Rudiments of Christian History: An Outline of Persons, Events, and Teachings

By Michael Petruzzelli

Rudiments of Christian History: An Outline of Persons, Events, and Teachings is written in the format of an informal outline which presents a summary of some of the major topics of the two-thousand-year span of Christian history. The author provides various interpretations of causal relationships of key events, along with insight regarding historical persons who significantly impacted the course of Christian history, and a concise explanation of basic Christian teachings and various Christian theologies. A wide scope of citations from primary sources and modern and contemporary scholars, both Christian and secular, provides factual informativeness and in-depth insight regarding the events, teachings, and persons involved in the unfolding of Christian history. This volume contains an extensive bibliography and clear and readily accessible reference information to the outside works that are cited.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098084585

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Rudiments of Christian History

An Outline of Persons, Events, and Teachings

Michael Petruzzelli

Copyright © 2021 by Michael Petruzzelli

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

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Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Sections 1–18

Sections 1–14

Sections 1–20

Sections 1–9

Sections 1–12

Sections 1–8

Sections 1–9

Preface

Any short text on the history of Christianity involves a selection process where an attempt is made to cover the most salient issues of a two-thousand-year span of time, of persons and events across the globe. Such attempts usually fall woefully short of their goal given the history of a religion that has formed a core part of the history of the West while the history of the West has formed a core part of the history of the world. This text is intended to be a pedagogical aid in introducing the reader to Christian history. This text, however, can hardly substitute for a multivolume work on a subject of such vast importance and scope.

This work is written in the format of an informal outline which hopefully can present, for the reader, an abbreviated understanding of only some of the major points in Christian history. As with all historical texts, dispute and disagreement can be made with various interpretations of key events, persons, and teachings provided here.

Some attention is given to identifying the authors of the various works cited in this text. While a bibliography is also provided at the end of this text, it seemed much more convenient and helpful to the reader to cite the author and published sources of each reference made to outside works immediately following any given quotation. My sources are varied, some of which might be considered older rather than contemporary. All sources, though, I consider scholarly, reliable, and meriting on the part of all readers of this outline the further reading of the actual and entire cited work itself. The authors whose works are cited wrote, in many instances, passages which I have cited as much for their factual informativeness as for their insight. History is multifaceted and lengthy and will differ as each author of outlines of that history necessarily chooses some scholarly past works rather than others.

While any work on the history of Christianity would certainly involve reference to authors who are Christian believers, there was an attempt made in this work not to limit citations to authors of any one Christian denomination nor to exclude reference to reputable secular scholars who provide little or no evidence of Christian belief.

An attempt has been made to be objective and fair in interpreting the historical issues covered in this work without succumbing to a positivist viewpoint that would summarily discount any reference to the miraculous or supernatural. As redactive and postmodern critics would point out as an obvious fact, however, no written historical work is completely free of editorial positioning, value promoting, or even faith enhancing. All authors must necessarily leave it to the reader to make his or her own determinations regarding acceptance or rejection of faith and religious issues.

Introduction to Topics Treated

Part 1 (Sections 1–18): Introduction to the founding of Christianity and infant church to primary sources of Christian history and to dating and authorship of gospels and Acts of the Apostles, summary of Acts and evidence apostolic succession, to the early Church Fathers, to Roman persecution and early Christian heresies

1. Definition and breadth of Christian history; founding, beginning of Christianity with Jesus Christ; this history includes how Christ’s church began, changed, and even fragmented and how this church’s organization, doctrines, practices, liturgy, and rituals developed from the original church.

2. Primary historical sources of Christianity include the four Gospels and New Testament books, all written when eyewitnesses to Christ’s life were still alive; oral tradition preceded Christian Scripture and is the extensive oral preaching and teaching handed down by apostles/disciples of Christ, which preserved basic information on teachings and life of Christ.

3. Four first-century Christian Gospels include three Synoptic Gospels which provide an overview of most significant events in Christ’s life with similar accounts as opposed to apocryphal gospels written in the second century or later and containing fanciful stories unverified by any other source; even John’s gospel is harmonious with Synoptic Gospels in its record of Christ’s life and works, notwithstanding its theological view of Christ as God made man.

