Download Unit 2: Religion: Consensus and Conflict

Unit 2: Religion: Consensus
and Conflict
Christianity
Christianity
The Importance of Jerusalem
For the Jews:
-
Capital city of Judea after the return from
Babylonian exile.
-
The site of the ancient temple built by King Solomon.
The Importance of Jerusalem
For Christians:
• Jesus Christ was crucified by the Romans outside
Jerusalem.
The Importance of Jerusalem
For Muslims:
• Muslims believe that the prophet Muhammad made his night
journey into the Heavens from Jerusalem and that Jerusalem would
be the site on which the Resurrection would take place on the Last
Day.
• After Mecca and Medina, it is the holiest city in Islam.
I. The Faith
• Born in Nazareth – the Holy Land.
• His birth is believed by Christians to be the fulfillment of
prophecies in the Jewish Old Testament which claimed
that a Messiah would deliver the Jewish people from
captivity.
• From the age of 29-30: spent three years teaching,
healing and working miracles.
I. The Faith
• “Christians” began separating themselves as a faith
distinct from Judaism when:
1. Paul, a Jew who originally rejected the idea of Jesus
as the son of God, converted and spread Jesus’s
message. (executed by Roman authorities – 65 CE)
2. The Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE.
II. Persecution and Struggle:
The Death of Jesus Christ
• Jesus’ popularity among the
people of Palestine was
growing.
• He rode into Jerusalem on a
donkey and was mobbed by
supporters.
• The next day he raided the
Temple, the heart of the
Jewish religion, and attacked
money-changers for defiling a
holy place.
• Shortly after, Jesus was
arrested….why? Who did he
II. Persecution and Struggle:
The Death of Jesus Christ
1. Jesus threatened the authority of Jewish religious
leaders
- by criticizing some of their practices, he was winning over
many followers
- Joseph (Caiaphas), the Jewish leader of the Sanhedrin and High
Priest of the Temple in Jerusalem, felt his authority threatened
by Jesus.
- the Sanhedrin was the Jewish council that controlled civic and
religious laws in Palestine
II. Persecution and Struggle:
The Death of Jesus Christ
- Caiaphas owed his position as leader of the
Sandhedrin to the Romans. He needed to keep
order in Palestine if he as to keep their support.
- Caiaphas did not want to be humiliated by Jesus in
Jerusalem during Passover when the city was
packed with Jewish pilgrims.
- He had Jesus arrested and put on trial by the Sanhedrin.
II. Persecution and Struggle:
The Death of Jesus Christ
2. Jesus was a threat to Roman imperial authority:
- Pontius Pilate, the Governor of Judea, owed his
career to the Roman imperial authorities. His job was to keep
the peace in his province.
- He had only 6,000 troops to keep the peace in Jerusalem
which had a population of 2.5 million Jews during Passover.
- Since the Jewish religious authorities wanted to see Jesus
dead, Pilate sacrificed him to preserve Roman rule and his
own career.
Jesus on Trial
II. Persecution and Struggle:
The Death of Jesus Christ
• Caiaphas rigged the trial and violated some key rules
that applied to Jewish trials:
1. It was night – Jewish trials had to take place during the day.
2. It took place on a feast day which was prohibited.
3. It took place in Caiaphas’s house – it should have been
conducted in the council chambers
II. Persecution and Struggle:
The Death of Jesus Christ
• Caiaphas got Jesus to claim that he was the son of God.
He accused Jesus of blasphemy. The Sanhedrin agreed
and ordered Jesus to be put to death.
2 PROBLEMS:
1. The Sanhedrin DID NOT have the authority to execute
2. Blasphemy against the God of the Jews WAS NOT a
crime under Roman Law.
II. Persecution and Struggle:
The Death of Jesus Christ
• Caiaphas altered Jesus’s claim from being the son of God to being
the King of the Jews which was a crime of sedition against Rome
punishable by death.
• Jesus refused to respond to Pilate’s question of if he thought he was
the King of the Jews.
• Pilate did not believe Jesus was guilty, a threat to Roman authority,
or a revolutionary.
• Pilate announced that Jesus was innocent. The mob that gathered
outside called for Jesus’s crucifixion.
II. Persecution and Struggle:
The Death of Jesus Christ
• Pilate offered a choice allowed during the “Passover
Amnesty”:
- execute a convicted murderer Barabbas or Jesus
• The crowd chose Jesus.
• Pilate was thought to have committed suicide in 37 CE –
not long after Jesus was crucified.
