Church history has been marked by good times and by bad, and these periods were heavily influenced by the decisions of the popes and Church councils, as well as the examples set by the saints. The papacy has been tainted throughout the ages with the pope’s lust for power and wealth, but even in the worst of times for the Church, excellent papal leaders emerged. The Church councils also struggled at times to properly address issues in the Church, but out of most of the Church councils came important lessons for the Church and founding doctrines that would make the Church stronger. Saints, the pillars of Christianity who all people should strive to be like, influenced the Church through the examples of their holy lives. St. Athanasius is an …show more content…
The Council of Florence was a continuation of the Council of Ferrara, called nearly a year earlier but moved when the plague hit the area (Catholic Online, “The Council of Florence”). With much of the Byzantine Empire occupied by the Ottoman Turks, the Council proposed that the Church reunify to fight off the Muslim threat to Europe as one. The Church council attendees included many Western clergy as well as a few notable people of the Eastern Empire, including the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Byzantine Emperor John VIII (Majeska, “Council of Florence”). A short-lived union with the Eastern Church was established with the East’s acceptance of several points of contention (New Advent, “The 21 Ecumenical Councils”). However, both the council and the union were short lived because the council began to dissolve into reformist conversations with pressure from many Eastern Christians. The Eastern Church began arguing about elections and divine service, as well as about synods and provincial councils. The Western Church lashed back, and the unity between the Churches was over (Catholic Online). Despite the fact that this unity was short-lived and seemed relatively insignificant at the time, the Council of Florence was the first …show more content…
Athanasius, Pope Leo XIII, and the Council of Florence all have had significant impacts on the Church throughout history. St. Athanasius aided in the eradication of Arianism, an early Church heresy that taught that Jesus was not divine, and The Life of Saint Anthony was a key component to establishing monasticism in the Church. Pope Leo XIII promoted Catholic social teaching by encouraging increased social justice among Catholics and all people of the world. He also moved the Church into the modern era, preparing it for the aggiornamento movement of the Second Vatican Council, in his encyclical Rerum novarum. The Council of Florence addressed the split between the Eastern Orthodox and Western Catholic Churches, and although the reunification result was brief, the Church had successfully performed ecumenism for the first time since 1054. Additionally, several doctrines and Church beliefs of the Council of Florence that pertained to the future Reformation would be used in the Counter-Reformation movement at the Council of Trent. The practices developed in the council and the examples of these two remarkable people provide us with a strong set of principles on which we should base our lives to better the
Pope John XXIII played a vital role in shaping Christianity as we know it today. He contributed socially, politically and liturgically and was a major influence in the establishment of ecumenism and interfaith dialogue between other churches and religions. He advocated Christian unity, social justice, human rights and the promotion of world peace, and his openness to all people led to him obtaining the name “Good Pope John”.
Before the split of 1054, the Roman Catholic Church or Western church and the Eastern Orthodox Church or Byzantine church were almost one with each other. The two churches held the same ideals and got along with one another the majority of the time. They had previous splits in the past but they were never a permanent situation because they usually found a solution to their issues and differences. The split between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church in 1054 seemed to have no resolution when their theological, political, and cultural differences became too much for them to harmonize upon.
In the first crusade the byzantine emperor was afraid of the Turks, Alexius I asked the roman church for help. he thought that eastern and western Christians should join forces and make the Turks moves from Anatolia and Palestine. This movement would be called a holy war or crusade. The pope whose name was Urban II, agreed to this plan for two reasons, the first reason was because he thought that combining the east and the west war against the Turks would reunite the eastern and western churches. The second reason was because he wanted to free Palestine and Jerusalem from Muslim rule
On the murder night of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, was a massive outburst on the media. As stated (Turvey December 1995) both bodies were found at 12:10Am, June 13 1994 inside of Nicole’s house located at 875 South Bundy reported by witnesses seeing a river of blood. As we get closer to the murder care of both Nicole and Ron many unanswered question starts to pile up, from who could had possibly had done this to why they ever did this.
For over a period of seven hundred plus years, from Gregory the Great’s papacy to Boniface VIII’s papacy, the world experienced many influential popes, whose accomplishments changed the course of history. Many of these popes become known for both their positive accomplishments, which brought prosperity to their people, and for their failures, which in many cases led to their own death. Throughout the given time period, Pope Nicholas II, Pope Gregory VII, Pope Innocent III, and Pope Gregory IX, were all influential popes whose accomplishments are what they are most remembered for. First, Pope Nicholas II decreed that the College of Cardinals would obtain authority to choose the pope. The College of Cardinals was made up of a group of Roman Church officials who were in charge of electing the pope, which was put in place to prevent kings from selecting popes.
Post 1 - When Emperor Alexius I Comnenus was in power in 1095, Pope Urban II called together the Council of Clermont in France so that there would more help with defense against the Byzantines. He also called the military to go and take the Holy Land from the Turks.
