04: Paul and the Church
Next authors:
- Luke author
- Paul (Saul of Tarsus) c 5-67
13 Letters in New Testament
Church develops as organization: Ecclesia
- bishop
- priests or presbyters: preside over eucharist
- deacons and deaconesses
- apostolic authority
- apostolic succession
- codify practice: eucharist, baptism
Ravenna, Orthodox Baptistery Exterior |
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who is and is not a Christian?
- participation in the group (group worship)
- standards of belief
- canon: ca 200
- creed
- relationships of members with other religious practices
Greek philosophy as tool
“Despoiling the Egyptians”
Christians and Romans
Nero’s Fire (64 CE)
Banning of Christianity
New hero: the saintly martyr. Model: Stephen
Constantine (emperor 312-27)
- Apparently became Christian
- Recognized Christianity as a legal religion
Constantine and the late Empire
Diocletian/Constantine ca 300 AD: dividing line of “late Empire”
Economic reforms
Imperial re-organization
East and West with Co-emperors. Gaul, Italy, Illyricum, East
4 prefects, 12 dioceses, then provinces, then cities
also subdivided army
Capital moved to Byzantium
Western capital moved to Milan, 401 to Ravenna
Church organization modeled on that of Rome
by end of century: illegal NOT to be Christian
| The Conversion of Saul Michelangelo Buonarroti 1542-45 Fresco, 625 x 661 cm Cappella Paolina, Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican |
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More paintings: Conversion of Saul/Paul
Paul, Ravenna, Orthodox Baptistery
Mediterranean ca. 400 CE
Authorities and traditions
Councils
“Fathers” of the Church: religion, philosophy, rhetoric and polemics
Saints
- Martyrs
- Ascetics