the world of christendom
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The World of Christendom. Religion and Its Impact in Third-Wave Civilizations. Christianity Today. Global Christianity Today – 60% of the world’s Christians lived in Africa, Asia, or Latin America – Europe and North America largely outnumbered in relation to global Christianity. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
The World of Christendom
Religion and Its Impact in Third-Wave Civilizations
Christianity Today
• Global Christianity Today – 60% of the world’s Christians lived in Africa, Asia, or Latin America – Europe and North America largely outnumbered in relation to global Christianity
The Spread in the 6th and 7th Centuries
• 6th and 7th Centuries –Christianity enjoyed an Afro-Eurasian reach – Arabia, Egypt, North Africa, Ethiopia, Nubia, Syria, Armenia, Persia, India, China, and Europe
• over the next thousand years, however, Christianity witnessed drastic changes.• Why? What would be the leading factor in its global decline?
• Spread of Islam throughout Asia and Africa, left Christianity to spread in Western Europe
Christianity’s Role
• Christianity was to western Eurasia, as Chinese Civilization and Buddhism did to East Asia, and Islam did to the Middle East and beyond
Orthodox V Catholicism • Shape divide in the Christian world with the Byzantine Empire
(Byzantium) – evolved a form of Christianity – Eastern Orthodox
• Western or Latin Christianity occupied what we call Western Europe today
• Fall of Western Roman Empire – collapse in 476 CE – weakening features = roads fell into disrepair, cities decayed, long-distance trade vanished.
• Rise of Roman Catholic faith in the west relied on the Pope – had political independence - Eastern Orthodox church did not
• Western Church rural, Byzantium = Constantinople
Asian Christianity:• - Arabia – Christianity didn’t last• - Muslim forces took control of Jerusalem in 638 – the Dome of
the Rock (687-691) – location sacred. To the Jews – the stone in which Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac to God, site of first two Jewish temples. To Christians, place where Jesus spread his teachings
• - Syria and Persia, majority of people voluntarily turned to Islam
• -Other regions, Armenia, Syria, Jerusalem = Christians pay jizya• - Depended on the local Muslim rulers if Christians could
continue to practice or not.
Dome of the Rock
Nestorian Christianity
• - Nestorian Christian communities – Syria, Iraq, Persia = Church of the East – survived the assault of Islam – abandoned their art and religious paintings – didn’t want to offend Muslims
• - Nestorian Church took root in China under the Tang Dynasty – “Chinese-afying Christianity” = using Buddhist and Daoist concepts to translate the Christian message – book – Jesus Sutras, God = “cool wind,” Sin = “bad karma”
• - Mid ninth century, China turned against all religions of foreign origin…why?
Mongols and China
• -Mongol conquest of China led to a brief opportunity for Christianity – Mongols were tolerant of Nestorian Christians. Mongols appreciated Christians because they could eat meat and drink.
• Mongol rule ended in 1368 – with the rise of the Confucian Ming Dynasty suppressed all other religions
Egypt =• Christianity was the dominant religion by the time of
Muslim conquest around 640 – Egyptians continued to speak Coptic and practice their religion as dhimmis under tolerant Muslim rulers
• - By the 13th century relations changed – with threats from the Crusaders and the Mongols, Muslim rulers questioned anyone of Christian faith
• - Mid 14th Century – anti-Christian pogroms, destruction of churches – most rural Egyptians converted to Islam as a result – Arabic replaced Coptic. Some Christians remained, 10%
Nubia=
• in the 5th and 6th Centuries = introduced by Egyptian traders and missionaries – parts of the Bible were translated into Nubian language. Cathedral in the Nubian City of Faras. Kings served as priests, Christian Bishops held state offices.
• -Nubian armies defeated Arab invasions twice• -Nubian Christianity faced difficulties as Islamized
tribes pushed into Nubia. By 1500 Nubian Christianity had largely disappeared
Ethiopia• – Axum rulers adopted Christianity in the 4th century.
Ethiopia became a Christian inland = protected by the Red Sea and its Mountainous geography – distant from Islamic trade centers – Ethiopia not conducive to the spread of Islam
• -Ethiopian Queen – Sheba – visited Solomon – has his child, connect blood line to Jesus – gives legitimacy to the ruler of Ethiopia – descendent of Jesus
• -12th Century – linked 12 underground churches to create a New Jerusalem, since Jerusalem lay under the control of the Muslims
12 Underground Churches