What is Christianity? 

1)    The perfect sacrifice to atone for the Fall of Man

• See Genesis in Matthews/Platt

1. Was Jesus a political figure?

• Many Jews thought that Jesus would be a king politically, but Jesus himself is said to have said "My kingdom is not of this world"

• Jesus is says, "Give Caesar what is Caesar’s and God what is God’s", but he also taught his disciples a prayer that seems to prescribe an earthly theocratic kingdom: "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven"
  





• Jesus may provide a theistic answer to the vexing problem of evil

• What is God’s reason for Job’s suffering? (Matthews and Platt)

• How does Jesus help us to understand suffering?

1. Jesus the moral leader

• Jesus has a sophisticated moral philosophy that is difficult to follow: this attracts followers

• It is sophisticated because it professes a universal kinship (See the Sermon on the Mount in Matthews/Platt)

• "Our Father who art in Heaven…"

• It is difficult to follow because loving everyone is not usually a natural response.

-Review the Beatitudes ("Blessed are the…")

1) -It is too difficult to follow; it was only meant for Jesus’ disciples

2) -The Sermon: an idealistic moral theory

-it is "ideal"; something to be aspired to even though we will ever attain it

3) -An interim morality (Albert Schweitzer)

-the world was thought to end soon. Its precepts were only meant for a short time.

4) -A communist, social program: A plan for a utopia

5) -Martin Luther (1500s): Christ alone fulfilled the Sermon. We, thus, do not have to.

6)-St. Augustine: the Our Father prayer is actually a prayer for the grace of the Holy Spirit to allow us to live out the Sermon.

-In 303 AD, the emperor Diocletian launches final suppression of Christianity

-In 313 AD, Constantine recognizes Christianity as ONE of the official state religions

-Christianity is poised to unite in a way the Emperor cannot:

Why Christianity?

Quote of the day: "Full weight has yet to be attached to the fact that Christianity, strictly speaking, is another word for Hebrew fundamentalism.  It was born out of literal interpretation of Hebrew prophecy.  Thus, the Hebrew religion ought not to be considered apart from Christianity because it gave birth to it" (Norman Cousins, The Celebration of Life, p. 27).

Early Christian Issues

• Main Issues

• 1) Nature of the Godhead

• 2) How to understand the Trinity

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is,
seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin
Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius
Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living
and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of
life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and
glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic
Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness
of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

• 1) Arius of Alexandria disagrees with the Council’s understanding that Jesus is "one in being with the Father"

• For Arius, Jesus is ____________________.

• The Church excommunicates Arius (i.e., it kicks him out of the Church)

• 2) Because Christians "look for the resurrection of the dead," they did not cremate remains upon death.

• Sarcophagi- marble tombs with carving designs
  

Video: Christianity (The First 1000 years)
 
 
  
 
 

The unifying function of Christianity
 
 
   
 

Ravenna

• Honorius abandons Rome in 402 AD and moves Western capital to Ravenna.

• The Ostrogoths gain Ravenna for a short period until Justinian’s armies control it, reuniting the Old Empire for a short time.

• Ravenna goes from "unimportant little town" to center of politics, religion, and art.

• ARCHITECTURE IN RAVENNA

•  Sant’ Apollinaris Nuovo
• Rectangular church
• Note the focus on interior design and maximization of interior space.
• Compare with Pagan and Greek temples
• Mosaics (c. 520)
• Good Shepherd Separating the Sheep from the Goats
•  Last Supper
•   Procession of Virgin Martyrs

• Problem: How to represent abstractions such as salvation, redemption, transubstantiation, the Trinity, etc.?

• Solution: Use parables (in the written word) and use symbolism (in art)
• A dove represents the Holy Spirit
• A peacock stands for Paradise
• A fish typically stands for the missionary cause
• Grapes on the vine represent Jesus’ gift of communion ("I am the fruit of the vine")

•   Sculpture: The Good Shepherd

• Sarcophagus of Archbishop Theodore

• In class exercise: locate and determine the meaning of the symbolism of the sarcophagus

• Maximian’s cathedra

CHRISTIAN, BYZANTINE, AND ISLAMIC STYLES III

• St. Augustine (video)

• Body versus soul

• Are the two in perpetual conflict?

• The Epicurean view

• The monastic view

• The Platonic view of St. Augustine

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ARCHITECTURE:

• What does Christian architecture have in common with the pyramids, the Parthenon, the Altar of Zeus, the Colosseum, etc.?

• POWER and INFLUENCE
• Ability of State to organize large-scale projects

• 1) Old St. Peter’s, Rome
• Could hold 40,000 worshippers

• Rectangular Church

• Plan, Cross-section

• 2) Sant’ Apollinaris Nuovo 

• Rectangular church

• Built under the Arian Theodoric as a private chapel

•  Plan
  

• Note the focus on interior design and maximization of interior space.

