How Did Christianity Change Over Time

Christianity began its succession into the most dominant worldwide religion after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days build another made without hands.” Upon Jesus’ death and resurrection, he completed this task setting forth the development of Christianity. Since Jesus left no formal authoritative power, organization, or agreed upon scriptures, a wide variety of sects gained popularity in the development of Christianity. Most of these sects were later deemed as heretic, one of the most notable being Gnosticism. Gnosticism was a dualist religion believing the material world evil and the invisible spirit realm good. This belief obligated Gnosticism to follow Docetic interpretations. Docetism is the belief that Jesus was never truly man but rather a divine from the spirit world. All forms of Christianity, however, believe Jesus is son of God sent as humanity’s savior from damnation. Docetism, along with other aspects of Gnosticism, drove other Christians condemn Gnosticism as heresy. Gnosticism, however, is more comparable to Canonical Christians than realized. Specifically, the distinction between Docetism and strict Canonical belief is not only insignificant but also justifiable due to Canonical contradictions surrounding Jesus’ existence.

The religious schism took place in the 16th century, mainly between the Catholic Church and Protestants. During these times, many changes were brought forth to Europe during this schism. Although the religious schism brought forth an age of Reformation of the Catholic church, the religious schism started wars, revolts across Germany following the teachings of Luther, and the struggle for power between Catholicism and Protestantism.

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.

Although it is widely accepted that the Schism of 1054 was caused by religious differences in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, or Latin Christian, cultural differences and political tensions played an equally important role is the separation of the Christian Church in Europe.

Christianity had to evolve and adapt over the centuries in order to survive. Christianity had to merge with the cultures and traditions of other religions. It took four centuries for Christianity to become legal.

The church was unsure if Pope Clement V was leading the church or if it was King Philip IV. A folly immediately following this abduction was known as the Great Schism (ca. 1378-1415 A.D.). The Great Schism

One of the assigned readings that struck me was “The Great Schism”. It describes how and why Christianity split into Eastern Orthodoxy and Western Roman Catholicism branches. The main reasons that the East-West schism occurred were cultural, political and geographical. It corrected my misunderstanding concerning the situations that led to the split between the Eastern and Western Christendom. I was surprised to learn about some reasons that could play such a big role in diving the two branches.

Christianity spread throughout Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. Multiple Gods and Goddesses were no longer worshiped. The strong unifying force across Europe became the Catholic

The Great Schism There were many issues that created the Great Schism between the East and the West, both before 1054 CE and after. However, it would appear from the documentation that the East had more issues with how the West conducted religion and ran their church. The issues that occurred with how the West conducted religion and ran their church happened prior to 1054 CE. Furthermore, the ambassadors from the Pope excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople around 1054 CE. The following day, the Patriarch excommunicated the Pope. Then the official Schism between the Latin Roman Catholic church and the Orthodox Catholic church began. 1054 CE is considered the official date of the start of the schism, but there were tensions before

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members

Christianity is broke in to three divisions Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant. In 1054 a major break in Christianity took place, giving birth too two major sects. The major sects were called Catholic and Orthodox. In the 16 century another split became, and that sect was called Protestant. The issue of religious authority continues to be a fundamental difference and perspective between the sects of Christianity. For example, the Pope was not acknowledged by the Orthodox as a worldwide supremacy. Comparison is the Catholic's religious structure cored around the Pope. Thus Christianity has multiple sects and is far more complex.

There were many issues that created the Great Schism between the East and the West, both before 1054 CE and after. However it would appear from the documentation that the East had more issues with how the West conducted religion and ran their church. The issues that occurred with how the West conducted religion and ran their church happened prior to 1054 CE. Furthermore the ambassadors from the Pope excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople around 1054 CE. The following day, the Patriarch excommunicated the Pope. Then the official Schism between the Latin Roman Catholic church and the Orthodox Catholic church began. 1054 CE is considered the official date of the start of the schism, but there were tensions before that date. The schism still lasts until this day.

In 1054, the Great Schism occurred between the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox Christians, when the Pope first excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople. Not long after that, the Patriarch excommunicated the Pope, causing the split. There were many issues prior that created the Great Schism between the east and west both before and after 1054. It would appear from the documentation that the east had more issues with how the west conducted the church. The issues that caused the Schism between the two churches happened prior to 1054, but more issues occurred after the split.

Throughout history, Christianity always had a reputation, or a “name” following it. Different perspectives approached the reputation that was attached to Christianity in different manners. Justin Martyr and Porphyry had objectives when defining whether this “name” really defined Christianity and the past. They wondered whether the past really represented Christianity. Additionally they honed in on the question of was the past that people represented as Christianity really the roots of Christianity? All around Porphyry and Justin was perceptions of what Christianity rooted from and stood for.

According to (Harris, 2014), John wrote his visions to strengthen the faith of those who were suffering at the time. Christians at the time needed all the encouraging they could get, as the cost to remain a Christian were extremely difficult. They faced hostility from the Jews, public suspicion, and even faced government persecution which could result in imprisonment, torture, and execution (Harris, 2014). John’s visions were to let those suffering for their faith know that they did not suffer in vain, and death was but a victory in the grand scheme of things. Victims would gain life everlasting, and the power to judge those that had caused them pain and death (Harris, 2014). 13