World Religions: Focus on Christianity - Essay Example

? World Religions: Focus on Christianity Your Full Number and 10th July, Part The Teachings of Paul and its Differences withthe Teachings of Jesus McCay identifies that without Paul, Christianity would not be the global religion it is today (2012). This is because Paul liberalized the principles of Christianity and made it accessible to Gentiles. On a critical analysis of Christianity, it is apparent that Jesus started his religion as a sect of what is now known as Judaism. This is because there is evidence that all the 12 disciples Jesus chose were Israelite by birth and by nationality. Most of them were confined to the Nazareth area and they did things in line with Judaism. “Although Paul stands in continuity with Jesus' teachings, several important factors in the mission of Paul required him both to develop and to modify the message of Jesus” (Kostenberger et al, 2012: 39). In other words, Paul's mission in the Faith required that he modified his ways and approaches of dealing with the message of Christianity. This is because Jesus' ministry was mainly confined to the Judea region which was then a small part of the Roman Empire. On the other hand, Paul, who was a Roman citizen had a mission to reach out to people in different parts of the Roman Empire and this include people from all backgrounds like Greeks amongst others. Barclay (1993) identifies these three main factors as the central themes for Paul's teachings: 1. The passion for Jesus and his message of resurrection caused Paul to craft his message around an exalted and elevated Christ. 2. The death and exaltation led to a natural need for Paul to spread the message of the Spirit which gave way to a different view of mysticism and eschatology. 3. The differences in audience between Paul and Jesus meant that Paul had to use different words like “Christ” and “Sozo” [for Salvation] to discuss the main elements and components of the message of Christianity to a group of listeners from diverse backgrounds. Part 2: The Split of the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Churches The split between the Church in the East and the West is popularly known in most circles as the “Great Schism”. The Great Schism came up as a result of theological differences. The central issue in contention was the opinion on the Holy Spirit and the use of unleavened bread (or Matzah in Hebrew) as the body of Christ during communions (Creighton, 2004). Although the issues were minor in nature, the Pope claimed universal and final say on the matter. However, in the Church of Constantinople, the universal jurisdiction of the Pope was challenged. This is because Constantinople, a city in present-day Turkey was a cosmopolitan area that had a major Greek and Latin population. Hence, the Latin population was more connected to Rome and hence had links to the Papacy. The Greeks had some sense of autonomy and distinction (Smith, 2010). In 1053, the Patriarch of Constantinople ordered the closure of the Latin Churches in the city due to the lack of a consensus and agreement on the matter of the scope of the authority of the Pope (Smith, 2010). In 1054, the delegation from the Pope was sent to negotiate this matter. However, the Patriarch of Constantinople refused to accept the terms of their demands. This marked the commencement of a Greak break away from the Roman Church. Thus, the Pope proceeded to excommunicate the refuseniks on the Greek churches in the city of Constantinople. This split continued across doctrinal, theological and geographical lines. Also, the use of Latin was abolished in the Western Church. Part 3: The Arguments of the Protestant Reformers The Protestant reformation “was a major 16th Century European movement aimed initially at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church” (Gray, 2003: 2). This is referred to as the Western Schism. In 1384, John Wycliffe criticized corrupt practices in the Church including the sale of indulgences, pilgrimages and the excessive veneration of the saints (Crowther, 2010). This was complemented by low moral and intellectual standards of the ordained priests of the Catholic Church. Thus, Wycliffe challenged the practices of the Church and stated that they are not grounded in scripture. He went on to state that the authority of the Pope was not even supported by scripture. This was a very serious offense in that time and Wycliffe was burnt in the stake for heresy. This was followed by John Huss who was also burnt in the same manner for following Wycliffe's teachings and translating it to Czechoslovakian. In 1517, Martin Luther nailed the famous 95 Theses on the Wittenberg Church door and these were a firm criticism of the Catholic Church in relation to the issues including the sales of indulgences to raise money for the building of a basilica in Rome. This was further pursued by Zwingli and Calvin. The central themes of the Protestant Reformation emphasized the sole authority of the Scripture, and not the institutional power of the Church which was strongly interlaced with politics in Europe. Secondly, the Protestant Reformation sought justification by faith alone. Thus, the believer had a personal relationship with God as opposed to the link to God through the Church which came with what they believed was some degree of manipulation and abuses by the authorities in the Church. Thirdly, the Protestant Reformation sought the priesthood of the believer. Rather than the reliance on ordained Priests. This led to the translation of the Bible to various European vernaculars. Part 4: Variations in Christian Groups Today There are three main different groups of Christianity that is practiced today. From my analysis, there are : The Catholic Church; The Protestant Churches and Evangelical Churches. The Catholic Church seem to be based on the teachings of Peter and it is mainly centered around the institutionalization of a leadership structure that is modeled on the life of Jesus and his 12 disciples. In other words, the Catholic Church reputes itself as the continuous succession of leaders of the Christian community in a line that goes back to Peter, the leader of all the disciples and to Jesus himself. Thus, the authority that goes back to the anointed successor of the Christ gives the Pope in every generation the power to ordain priests and the maintain the Church. The Catholics continue to practice traditional approaches to prayer, teaching and other things. The Catholic doctrine also includes Mary as a central figure, they venerate saints and they continue to conduct services in Latin, which they consider as a holy tongue. The Protestant Churches on the other side honor the liberal teachings of Paul. They believe in the individual empowerment of members. However, they continue to maintain institutional structures and