4. Many discrepancies of minor importance in gospels but overall consistency and coherence in the narratives of events and teachings; different emphasis, goals, and intended audiences of all four Gospels: Mark’s gospel emphasizes Jesus as Son of Man and Son of God triumphant over Satan; Matthew’s gospel directed toward Jews, in particular, to show Jesus as Messiah and fulfillment of God’s covenant; Luke’s gospel directed toward Gentiles to emphasize Christ’s saving mission to all people; John’s gospel concerned with Jesus’s identity as divine Logos or Word of God

5. Historical-critical method utilizing scientific analysis in interpreting Scripture and determining the historical Jesus either from a faith or from a strictly positivist perspective; non-Christian first-century sources referring to historical Jesus and to associated historical events: Josephus, Tacitus, Suetonius.

6. Divinity and humanity of Christ believed to be revealed in Christian gospels; Christianity teaching that Christ had to be human in order to take the place of all human persons in his redemptive death and that Christ had to be divine in order to atone for man’s infinite offense of sin; note on proof-texting.

7. Skeptics who object to claims of Christ founding a church cite lack of documented evidence in the gospels of any hierarchical institution left behind by Christ; some believers and some historians cite initial evidence refuting these objections from Gospel passages that indicate that Christ intended to establish a governing, teaching, and serving the church.

8. Evidence of one Christian church in the first century found in Acts of the Apostles; Paul’s missionary journeys; appointment of presbyters/episcopoi (same office or order in infant church until the end of first century); early Christian church considered as one body of Jesus Christ in letters of Paul.

9. Breaking of bread term used in Acts for liturgy on the first day of the week; the body of Christ used by Paul in his letters as referring to the Lord’s supper in which one participates individually in a union with Christ, which also unites the entire assembly of the faithful into one church; first use of term Eucharist in the late first century with Clement of Rome, in Didache, and in the early second century by Ignatius of Antioch; preliminary understanding of Eucharist as a sacrifice by all three latter sources; note on Hellenistic influences anticipating Christian belief: Plato, the Stoical school of philosophy, and Aristotle.

10. Christian understanding of God the Father and eternal generation of the Son as Logos/divine Word; apologist Justin Martyr distinguished the Logos from the Father as he is derived without being diminished; Greek philosophy useful in explaining the beliefs of Christianity.

11. Luke believed by various church fathers/historians/most scholars to be the author of Acts of the Apostles as well as Gospel writer and referred to by Paul as a coworker. Acts provides information verifiable from other secular sources and their historically accurate backgrounds; contrary to much scholarly opinion, the viable argument holds Luke probably did author Acts before AD 70, the date of Roman destruction of Jerusalem.

12. Summary of salient events in Acts of the Apostles including the following: first apostolic succession by choosing Matthias to carry on office left vacant by Judas; Pentecost and believed descent of Holy Spirit; Philip the deacon baptized in Samaria but only Apostles Peter and John can confirm; Paul’s missionary journeys included appointing presbyters in every evangelized town; council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 decided Gentile Christians not held to follow Mosaic law; Paul spread Christianity to Greece, Macedonia, and even Rome.

13. Episcopos and presbyter separated as two distinct orders by the beginning of the second century with only episcopoi (bishops) having sacred power to ordain and acting as heads of particular churches with subordinate presbyters (priests); apostolic Father Ignatius of Antioch on bishop or clergy as necessary for valid Eucharist, on the presence of Christ and on the Catholic Church; note on Church Fathers.

14. Apostolic succession and the passing on of sacred power and mission of the bishops through ordination found in Hippolytus; evidence of apostolic succession in Paul’s pastoral letters; apostolic succession and doctrinal importance of the Eucharist as a sacrifice offered by the priest acting in the person of Christ found in Cyprian of Carthage and John Chrysostom; the primacy of Peter found in Acts.

15. Primacy in Christianity of the church at Rome in Clement of Rome, who made reference to his own authority as bishop of Rome and in Irenaeus who made reference to the faith coming down from the apostles as being held by the greatest and most ancient church founded by Peter and Paul in Rome; overall uniformity of teaching in the Christian church despite early heresies.

16. Rome’s persecution of Christians was on-again-off-again over approximately two and a half centuries; four major reasons why Rome persecuted Christians: Christians refused to worship gods of Rome and were branded atheists, Christians were thought to practice perverted rituals, Christians were reluctant to join legions, Christians, unlike, Jews converted others to their faith; apologist Justin Martyr explained in the letter to the Roman emperor what the Eucharist really involved to dispel rumors of perversion; while some Christians joined legions, others like Tertullian taught that Christianity should be pacifist.