Jesus Questioned by Pontius Pilate
Jesus: Crucifixion and Resurrection
• New Testament account of Jesus trial and crucifixion:
John 18:1 - 19:24.
II. Persecution and Struggle
• Roman persecution of
Christians:
- 64 CE - Nero
- 303 CE - Diocletian
III. The Spread of Christianity
• 313 CE - Emperor Constantine converts to Christianity
- Proclaims official tolerance of all religions
• 391 CE - Emperor Theodosius makes Christianity the
official religion in Rome.
III. Spread of Christianity
III. Spread of Christianity
• For the most part, Christianity spread through Europe
peacefully.
- Exception: Charlemagne’s conquest of the
Saxons.
- The wars lasted from 772-804. They were
characterized by forced conversions,
deportations, and massacres.
- 4,500 Saxons were executed by Charlemagne in
Verden
III. Spread of Christianity
“If any one of the race of the
Saxons hereafter concealed
among them shall have wished
to hide himself unbaptized,
and shall have scorned to
come to baptism and shall
have wished to remain a
pagan, let him be punished by
death.”
- from Charlemagne’s
“The Capitulary for Saxony”
III. Spread of Christianity
“If any one shall have formed a
conspiracy with the pagans
against the Christians, or shall
have wished to join with them
in opposition to the Christians,
let him be punished by death;
and whoever shall have
consented to this same
fraudulently against the king
and the Christian people, let
him be punished by death.”
- from Charlemagne’s
“The Capitulary for Saxony”
III. Spread of Christianity
IV. Holy War: Christians Against the “Others”
1. The Crusades
2. The “Reconquista” – Spain
3. The Conquistadors and Christianity
in South America
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
The Crusades were launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II at the Council
of Claremont. Why…?
1.
Retake the Holy Land and other Christian areas from the Muslims
2.
Stop the spread of Islam, especially into Christian territory
3.
Byzantine Emperor Alexis asked for the Pope’s help to fight
against the growing Seljuk Turkish threat
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
Reason # 1: 1071 – Seljuk Turks defeated the Byzantine
Army at Manzikert.
* 1085 - Seljuk Turk conquests of Antioch, Syria.
- Antioch was one of the most important Christian
cities in the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine Empire
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
Reason # 1: Stories of Muslim persecution of Christians
and of harassment of Christian pilgrims to
Jerusalem.
- 1009-1010: Fatimid (Egyptian Shiite) caliph alHakim’s destruction of the Church of the Holy
Sepulcre in Jerusalem.
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
Reason #2: Approximately two-thirds of the ancient Christian world had
been conquered by Muslims by the end of the 11th century:
- Palestine, Syria, Egypt, parts of Anatolia (Turkey)
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
Reason #3: The growing military threat of the Seljuk Turks
to the Byzantine Empire.
* Problem for the Christians: in 1054 the Eastern
Orthodox and Catholic Church’s split. No longer
one Christian Church.
* Pope Urban II accepted the request from Alexis for
help. It was a way for him to be recognized as
the main authority in the Christian world.
Pope Urban II Speech at the Council of
Claremont: The Problem
• “For your brethren who live in the
east are in urgent need of your
help, and you must hasten to give
them the aid which has often
been promised them. For, as the
most of you have heard, the Turks
and Arabs have attacked them
and have conquered the territory
of Romania [the Greek empire] as
far west as the shore of the
Mediterranean and the
Hellespont, which is called the
Arm of St. George. They have
occupied more and more of the
lands of those Christians, and
have overcome them in seven
battles. They have killed and
captured many, and have
destroyed the churches and
devastated the empire. If you
permit them to continue thus for
awhile with impurity, the faithful
of God will be much more widely
attacked by them.”
Pope Urban II Speech at the Council of
Claremont: The Solution
• “On this account I, or rather
the Lord, beseech you as
Christ's heralds to publish this
everywhere and to persuade
all people of whatever rank,
foot-soldiers and knights, poor
and rich, to carry aid promptly
to those Christians and to
destroy that vile race from the
lands of our friends. I say this
to those who are present, it
meant also for those who are
absent. Moreover, Christ
commands it.”
Pope Urban II Speech at the Council of
Claremont: The Reward
• "All who die by the way,
whether by land or by sea, or
in battle against the pagans,
shall have immediate remission
of sins. This I grant them
through the power of God with
which I am invested. O what a
disgrace if such a despised and
base race, which worships
demons, should conquer a
people which has the faith of
omnipotent God and is made
glorious with the name of
Christ! With what reproaches
will the Lord overwhelm us if
you do not aid those who, with
us, profess the Christian
religion!”