In addition to the horrors carried out by the Seljuk horde on Christians and their shrines, the Byzantines were also begging the pope to protect their empire from other Turkish tribes. Urban II's main incentive for answering this plea for help was not entirely contingent on the letter he received from the Holy Roman Emperor, but more so from the notion that the Eastern and Western sects of the church could be unified. Moreover, they might be fused under the Pope, granting him sovereignty over the entire Christian church. This Papal hope has been revealed to historians through, among other sources, the different accounts of his speech at Clermont. For example, Guibert of Nogent recalls the pope declaring: "And you ought, furthermore, to consider with the utmost deliberation, ..., that the Mother of churches should flourish anew to the worship of Christianity, whether perchance, [God] may not wish other regions of the East to be restored to the faith against the approaching time of the Antichrist" (Peters, Guibert of Nogent, 35). Unfortunately, the Holy Roman Emperor feared his throne was in jeopardy due to the large number of crusaders that arrived to drive out the Turks. He demanded that they press on towards the Holy Land, and for reasons that need not be discussed, strong ties with the Papacy were severed soon
An example of one of these popes was Julius II. He was known as the Warrior-Pope because he sought to eliminate his enemies with his powerful army. These Renaissance Popes angered many Christians who believed that their pope was being unfaithful, and caused some people to lose faith and trust in the Catholic Church. Later popes sold indulgences, which were promises of the remission of one's sins after death. This angered Martin Luther, and it caused him to write his “95 Theses” on why that practice was wrong and unfaithful. Luther found enough people that agreed with him, and started the Reformation.
The topic of this paper is The Church Committee. When I first got the topic I was not sure what it was, but after I researched it I was very surprised. The Church Committee Report consists of 14 public reports. They were written in 1976 and 1975 when recommendations for reform were debated in congress and some cases were carried out. The reports contain information on the formation, operation, and the abuse of the US intelligence agencies. The six books covered committee writings on various topic investigated. There are seven volumes which contains public hearings and exhibits.
The Apostle Paul, Saint Augustine, and Martin Luther have been three very important figures in the Christian church. Each went through a unique personal experience that changed the course of their lives. Those experiences were important to them and they should be important to anyone of the Christian faith. In this research paper I will explore these experiences and how they do and do not relate to each other.
When war broke out, there was no way the world could possibly know the severity it would have taken on the people of the world. Fortunately one country saw and understood that Germany and its allies would have to be stopped. America’s Involvement in World War II not only contributed in the downfall of the insane Adolph Hitler and his Third Reich, but also came at the best time and moment. If the United States entered the war any earlier the consequences would probably have been worse.
Pope Urban II preached a sermon at the Council of Clermont in which he proposed that Western European noblemen and their armies join ranks with the Eastern Christian Byzantine Emperor and his forces in order to mount an attack against the Muslim Turks (“Crusades”). Before hand Alexius I, emperor of the Byzantine Empire, called for the Pope’s aid. Byzantium, as the empire was also called, was under attack from all sides, especially from the Seljuk Turks, who had recently converted to Islam (“Crusades”). Alexius feared that they would take over Constantinople. He pleaded for the Pope to send a few Knights to protect the weak fortifications of the city (“Crusades”). However, the Pope had his own political interest in mind. Instead he sent an army of thousand of not only Knights, but also peasants, women,
He was young and incapable, and gave the papacy a bad name by acting sinfully. The people lost respect for the church, and could no longer view it as the ideal way of life. These views were altered in the High Middle Ages when the papacy became increasingly powerful in a prosperous time. The centralization of the church enabled Christianity to revitalize the spirit and faith of the Church. The church was organized by several reforming movements of the cluny, monastery, and papacy. Corruption was cleansed by new clerical laws, in addition to the canon law, that banned simony, clerical marriages, and immorality in the church. The succession of popes became more favorable because the expectations of the pope were heightened, as he was seen as a leader of faith having the grandest morals. Pope Gregory VII brought hope to the people by wanting to establish "right order in the world," and this stimulated people to regain faith in Christianity. Christianity influenced art, literature, and education. Art and architecture were ways to demonstrate Christian belief through divine cathedrals, paintings of biblical scenes, and portraits of popes. Charlemagne initiated the increase of literacy importance by instituting schooling in monastic communities. Changes in education during this time period were the foundation of cathedral schools, interests in ancient texts, and the education of the common people with the
Of the many Christians at work during the 20th century, the three most influential people that I believe will be remembered the most throughout the history of Christianity are Pope John Paul II, Karl Rahner, and Karl Barth. During Pope John Paul II’s pontificate, he had to deal with issues that connected the church to views in the outside world. His first challenge was communism in the Soviet Empire. The communist government of Poland had begun to cause tension between the Catholic Church during an election which led to Poland independence from the Soviet Empire (pg. 448). Several other countries followed this victory in Poland and they eventually overthrew the communism government of the Soviet Empire (pg. 448). John Paul II also had to deal
One of the most important events in church history includes the Council of Nicea. The First Council of Nicea happened in 325 and involved the first gathering of Christian bishops and the Roman Empire not as enemies but as allies. The bishops wanted to solve the dispute over Arianism. Arianism is the belief that Christ was more than human but something less than God. Arianism taught the people that Jesus