• Compare with Pagan and Greek temples

• Mosaics (c. 520 and later ones c. 560)

• East vs. West: Theodoric
•  Good Shepherd Separating the Sheep from the Goats
•  Last Supper

• East vs. West: Justinian

•  Procession of Virgin Martyrs

• Justinian’s "adjustments" to the Arian Mosaics

• Differences between the Roman Mosaics and the Eastern ones

Central-Type Churches

• San Vitale, Ravenna
(c. 527-547): under emperor Justinian

• Hagia Sophia (c. 532-537);

• Compare with rectangular churches
  

• MOSIACS in San Vitale
•  Emperor Justinian and Courtiers (c. 547)
•  Empress Theodora and Retinue

• From sculpture to mosaic
• Is this a more fitting way to portray political power?

• A sculpture in a Church might equal idolatry (against the Laws of God!)

• But what about their halos? Isn’t this idolatry?

• But by this time politics are completely intertwined with Church power

• Sculpture takes modest place in Christian Art

• Art becomes increasingly pictorial for its lesson-imparting potential
• The limited light inside of Churches meant that sculptures could not be seen from all angles
• Perhaps sculpture was too often associated with paganism

• Boethius and Cassiodorus: appropriate music must have its base in rationality and true appreciation of it can only be had with knowledge.

• Recall Athenaeus
  

• Challenge for the Church: to provide music separate from the popular, crude music but separate from the learned, but pagan music of Rome.

• 1) Bear witness to Allah in form of Creed: "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet."

• 2) Salat: Recite prayers five times daily at specified times.

• 3) Almsgiving to poor (two and one half percent)

• 4) Ramadan: commemorates journey from Mecca

• 5) hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca

-Unofficial sixth pillar:

Abridged History of Islam

• 570 AD Muhammad is born
• 610 AD Muhammad begins to receive revelations
• the Koran is considered by many to be a word to word text of those revelations

• 622 AD Muhammad emigrates to Medina to flee persecution
• 630 AD Mecca is conquered by Muhammad and 10,000 soldiers

• 632 AD Muhammad dies
• Caliphs-successors of Muhammad/Rulers
• First four were related to Muhammad by blood or marriage (632-661)
• Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali

• But Ali was challenged by Syrian governor Muawiya, who wins out.
• Or, as the Sunnis (~80% of Muslims are Sunni) maintain, Ali was killed in personal dispute with Ibn Muljim.
• Muawiya establishes Umayyad dynasty (661-750)

• A rift in Islam
• Shiites- claim to be descendants of the rightful caliphs (i.e., the descendents of Ali); break from the other faithful

• Abbasids (750-1258)
• Abu Muslim successfully usurps power from the Umayyads and moves Islamic capital from Syria to Baghdad
• Under the Abbasids, pax islamica persists: arts, sciences, economic, commercial success

• 1) Use of Calligraphy
• Connection with Quran (or Koran)
• Widely considered to be the highest form of art for Muslims
• Quran pages used to be written on horizontal parchment, but in time were written on vertical pages
• Diacritical markings- to distinguish between letters; (dots)

• 2) Use of geometric patterns- often called arabesque
• convey infinity; recall the use of symbolism in early Christian art…
• Function: solely to decorate

• Selections from the Koran (Matthews and Platt)
• First compiled by Abu Bakr, Uthman standardizes it

• Sura 21: God will punish those who do not pay heed to him
• God is creator who weighs evidence (Matthews and Platt))
• Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, Moses, Lot, David, Solomon, and even Jesus are in the tradition of Islam.

• Isn’t Islam sympathetic to Jews and Christians?

• From Koran, sura 2: "Believers, Jews, Christians, and Sabaeans [ancient rulers of Yemen believed to be monotheists]-whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and does what is right- shall be rewarded by their Lord; they have nothing to fear or regret"

• Initially the Islamic struggle was against idol worshippers, not fellow monotheists.

• But over time, some Muslims have questioned whether the Jews and Christians were really monotheists.
• Or whether the Christians "worshipped" idols.
• Jews and Muslims disagree over their rights to the Promised Land.
• Jews felt threatened, since the days when Muhammad governed Medina, that Arabs wanted to transform their traditions.

• The role of categorizing in fundamentalism
• Early Christians- "you are not a true Christian"
• Later Christians- witch trials kill many
• Muslim extremism- "you are an infidel"
• Nazi Germany- "you are a non-human"

ARCHITECTURE

• Dome of the Rock (located in Jerusalem)

• Great Mosque of Cordoba (located in Spain)

• Taj Mahal (located in India):
• begun in 1632 by the ruler Shah Jahan as a shrine to honor (and bury) his beauteous and beloved wife Mumtag-I-Mahal (‘chosen one of the palace"); Jahan buried there
• A tribute to womanhood
• But to portray her in public would be idolatry, thus breaking the Mosaic commandment (see Exodus in Matthews/Platt) which Muslims accept.
• So, in abstract and geometrical terms the ruler expresses his love.
• Abstraction, Symbols in Muslim art have a dual function:
• 1) to explain the remote and complex
• 2) to avoid committing idolatry

• ALERT: Why do Christians allow for statues and mosaics and paintings if they accept the same commandments?

IDEAS: Authoritarianism, Mysticism, Symbolism