Christianity Flashcards
Christian Bible consists of, what does gospel mean?
- Old Testament (Hebrew Bible)
- 27 book that make the New Testament:
- 4 Gospels (“good news/good tidings”)
- 1 Acts of Apostles/Book of Acts
- 1 Book of Revelation
- 21 Letters
Who were the Disciples? Who’s most important?
What does Apostle mean?
Disciples are those who followed Jesus when he was alive and became Apostles (meaning “to be sent”) after his death.
Jesus had 12 Disciples (representing 12 tribes of Israel). Most important:
* John, described as “the disciple that Jesus loved”.
* Peter, the first Pope.
What is uniue about the Book of Acts and Gospel of Luke
They were supposedly written by Luke, a gentile doctor. Contain Classical Greek, as opposed to common Greek.
What are the synoptic Gospels, why are they known as synoptic gospels?
Books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are the Synoptic Gospels (“seen together”), as they’re similar in material. Book of John is diff in style and content.
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How is Gospel of Mark diff from other Gospel?
- written first, and served as the template for the other.
- Author was Mark John, Peter’s Disciple.
- Doesn’t contain material on virgin birth of Christ or resurrection.
- Shortest out of all Gospels
Gospel of Matthew? What is it known as? What did it intend to fulfill?
- Known as the Jewish Christian scriptures
- Concerned with fulfilling the Jewish prophecies that point to a Messiah, who was expected to be from King David’s lineage.
- Intent on proving Jesus’s chronology back to David
- Jesus as second Moses
Gospel of Luke
Draws Christ’s lineage back to King David, then even further back to Adam and Eve
Catered to Gentile
Gospel of John
- Depicts Christ as eternal son of God
Acts of Apostle/Book of Acts
- Narrative by Luke
- First half concerns the early Chruch in Jerusalem and its leaders, and latter half concerns Paul’s missionaries into the Greco-Roman world to Evangelize
- Ends with Paul being arrested, probs executed
21 Letters
- Written by Paul
- Acts as instructions for Christians
Who was Paul?
- Non-Palestinian Jew born outside Israel in Turkey; worked in Rome; a Pharisee.
- Persecuted early Christians
What did Paul’s theology consist of?
Why was Paul important as a theolgian?
- Fused Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy into a Pauline theology/Classical Christianity that he spread across the world.
- Paul is important because he formed the basis of Modern Christianity: belief of an omnipotent God and Jesus, the saviour, will return
Timeline
Early Church Period
0-325 AD establisment of Church in Jerusalem to Paul’s missions.
Events during Early Church Period
Romans believed that Christianity was a danger, and started persecuting them
321 AD: Emperor Constantine converts to Christianity. Become state religion.
* Issued Edict of Milan: “all people of the land are permitted to choose their religion without difficulty or hindrance”.
395 AD Emperor Theodosius issued another Edict, “people must be Christian or they’ll be put to death”.
Period of acceptance and conquest
325-600 AD
Events of acceptance and conquest period
Christianity and Western society become interlinked
Bishop of Rome
Christians begin to persecute those don’t follow their religion
Council of Nicea (325 AD) all bishops attended.
* Nicean Creed standardized ways of preaching.
Schism (451): many Eastern Churches broke away
Augustine: most important theologian after St. Paul.
Period of Christian Society. What is this period known as?
600-1500. “The flowering of the Western Church”.
Events of Christian society
Abuse of Church
East-West Schism (1054):
* Eastern Orthodox (East, Constantinople).
* Roman Catholic (West, Rome)
Rome disintegrates, Barbarian attacks, Church gains power.
Crusades: attempt to take Jersualem back from Muslims, who’s built a Mosque on Temple.
Inquisition: “heretics” brought to Church, put on trial, executed.
Jan Hus: spoke against doctrine of infallibility, burnt alive.
Period of Reform
1500-1600
Events during Period of Reform
Martin Luther: tried to reform Church from within; started Protestant Reformation (split of Prostestants from Roman Catholicism; mainly Northern Europe)
Period of Evangelism: years and events
1789-1914. Industrialization, many conversions.
Colonization and Christianity go hand in hand.
WWI.
Why did Christianity become so popular?
Early Christianity emphasized the worth of every human being - appealing to everybody
Why were Early Christians persecuted?
According to Christians, Jesus was the son of God.
To the Romans, the only son of God was the Emperor, therefore seen as a direct political threat.
4 reasons for the treatment of women
See GD for more details
- All 3 western religions practice male monotheism (taken for granted).
- Women were symbolically repressed and connected to God secondarily through males.
- Man made in image of God, while women were made of inf. material
- Woman comitted first sin
