Fall of Greece

1. Fall of Greece Battle of Corinth in 146 BC. Despite being ruled by Rome, much of the Greek culture remained the same and had a heavy influence on Roman culture.

2. Roman Empire Founded in 500 BC By 200 BC it ruled Italy

3. Growth of the Roman Empire 60 BC 180 AD

4. Roman Culture “The Romans invented no art forms, constructed no original system of philosophy. And made no scientific discoveries. They made good roads. Systematic legal codes, and efficient armies: for the rest they looked to Greece.” Bertram Russell, History of Western Philosophy.

5. Greek and Roman Gods

6. Autocracy - political power is held by a single self-appointed ruler.

7. St. Paul (10 – 64) Video (2 mins) Born in Tarsus (Turkey) Trained as a Rabbi in Jerusalem Combined Greek and Jewish theology with Christ’s teachings. Dualist Human body is evil Human soul (spirit) divine Like Plato saw the body as our major source of problems Unlike Plato he said faith in God (rather than reason) as the solution to the conflict..

8. Great Fire of Rome AD 64 - Lasted 6 days - Emperor Nero Fiddled while Rome Burned? - Nero Blames the Christians

9. Persecution of the Christians

10. Plotinus – 205 – 270 Neo-Platonism Combined Plato with ethical concepts from Christianity, Judaism and Near Eastern Mysticism (Hindus or Buddhists) Like Plato – Idealist To get closest to the One, each individual must engage in divine work. Each individual as a microcosm reflects the gradual ordering of the universe referred to as the macrocosm. In mimicking the divine mind, one unites with it. Thus the process of unification, of "The Being", and "The One", making each man a God by replacing the concept of God as creator with themselves as creators, builders, craftsmen of their own lives.

11. Early Christian Schisms Video

12. Conversion of Constantine & The Battle of Milvian Bridge

14. Rise of Christianity Christianity began in 1st century AD Jerusalem as a minor jewish sect. It spread initially in the Near East, ultimately becoming the state religion of Armenia in either 301 or 314, of Ethiopia in 325, of Georgia in 337, and then the state religion of the Roman Empire in 380. During the Age of Exploration (15th to 17th cent.), Christianity expanded throughout the world, becoming the world's largest religion.

17. As Rome Grew, so did Christianity Many Pagan symbols were incorporated into Christian holiday traditions. Video

18. The Invention of Heresy Separation of State and Church Constantine gets involved in Church squabbles.

19. Orthodoxy & Heresy 1st & 2nd Century – no authority = no Heresy 3rd Century – Bishop of Lyons Refutation of Heresies -

20. One of the earliest heresies to arise in the Christian church was Gnosticism Gnostics were dualists, teaching that there are two great opposing forces: good versus evil light versus darkness knowledge versus ignorance spirit versus matter. Since the world is material, and leaves much room for improvement, they denied that God had made it.

21. How can the perfect produce the imperfect, the infinite produce the finite, the spiritual produce the material? Gnostic’s solution was to say that there were thirty beings called AEons, and that God had made the first AEon, which made the second AEon, which made the third, and so on to the thirtieth AEon, which made the world.

22. They taught that Christ did not really have a material body, but only seemed to have one. It was an appearance, so that he could communicate with men, but was not really there.

23. They said that Jesus had had two doctrines: one a doctrine fit for the common man, and preached to everyone, and the other an advanced teaching, kept secret from the multitudes, fit only for the chosen few, the spiritually elite. They, the Gnostics, were the spiritually elite, and although the doctrines taught in the churches were not exactly wrong, and were in fact as close to the truth as the common man could hope to come, it was to the Gnostics that one must turn for the real truth.

24. Constantine backs the authority of the bishop and confiscates the public property of heretics. Persecuted become persecutors!

25. Augustine of Hippo(345 – 430) • one of the most important figures in the development of Western Christianity • Strongly influenced by Neo-Platonism. Dualist - humans have souls – animals do not. Free Will (Choice) Intrinsic motivation Doing good deads to feelings of virtue Doing evil leads to guilt. People who choose evil deny themselves an afterlife

26. Concepts of original sin and just war Science and Philosophy not in the service of theology were suspect. Roman Empire in the West was starting to disintegrate Augustine developed the concept of the Church as a spiritual City of God distinct from the material City of Man. “Give me chastity and continency, but not yet”

27. 475 Fall of Rome 475 – 1000 Dark ages

29. Middle Ages (500 – 1500) • Crusades began around 1100 ad • Plague • Famine • Writings were lost to western culture • Continued Schisms in the Church

30. The first European medieval institutions generally considered to be universities were established in Italy, France, and England in the late 11th and the 12th. Representation of a university class, (1350s).

