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New Updates: Chapter 16: Perspectives of the True Church (1300 – 1517) – Part I: The Black Death, Purgatory, Indulgences, Jan Hus and the Hussites
New updates can be found here. Lots of new material to go over.
Also, we reached over 1,000 views/hits to this site! Amazing! I’m amazed that people from Russia, England, Norway, and even Saudi Arabia have been checking out this site. I really do hope that Project Augustine and this site will continue to expand and reach more people the world over.
Tonight we had another interesting discussion on various topics. We discussed whether God still sends plagues down to mankind today. For instance, just as people in medieval Europe thought the Black Death was a punishment from God for their sins, in today’s world, can we say the same thing about AIDS being God’s punishment for homosexuality? Many believers still hold onto this belief, even in today’s scientific world. Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that this was the case – that God had sent the AIDS epidemic as punishment; how would that effect your understanding of God’s character?
Chapter 16: Perspectives of the True Church (1300 – 1517) – Part I: The Black Death, Purgatory, Nominalists, Lollards, and Hussites
“The Triumph of Death”, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1562
For next Wednesday, March 26, please read the first three sections of Chapter 16: The Church, Death and Purgatory (1300 – 1500); Papal Monarchy Challenged (1300 – 1500); Nominalists, Lollards and Hussites (1300 – 1500).
Please write a summary on one of the following topics:
- Discuss the impact the Black Death had upon the Catholic Church and people’s faith; also discuss the flagellant movement and anti-Semitism that was prevalent during this time.
- Discuss how the industry of Indulgences gained popularity during the time of the Black Death
- Discuss why Purgatory became so prevalent during after the 12th century.
- What was the significance of Council of Konstanz in 1417 with Pope Martin V and the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund? What was the impact of the Conciliarists?
- Discuss the philosophy of William of Ockham and the Nominalists and why they were a threat to papal authority. Also how did printed texts and the printed Bible change the spiritual landscape of Europe during this time?
- Discuss the impact of John Wyclif in the 1370s and his followers the Lollards. What was the impact of the English translation of the Vulgate, and then subsequent translations of the Bible in the other European countries’ native language?
- Discuss the impact of Jan Hus and his Hussites during the 1400s in Prague. What impact did his execution have on the Czech Church and relations with the Catholic Church?
As you can tell, we are on the cusp of the Reformation revolution that is to come full force.
Essays will be posted next week.
New Update: Chapter 15: Russia the Third Rome – Part II: The Rise of Moscow and Ivan the Terrible
Fourteen Orthodox Church patriarchs and archbishops gather in Church of St. George upon the invitation of Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul, Turkey, on March 6, 2014. (Photo by Erhan Elaldi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) | Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Sorry for the delay, but here are the new entries.
This concludes our studies into the Orthodox Church for now, but through this I think we all gained tremendous insight into the history of the Orthodox faith as a whole.
In relation to the history of the Orthodox faith, we are living in interesting times right now as “the Twelve heads of autonomous Orthodox churches, the second-largest family of Christian churches, agreed to hold a summit of bishops, or ecumenical council, in 2016, which will be the first in over 1,200 years” recently.
It will be interesting how the Orthodox Church will respond to what is happening in Russia and the Ukraine right now as well.
In regards to reading MacCulloch, what I personally want to investigate is to see “God’s hand” in the major events of history. Of course, this isn’t MacCulloch’s main concern in this book, however, it’s just a personal spiritual question I have as I study Church history. So far, I’m a bit conflicted as to it being so clear that God is in a sense “micro-managing” everything that happens in history. We can so easily say “The Lord is the Lord of history!” in sermons and books, but I believe that it’s such a naive statement. History is rich and complex, with so many variables and moving parts, that it’s kind of hard to pinpoint and say, “Aha! You see, God was working here” etc.
“The 160-Year Christian History Behind What’s Happening in Ukraine” – Christianity Today
Here is a great article in christianitytoday.com about the history of Crimea and the Crimean War (1853 – 56) – great background to what is happening in that region and the Ukraine today.
After reading about the history of the Orthodox faith in Russia for the past couple of months, when you read this article, things will seem more familiar even though we haven’t delved into this later part of Russian Orthodox Church history yet.
Chapter 15: Russia: The Third Rome (900 – 1800) – Part II (1448 – 1800)
Next Wednesday, March 12, 2014, we will finish up Chapter 15 and our journey into the history of the Orthodox Church and specifically the Russian Orthodox Church by covering the sections: Muscovy Triumphant (1448 – 1547), Ivan the Terrible and the New Patriarchate (1547 – 98), and From Muscovy to Russia (1598 – 1800).
Ivan IV, aka ‘Ivan the Terrible’
With these readings, and with all the tensions that has been going on in Kiev, Ukraine currently, I hope we’ve gained a better understanding of its complex history and geopolitical importance throughout Russian history.
New Updates – Chapter 15: Russia: The Third Rome (900 – 1448) – Part 1
Hi everyone, here is the update for Chapter 15 that you can read here.
Topics on the Tartars, Mongols, Kiev, Vikings, and how the Rus’ adopted and accommodated Byzantine culture and the Orthodox faith into their own.
Chap. 15: Russia – The Third Rome (900 – 1800) – Part I
Hi folks, next Wednesday (Feb. 26) we will begin our journey of Orthodoxy in Russia by focusing on the first two sections of Chapter 15: “A New Threat to Christendom: Norsemen, Rus’ and Kiev (900 – 1240)” and “Tartars, Lithuania and Muscovy (1240 – 1448)”.
Cathedral of the Dormition, Kiev, Ukraine
Studying Russia’s Orthodox Church history seems appropriate with all that is happening in Russia currently with the Sochi Winter Olympics and the political unrest that is happening in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.
Engineering an Empire – The Byzantines
We just concluded our readings about the rise and fall of the Byzantine Empire.
One of my favorite programs that aired on the History Channel was a series titled “Engineering an Empire” hosted by Peter Weller, lecturer of ancient history at Syracuse University – yes, that Peter Weller who starred in “Robocop”, “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai”, and most recently in last year’s “Startrek: Into Darkness”.
Chapter 14: Orthodoxy – More Than an Empire (900 – 1700)
Next Wednesday, we will discuss Chapter 14 which deals with the Orthodox Church during the time of the Crusades, up until its fall by the Ottomans in 1453, and the Orthodox Church’s struggle under Ottoman control afterwards.
The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453
Submissions for Chapter 13: Part II – Byzantine Iconoclasm and Patriarch Photios
Here are our written submissions from last night.
Also, I caught an error in one of our links for Chapter 12, from Dec. 18, 2013. Here is the corrected link.
Good conversation from last night as we centered around the often uneasy relationship between religion (the institutionalized version) and politics. (And first time in a long while where we had the whole crew present in a meeting.)
Amanda pointed out that she felt that MacCulloch’s book was more about a “history of the church” rather than the “history of Christianity”. I think I understand her position. It’s a bit depressing to read about how corrupt and power-hungry people have been when reading about church history, even though they hide under the veneer that they are followers of Christ. I believe she wanted to read about accounts of believers in the early part of the church who were not only doing good deeds, but really living out their convictions for the love of Christ and for others.
I think one of the main underlying questions was: What does true Christianity really look like? Does it have to be defined by church denominations or traditions? (No, of course not, but…)
I posed the question, “Didn’t Christ die for the church?”
Project Augustine 