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
Crusade #1 (1095-1099) – Christians win.
• Pope Urban II was French. First Crusading army was
made up mostly of French.
- Muslims referred to Crusaders as “Franks”
- Crusaders referred to Muslims as “Saracens”
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
• Crusader victories led to the creation of “Crusader
States” in the Middle East:
-
Jerusalem (Israel)
Edessa (Turkey)
Antioch (Syria)
Tripoli (Lebanon)
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
• Reasons for Crusader victory:
1. Highly motivated, fanatical troops – believed they were fighting
for God.
2. Muslim disunity
- Shiite Egyptian Fatimids caliphate disliked the Sunni
Abbasid Caliphate from Baghdad (Arabs).
- Arabs disliked the “barbarian” Turks who were later
converts to Islam. Seljuk Turks tended to get along
better with Sunni Arabs.
- Lack of unity among the various Turkish tribes of Anatolia.
- At different times, various Muslim armies allied with the
Crusaders to defeat their local rivals.
The “Holiness” Of Holy War
“As we advanced we
had the most
generous and merciful
and most victorious
hand of the Almighty
Father with us.”
- Raymund of Aguiles
The Crusaders as God’s “Chosen
People”
“ It is my belief that, pre-elected by God long before and
tested in such a great disaster, they (Crusaders) were
cleansed of their sins, just as gold is proven three times
and is purged by fire seven times.”
- Fulcher of Chartres
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
Crusader Massacres – First Crusade:
1. Ma’arrat al Nu’man (Syria) 1098
- Crusaders promised security for the population if
they surrendered. Muslim population rejected the
terms.
- Over the course of three days, between 20,000
and 100,000 people were killed.
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
“They (the Franks) killed a
great number under
torture. They extorted
people’s treasures. They
prevented people from
getting water, and sold it
to them. Most people
died of thirst…They
destroyed the walls of the
town, burned its mosques
and houses and broke the
minbars.” - Ibn al-Adin
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
• "In Ma'arra our troops boiled pagan adults in cooking-pots; they
impaled children on spits and devoured them grilled." – Radulph of
Caen, Christian soldier
• "Not only did our troops not shrink from eating dead Turks and
Saracens; they also ate dogs!" - Albert of Aix, Christian soldier
• The poorer soldiers "roasted the bruised body of a Turk over a fire
as if it were meat for eating, in full view of the Turkish forces." -
From the Historia Hierosolymitana, compiled by Guibert of Nogent.
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
"I shudder to say that many of
our men, terribly tormented by
the madness of starvation, cut
pieces of flesh from the
buttocks of Saracens lying
there dead. These pieces they
cooked and ate, savagely
devouring the flesh while it
was insufficiently roasted."
- Fulcher of Chartres, Bishop and
author of A History of the
Expedition to Jerusalem
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
Crusader Massacres – First Crusade:
2. Jerusalem (July, 1099)
- “The Franks killed more than 70,000 people in the Aqsa
mosque, among them a large group of
Muslim imams, religious scholars, devout men and
ascetics from amongst those who had left their
homelands and lived in the vicinity of that Holy
Place.”
- Ibn al-Athir
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
- “They collected the Jews in the “church” and burnt it
down with them in it. They destroyed shrines and the
tomb of Abraham.”
- Ibn Taghribirdi
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
“Many fled to the roof of the
temple of Solomon, and were
shot with arrows, so that they
fell to the ground dead. In this
temple almost ten thousand
were killed. Indeed, if you had
been there you would have
seen our feet colored to our
ankles with the blood of the
slain. But what more shall I
relate? None of them were left
alive; neither women nor
children were spared.”
- Fulcher of Chartres, “The Siege of
the City of Jerusalem”
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
“Some of our men cut off the
heads of our enemies; others
shot them with arrows, so that
they fell from the towers;
others tortured them longer by
casting them into the flames.
Piles of heads, hands and feet
were to be seen in the streets
of the city. It was necessary to
pick one’s way over the bodies
of men and horses.”
- Raymund of Aguiles
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
“In the Temple and porch of
Solomon, men rode in blood
up to their knees and bridle
reins. Indeed it was a just and
splendid judgement of God
that this place should be filled
with the blood of the
unbelievers since it had
suffered so long from their
blasphemies.”
- Raymund of Aguiles
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
Crusader views of the Muslims:
“They are a vial and abominable race, absolutely alien to
God and meet only for extermination.”
