The Church of the New Testament

Although the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church ultimately had more differences which ended up causing their

The Old Testament is the largest part of the bible nestled behind the leather binding in the front of the book. Unlike most books, told from one-person or even two this is comprised of multiple, some stories even having two different versions in another point of view; over time it has become a large collection of ancient texts written and re-written by different authors and editors over the many years. The stories show the ancient Israelites, they show the laws, and rituals, which make up their religion and the small embers, which will one day, turn to a flame that is Christianity. The Jewish people view these stories as collected in what they call the Torah, is the collection for what makes up their history and the promise that God gave to them, as well as their laws and what they worship today. For the Christians the Old Testament is still seen as sacred, but most place a stronger importance to the New Testament.

Religion is the belief and worship of a higher power which is in control of the universe. The most popular religions in the world today are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. All four of these religions teach peace. However, followers do not always get along with each other peacefully. All of these religions have a moral code to live by and encourage devotion and prayer.

The Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic, are two variations of the same religion, that due to some disagreements over certain ideas and religious teachings leads to the great Schism in 1054 AD. The great schism of 1054 refers to the final separation of the Eastern Orthodox church, led by the patriarch in Constantinople and the western church, led by Pope Leo IX. The estrangement between the Orthodox and Roman church, happened gradually over the course of the 5th and much of the 11th century. The reasons of the Schism are attributed to several differences between the two churches. The religious and doctrinal studies of the East, had roots in Greek philosophy, while the Western studies closely followed Roman law. Misunderstandings between the two churches then led to two separate ways of defining one doctrine, which would initiate the split. The doctrine in question, procession of the Holy Spirit, where without consulting the East the Roman churches added “and from the Son” to the Nicene Creed. This was not the only thing the two churches clashed on. The eastern church resented the forced clerical celibacy, political jealousies and interests only intensified the disputes. There had been schisms before but not ones that were permanent. While there may have been hopes for a reconciliation, the eastern Greeks were infuriated by the Latin capture of Constantinople in 1204 A.D. After this, any pleas from the west concerning reunion were rejected. (“Schism of 1054”)

Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Catholics once included a solitary Christian church with two focuses of force, Rome and Constantinople. Known as the Great Schism, was the official split between Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Church. The Church split along doctrinal, religious, phonetic, political, and geographic lines, and the central break as never been mended. Though the Church split because of their differences, they still had some things that were similar.

After the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD came the division of the Church which was a result of The Great Schism in 1054 AD. During The Great Schism, the patriarch of Constantinople, Cærularis, and the pope in the west, Leo IX, excommunicated one another, causing a permanent divide and Christianity being split into Greek Orthodoxy in the east and Roman Catholicism in the west. So while both Byzantium and Latin Christendom religion did originate from the same Christian Church of the Roman Empire, as time went on the differences amongst the churches became more apparent. Even though both churches believed in the same seven sacraments and that Christ is present during Holy Communions, they disagreed on what constituted the Holy Trinity, the Original Sin, and what was deemed appropriate behavior of priests. In the Greek Orthodox Church, they believed that Mary did commit the Original Sin while the Roman Catholic Church did not believe this notion. Also, in Byzantium priests were allowed to marry, even though in Latin Christendom they were to remain celibate for life and never marry. Additionally, because of such deeply rooted differences, no Roman Catholic is allowed to receive the Holy Communion in an Orthodox Church and vise versa.

Overall, there seems to be a very high Christology in the New Testament. However, due to the various authors of the books that comprise the anthology, there is an inherent variation of the level of Christology found between the different books. In order to examine the Christology of a religious text, one must first understand the notion of Christology. Christology refers to the level of divinity that Jesus is portrayed to have, and can be understood as a spectrum with an extremely high Christology at one end and an extremely low Christology at the other. The highest possible Christology refers to texts in which Jesus is described at being equal to God, while the lowest possible Christology refers to texts in which Jesus is described as being completely human. These extremes are typically never fully realized in the New Testament; a position on the spectrum between them is usually taken. When analyzing the Christology of the Gospel of Mark, the Book of Revelation, and the Pauline Epistles, it becomes apparent that there is in fact a difference in the Christology of the three. Mark seems to have a lower Christology than the Pauline Epistles, which have a lower Christology than the book of Revelation, which has a very high Christology.

The biggest disagreement between Eastern Orthodox and Western Roman Catholic church was, who was in charge. Serious arguments about how churches were to be run.

The New Testament is characterized by the existence of imperative Biblical figures, with the likes of Jesus Christ, the Apostles, among many others. Peter was among Jesus’ first disciples. From his turning point, as manifested in the book of John 21, to his progress as a dedicated leader as manifested in Acts, to his final emergence as a co-elder as manifested in the Epistles of 1st and 2nd Peter, Peter exhibited traits of a transformational and charismatic biblical figure (Neil & William 409).

How does the missionary activity of the church today relate to the purposes of God revealed in the Old Testament?

To start this off, I don’t know much about the New Testament but I can name a few specifics. For instance, the first four books of the New Testament are all the same story just different perspectives. I know that the book of Revelation is a story of the end of times, written by John. However, Jesus was speaking through John, as he wrote the book. I know that Jesus was born of a virgin, named Mary. Jesus, before his time, had performed his first miracle of turning water into wine. By the age of thirteen, John the Baptist had baptized him. From that moment on, Jesus was now the man he was called to be, our Savior. I know that Jesus traveled through the Middle East, to more place than we know, performing miracles, such as, healing a leper, making

The significance of a branch or sect in a religion is that the usually stem from a minor difference in the religion, but the general concept stays the same. One example is the two sects under the Christianity, Orthodox and Catholic. The history centuries ago plays a big part in how the division started back when the Christian West and Christian East divided in 1054. Small differences such as changes to the creed by the pope furthered their differences. Now, Catholic ideology to Orthodox is seen as excessively legalistic while Catholics see Orthodox as vague.

Regarding the "one true religion", this seems flawed concept. This is like saying English or Ancient Aramaic is the only valid language. It is as ridiculous as having a 1300 year old argument by people from the same religion about who their prophet favored for second in command. Most contemporary religions have more in common than they would ever be willing to admit.

Perhaps the greatest achievement to come from early church history is the establishment of a universal New Testament Canon. While we may not put much thought into it today, which books should be included or excluded from the New Testament was once the center of much controversy. It took the church many years to settle upon the current collection of books as being the proper Canon, making it more of a process than an event. Ironically enough, the need for a universal Canon was only realized after many disputes over the version suggest by the Christian heretic Marcion. Marcion’s collection of books were revised by Athanasius and later endorsed by the church through councils. Once the New Testament Canon was established, all other suggested books became part of a collection known as the Apocrypha and their use dismissed by the church.

Different groups of people all across the world have different religious beliefs, but these beliefs usually share some qualities with another religion. The Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church are two great examples of the religious diversity in the world. Both religious faiths have a great deal of differences but there are also a few qualities that are similar if not the same between the two faiths. Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy are two different religions with different practices, leaders, and customs but are both under the Christian faith and therefore have some similarities.