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The
Turbulent Years
2nd century begins the concept of
Original Sin
which according to Augustine, consists of the guilt of Adam
which all humans inherit . It was first alluded to in the by
Irenaeus,
Bishop of Lyon in his controversy with certain
dualist
Gnostics.
325
Council
of Nicaea
What
Happened at the Council of Nicaea?
400
Jerome Vulgate
translates the Greek bible into Latin.
1054 The Great East-West Schism
occurred when relations between the East and West which had long been embittered by
ecclesiastical differences and theological disputes.
because prominent issues such as then source of the Holy Spirit ("filioque"),
whether leavened or
unleavened bread should be used in the
Eucharist,[5]
the Pope's claim to
universal jurisdiction, and the place of
Constantinople in relation to the
Pentarchy.[6] came
to a head. 1096 The
First Crusade was a military expedition by
Roman Catholic
Europe to regain the
Holy Lands
taken in the
Muslim conquests of the
Levant
(632–661). It ultimately resulting in the
recapture of Jerusalem in 1099.
1134 Medieval
Inquisition was a series of
Inquisitions (Catholic
Church bodies charged with suppressing
heresy) from
around 1184 including the Episcopal Inquisition (1184-1230s) and later
the Papal Inquisition (1230s). The
Medieval Inquisition was established in response to large popular movements
throughout Europe considered
apostate
or
heretical to
Christianity, in particular
Catharism
and
Waldensians in southern France and northern Italy. These were the first
inquisition movements of many that would follow.
1271 The Last (Ninth) Crusade
considered to be the last major
medieval
Crusade to the
Holy Land
ended in
1272. Edward finally reached England in the summer of 1274 and was
crowned King of England on August 19, 1274. He had been
accompanied by Theobald Visconti who became
Pope Gregory X in 1271. Gregory called for a new crusade at the
Council of Lyons in 1274 but nothing came of this. Meanwhile,
new fissures arose within the Christian states when
Charles of Anjou took advantage of a dispute between
Hugh III, the
Knights Templar and the
Venetians in order to bring the remaining Christian state under
his control. Having bought
Mary of Antioch's claims to the
Kingdom of Jerusalem, he attacked Hugh III causing a
civil war within the rump kingdom. In 1277,
Roger of San Severino captured Acre for Charles.
1413
Lollard Rebellion was a
political and religious movement that existed from the mid-14th century to
the
English Reformation. The term "Lollard" refers to the followers of
John
Wycliffe,[1]
a prominent
theologian who was dismissed from the
University of Oxford in 1381 for criticism of the
Church and especially in his doctrine on the
Eucharist.
The Lollards' demands were primarily for reform of
Western Christianity.
1481
Spanish Inquisition began
when the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the
Inquisition established by
Catholic Monarchs,
Ferdinand II of Aragon and
Isabella I of Castile to maintain
Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms and to replace the
Medieval Inquisition which was under Papal control. Assets
confiscated were used for the
Reconquista which finally expelled Muslims from these 700 years of
dominance. Editors Note: Hitler did the same so what
goes around comes around. It became
the most substantive of the three different manifestations of the
wider
Christian Inquisition alonmay have g with the
Roman Inquisition and
Portuguese Inquisition.
Inquisition were originally
intended in large part to ensure the
orthodoxy of those who converted from Judaism and Islam and
regulation of the faith of the newly converted was intensified after
the royal decrees issued in 1492 and 1501 ordering Jews and
Muslims to convert or leave. Motives proposed for the monarchs'
decision to fund the Inquisition included increased political
authority, weakening opposition, suppressing
conversos, profiting from confiscation of the property of
convicted heretics, reducing social tensions and protecting the
kingdom from the danger of a
fifth column.
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The Reform
Years
1450's Gutenberg
Printed Bible
added to the interesting
history of communicating religious
information to the masses.
1517 Luther's
Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and
Efficacy of Indulgences
was written and is widely regarded as the initial catalyst for the
Protestant Reformation. There were other
causes for the turmoil and
Luther and Anti-Semitism would not be surpassed until the rise
of Adolph Hitler
1618
The Thirty Years War was
a series of wars fought in
Central Europe involving most of
Europe.
It. was
one of the longest and
most destructive conflicts in
European history. Conflict origins and participant goals were complex.
Originally it was fought as
a
religious war between
Protestants and
Catholics of the
Holy Roman Empire. Disputes over internal politics and the
balance of power within the Empire also played a significant role. The war to
some extent ended the brutality caused competition Christian religions sects. In
1565
Fort-Caroline Massacre is one of many.
