The division of the Church or Schism that took place between 1378 and 1417 had no precedent in Christianity. No conclave since the twelfth century had acted as had those in April and September 1378, electing two concurrent popes. This crisis was neither an issue of the authority claimed by the pope and the Holy Roman Emperor nor an issue of authority and liturgy. The Great Western Schism was unique because it forced upon Christianity a rethinking of the traditional medieval mental frame. It raised question of personality, authority, human fallibility, ecclesiastical jurisdiction and taxation, and in the end responsibility in holding power and authority. This collection presents the broadest range of experiences, center and periphery, clerical and lay, male and female, Christian and Muslim. Theology, including exegesis of Scripture, diplomacy, French literature, reform, art, and finance all receive attention.
In Poets, Saints, and Visionaries of the Great Schism, Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski looks beyond the political and ecclesiastical storm and finds an outpouring of artistic, literary, and visionary responses to one of the great calamities of the late Middle Ages.
If you have ever wondered exactly how we got from the Christian society of the early centuries, united in its faithfulness to apostolic tradition, to the fragmented and secular state of the West today, The Age of Division will answer all your questions and more. In this second of a four-volume cultural history of Christendom, author John Strickland applies insights from the Orthodox Church to trace the decline and disintegration of both East and West after the momentous but often neglected Great Schism. For five centuries, a divided Christendom was led further and further from the culture of paradise that defined its first millennium, resulting in the Protestant Reformation and the secularization that defines our society today.
Summary - Christianity has been largely driven out of the Middle-East and is in crises in the West. Church attendances are at an all-time low. Christianity was governed for the first millennium by five Senior Patriarchs. The Great Schism separated Rome from the other Patriarchs. The seeds that led to that Schism were the same that caused the later splintering of Christianity from the 16th century. Today, few Christians know anything of the 41 Eastern Churches, all founded by one of the apostles, even though 22 are in union with Rome and 15 in union with Constantinople.Very few Christians are aware of the Eastern Churches or of the details that gave rise to the Great Schism. This book is intended to bridge that knowledge gap. I believe the reuniting of Orthodox and Catholic could be the catalyst needed for the return of all to the single Christian Community of the first millennium.
Most evangelical Christians believe that the smallest sin will cause eternal condemnation. This horrific falsehood and others underlie a Christian belief system that is imposed on the Bible rather than received from it. Paul Pavao uses the plain statements of Scripture to uproot the old foundations, lay out and establish the foundations clearly described in the Bible, and rebuild the basics of the faith. Verse after verse, called difficult by traditional teachers, click neatly into place when put into the Christian system taught by the apostles and once believed by all churches. J.T. Tancock, Welsh apologist, author, and Bible college teacher calls Rebuilding the Foundations "explosive." He writes, "It upsets apple carts, slays sacred cows, and demands that we 'go back to the Bible'. For all of those reasons all of us must read it."God shaped Paul's life, personality, circumstances, and spiritual upbringing to prepare him to write this book. "I wrote Decoding Nicea to prove I could deal honestly with the facts and make solid historical sources available to the average Christian. That book was written as much to prove that I am qualified to write this book as for any other reason."Thousands of churches have hundreds of different theological systems. Converts to all branches of modern Christianity fall away in droves, most not even attending a church years down the road. Pastors know the majority of their congregants have little or no zeal for the things of Christ. A foundation of errors can only produce more errors, both theologically and practically. Building on what the apostle Paul called "God's firm foundation" can deliver us from those errors.
*Includes pictures *Includes excerpts of contemporary medieval sources *Includes a bibliography for further reading For nearly a thousand years following its foundation, there was only one Christian Church. Centered in the city of Rome, the Church expanded and grew until it became the dominant religion in Europe and beyond. The early growth of the Church had been suppressed by the Romans until the Emperor Constantine became the first to convert the empire to Christianity, and from that point forward, the growth of the Church Was inextricably linked with the Roman Empire, the most powerful military, economic, and political force in the ancient world. For almost 600 years, from the defeat of Carthage in the Second Punic War in 201 BCE to around 395 CE, Rome was one of the most important cities in the world, but things were beginning to change around the time Constantine converted the empire. Rome controlled large areas of the world, but by the 4th century the emphasis had shifted from military conquest to the control of lucrative trade routes. The problem was that the city of Rome, isolated in the southern half of the Italian peninsula, was far from these routes, and this compelled Constantine to establish a major Roman city on the site of ancient Byzantium. The new city, Constantinople, was located on a strategic site controlling the narrow straits between the Black Sea and the Aegean, meaning it was firmly astride some of the most important trade routes in the ancient world between Europe and Asia and between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Constantinople became the second most important city of the Roman Empire, thriving in parallel with Rome, but then the empire split into Eastern and Western provinces, with Constantinople the capital of the east and Rome the capital of the west. Control of trade routes made Constantinople increase in power and influence while Rome became less important. However, not all power and influence shifted east, because one important institution remained firmly linked with the city of Rome: the Bishops of the Church. Under the rule of previous emperors, Christian Bishops had not only been formally recognized, but had been given power within the Roman state. The most important of all was "I Sommi Pontefici Romani" the supreme pontiff of Rome. The earliest holders of this title were martyrs and saints of the Church, but by the time of the rise of Constantinople, this role was elected by the other Bishops of the Church. This role would later become known as the Pope (from the Greek word "pappas" meaning "father"), but even before that title was adopted, the Supreme Pontiff in Rome was widely recognized as the leader of the Church. In historical terms, these early leaders of the Church are often referred to as "popes" even though that title was not formally adopted until after the division the Church. Rome's preeminence was not a situation that was welcomed in Constantinople, now the center of the Byzantine Empire and a thriving and wealthy metropolis. After being sacked by outsiders, Rome had become a virtual ghost town, partially ruined and inhabited by a small number of hardy survivors, yet in center of the crumbling city was the Vatican Borgo, the Palace of the Supreme Pontiff and the heart of the Church. In retrospect, it is easy to see that this was a situation that was bound to lead to conflict and disagreement, with the Greek-speaking Eastern Orthodox Church centered in Constantinople and being governed by Latin-speaking popes in a faraway city. Moreover, there had already been theological disputes as far back as Constantine's time, which had led to the famous Council of Nicaea in the 4th century CE. This book chronicles the events that led to the schism, the key figures that played a hand in the confusion, and how the contentious issues were finally resolved.
A comprehensive, objective, scholarly and yet easy-to-read presentation of the differences, both historical, theological and liturgical between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. The ideal complement (or even antidote) to such books as Upon this Rock; Jesus, Peter and the Keys; Two Paths; The Primacy of Peter; etc. Discusses Peter's Primacy and Succession, Ecclesiology, Infallibility, the Filioque, Celibacy, etc.
