REL2300 July 23rd Christianity Part 2 Interpreting the Bible 1 As literal interpretation and as moral tales 2 The Bible is an inspired word by God but expressed in human language and according to human understanding Arius and the Formation of Nicene Creed Arius around 300 C E was a Bishop of Egypt who held the view that Jesus was a human being Thought he was a great and an ideal human being but nonetheless he was not son of God The title Son of God was a courtesy title This created a great confusion among the Christian communities Therefore the council was called at Nicea around 325 C E in which more than 300 Bishops were present They formulated the Nicene Creed which reads as on page 375 or 376 2nd paragraph Essence Ousia Substance Development of the Eastern Orthodox Church Eastern Orthodox Church developed in Greece Bulgaria Ukraine Romania and Russia This happened when Constantinople Byzantine was made new capitol of the Roman Empire by Constantine Eventually the Empire split into two divisions East and West Thus we fin many doctrinal differences and differences in practice between the two Church traditions Latin speaking Western church began to develop independently on its own Greek speaking Eastern Church continued on its own course 1 The Eastern Church has always held to a decentralized consensus based model o Decisions regarding doctrines and practices made by local community members in consultation with patriarchs and bishops o In the Western Church centralized authority is vested in the Pope The Western Church includes at this point that Christians in the West as yet we had no Catholics and Protestants 2 The Eastern Church holds that Jesus had two separate natures not united in single person o Thereby they emphasize the divinity of Jesus o The Western Church held that divine and human were united in a single person Thus they emphasize more on human aspect of Jesus 3 The Eastern Church emphasizes on Monasticism o They have great monastic centers 4 The Eastern Church allows only icons in the worship whereas the Western Church allows statues 5 The Eastern Church allows the marriages of bishops and ministers o In the Western Church ministers are not allowed to marry 6 In the Western Church it is held that Father and Son generated the Holy Spirit o In Easter Church one holds that Father generated the Holy Spirit o According to the Eastern Church the Latin world filioque from the son was added for no reason 7 In the Eastern Church when one is baptized his whole body is sunk into water o In the Western Church it is done by sprinkling the holy water on the forehead 8 In the Sacrament of Eucharist Lord s Supper the Eastern Church uses both wine and bread symbolizing blood and body of Christ o In the Western Church bread alone was used for many hundreds of years today it s changing The Protestant Reformation To protest bring the evidence Western Church establishment had become rich from bequest of the rich and collection from local parish churches Endowments of land and money were a natural form of piety in the hope that rich people and aristocrats would benefit in after life Instances of sex offence committed in the Church became a common place The indulgences became widespread Saint veneration became wide spread All these factors contributed to the formation of Reformation which began with Martin Luther Martin Luther 1483 1546 Martin Luther presented his objections in the form of 95 Theses he nailed them to the door of the church he was born in The main contentions of which are 1 Live by Faith sola fides and live by Scripture sola scriptura o No authority of pope is required Everyone is a minister and relate to God directly The Essentials of Christian World View 1 God the Father and one 2 Jesus Christ o This universe is the expression of the power and love of God o It embodies also the Judaic concept of God as being all knowing powerful o He is ideal human being as well as manifestation of divinity o He is word logos substance that expresses the divine nature and origin of Jesus o Logos logic o Jesus s words are logic 3 We humans are sinners and born in sin o For our sins Jesus was crucified 4 Holy Spirit o We as humans understand Godhead or Godhood as Holy Father Son and Holy Spirit 5 Life after Death o They are three ways of understanding the same God o Heaven is the reward of the good which is being in the presence of God o Being in his presence and beatitude is the greatest enjoyment we can ever have