"A major consequence of the Thirty Years' War
was the devastation of entire regions, denuded by the foraging
armies (bellum
se ipsum alet). Famine and disease significantly decreased
the population of the German state
Bohemia, the
Low Countries and Italy; most of the combatant powers were
bankrupted." The problem of discipline was made
more difficult by the "ad hoc nature of
17th-century military financing; armies were expected to be largely
self-funding by means of loot taken or
tribute
extorted from the settlements where they operated. This
encouraged a form of lawlessness that imposed severe hardship on
inhabitants of the occupied territory." "Some of the quarrels that
provoked the war went unresolved for a much longer time."
Money lending and the origins of
anti-Semitism
"We study the role of economic incentives in shaping the
coexistence of Jews, Catholics, and Protestants, using novel
data from Germany for 1,000+ cities. The Catholic usury ban
and higher literacy rates gave Jews a specific advantage in
the money lending sector. Following the Protestant
Reformation (1517), the Jews lost these advantages in
regions that became Protestant. We show (i) a change in the
geography of anti-Semitism with persecutions of Jews and
anti-Jewish publications becoming more common in Protestant
areas relative to Catholic areas; (ii) a more pronounced
change in cities where Jews had already established
themselves as moneylenders. These findings are consistent
with the interpretation that, following the Protestant
Reformation, Jews living in Protestant regions were exposed
to competition with the Christian majority, especially in
money lending, leading to an increase in anti-Semitism.
That is from
a new AER piece by S. O. Becker and Luigi Pascali."
Editor's Note: As pointed out
in the many comments made, this is only part of the story.
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1776 U.S. Founding Fathers Religious Beliefs Differ
Franklin and Jefferson were
deists in that they believed "that
reason and
observation of the
natural world are sufficient to determine the existence of God, accompanied
with the rejection of
revelation
and authority as a source of religious knowledge."
Washington harbored a
pantheistic sense of providential destiny,
John Adams began a
Congregationalist and ended a
Unitarian, Hamilton was a lukewarm Anglican for most of his life but
embraced a more actively Christian posture after his son died in a duel.
Editors Note: Hamilton was the Dick Chaney of his day.
1840's Abolition
Splits Some US Churches "One of the legacies of the Second
Great Awakening was the Abolitionist Movement, the coalition of whites and
blacks opposed to slavery. To support their cause, they frequently quoted Jesus'
statements about treating others with respect and love. White Christians in the
south, however, did not view slavery as a sin. Rather, their leaders were able
to quote many Biblical passages in support of slavery. The Civil War and the
divide over the question of slavery thus began in the nation's churches, a
decade before fighting began on the battlefields."
1870 Papal
Infallibility,
"
dogma of the
Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of
Jesus to Peter, the
Pope is
preserved from the possibility of error[1]
"when, in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all
Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines
a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole
Church".[2]
This doctrine was defined dogmatically in the
First Vatican Council of 1869–e
that, appearing already in medieval tradition and becoming the
majority opinion at the time of the
Counter-Reformation."
Islam Also Sprang
from Abraham
Islam
is a
monotheistic and
Abrahamic
religion articulated by the
Qur'an, a
book considered by its adherents to be the
verbatim word of
God and by the teachings and normative example (called
the
Sunnah and composed of
Hadith) of
Muhammad, considered by them to be the last
prophet of God. An adherent of Islam is called a
Muslim.
Sharia is
their moral code and relegiouse law.
Muslims believe that God is
one and incomparable and the
purpose of existence is to love and serve God.[1]
Muslims also believe that Islam is the complete and
universal version of a
primordial faith that was revealed at many times and
places before, including through
Abraham,
Moses and
Jesus, whom they consider
prophets.
They maintain that the previous messages and
revelations have been partially
misinterpreted or altered over time,
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but consider the Arabic Qur'an
to be both the unaltered and the final revelation of God. Religious
concepts and practices include the
five pillars of Islam, which are basic concepts and obligatory acts
of
worship, and following
Islamic
law, which touches on virtually every aspect of life and society,
providing guidance on multifarious topics from
banking and
welfare, to
warfare and the
environment.
" Muslims revere Jesus as a uniquely inspired prophet who was born of
the Virgin Mary, ascended to heaven and will come again. Yet Muslims
cannot accept that Jesus was the son of God. This, they believe,
reflects a flawed view of both Jesus and God. As Ms Siddiqui shows,
Christians and Muslims sparred with one another intensely during the
early centuries after Islam’s rise, with each side vying to be the
ultimate revelation of God. But the two faiths did at least grudgingly
acknowledge one another as monotheistic, despite Islam’s firm rejection
of the Christian view of God as a trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit."
