Theology 2 PDF

Theology 2 I.​ Church History → Greek etymology - “Ekklesia” meaning to call out. The church is comprised of people who are called out of the world → Latin etymology - “Ecclesia” meaning a congregation/ group of believers. An assembly of the people convened at th...

Theology 2 I.​ Church History → Greek etymology - “Ekklesia” meaning to call out. The church is comprised of people who are called out of the world → Latin etymology - “Ecclesia” meaning a congregation/ group of believers. An assembly of the people convened at the public place of the council to deliberate. In a Christian sense, it is an assembly of Christians, to worship in a religious meeting. → Ekklesia → Ecclesia → Church Primary Mission - convert people Story of Jonah - A disobedient prophet gets swallowed by a whale and came out 3 days later ​ Relevance: The mission to convert people started with Jonah Story of Jesus - Jesus descended to hell and on the third day rose again from the dead ​ There is a parallelism between the Old Testament and the New Testament Relation to the Present ​ Many people have started to disregard Christianity and convert to other religions due to it being “boring”, “conservative”, and chuchuchu. So the catholic church’s response it to implement a feast. Should C. Church be lenient on allowing non-christians inside the church? → No. Church-goers should be educated since the outside of the church is a marketplace and the youth gets distracted. Not using the Church as a means of worship but to one’s benefit/ gain. Fun Fact: Priests can’t celebrate mass for more than 4 times because the mompo (wine) they take is super strong. (ty chai) How to get banned from Heaven? → Through committing sacrilege, one can get excommunicated and then go to hell. Examples of sacrilege ​ Priest confessing other people’s sins ​ Galileo saying the center of the solar system is the sun ​ Abortion; the highest crime in the church 11dpascua_theo  II.​ Cultures that influence Christianity Romans Greek Jews -> Political -> Intellectual -> Religious ​ Governmental System ​ Universal Language ​ Monotheism ​ Roman Army (Militia) (Koine) ​ Hope for coming ​ Roman Law (Legal ​ Greek Philosophy Messiah Context) prepared the coming of ​ Stuck in the Old christianity Testament Relation of Church and the Empire Historical Context → Relation of the church and the empire is one of the major themes of early Christian history → Jews + Christians = UNDISTINGUISHABLE until Emperor Nero Emperor Nero of Rome ​ Super Narcissistic and greedy guy ​ He wanted more land so he burned a part of the empire and blamed it on the Christians. Accused Christians of the ff.: ​ Incest - “everyone is brothers and ​ Atheism - sisters” “worships man, not ​ Cannibalism - god” “body of Christ” Christian’s response ​ Deny the Faith ​ Apostolize ​ Remain Steadfast → just denies → denies and joins → gave their life Martyrdom - “Witness”. Gave their life in persecution. Apologetics - “Defenders”. Defends the faith 11dpascua_theo  III.​ Question of Apostolicity Apostolicity = the mark by which the church of today is recognized as identical with the Church founded by Jesus Christ upon the apostles ​ What makes the Church Apostolic? ​ Why is it important that the Church is Apostolic? ○​ It is the surest indication of the true Church of Christ, it is most easily examined, and it virtually contains the other three marks, namely Unity Sancitity ​ How can you determine if the Church that you are into is a Church established by Christ? Criteria Apostolic Scripture/ Sacred Scripture ​ Refers to the definitive list of the books that are considered to be divine revelation. Apostolic faith/ rule of faith ​ It is the correct teaching passed down in the churches by their bishops and presbyters ​ It is the summary of the apostolic message and expresses the legitimate content of the scriptures Apostolic succession ​ It is the teaching that bishops represent a direct, uninterrupted line of continuity from the apostles of Jesus Christ. ​ The history of the catholic church from St. Peter the First Pontiff to the present head of the church is evident proof of its apostolicity. IV.​ Persecution in Christian History Through -​ Fire -​ Crucifixion In the Japanese time, christians were punished by tying u on a tree and letting the big ants eat and kill u the challenge to bring back the glory of the roman empire is to eliminate christianity. St. Valentine got killed for solemnizing marriage Historical Context ​ Christianity was understood as a distinct religion apart from Judaism. Since it was not an ethnic religion, it had no right to protection. This means anyone can be Christian despite being Jewish/Roman. (Not ethnic kasi it’s not limited to a certain culture or land) by not being ethnic, they can be universal and inclusive meaning EVERYONE can join it. “Even if ure a jew or even if you're a roman, Jesus accepts u all” ​ There is a decline of the empire’s vitality from Marcus Aurelius (c.180) to Decius (251) 11dpascua_theo  The correlation between the rise of christianity and the decline of the roman empire, is that romans join the christians. During these persecutions, Christians who refused to disown their faith or to worship the roman gods (or idols) were thrown into cauldrons of boiling oil, crucified, beheaded, or cast into the arena to be devoured by lions. Some were thrown into the Tiber… Rome, the seat of paganism and monstrous idolatry, was drenched in the blood of Christians The period of roman persecution was at the same time the age of martyrs Popular emperors that persecuted christians crazyyyyyly Decius (250-251) just hated christians ​ The reign of Decius marked the turning point from local to an empire-wide assault to Christianity ​ There was a universal order to sacrifice to the gods ​ There was an arrests to the higher clergy Valerian (253-260) “wala lang, it’s what he must do kasi” ​ Send bishops to exile ​ Forbid CHrisitan assemblies ​ Clergies were recalled and executed ​ Christians of high rank were degraded and their property seized ​ Christians in the imperial service were sent to chains to work Diocletian (285-305) attacked human rights ?? ​ Christian buildings were to be leveled ​ Scriptures were burned ​ Anyone appealing to court must sacrifice. Hence, debarring Chris from the judicial system ​ Governors were to arrest and imprison bishops ​ Bishops should be released if they sacrifice ​ Sacrifice to the gods were obligatory for everyone. Christians also had to face the more Important challenges to the faith, known as heresies, which were unorthodox teachings of false teachers in teh early Chrisitan Communities Types of Heresies: ​ Gnotiscism - WHich taught that the world was eternal ​ Manicheism - which affirmed the existence of two eternal principles- one good and the other evil ​ SAballianism - which denied that the father, the son and the holy spirit were really distinct persons, but were merely three different modes or aspects of the same divine substance 11dpascua_theo  ​ Tritheism - three different gods ​ Subordinationism - which affirms that the Son and the Holy Spirit are subordinate rather than equal to the Father in being and nature V.​ Emperor Constantine (not included in MT) Battle at Milvian Bridge -​ Describe the narrative of what happened during this battle, and how influential this is to Constantine’s choice to side to Christianity 11dpascua_theo