17. Nero responsible for the first persecution of Christians as scapegoats for the great fire in Rome in the first century; Trajan, in the second century, initiated don’t-ask-don’t-tell Roman policy rejecting anonymous denunciations and giving Christians opportunity to renounce their faith; Decius, in the third century, required all Roman subjects to produce certificates of sacrifice to the gods of Rome, and those without it had to offer sacrifice, those who refused were put to death; Diocletian/Galerius in the early fourth century systematized persecution of Christians, burning churches and Christian Scripture, imprisoning clergy and torturing them to death, and rounding up suspected Christians who had to offer sacrifice or be executed.

18–18C. Persecution threatened Christianity externally, heresies threatened Christianity internally; first and second-century Christian heresies: Ebionites taught that Jesus was not divine but only human, Gnosticism taught that spirit is good and matter (including the human body) is evil, Manichaeism—Gnostic cult that taught that Mani was true spiritual leader who led followers to enlightenment, Docetism—Christian Gnostic cult that taught that Jesus was purely a divine being who only appeared to have a human body, that he did not die on a cross to redeem man, and that he brought direct illumination to true followers.

18D–18F. Marcionism—Docetist cult that taught there were two creator gods, the good god of the spiritual universe and the evil god of the Jews who created the material universe, and that Jesus was not a real man but a divine being who came to do away with the evil god of the Jews; Modalism—first type held that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were not three distinct persons but merely three different modes of one divine person, second type held that the Son and the Holy Spirit were subordinated to the Father and were not really God but merely received power to function in divine modes mandated by the Father; Montanism—taught apocalypticism, viz., end of the world was imminent, and Jesus Christ was about to return and establish new heavenly kingdom on earth.

Part 2 (Sections 1–14): Christianity institutionalized at the time of Constantine to the first five ecumenical councils and the development of Christian doctrine, to the fall of Rome and the rise of monasticism.

1. Constantine, junior emperor in the West, defeated far greater forces of senior Emperor Maxentius at Milvian Bridge in 312, after having vision of a cross in the sky and hearing a voice tell him, In this sign conquer. Constantine became sole emperor in the West and protector of the Christian church; Constantine coaxed Licinius, the emperor in the East, to cosign Edict of Milan, 313, granting freedom of religion to Christians and to all other faiths throughout empire; persecution ended in the West and in much—but not all—of the East; Constantine supported Christian church with imperial tax revenue, building churches in Rome and other cities while exempting bishops and priests from taxation; Constantine gave bishop of Rome a basilica in Rome, later became the Lateran Basilica.

2. Constantine defeated Licinius in 324 and became the sole emperor of united empire, moving capital from Rome to Constantinople, the city built as center of Christianity along with more Christian churches in East; Constantine gave bishops authority of judges in their dioceses and allowed dioceses to own land and receive bequests; number of Christians rose dramatically and dominance and authority of now Roman Catholic Church was firmly established.

3. Caesaropapism, civil authority over church, became reality under Constantine; over time, emperors and lay rulers tried to bend will of papacy and prelates to political ends; theological meaning of Arianism: heresy that spread throughout empire among laymen and prelates, especially in East, and said God the Son was not truly God but only a creation of God, not equal to the Father; Eusebius, historian and biographer, wrote that civil unrest plagued empire, making Constantine fearful, and thus emperor (not pope) called first Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325 to resolve question of Arianism.

4–4C. Meaning of ecumenical: Greek for general or universal; ecumenical councils called usually by papacy, included majority of church’s bishops, to resolve major problems, often a heresy; council condemned Arianism and decreed nonbiblical term homoousios, from Greek meaning of the same substance; church father Athanasius was chief theologian; Council of Nicaea began definition of the Trinity, and first part of Nicene Creed was established.

4D–4E. Arianism did not die out until end of fourth century with successor sons of Constantine adopting one or more versions; semi-Arianism did nothing to change essential issue concerning full divinity of the Son; semi-Arians rallied around Macedonius, bishop of Constantinople, ca. 342–360, and extended the heresy of the Son to the Holy Spirit who was claimed to be not divine and inferior even to the Son; Macedonianism, followed by pneumatomachianism or spirit-killing," which similarly taught that Holy Spirit was not divine third person of Trinity but, rather, was created by the Father; heresy condemned by Pope Damasus, 379; Basil the Great upheld divinity of the Holy Spirit even as heresy persisted.