- Armstrong, pg. 183.
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
Crusade #2 – (1147-1149) – Muslims win.
• Triggered by the Muslim reconquest of Edessa – 1144.
• The next Crusade was not just an act of charity and war
to win back holy places, it was an act of redemption. –
Bernard, Abbey of Clairvaux.
• Some Crusaders went to Spain to fight the Muslims
there.
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
• Muslims were more unified in the face of the existing
Crusader threat and occupation.
• Nur al-Din – His defeat of the Crusaders led to the
unification of Syria.
IV. Holy War: The Crusades
Crusade #3 (1183-1192) – Muslims win
• Under Saladin, the united Muslim armies defeated the Crusaders
and brought Jerusalem under Muslim rule once again (Oct. 1187)
• Jerusalem was to remain under Muslim rule until 1918.
• Crusader attempts under King Richard (the Lionhearted) to win back
Jerusalem failed.
• Richard was able to secure the right for Christians to pray in
Jerusalem.
Salah al-Din ibn Ayyub – Saladin
(1138-1193)
• Kurdish Muslim from Syria.
• Conquered and united the various
Muslim group into an effective
fighting force.
• Introduced the concept of “jihad”
into the Muslim war effort
• Unlike the Crusaders, when Saladin
conquered Jerusalem, he did not
harm the Christian and Jewish
population there.
• Rejected an offer by King Richard to
have joint Muslim-Christian rule of
Jerusalem by having Richard’s sister
marry Saladin’s brother.
King Richard I of England
(Lionheart) – (1157-199)
• English ruler that led troops to regain
Jerusalem from Saladin’s forces.
• Did not view Muslims or Jews as
“barbarians” or “animals”
• After his proposal to rule Jerusalem
jointly through marriage was rejected,
he asked Saladin’s brother to convert
to Christianity. He refused.
• Saladin & Richard’s forces fought each
other but they respected each other
greatly.
IV. Holy War: The Crusades Results
1.
Christian Crusaders were unsuccessful in taking control of the
Holy Land
- eventually it came under the control of the
Ottoman Empire until 1918.
2.
By the 1400’s, Ottoman Turks conquered southeastern Europe
(the Balkans)
- most Albanians and many Bosnians converted to Islam
3.
By 1492, the Catholics regained Spain from the Muslims.
IV. Holy War: The Spanish
Reconquista
• Christian Spain was originally conquered by Arab and Berber armies
from North Africa in the early 8th century (711).
• Ummayad Spain was the focal point for the transmission of Greek
and Arabic achievements to Europe.
• Achieved impressive level of economic prosperity in the 9-10th
centuries.
• Christians were not forced to convert to Islam. They did learn
Arabic language, customs, and manners.
• Major Muslim centers in Spain: Cordova & Seville.
IV. Holy War: The Spanish
Reconquista
• The Catholic re-conquest of Spain happened when Muslim unity
broke down and civil wars broke out between them.
• Centers of Catholic resistance:
- Castile, Leon, Catalonia, Aragon, Navarre
• Aragon and Castile emerged as the leaders of the re-conquest and
Spanish unification under Catholic rule
- Isabella of Castile
- Ferdinand of Aragon
IV. Holy War: The Spanish
Reconquista
• Spanish Inquisition – begun in 1478 by Ferdinand & Isabella to
“safeguard the Catholic faith” by forcing Jews and Muslims to
convert or leave Spain.
- Out of a population of 200,000 Jews, about 150,000 left.
• Around the time of the Catholic liberation of Grenada, the last
Muslim stronghold in Spain, Ferdinand & Isabella financed the
journey of Christopher Columbus.
• Columbus and the Spanish conquistadors that came to Latin
America violently imposed Catholicism on the native population.
IV. The Conquistadors and
Christianity in South America
• After liberating the Iberian peninsula, the Spaniards and Portuguese
wanted to carry on the Crusade to Muslim North Africa to convert
them to Christianity.
- Realizing it would be too costly to undertake such a
Crusade, they turned to converting the pagans of Central and
South America.
• The “Age of Exploration,” led by Portugal and Spain, also had a large
religious component to it: convert the pagans to Christianity.
• Today, well over 90% of the population in Latin America and the
Caribbean are Christian.
Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)
“Your Highness decided to send
me, Christopher Columbus, to
see these parts of India and
the princes and peoples of
those lands and consider the
best means for their
conversion.”
