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Period: 30 to 313
The Early Church
•A period of rapid expansion despite persecution.
•Christianity spread from Jerusalem, across Judea, to Rome, throughout the Empire and beyond.
•Many Christian beliefs, teachings and practices were developed like
the New Testament.
•Early Christians struggled to love the Christian message due to persecution from the Jewish authorities and, later, the Roman authorities.
•The first major persecution took place around 34AD when Stephen the deacon was stoned to death. -
33
Pentecost
•Pentecost was the event where the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and the other followers of Jesus.
•They were celebrating a Jewish festival and when the Holy Spirit descended, it sounded like a very strong wind and looked like tongues of fire.
•The Apostles were then able to speak foreign languages, inspired by the Holy Spirit.
•Pentecost is now celebrated by Christians fifty days after Easter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piBWSmgFaUM -
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Paul the Apostle
•Originally named Saul, he was a prominent persecutor of Christians who had a conversion experience on the road to Damascus.
•Saul was blinded by the vision and learnt that he was to be an apostle.
•Despite this, his special responsibility was to lead the gentiles to Christian faith.
•Paul travelled through the Roman Empire spreading the Christian Gospel until he was martyred in Rome. -
312
The Conversion of Constantine
•Constantine ended the persecution of Christians in 313 AD. After a conversion experience from God told him to embrace Christianity.
•Under Constantine, pagan religion and worship were not persecuted and still continued throughout the Empire, including Rome itself.
•Christianity quickly grew and became the religion of the Roman Empire.
•This new relationship allowed the Church to operate openly in society and led to significant numbers of new converts and Church buildings. -
Period: 312 to 1054
Constantine’s conversion and the East-West Schism
•The conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine in 313 AD was a significant moment for both the Empire and Christians.
•Christianity was no longer illegal and became the official religion of the Empire.
•Constantine also moved the capital of the Empire from Latin speaking Rome to Greek speaking Constantinople. With this split of the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western halves, so too did the Church and two distinct expressions of Christianity emerged. -
452
Pope Leo
•Pope St Leo the Great was the pope for 21 years until his death in 461 AD.
•He was labelled as ‘Great’ for several reasons:
-His contributions to religious debates were seen as vital.
-Enhanced the status of the Papacy.
-In 452 AD, Atilla the Hun and his army were rampaging through Italy, destroying things as they went by. When they arrived outside of Rome, Leo was one of the unarmed envoys sent to negotiate with Atilla. Atilla was convinced by Leo’s reasons and rode away leaving Rome untouched -
Period: 1054 to 1500
The Middle Ages
•Society experienced turmoil as government and civil institutions collapsed as a result of the end of the Roman Empire.
•Church leaders were often the only ones still able to exercise some form of government. This led to Church leaders having a more direct role in government, and some Church leaders abusing their power.
•Powerful political forces in the west had a strong influence on who could be elected as the Pope, which caused serious problems and lead to an abuse of power within the Church. -
1096
The Crusades
•Islam had spread far beyond its Arabian beginnings and Rome had been attacked by Muslim raiders and the borders of the empire were under constant threat
•The Christians of the east appealed to the Pope for help.
•Pope Urban II called for a military expedition to help the East regain the Holy Land
•At first, it was mainly peasants who were disorganised and ill disciplined thus wrecking havoc in the East.
•The following wave of trained knights and soldiers had more success and captured Jerusalem -
1181
St Francis of Assisi
•Francis of Assisi was renowned for his partying and drinking in his youth.
•After fighting in a battle between Assisi and Perugia, Francis was captured and imprisoned for a year and began receiving visions from God. Once he was released from prison, he heard the voice of Christ who told him to repair the Christian Church and live a life of poverty.
•Later in Francis’ life, he received a vision that left him with the stigmata of Christ. -
Period: 1500 to
The Reformation
•There was a lot of instability surrounding the papacy due to the emergence of nation states. The role of the Pope had become political and there was poor spiritual leadership.
•This led to some Christian leaders to question the authority of the Pope and teachings of the Church. The aim of these leaders was to reform serious abuses, which had weakened the life and witness of the medieval church.
•To combat the effect of the reformation, Pope Paul III called the bishops to the Council of Trent. -
1517
Martin Luther
•Martin Luther was a German priest who confronted the abuses of the late medieval church, came into conflict with church leaders, struggled with aspects of church teaching and eventually broke away from the church.
•He wondered about traditional Christian understanding of questions such as grace, free will and the importance of good works.
•Luther’s ideas attracted interest of various German princes and with their support, Luther’s struggle with the church became aligned with German nationalism. -
1545
The Council of Trent
•The effect of the Reformation led Pope Paul III to call the bishops to a Council
•The council met numerous times between 1545 and 1563. This sessions brought about reforms in the church which addressed many of the abuses Luther, Zwingli and Calvin were concerned about
•The arguments about the Christian message led the council to develop a noutline of beliefs and practices that expressed the teachings handed down by the apostles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVGVB2qu51I -
Period: to
Post-Reformation Christianity
•After the Reformation the world began to change rapidly. Scientific discoveries, technological advancements, changes to politics and the ability to travel all led to growth in the Christian faith.
•However, these changes also brought about challenges for the Church as many people became independent thinkers and turned away from the church.
•Pope John XXIII called an ecumenical council, known as the Second Vatican Council so that the Church could engage people and interact with the modern world. -
St Mary MacKillop
•Mary MacKillop was a nun who was later declared a saint by the Catholic Church.
•She founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, a congregation of religious sisters that went on to establish many schools throughout Australia and New Zealand.
•By the end of 1969, more than 70 members of the Sisters of St Joseph were educating children at 21 schools in Adelaide and the country.
•MacKillop was also involved with an orphanage, neglected children, girls in danger and the aged poor. -
Second Vatican Council
•Pope John XXIII established the Second Vatican Council to renew the Church so that it could play the role Christ intended for his Church in the modern world.
•He opened the Council on the 11th of October 1962 and approximately 2500 bishops from around the world attended.
•The Council produced sixteen documents that changed the Church exponentially.
•Since the Council, the Church has grown tremendously throughout the world, about 40 percent between 1978 and 2001.