5. Second Ecumenical Council held at Constantinople in 381 called by Emperor Theodosius (378–395) to finally settle the Arian and Pneumatomachian controversies which the church father Gregory of Nyssa said led to frenzy or madness; decrees of council were lost, but the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed calling for adoration of the Holy Spirit as God was added to Eucharistic liturgy soon after council; creed originally stated that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, and the phrase and the Son or "filioque" was later added in the West which created controversy with churches in East.

6. Biblical canon or official list of books of Old and New Testaments determined by regional Synod of Rome in 382, convened by Pope Damasus who also commissioned monk scholar Jerome to translate into Latin Greek Septuagint Old Testament and Greek Christians Scriptures; regional councils of Hippo, 393, and Carthage, 397, under direction of Augustine bishop of Hippo reaffirmed the same biblical canon.

7. Augustine (354–430) was bishop of Hippo and converted to Christianity who became one of greatest Christian theologians and philosophers; he wrote voluminously on all aspects of faith; greatest works include Confessions, his autobiographical admission of struggle with good and evil; his City of God provided his theory of history, contrasting ongoing struggle between mankind’s pursuit of selfish interests and God’s realm of truth and supernatural virtue for those who seek him; Augustine also renowned for his refutation of Pelagianism and his doctrine of original sin and grace.

8. Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus, 431, met to consider controversy concerning Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople, who rejected giving the Virgin Mary title Theotokos, or Mother of God; Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, appointed president of council by Pope Celestine I; refuted Nestorius’s teachings in series of letters and Cyril’s teachings accepted by council with Nestorianism condemned.

9. Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon, 451, condemned as a heresy Monophysitism, which claimed that Christ had only divine nature and not human nature, and council upheld teachings of Pope Leo the Great (440–461), who taught in his tome that Christ is divine Person with divine nature and complete human nature he assumed in womb of Virgin Mary in time; before Council of Chalcedon met, patriarch of Alexandria, Dioscurus, persuaded Byzantine emperor to convene a council at Ephesus in 449, which Dioscurus dominated and in which he denounced teachings of Pope Leo the Great and upheld teachings of the monk Eutyches, who was one of the originators of Monophysitism; this council at Ephesus declared to be Latrocinium (Robber Council) by Pope Leo the Great; pope excommunicated Dioscurus; Monophysitism took over two centuries and two more ecumenical councils to die out.

10. Fall of Rome, an elongated process that led to end of the empire in the West; onset of Dark Ages in the West as civilization deteriorated; empire was divided throughout the fifth century, and Rome was sacked in 410 by barbarian mercenary Alaric; barbarian chieftain Odoacer sat on the imperial throne by 476; church survived in Rome as popes continued as heads of the church and civil administrators; barbarian tribes overran all parts of the Western empire, as marauding bands plundered and destroyed much of what was left of Roman civilization; monasticism arose as Christianity’s answer to the Dark Ages of the West.

11. Monasticism examined; monasticism characterized by asceticism (life of self-denial intended to promote spirituality) and the evangelical counsels—poverty, chastity, and obedience, practices rooted in the Christian gospels; monks follow these practices according to fixed rule under superior and are more or less secluded from the world; contemplation or the experiencing of God’s presence within oneself is the major goal of monasticism; monks live in community, chief duties being daily prayer and work; monks support themselves, often providing social, educational, spiritual, and charitable service to others; first and greatest monastic order—the Benedictines whose founder, Benedict, established in his famous rule way of life surviving to the present; all monasteries engage in communal worship but some more dedicated to solitary prayer and contemplation, while others are more dedicated to missionary work, teaching, evangelization, and Christian charity outside the monastery.

12. Monasticism kept Christian faith alive and spreading in the West after the fall of Rome; monks not only celebrated liturgy and sacraments and taught faith for the peasants but were missionaries to largely pagan or Arian barbarians; Pope Gregory the Great sent monks under Augustine (later called Augustine of Canterbury) to convert barbarian Angles and Saxons in Kent; another monk, Paulinus of York, spread Christianity into Northumbria; Irish monk Columba established on Scottish isle the monastery of Iona as a base for converting Scotland and British Isles; Irish monk Aidan established Lindisfarne off Northumbria which became a great missionary base for central Britain; another Irish monk, Columban, built monasteries and converted tribes in Eastern France and Switzerland. In time, Irish monasteries became Benedictine.