systems with some degree of flexibility when compared with the teachings of the Catholics. Protestants include Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans and Methodists. And they have an air of orthodoxy around them. The Evangelicals on the other hand believe more the Holy Spirit and they focus on faith and other practical mystical elements and components. Their preachings are related to miracles and other methods of dealing with problems. Also, they focus on salvation and the easy conversion of other non-Christians to the Faith . They do not really maintain restrictions and limitations. And most of their Churches are led by fairly independent Pastors or networks of Churches. Part 5: The Development of the Evangelical Churches: Focus on the Methodists The Methodist Church developed as a branch of the Protestant movement. Methodism was inspired by the teachings of John and Charles Wesley and other key leaders like George Whitefield. The Church is steeped in the tradition of the British and Anglo-Saxon culture and systems. Allen (1998) identifies that the Methodist Church was commenced by people in the British Aristocracy in the 1700s and 1800s. The Methodist Church focused on allowing the upper class in Britain to reconfigure the message of Christianity and humanism to be preached to the poor, criminals and the working class. Through this, Christianity was preached to ordinary people who would have normally been denied the message of Christianity. This uplifted them and enabled them to get a structured life and also become meaningful members of the society. Methodists believed in building caring and loving relationships and also promoting social services in order to use the message of Christianity to reform people to become better persons. Also, Methodism taught that Christ died for all people and all persons. Hence, the message of Christianity was crafted and presented to the poor and the underprivileged. The Methodist doctrine was based on the Book of Offices and the Common Prayer Book of the Anglican Church which was used since 1662 (Allen, 1998). The Methodist tradition was built and instituted on the basis of humanism. The religious teaching focused on helping to improve the lot of ordinary people not only in Britain but in nations around the world. The Methodist Church helped in educating and improving the lives of natives in different nations around the world. Final Questions from the Research Question 1: Do you think the differences between various forms of Christianity are so great that they constitute separate religions? Give examples of why or why not. Be specific. Yes, to a large extent, the various sects of Christianity can be seen as different religions. This is because the variation is so large and so apparent. Roman Catholicism is so much depicted by the Pope, who acts as the main figurehead, the Virgin Mary and the Saints. These things are so Latinized that you can hardly tell the differences between Roman Catholicism and the Ancient Roman and Ancient Greek cultures. This is because the Pope is always speaking Latin and he is seen more as a representative of the southern European culture than a religion that has a link to Israel or Judaism. This is evident by the statues and other crosses that define Christianity. Orthodox Protestant movements seem to show a depiction of Northern European societies and cultures. However, they are much more liberal. However, their simplification of the religion and the translation of the Bible to their local dialects make the relationships connect to nations. For instance the Anglican Church is deeply English and the Lutherans are mainly Central European whilst the Eastern Church is so Greek in outlook. On the other hand, the Evangelicals are so mystical and so different that they are distinctively focused on mysticism, faith and miracles. This is different from the Catholics' approach and although similar to the Orthodox, seems to be very distinct in liturgy and practices. Question 2. Many people in the United States feel that the nation should be a "Christian" country. Do you agree with them? How would things change if we were made into a "Christian" country? A Christian nation is one in which the constitution recognizes the Christian leaders and Christianity appears in different parts of the society in overt formats and systems. If the United States becomes a Christian nation, it would have to make some elements of the Christian faith compulsory and imposed upon all the citizens. The first area this would be seen will be the educational systems. Public schools will have to operate with a religious curriculum focused on Christianity. The swearing in of the President will be overtly Christian in outlook. There will be Christian symbols in the country's symbols and there will be laws formulated on the basis of Christian principles and ideals. Also, there will be a formal representation of the Christian leaders in the government. Question 3. Now that you know the process of selecting the books contained in what has come to be called the New Testament, what do you think of that process? Basically, I have doubts about how the books were written. It is said that the New Testament was written 400 years after Jesus. Unlike Judaism and Islam where a whole community had direct revelation of the spiritual content of the religion, it is difficult to tell if the message of Christianity was authentic. It is not clear who the writers were and how they got the revelation. So for me, I need answers to how the whole thing was written, otherwise, I will always live with the doubt that the whole religion was opened to falsehood and manipulation. Question 4 What is an evangelical Christian? This refers to a broad range of Churches which focus on Faith, Salvation and miracles. Te substance of these things is put ahead of the form the religion is presented to the people in the society. Hence, these people focus more on the message and touching people's lives rather than forming institutions and other Churches in order to portray the message of Christianity. References Allen, J. (1998) The History of the Methodist Church Oxford: Oxford University Press. Barclay, J. M. G. (1993) “Jesus and Paul” Dictionary of Paul and his Letters Downers Grove: InterVarsity Publishing Creighton, M. (2005) A History of the Papacy from the Sack of Rome New York: Kissinger Publishing Crowther, K. M. (2010) Adam and Even in the Protestant Reformation Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gray, M. (2003) The Protestant Reformation: Beliefs, Practice and Tradition Sussex: Sussex Academic Press. Kostenberger, A. J., Kellum, L. S. and Quarles, C. K. (2012) The Lion and the Lamb Chicago: B & H Publishing McCay, B. (2012) Confessions of a Heretic: New York: Book Tango Smith, J. H. (2010) The Great Schism London: JWP Publishing. Read More