Catholic Church's Impact On Christianity

The positive influence of Christianity is far reaching especially in the rich history and culture of Western Civilization despite a long standing ignorance or adamant denial of its contributions. The Bible itself is responsible for much of the language, literature, and fine arts we enjoy today as its artists and composers were heavily influenced by its writings. Paul Maier, in writing the forward to the book How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin J. Schmidt, says this about the profound impact Christianity has had on the development of Western Civilization:

The essence of the contribution made by Pope John XXIII was his calling together of the Second Vatican Council that aimed to address modernisation of the Catholic Church,

Christianity was born and flourished in an empire where the common language was Latin and Greek. Two important people like Paul and Constantine further influenced and were a major part of the development of Christianity. The history of the Jews leading up to the time of Jesus had a major impact on the development of Christianity. “When Christianity was clearly identified as a distant religion, the new religion was considered by its members to be the fulfillment of Judaism rather than a new religion.” “Since Jesus was a Jew and preached to the Jews, Christianity was closely linked to Judaism.” The development of Christianity was due to several historical, political, and social circumstances.

During his Papacy, Pope John XXIII published several encyclicals promoting world peace(Pacem in Terris) and increasing the consciousness of one’s dignity and rights of workers, women and newly independent nations (Mater et Magisterum). Pacem in Terris was addressed to the whole world and received warmly by Christians and non-Christians alike. It altered thinking about the Cold War and initiated the resurgence of Catholic social teaching.

Henry, M. (2003). I am the truth: toward a philosophy of Christianity. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press.

Towards the end of the Middle Ages and into the duration of the Renaissance, the Medieval Church’s social and political power dwindled. Centuries prior the Catholic Church gained a surplus of control, largely due to the stability it maintained during the chaotic breakdown of the Western Roman Empire . Yet toward the end of the Middle Ages the Church set in motion factors that would ultimately lead to its downfall as the definitive figure of authority. However, despite political and social controversy surrounding the church, the institutions it established cleared a path for a new way of thinking, shaping society in an enduring way.

Roles of the Catholic Church in Western civilization has been scrambled with the times past and development of Western society. Regardless of the fact that the West is no longer entirely Catholic, the Catholic tradition is still strong in Western countries. The church has been a very important foundation of public facilities like schooling, Western art, culture and philosophy; and influential player in religion. In many ways it has wanted to have an impact on Western approaches to pros and cons in numerous areas. It has over many periods of time, spread the teachings of Jesus within the Western World and remains a foundation of continuousness connecting recent Western culture to old Western culture.-

In the United States, there has often been debate over whether the U.S. Constitution is a “living constitution.” A “living constitution” is the idea that the interpretation of constitutional phrases should take into account the contemporaneous society. In other words, practices and traditions of the government have the ability to change and transform over time in accordance with the changes in society. Similarly, there has often been debate in the religious community as to whether the practices and traditions of the church have the ability to change and transform in order to better suit the needs of its constituents. Two Popes in the Roman Catholic church, Pope Francis and Pope Pius IX, have published documents with opposing viewpoints about the church’s ability to change and transform over time. The aforementioned documents also highlight other issues commonly debated within the church. Ultimately, Pope Francis favors a more progressive church, that is opento change, while Pope Pius IX favors a church with more rigid guidelines that follow traditional practices.

In the book “The Unexpected Christian Century,” the author Scott Sunquist believes that the twentieth century is the most recent one in the Christian history. During the time of the geometric era, it was believed that the importance of gravity moved from the Christian nations of Europe and North America to the “Global South,” where Christians were done wrong minority. Simply in the third and the sixteenth centuries was when Christianity had experienced a change of comparable greatness.

As time constantly presses forward and the earth continues to revolve, the world will never stop progressing and adapting to better suit the needs of mankind. The evolution of religion has greatly enhanced the quality of life for humanity by providing individuals with a strong belief system that is now the foundation of many peoples’ core values. One universal religion that has undergone extensive amounts of reform is Christianity. In particular, the Catholic church is well-known for the development of their famous ecumenical council meetings that help determine the future of the church. Numerous Councils have been conducted throughout the course of history, but none more significant than the most recent, the Second Vatican Council or Vatican II. The Catholic church was operating as if it was still the medieval period and desperately needed to be modernized. As a result, every Roman Catholic Church official was gathered to meet and devise a plan for how to introduce the church to the modern world. Consequently, the following will reveal the Second Vatican Council and the ramifications of the agenda, history and theology evolution, significant texts, and new developments.

The Jewish community started Christianity, but Christianity later spread and convert from all over the Greco-Roman world were attracted by this religion during the progress of the first century CE. Ideas, traditions, ways of worship and traditions were brought along by the new convert of Christianity and it was adopted by their faith. This is through art because Christians who were once pagans of the Roman Empire stick to their artistic heritage when they became followers of Jesus Christ. Roman artistic forms and motifs and also Roman architecture were being used by this new convert to express their new faith. In further explanation, we’ll see how Roman art influenced the developing art of early Christians.

Most people who converted into Christianity originated from the Roman civilization in the first century, holding secure their artistic worth to merge them with their new practices and a system of symbols to reflect their belief in Jesus and monotheism. Artistic styles that had been cultivated and smoothened for thousands of years portray that the pagan gods were having real importance sculpted and painted to receives the greatest amount of illumination of the Christian faith, gradually yet in a significant manner. In the beginning, Christians offered reverence in Roman style house churches, with their central open space surrounded completely by the rooms of a private home. The Roman building architecture also permit Christians to create a room

Catholicism is a term used to refer to the practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Catholicism is a universal religion that institutes a continuity with the early Christian church founded by Jesus Christ. There were over 17,483 parishes in the United States alone in 2014, recorded by “Services” a Catholic data base. The Catholic Church has had many influences on the New World she established herself in. She has had an influence on every life, place, and idea she touched. Some examples she had important influences on include: the colonization of America, many laws that have been established, education, hospitals, and organizations. Therefore because of these many influences Catholicism is the most important factor in the development

The early church has Christian based values that were good for Christians then, and they are still good for the Christians today. The early church dealt with all types of issues and opposition. And like ACTS 1:8 NIV says, we are to "be witnesses...to the ends of the earth". Our job is to be living testimonies of our trials and tribulations, and also try to live by the early church standards on handling disputes. There are 3 main influences that the early church left to influence the church of today. For me, the first influence is the leaders in the church must be ordained to do so (ACTS 1:2). Anyone just can't be put in a place of leadership, and start preaching. Being ordained usually means they are speaking God's words inspired by the Holy

The most important factor assuring the continuing importance of the Church in Western society between 1200 and the 1520s; is that the Church is the body of Christ, everyone who accepts that Jesus Christ died for their sins is a part of this Body. Believing in Jesus makes you apart of the body of Christ; anyone who accept Jesus in to their hearts is a part of the body. There are many parts of a body all doing their role to accomplish one goal even some parts that you didn’t even know about. As long as Jesus or God remains a part of this world, through History and Theology taught to the next generations the Church will continue. It will continue always with ups, downs and change.