13. Monasticism kept learning alive in the West after fall of Rome; most monasteries included monks who were scholarly and studied and taught Christian doctrine, biblical studies, Church Fathers, and secular arts/sciences; influenced by Latin and Greek scholar monk Cassiodorus, Benedictine monasteries taught trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and logic) and also taught quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy; many monasteries had scriptoria (rooms where monk scribes copied classical Latin letters and literature as well as the Western Church Fathers), and also scientific works of all kinds (medical, astronomical, botanical, biological, and journals of agricultural techniques); Alcuin was assigned as a major teacher at palace school of Charlemagne and educated monks/clergy who went on to establish monastic and parish schools.

14. Monasticism kept commerce going in the West after fall of Rome when peasants were reduced to subsistence farming and living standards; monks preserved and developed and taught agricultural techniques that developed barren lands by introducing crop rotation, simple irrigation, drainage of swamps, clearing of forests, and breeding of cattle; monasteries had workshops where monks taught trades to peasants such as stone masonry, blacksmithing, and carpentry.

Part 3 (Sections 1–20): The building and growth of Christianity in the West both before and during Charlemagne’s theocracy to the corruption of the church caused by lay investiture, to the church in the East and the Byzantine Empire in conflict with the church in the West and the new Roman Empire.

1. Boniface, British missionary monk, evangelized much of Germany; commissioned by Pope Gregory II to convert German tribes; most successful in Bavaria, Thuringia, and Hesse; built churches and monasteries and organized beginnings of German church; called apostle to the Germans; Boniface’s efforts aided in establishing Frankish kingdom.

2. Pepin, son of Charles Martel, first Carolingian king; Pope Stephen II (III) crossed the Alps and anointed Pepin king of the Franks in exchange for protection of Rome from barbarian Lombards; Pepin drove out Lombards and secured a strip of land encompassing Rome, later called Papal States.

3. Pepin’s son, Charlemagne, vastly extended the Frankish kingdom into an empire stretching from Northern Spain through all of France and Germany, the Polish, Moravian, and Austrian borders; Charlemagne engaged in a prolonged war with the Saxons to conquer and force their conversion; Charlemagne created a theocracy with a close union of church and state.

4. Charlemagne established a palace school at Aachen and invited scholars such as Alcuin to teach priests and religious to head parish schools throughout the empire in an attempt to have universal education; Charlemagne awarded bishops and abbots as well as his generals and officers large tracts of land with serfs attached; monasteries and dioceses became wealthy with the beginning of feudal system; monasteries and dioceses became centers of commerce and accumulated wealth controlled by abbots and bishops; positions of ecclesiastical authority were sought after by nobility.

5. Charlemagne gave overlapping religious and political authority to bishops and abbots; Charlemagne partook in a type of Caesaropapism called lay investiture in order to advance Christianity within the empire; Charlemagne engaged in strict control over the appointment of bishops and abbots; ambitious men sought positions of authority in the church.

6. Einhard, scholar at Charlemagne’s palace school, wrote a short biography of his life; empire, composing much of continental Western Europe, divided by grandsons into three sections in 843 after the death of Charlemagne’s son Louis who succeeded him.

7. In AD 936, Otto the Great established his governance over much of Central Europe, and the Holy Roman Empire began; lay investiture continued; popes during this period were weak morally lax men whose concern were those laymen who placed them on the papal throne; church became corrupt with effects of Caesaropapism and lay investiture; Cluny was founded in France by reform Benedictines; Cluny influenced many later reform monasteries.

8. Pope Nicholas II in 1059 issued a papal bull calling for popes to be elected by the college of cardinals and specifically cardinal bishops rather than papal elections influenced by secular rulers; another reform pope, Alexander III, in 1179 issued decrees against simony and priestly sexual misconduct and also decreed two-thirds majority of College of Cardinals necessary to elect a new pope.

