Emerging church

In the 10th century, conflict arose as the dominance of the church’s power began to clash with the growing power of non-religious kingdoms. Church leaders and political leaders began to struggle over ultimate authority of Rome. The existing conflict between Christian leaders and monarchs prompted the first religious holy war. This arose when the Turks threatened to invade the Byzantine Empire and conquer Constantinople. Emperor of Byzantine Alexius I made a plea to Pope Urban II for troops from…

Catholic Church broke with tradition regarding ecumenism. For the first time, rather than regarding the Jewish people as the “killers of Christ”, they acknowledged them as their “older Christian brothers”. Vatican II recognized God’s covenant with the Jews, and the Catholic Church’s roots in Judaism. In addition to addressing the Jewish faith in a more amicable way, the attitude towards other Christian faiths was decidedly more friendly. Rather than taking the stance that the Catholic Church was…

Louise Erdrich’s novel, Love Medicine is a fusion of Catholicism and Ojibwe beliefs. Both played a central role in the life of the author. The status of Catholicism is apparent, nevertheless, she possesses first-hand knowledge of Ojibwe culture as a recognized member of the tribe. As a product of an interracial partnership, Erdrich embraces and respects both cultures, accordingly, this can also be said about many of the main characters. Having done some research on the author’s background, I…

Martin Luther’s 95 Theses The 1500’s the Roman Catholic church was the prevailing religion and controlling force across most of Europe. The church was far from perfect though they required people to pay for salvation as well as many of the leaders had greed for money for themselves and not to help the people.(Alloway). Martin Luther was a devoted follower and priest in the Catholic church. Luther found many things that were wrong in the church and needed to be changed and updated. He…

Saint Augustine of Hippo is not only a rhetorician, but played an instrumental role in the Christian faith. Next to St. Paul, St. Augustine is seen as one of the most significant Christian thinkers in all of history. St. Augustine's creation of a theological system created a lasting influence in society today and his writings still play a major role in the modern practice of Christianity, specifically in Roman Catholicism. Throughout his 75 years on earth St. Augustine played influential roles…

ways. The first way is as a response, or “Counter-Reformation,” to the Protestant Reformation that was happening around the same time in the early sixteenth century (Britannica n.p.). The other way is of a reformation that sprung up from the Catholic Church itself as a result of criticism of the Renaissance popes and many of the clergy (Collinson, 105) (Britannica n.p.). People who take to this school of thought would refer to it as the “Catholic Reformation.” English historian A.G. Dickens put…

(Fisher, p. 81). Meaning, faith alone is not enough, as faith can be misplaced. Actions such as prayer are what reaffirms faith in the eyes of God, obtained through the eyes of the Holy Spirit, a part of the Trinity, which “shall abide in the universal church forever” (Fisher, p. 71-72). According to Fisher, to prove one’s faith to God, and consequently receive His grace, one needs to pray to prove they hold a true faith. Staden, despite arguing that faith alone saved him, for he “knew that if…

The Edge of Sadness The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O’Connor, it is a wonderful book, which every candidate for the priesthood must read. The life of Father Kennedy narrated in this text is a mere representation of the experience of many priests around the world. At present, good and bad things of priests are heard; unfortunately, we hear more bad things than good. This text reflects an aspect of the life of some priests and also as people imagine how they live. Father Kennedy expresses it with…

In Elizabeth Browning’s pleading letter to Napoleon III, Elizabeth uses many rhetorical devices in order to convince the Emperor of France to pardon Hugo. She flatters His Majesty Napoleon III in an attempt to win his goodwill. Second, she uses syntax in order to create an intelligent letter. Finally, she thoroughly explains her purposes to Napoleon. Thus using flattery, syntax, and logos, Browning was able to effectively persuade Napoleon III to pardon Hugo,had of course he sent the letter.…

world. It was a biography that was also held up as a model of the ideal life in the Byzantine civilization. The author himself, St. Athanasius, was a man that would have preferred the monastic lifestyle, but was an important and influential man in the church and therefore, contrary to his wishes, had to live among the people. This colours his perspective and most likely makes him somewhat biased in the way that he describes St. Antony. The attitude toward the human body in this text is that it…