- Columbus to Ferdinand &
Isabella from his Journal
Bartolome De Las Casas
(1474-1566)
• Spanish Catholic priest of the Dominican order.
• Became a defender of the rights of the
indigenous people in response to Spanish
atrocities committed against them.
* Originally believed Columbus was ordained by God
to bring Christianity to the New World:
- “Christum ferens” – carrier of Christ
• By the time he wrote his Short Account of the Destruction of the
Indies (1542, published 1875), he estimated that between 12-15
million natives were killed by the Spaniards.
IV. Holy War: Christians Against
Christians
1.
The Crusades and the Sack
of Constantinople
2.
The Protestant Reformation
and the Religious Wars
IV. Holy War: Christians Against
Christians
1. Fourth Crusade (1202-1204): Catholics attack Eastern
Christians and sack Constantinople
• The Western Christians (Crusaders) were amazed by and envious of
the more economically and culturally advanced Byzantine Empire.
• Almost immediately upon their arrival on Byzantine territory during
the First Crusade, tensions between the Catholics and Orthodox
arose.
• The Crusader attack on and occupation of Constantinople weakened
the Byzantine Empire and contributed to its defeat by the Ottoman
Turks in 1453.
• Relations between the Eastern and Western Christian Churches,
which split in 1054, became much worse as a result of the 4th
Crusade.
IV. Holy War: Christians Against
Christians
2. The Protestant Reformation and the Wars of
Religion (1517-1648)
IV. Holy War: Christians Against Christians –
Factors That Led to the Protestant
Reformation
1.
Corruption, opulence, moral degradation of the Catholic Church
2.
Renaissance – emphasis on secular achievements of the individual
3.
Scientific Revolution – Scientific discoveries challenge the long-standing
teachings of the Church.
4.
Rise of the nation-state and strong central governments in Europe
- Rise of the monarchies
5.
Protestant Reformation
- Luther taught that people don’t need the help of clergy or
the Church for salvation. Salvation comes from the Bible.
IV. Holy War: Christians Against
Christians
• Efforts to reform the Catholic Church went back
as far as the 11th century.
• In the 14-15th centuries, reformers like John
Wycliffe (England) and Jan Hus (Bohemia /
Czech) – predated Martin Luther.
• 1517 – Luther posts 95 Theses. Eventually
excommunicated from the Catholic Church by
Pope Leo X (Medici).
IV. Holy War: Protestant Reformation and
the Wars of Religion
Who joined Luther?
1. Disillusioned Catholics
2. Middle class Germans unhappy paying tithe to Catholic
3.
Church in Rome
German princes that wanted to gain land at Catholic
Church expense and independence from Holy Roman
Emperor
Issue
Catholicism Lutheranism Calvinism
Salvation
Achieved through
faith and good
works
Achieved through
faith
God predetermines
who will be saved.
Sacraments
Priests perform 7
sacraments
Accept 2 sacraments
but reject others –
rituals cannot erase
sin, only God can
Accept 2
sacraments but
reject others –
rituals cannot
erase sin, only God
can
Head of the Church
Pope
Elected Councils
Council of Elders
Importance of the
Bible
Bible is one source
of truth / Church
tradition is another
Bible alone is the
source of truth
Bible alone is the
source of truth
How Faith is
Revealed
Priests interpret the
Bible and Church
teachings for the
people
People read and
interpret the Bible for
themselves
People read and
interpret the Bible
for themselves
IV. Holy War: Protestant Reformation
and the Wars of Religion
• Religious wars in the Holy Roman Empire between Catholics and
Protestants: 1) 1530-1555 2) 1618-1648.
- War breaks out in Holy Roman Empire in 1530.
- 1555: Peace of Augsburg – declares all princes in the HRE
had the right to choose the religion of their realm
- victory for Lutherans
-Thirty Years War (1618-1648)
- Catholics vs. Lutherans / Catholics & Lutherans vs. Calvinists
- Holy Roman Empire devastated – no longer a European
power
- 1648: Treaty of Westphalia – confirms Peace of Augsburg
and includes Calvinists – another victory for the Protestants
IV. Holy War: Protestant Reformation
and the Wars of Religion
• Religious war in France: Catholics vs. Huguenots
(Protestants) 1562-1598
- 1598: Edict of Nantes – Catholic Henry IV grants
religious toleration for Huguenots.
• 1527-1534: English “Reformation” begins with Henry
VIII rejecting Papal authority and beginning his own
Church – the Anglican Church.
- Religious and political strife erupts in
1640 – English Civil War.