9. Pope Gregory VII, the monk Hildebrand, took on a battle between church and empire over who controlled the appointment of bishops/abbots; the pope, making an episcopal selection, temporarily triumphed over Emperor Henry IV (who tried to depose the pope) by excommunicating him; Henry IV suffered a temporary loss of support from German bishops, and nobles begged and received pope’s forgiveness; emperor regained support, attacked Rome; pope assaulted and exiled; Norman troops drove Henry IV’s troops out of Italy but sacked Rome; Pope Gregory VII died a broken man after mistreatment by enemies.

10. Concordat of Worms, 1122, agreement between the Holy Roman emperor and the pope that secular rulers cannot intervene in the church’s appointment of prelates; lay investiture, however, lingers in much of Christendom until end of Middle Ages.

11. Continued church problems persisted in the twelfth century with secular rulers interfering with papal elections and with secular rulers outside the Holy Roman Empire still engaging in lay investiture and still choosing their own bishops who, heretofore, were empowered to vote for each new pope; in 1179, eleventh ecumenical council—third at the Lateran—decreed that only two-thirds of College of Cardinals could elect a pope, and Pope Alexander III, also in 1179, decreed that only a pope could appoint cardinals.

12. Foundations of European nations laid in High Middle Ages; secular rulers continued via Caesaropapism to influence the church and the papacy; popes resisted using the power of excommunication and interdict (denial to nations of Eucharist, sacraments or rite of Christian burial) to control hostile secular rulers in West; in East, Byzantine emperors and patriarchs grew increasingly independent of Rome leading to schism, this process had early beginnings with capital moved to Constantinople and with that episcopal see declared second in importance only to Rome; Greek rather than Latin became the most important language of learning and culture, and the church in Constantinople grew in authority as barbarian invasions weakened the church in Rome.

13. Early causes of Great Eastern Schism continued in sixth century; Emperor Justinian built Hagia Sophia in Constantinople—greatest basilica in Christendom; Justinian arrested and maltreated Pope Vigilius over Monophysitism; patriarch of Constantinople seen in East as real head of the church; Justinian called fifth ecumenical council (the second at Constantinople) which upheld teachings of Chalcedon; in seventh century, because of Islamic threat to Asia Minor, Byzantine emperor was powerless to come to aid of Rome, often besieged by barbarians; by eighth century popes, looked to Carolingian monarchs to protect Rome while Greek bishops looked to patriarch of Constantinople to lead the church in East.

14. First jurisdictional controversy leading to Great Eastern Schism was the filioque issue which involved addition of phrase filioque (and the Son) to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed used in Eucharistic liturgy in West; filioque was not primarily a doctrinal issue but one of jurisdiction as patriarch of Constantinople was not consulted before addition was made; Charlemagne had pressured his bishops throughout West to accept filioque into recitation of Creed; the church in East angry at not being consulted before filioque was added to liturgy and looked askance at the church in West being pressured by near-barbarian emperor who had the audacity to meddle in theological issues.

15. Another specific controversy was the iconoclastic issue; in eighth century, Byzantine emperor Leo the Isaurian held that images of God, His Mother, and saints were idolatrous, and he ordered their destruction; more realistic reason for the emperor’s order to destroy icons may have been Islam’s rejection of holy images and emperor’s desire to mitigate Islamic aggression; in seventh ecumenical council in 787 (second held at Nicaea), council condemned iconoclasm and upheld reverence to icons as a means to show reverence to the person represented; the issue arose again and then was finally settled; however, a faulty translation in the West of Greek led Latin bishops to condemn conciliar decrees; the church in the East disdained the church in the West for ignorant mistake.

16. Next controversy ultimately leading to Great Eastern Schism was Byzantine emperor Michael III, in an act of Caesaropapism (lay investiture), appointed Photius as patriarch of Constantinople, replacing legitimately appointed patriarch; controversy was settled at eighth ecumenical council where Photius was replaced by Ignatius, previous patriarch whom the emperor had deposed; one affirmative event in the church in East was evangelizing effort of brothers Cyril and Methodius, priests who helped bring Christianity to Slavic and Czech peoples and who created an alphabet for Slavic language.

17. Second jurisdictional controversy led directly to the Great Eastern Schism in 1054 over the issue of whether Rome or Constantinople had the authority to decide whether the Latin or the Byzantine rite was to be used in parts of Italy nominally controlled by the Byzantine Empire; papal representative Cardinal Humbert and Patriarch Michael Cerularius both asserted claims of authority and exchanged accusations in mutual excommunications; Great Eastern Schism remains unresolved to this day.

