pivotal role in rapidly spreading Protestantism such as the influence of French Revolution (Tanner, 2011). The final epoch, which witnessed the establishment of the modern constitutional state on the principles of the widest political liberty started in the early nineteenth century and extended to the current catholic scenario (Tanner, 2011). Although at the beginning of the nineteenth century the Catholic Church was hampered by the political systems, it was able to secure its liberty and gained new energies by introducing new forms of policies to strengthen the religious fabric. The century saw efforts of popes enabling the Catholic Church to continue securing its ecclesiastical position in the world amid acute criticism. For example, the Ecumenical Council of the Vatican supported the ecclesiastical authority against any false subjectivism by defining papal infallibility (Bokenkotter, 2008). Therefore, the defection of the “old Catholics” was not important during since the church had already asserted itself after reorganization of the ecclesiastical and administrative procedures. However, since the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Catholic Church has seen itself trying to reclaim is lost glory and affirming to the world that its universality still stands against all adds (Bokenkotter, 2008). In this connection, the church has engaged into all facets of life ranging from since to social issues to ensure that its presence is felt in all spheres of life and by every person. In the last century, the number of Catholics increased considerably due to the colonization, which saw more missionaries able to move across the world to spread the gospel and opening new Catholic churches (Hitchcock, 2012). At the same time, the Western Catholicism played important roles increasing the number of Catholics as any of the missionaries in new colonies were being supported by their mother countries. The support included being provided with finances and protection. Analyzing the Significance for the Classroom Teaching of Religious Education As a Catholic, the developmental periods of the Catholic Church or Christianity plays an important part when teaching theological students in the local community (Bokenkotter, 2008). One of the key significances of early reorganization of church is that it helps to inform the students on the genesis of Christianity. The first key period as described above illustrates that role that Jesus played in laying the foundation of the church. This is important since the primary component of studying theology is not only to gain knowledge but also to strength personal faith amid also the faith of other people in the society. Therefore, knowing that Jesus is the one who started the church affirms to the students that despite the political angle that early church found itself, it was started and ordained by God thus strengthening their faith. On the other hand, the early period saw many Christians being persecuted by the old Roman Empire authorities (Bokenkotter, 2008). The persecution of Christians and the hardship they underwent is also experienced in the current world. The difficulties and challenges of early Christians help the students of theology to understand that becoming a Christian comes with many challenges including death. The main of objective of the problems apostles faced was to make them stronger in spreading the gospel, which is the same requirement for any Christian. It is for this reason that students of theology should as well be prepared for such tribulations. Further, Catholic Church has the most systematic hierarchical structure as far as religions institutions are concerned. However, it becomes difficult for new Catholic to understand the administrative positions held by various church leaders starting from the pope down to the village priests. The early period of church describes the formation some key positions in the Catholic Church leadership and their responsibilities (John, 2005). Therefore, for some students who would want to advance and become part of the Catholic religious leader such as bishops or priests, knowing the roles of such positions in the church is important as it prepares them in advance. The most of important element of the second period as noted above is the Protestantism. The Catholic Church consider itself as the “universal church” that was ordained by God. However, the big question among the new students would how other churches came to be. Therefore, the period helps to understand the reason there are many churches in the world and its relation with Protestantism (John, 2005). The current detection in Catholic Church was as well witnessed during the second key period as noted due to the conflict on scriptural understanding and leadership. Therefore, the last two years of church development before the nineteenth century form the foundation for the current nature of the Catholic Church. Conclusion The development of the church has undergone many changes since the first disciples were chosen by Jesus. The key periods described above provide the fundamental stages and general events that the church was experiencing. The earlier developments play instrumental roles in explaining to the students the foundation through which the current church was founded. References Bokenkotter, T (2008). A concise history of the Catholic Church. New York: Doubleday. Furlong,G (1952) ‘‘Fernando Trejo y Sanabria, O.F.M.: The Fourth Centenary of His Birth,’’ Americas 9 169–176. Hitchcock, J. (2012). History of the Catholic Church: From the Apostolic Age to the Third Millennium. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. Michael, R., & Palgrave Connect (Online service). (2008). A history of Catholic antisemitism: The dark side of the church. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Norman, E. R. (2007). The Roman Catholic Church: An illustrated history. Berkeley: University of California Press. Schwaller, J. (2011). The history of the Catholic Church in Latin America: From conquest to revolution and beyond. New York: New York University Press. Tanner, N. (2011). New short history of the Catholic Church. New York: Burns & Oates. John M (2005) Roman Catholicism. First Edition Encyclopedia of Religion, Second Edition. New York City, Read More