Development of Catholic Church - Research Paper Example

Development of Catholic Church Introduction According to the catholic doctrines, Jesus Christ is the founder of thechurch. The teachings on the Catholic Church assert that the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles during the day of Pentecost signaled the beginning of public ministry of the church. It is believed that after the consecration of Peter by Jesus, he went and founded a church in Rome. Peter was Catholic’s first Bishop. Through the Roman Empires well structured roads, the apostles of Jesus were able to move around and spread Christianity thus, were able to convert some Jewish communities. This paper will discuss the development of the Catholic Church, the church fathers, their opponents, and the theological disputes the church fathers faced. The spreading of Christian religion was more successful in urban areas among people of low social class, aristocratic women and slaves. The first Catholic Church was not well organized, thus; they came up with a structured hierarchy where the Bishop had authority over clergy in his city. By the third century, many things had changed, and the Bishop of Rome solved problems that other Bishops could not solve thus acted as a court of appeal. The doctrine of the Catholic Church was refined by the church fathers. Many years later catholic teachings came to be defined by proto-orthodox teachings. Christians faced persecution due to their refusal to give up their God and worship the gods of the other religions. The non Christians and the authorities felt that Christians were threatening their peace and the prosperity of the Roman Empire, by annoying the gods. Christians faced accusation of incest and cannibalism due to their secrecy in their religious practice. Any unusual occurrence in the empire was blamed on the Christians claiming that the gods were angry, and this led to the persecution of more Christians in the Roman Empire. All residents, except the Jews, had to give sacrifices to the gods or risk being persecuted. However, all these events took a turn when Constantine became emperor of the Western Roman Empire. He declared that his victory was attributed to Christianity. He came up with a law that mandated the acceptance of all religions in the Empire. After the Western Roman Empire failure, there were competitions between the Catholic Church and Arianism to convert the Barbarian tribes. In the late 15th century explorers and the European missionaries spread Catholicism in America, Asia and Africa. The Catholic Church had Church fathers. Church fathers were early eminent Christian teachers, bishops and influential theologians. The church fathers faced a number of theological disputes. For, example, Jesus Christ in the Eucharist was a sign of contradiction to the early church fathers. Some people did not believe that the Eucharist was a representation of the body of Christ or the symbolic memorial of Christ’s death. The cross was also a point of dispute. It is believed that Jesus Christ died for man’s sin, yet the Catholics believe that we should obey God, love others and go through suffering and pain. This is a contradiction since Jesus suffered on the cross for man’s sins. Human embryo is also another contradiction. This was seen as a sign of dispute the church fathers engaged in because it is believed that, the embryo is already a human being and that human beings were created in the God’s likeness (Edward 23). Augustine of Hippo was a bishop of Regius. He believed that Christ’s grace is indispensable to the freedom of human Augustine was converted to Christianity after hearing the story of Placianus. This story inspired him and led to his conversion to Christianity. He gave up his social life and dedicated his life to serving God and practiced priesthood, including celibacy. According to him, his conversion was prompted by a voice he heard that was child like telling him, “tolle, lege” (“take up and read”). Augustine considered the fact that people believed the soul originated from God as Blasphemy. According to him the soul was rational spirit that was made “like God”, and by God. He believed the soul; sustained and directed the body. In relation to revelation, Augustine teaches that truth can only be found through revelation from God. He argues that one can only understand the world of life through seeing in the light of higher realities. That every revelation received from god is true, and we can rely on it. On the matter of resurrection, Augustine believes that Jesus Christ was crucified and buried, but on the third day, he rose from the dead. Happiness comes from enjoying eternal life with God, according to Augustine. He believes that everyone is in search happiness, but people are not sure where they can find this happiness. He explains that people also commit evil deeds so as to be happy. Both the soul and the body could be a source of happiness for human beings. He explains that those who placed their happiness in the soul then, stoics held the first place while those who placed their happiness in the body then Epicureans held the first place. He explains that there is nothing substantial that comes out placing one’s happiness in the body (Edward 89).. The apostles were not happy that some of the Christians place their happiness in the body. He explains that those who believe that happiness comes from the body, are those who sit and eats as if there is no tomorrow. He concludes that happiness come from the virtue of the soul and not from the body. The Epicurean who places happiness in the body, places his hope in himself, but he who places happiness in the soul, places it in man’s better place. He exclaims that cursed is the man who puts his hope in man. The Epicurean believes happiness comes from the body while the stoic believes happiness comes from the soul (Edward 97). Conclusion The Catholic Church has come a long way to be where it is right now. There have been a lot of hindrances on the way, for example, the persecutions that the Christian went through before Christianity was accepted as a religion in the Roman Empire. A lot of disputes came up in the process since people did not agree on all the preaching’s they heard in the church, but after some time , people came to embrace Christianity and it was spread in most parents of the Roman Empire, America , Asia and Africa. The church fathers also contributed a vast deal in the development of the Catholic Church by teaching people about Christianity. Works Cited Edward, Norman. The Roman catholic church. Carlifornia: University of Carlifornia press, 2007.Print Read More