Source See
Muslim Heritage
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Philosophical Changes Introduced by
Abraham's Religions
Judaism
introduce
Monotheism to the
middle east, ended
child sacrifice, provided guidelines for ethically and moral living
and conditions for eventual
resurrection after
death.
Christianity modified some of Judaism guideline for an ethical and
moral life and provided conditions for immediate
resurrection
following death.
Islam
modified guideline for an ethical and moral life provided by Judaism and
Christianity and added the purpose of
existence is to love and serve God and
resurrection was delayed until
iyamah. |
Dante's Inferno
Great Course Helps all Understand Christian
Theology
Videos
Dante's Inferno Summary 13 min
Divine Comedy Documentary 50 min
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Hinduism is the dominant religion
of the
Indian subcontinent consists of
many diverse traditions. It include a wide spectrum of
laws and prescriptions of "daily morality" based on
karma,
dharma,
and societal norms. Hinduism is devoted to the study of the
fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence rather than
a rigid, common set of beliefs.
Hinduism has been called the "oldest
religion" and many practitioners refer to Hinduism as
Sanātana Dharma, "the eternal
law"
or the "eternal way"[1][2]
beyond human origins.
It prescribes the "eternal" duties all Hindus have to follow,
regardless of class, caste, or sect, such as honesty, purity, and
self-restraint.[web
1]
Western scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion
of various Indian cultures and traditions with diverse
roots
and no single founder.[note
6] This "Hindu synthesis" emerged around the beginning of
the Common Era,[note
10] and co-existed for several centuries with Buddhism,
to finally gain the upper hand in most royal circles during the 8th
century CE.
From northern India this "Hindu synthesis", and its
societal divisions, spread to southern India and
parts of Southeast Asia.[35][note
13][note
14][note
15][note
18]
Since the 19th century, under the dominance of western
colonialism and
Indology, when the term "Hinduism" came into broad use. Hinduism
has re-asserted itself as a coherent and independent tradition. The
popular understanding of Hinduism has been dominated by
"Hindu modernism" in which
mysticism
and the unity of Hinduism
have been emphasised.
During 20th century,
Hindutva ideology, a part of the
Hindu politics emerged as a political force and a source for
national identity in India.
Hindu practices include daily rituals such as
puja (worship) and recitations, annual festivals, and occasional
pilgrimages. Select group of
ascetics
leave the common world and engage in lifelong
ascetic practices to achieve
moksha. |
Confucianism is a
system of "ethical-sociopolitical teachings" of
Chinese philosopher
Confucius (551–479 BCE), who considered himself a
retransmitter of
Zhou values.[5]
More privately,With particular emphasis
on the importance of the family and social harmony, rather than on
an otherworldly
soteriology,[7]
the core of Confucianism is
humanistic. Confucianism
regards the ordinary activities of human life — and especially in
human relationships as a manifestation of the sacred
because they are the expression of our moral nature which has a transcendent anchorage in Heaven
and a proper respect of the
gods
While Heaven ( has some characteristics that overlap
the category of deity, it is primarily an impersonal
absolute, like
dŕo
and Brahman.
The this-worldly concern of Confucianism rests
on the belief that human beings are fundamentally good, and
teachable, improvable, and perfectible through personal and
communal endeavor especially self-cultivation and self-creation.
Confucian thought focuses on the cultivation of virtue and
maintenance of ethics. Some of the basic Confucian ethical
concepts and practices like benevolence" and
"humaneness are is
the essence of the human being which manifests as compassion. It
is the virtue-form of Heaven. Confucianism holds one in
contempt, either passively or actively, for failure to uphold the
cardinal moral values of rén and yě.
Traditionally, cultures and countries in the
East Asian cultural sphere are strongly influenced by
Confucianism, including mainland
China,
Taiwan,
Hong Kong,
Macau,
Korea,
Japan, and
Vietnam, as well as various territories settled predominantly
by
Chinese people, such as
Singapore. In the 20th century Confucianism's influence
reduced greatly.
In late 2015 many Confucian
leaders[which?]
formally established a national
Holy Confucian Church (孔聖會/孔圣会 Kǒngshčnghuě) in China
to unify the many Confucian congregations and civil society
organisations
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