18. Devastating event in 1204 that solidified the Schism was the sacking of Constantinople by Crusaders from the West; fourth Crusade intended to aid the Byzantine Empire against Muslim Turks, but instead Crusaders overthrew Byzantine emperor and set up a Latin ruler and kingdom that lasted from 1204–1261; Great Eastern Schism became an entrenched split.

19. Second devastating event that solidified the Schism was failure of the Catholic Church and the West to prevent the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453; pope’s call for a Crusade to aid the Byzantines received little support; pope sent ships to aid Constantinople but help was too little and arrived too late to save the city; fall of Constantinople led to schism not being healed for next five hundred years, or possibly, ever.

20. Success of Ottoman Turks in taking Constantinople in 1453 and in conquests in Southern Italy (such as in Otranto, 1480) increased worries in Spain that Islamic ambitions of expansion would again threaten Spain; Ferdinand and Isabella united their kingdoms by marriage and drove remaining Muslims out of Granada in 1492; non-Christians were given the choice of conversion or expulsion; Spanish Inquisition, with the ecclesiastical courts of the church in Spain, sought out newly converted Muslims and Jews who showed evidence of heresy or infidelity; those found guilty were punished by Spanish secular rulers with imprisonment, torture, and execution.

Part 4 (Sections 1–9): From Islam’s beginnings, to the Islamic conquest, to the Crusades, to the apex of a united Christendom in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages, to the first stages of disunity in Christendom during the Late Middle Ages.

1. Islam historically traced back to Muhammad, who claimed God’s revelation given to him through the angel Gabriel in series of apparitions; Muhammad’s new revelation rejected in Mecca; Muhammad fled to Yathrib, gathered supporters, and eventually conquered Mecca; by his death in 632, most of Arabia was Islamic; Muslim Arabs spread Islam throughout Middle East, conquering much of Byzantine Empire under the Rashidun caliphate, 630–661; under Umayyad caliphate (661–752), Arab Muslims took Egypt and all of North Africa; Abbasid caliphate (752–1258) moved Islamic capital from Damascus to Baghdad, promoted education in science, medicine, art, and philosophy; House of Wisdom became center of Islamic learning and culture; Mongols effectively destroyed Abbasid dynasty in thirteenth century, but Mongol rule was short-lived; Ottoman caliphate (1299–1922) lasted until end of World War I; under Ottomans, Islamic caliphate was again wedded to imperial power; however, historically a mistake to consider these caliphates as monolithic and unified empires that encompassed all Muslims.

2. Crusades were a series of military ventures (many called by popes) to free Byzantine territory taken by the Seljuk Turks and to free Jerusalem and the Holy Land; there were eight major Crusades between 1096 and 1270; Crusaders came from Christian nations throughout the West.

2A–2C. First Crusade was most successful, recapturing Nicaea, Antioch, Tripoli, Edessa, and Jerusalem as well as towns and surrounding territory; Latin states were set up, the last of which endured until 1291; second Crusade in 1147 was a failure, resulted in complete defeat of the Christian forces in Western Asia Minor and outside Damascus; third Crusade in 1189 resulted in partial success with liberation of Cyprus and city of Acre but had to settle for compromise treaty which gave safe passage to Christians to Jerusalem; fourth Crusade in 1204 was a great disaster with Christian forces overthrowing the Byzantine emperor, sacking Constantinople, and setting up a Latin kingdom which lasted 1204–1261; fifth Crusade, 1218, was another disaster with loss of thousands of Christian forces; sixth Crusade was a temporary success with Christian forces recapturing Jerusalem in 1229, only to have it fall again to Muslims in 1240; seventh Crusade in 1248 was a partial success with Christian forces taking Egyptian city of Damietta but losing to Muslim forces in an effort to take Cairo; eighth Crusade in 1268, only a temporary success with Crusaders retaking Antioch.

2D–2E. Positive achievements of Crusades included stopping of Islamic advance in East for at least three centuries, prevention of all of Eastern Europe from becoming Islamic, increase of trade between Europe and Middle East, and exposing of emerging universities of West to science, philosophy, and technology of Islam; Crusades encouraged emergence of strong central rulers and governments in Europe that were able to amass, support, and control large armies; but first, in order to wage Crusades at all, western kingdoms needed to