Definition of Religious Institutions - Term Paper Example

Religious s s The medieval separation of Chalcedonian Christianity into two (the Greek orthodox and the Latin branch westward) led to bitter relations based on theological disputes and ecclesiastical differences between the two branches. Fundamental among the differences was the source of the Holy Spirit, use of leavened on unleavened bread in the Eucharist and whether the pope had worldwide jurisdiction (Cross, 2005). The church was split due to differences in doctrine, theological teachings, language, and along political and geographical lines.

Each side often claims that the other is heretic or that it initiated the separation and the mass murder of Latins in 1182. Also, the crusades and other acts committed between the two sides only makes the conciliation more difficult. Politically, the church was split when Emperor Constantine moved the Roman Empire’s capital to Constantinople from Rome. When he died, the Roman Empire was split and ruled by his two sons, one in the western half and the other in the eastern half, ruling from Rome and Constantinople respectively.

The two churches differed on the use of icons strongly held to in the Orthodox Church. Upon the death of Carloman I, the younger of the two sons, his older brother became the undisputed king of both kingdoms. He enforced his fathers beliefs concerning the papacy and expanded his newly formed empire known as the Carolingian empire into Italy, which was Muslim at the time. He led campaigns against eastern peoples who were Christianised under penalty of death (Cross, 2005). These campaigns sometimes led to mass killings such as the massacre of Verden.

The expansion of Islam started during the Muslim crusades under various caliphs. It resulted in the loss of byzantine provinces in the south and Asia Minor. The byzantine capital Constantinople was also not spared from attacks and parts of the empire in Africa were conquered. The Ottoman Empires origin was like a small Turkish coalition led by a ghazi or soldier of the faith known as Osman. Being sultan, he was also synonymous with the caliphate. His role was to protect Muslim lands from byzantine incursions (Baldwin, 2007-2009).

During the crusades, ottoman naval forces sometimes aided the fight of Muslim rebels against persecution in Spain in the 1500s. Unlike in Christian parts, in the Ottoman Empire, people from other religious groups were allowed to enforce their beliefs and even elect their leaders. In this way, social and religious stability reigned in the empire for almost the entire time that it was in history. The fall of Constantinople finally came in 1453 giving way to the ottoman caliphate under Mehmed II whose grandson conquered and consolidated the Muslim lands.

The caliphs, an instrument of statecraft lost their claim with the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The rejection of Ali occasioned the Sunni split as caliph in favor of Abu Bakr (Hodgson, 1974). The caliphs established dynasties that persisted through to the ottoman caliphate until Mustapha Kemal Ataturk abolished this system after Abdulmecid II was overthrown and expelled. The influence of Islam spread through the increasing spread of Islamic culture and affected areas such as astronomy, medicine, sociology, mathematics and ophthalmology among others.

Traditions or falsafa encompassed philosophy and adab defined as polite worldly culture came to be widely accepted by the professional, cultured and genteel classes. Some even made a living in medicine and astrology. References Baldwin, S. (2007-2009). Charlemagne. The Henry Project. Cross, F. L. (2005). "Great Schism (1)". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280290-9. Hodgson, M. (1974). The Venture of Islam. Conscience and History in a World Civilization, Vol 1.

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