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ALL SAINTS’ COLLEGE Ewing Avenue, Bull Creek, Western Australia YR.8 CRAVE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 19/5/03 The life and teaching of Jesus Christ led those who believed He was the son of God to form themselves into groups known as Christians. At first it was very dangerous to be a Christian. At the time Christians lived in the Roman Empire and the Romans believed that their leader, called Caesar, was in fact a God himself. The Romans persecuted Christians who refused to accept that Caesar was a God. This all changed in 313CE when the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. Constantine declared Christianity to be the official religion of the Roman Empire and the influence of the Christian religion increased rapidly. By this time there were many Christians. The first 1000 years of the Christian Church were shaped by various people who influenced the way Christianity was understood. By the tenth century CE there were two main centres of power; The Western Catholic Church which was based with the Pope in Rome, Italy; and the Eastern Orthodox Church based with the Patriarch of the Church of Constantinople, Turkey. With any large group there is likely to be different opinions within the group. These two great centres of Christian power finally fell out with one another over how to interpret their shared Christian faith. One of the things they disagreed upon was when key festivals such as Christmas and Easter should fall within the Christian calendar. The great Schism (meaning tear in Greek) split the Christian Church apart in 1054CE. The Eastern Orthodox Church has remained relatively unchanged to this day since the ‘Great Schism’ occurred. The Western Catholic Church had its own problems a few centuries later. In 1517CE the Reformation split the Western Church. The Catholic Church had become greedy and hungry for power. Many priests were ignoring the real teaching of Christ and acting like hypocrites, preaching one thing whilst doing another. People in Europe were starting to get fed up with the situation. Two figures in particular were pivotal in the changes made within the Western Christian Church; Martin Luther and John Calvin. They both spoke out against the Catholic Church, they criticised it for ignoring the teaching of Jesus as laid out in the scriptures. They wanted reform (change) and were willing to protest until it came, hence the title ‘Protestant Reformation’. Soon a number of Protestant Christian Churches emerged. They differed from the Catholic understanding of Christianity as they focussed upon what the scriptures had to say, rather than what the Pope or the Catholic priests taught. 769832231/b/30/04/17 Essentially there are three branches to Christianity; the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Catholic Church, and the various Protestant Churches. We call these groups denominations. After the Protestant Reformation a number of new Christian churches emerged. For example the Anglican Church was formed in the Sixteenth Century CE when England’s King Henry VIII wanted to have his marriage annulled (declared to have never happened). Henry wanted to be free to marry another woman who could provide him with a son and heir. The Pope refused to allow this so Henry rejected the authority of the Pope and declared himself the head of the Church of England, otherwise known as the Anglican Church. Here is a list of some other Protestant Churches: Lutheran Presbyterian Methodist Baptist Quaker People often get confused thinking that being a Catholic or a Baptist is different to being a Christian. This is wrong. Each different Church, stemming from the three major denominations (groups); are all Christian. They all believe in the same God, and they all share the same essential Christian beliefs; such as that Jesus Christ is God in the form of man who died on the cross to save mankind from the punishment for sinning. TASK 1) Take each sentence beneath and place it into the correct box on the next page charting the historical development of the Christian Church: Protestant Churches 313CE Constantine declares Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire Catholic Church based in the West Birth of Jesus Eastern Orthodox Church remains relatively unchanged to the present day Western Catholic Church 1517CE Protestant Reformation Orthodox Church based in the East 1054CE Great Schism 769832231/b/30/04/17 2 769832231/b/30/04/17 3 TASK 2) Using examples explain the difference between a religion and a denomination ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ TASK 3) Describe the events surrounding Christianity’s acceptance as the official religion of the Roman Empire ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ TASK 4) What is the Protestant Reformation? Explain what triggered it ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ TASK 5) How did the Anglican Church come into being? ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 769832231/b/30/04/17 4