32. Saint Anselm (1033 -1109) Contrary to Christian belief he felt that reason Could help better understand God. Scholasticism – to join faith with reason Use logical deduction to account for traditional theological teachings. Ontological Argument for God’s existence If God did not exist, then something greater than He could be thought; thus, God must exist.

33. Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 -1274) Argued Reason and Faith are compatible Reintroduced Aristotle theology Tabla Rasa Empiricist Argued for the supremacy of reason – free will.

34. John Duns Scotus (1265 – 1308) Criticized both Aquinas and Aristotle Argued for the Supremacy of God’s will If God’s will is subordinate to reason then it appears that God is limited, which can not be. Thus God must be absolutely free. God’s moral rules are good because God willed them to be good, not because His wisdom recognized them to be. Thus one cannot understand morality from a rational standpoint. Dunsmen, Duncemen --- Dunces.

35. Late Middle Ages William of Ockham Ockham’s Razor - the principle that when trying to choose between multiple competing theories the simplest theory is probably the best. (K.I.S.S!) Nominalist – Universals (truths) exist in name only. Charged with heresy & excommunicated.

36. Late Middle Ages – Famine, Plague, War, Peasant Revolutions When you hit Bottom, there is no where to go but up!!!

37. RENAISSANCE

38. Lorenzo de' Medici Ruler of Florence and patron of arts Lorenzo the Magnificent The Elizabethan era (16th century to the early 17th century) - the English Renaissance with the work of writers William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, John Milton, and Edmund Spenser.

39. 1450 – first publication – the bible. by 1492 – 20 million books had been printed. 1492 – Christopher Columbus sets sail.

40. Heresy (from Greek αἵρεσις, which originally meant "choice") is an accusation levied against members of another group which has beliefs which conflict with those of the accusers. It is usually used to discuss violations of religious or traditional laws or codes, although it is used by some political extremists to refer to their opponents. It carries the connotation of behaviors or beliefs likely to undermine accepted morality and cause tangible evils, damnation, or other punishment.

41. Humanism The view that we can make sense of the world using reason, experience and shared human values and that we can live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs.

42. Martin Luther German father of the Protestant Reformation • Called for more personalized, less ritualized religion. • Reformation polka

43. Challenged the absolute authority of the Pope over the Church by maintaining that the doctrine of indulgences, as authorized and taught by the Pope, was wrong. • Salvation was by faith alone without reference to good works, alms, penance, or the Church's sacraments. • challenged the authority of the Church by maintaining that all doctrines and dogmata of the Church not found in Scripture should be discarded. 

45. The Edict of Worms was a decree issued on 25 May 1521 by Emperor Charles V, declaring: “For this reason we forbid anyone from this time forward to dare, either by words or by deeds, to receive, defend, sustain, or favor the said Martin Luther. On the contrary, we want him to be apprehended and punished as a notorious heretic, as he deserves, to be brought personally before us, or to be securely guarded until those who have captured him inform us, where upon we will order the appropriate manner of proceeding against the said Luther. Those who will help in his capture will be rewarded generously for their good work.”

46. John Calvin Ruled Geneva as a religious dictatorship • No drinking, dancing, icons, candles, incense and obligatory church attendance for everyone. • In Calvin’s view, Man, who is corrupt, is confronted by the omnipotent (all powerful) and omnipresent (present everywhere) God who before the world began predestined some for eternal salvation (the Elect) while the others would suffer everlasting damnation (the Reprobates).

47. The chosen few were saved by the operation of divine grace which cannot be challenged and cannot be earned by Man’s merits. You might have lead what you might have considered a perfectly good life that was true to God but if you were a reprobate you remained one because for all your qualities you were inherently corrupt and God would know this even if you did not. However, a reprobate by behaving decently could achieve an inner conviction of salvation. An Elect could never fall from grace.

48. Renaissance Science 1543 – Nicolaus Copernicus • Heleocentric view of the world. • As opposed to a ptolemic (Earth centered). • Contrary to common sense. • Biblical reference. (5 days creating earth, 1 day on universe and 1 day on resting).

49. Giordano Bruno: (1548 – 1600) • Proposed the existence of multiple suns and innumerable earths, each revolving around its own sun and potentially inhabited by sentient beings ~ a limitless universe. • Burned at the stake in 1600.

50. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Uses of the Telescope (war and business) Galileo used it to peer into the sky. His finding supported Copernicus. Pope Urban supported the publication of Copernicus but insisted on a disclaimer that Coperinicanism was a hypothesis. “Simplicius’ Disclaimer” “The Holy Spirit intended to teach us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go”.