Chapter 8 The Flowering of Christianity: Faith and the Power of Belief in the Early First Millennium Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ All rights reserved.

How did the Judaic culture evolve after the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE )? Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ All rights reserved.

Sectarianism and Revolt The Jewish religion had become increasingly messianic A large number of people had proclaimed to be the Messiah Sectarianism of Judaism grew Three philosophical sects: Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes The purity laws were a special point of contention Rome became increasingly less tolerant of the Jewish faith Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ All rights reserved.

The Rabbis and the Mishnah With the destruction of the temple in 70 CE, the center of the Jewish faith evaporated Religion was practiced in localized synagogues (“houses of assembly”) In light of the subsequent Diaspora, rabbis initialized the writing down of the Oral Torah Oral Torah was recorded in the Mishnah Additional commentaries were added, known as Gemarah Mishnah and Gemarah became known as Talmud Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ All rights reserved.

What forces contributed to the spread of the Christian religion, and did Christians make use of typology, symbolism, and iconography? Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ All rights reserved.

The Evangelists After Jesus’ death, his evangelists (“bearer of good”) spread the word of his life and death The earliest writings of the new Christian faith are Paul’s epistles, or letters Shortly after Paul’s death, Christianity spread rapidly through Asia Minor and Greece Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ All rights reserved.

The Gnostic Gospels In 1945, an Arab peasant discovered a jar with 52 texts from the fourth century The texts became known as the Gnostic (“knowledge”) gospels written by Christians The Gnostic gospels were eventually rejected by the Church Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ All rights reserved.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the synoptic gospels (“seeing together”) Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ All rights reserved.

Symbols and Iconography in Christian Thinking and Art Christians believed that the stories in the Hebrew Scriptures prefigured the life of Jesus Christians interpreted events from the Old Testament as prefiguring events in the New Testament Typology (“example”): Solomon, in his wisdom, is a type for Christ Based on the few early Christian artworks, the symbolic significance of a scene or figure was of utmost importance Over the years, Christians developed a consistent iconography, the literal (factual) and figurative (symbolic) significance of images Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ All rights reserved.

What was the Roman reaction to Christianity, and in what ways did Roman tradition influence the religion’s development? Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ All rights reserved.

Diocletian persecuted the Christians (303 – 311) Constantine tolerated Christianity and eventually converted to Christianity Constantine convened the first ecumenical (worldwide) council of Church leaders at Nicea in 325 The council produced the first Nicene Creed By the fourth century CE, Roman art abandoned naturalism and instead focused on representing the symbolic function in a more abstract style Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ All rights reserved.

Roman Influences on Christian Churches Constantine built the first Christian church in Rome modeled on the Roman basilicas: Old St. Peter’s (ca. 320 – 327) Old St. Peter’s became a model for many subsequent churches A second type of Christian church, the central- plan church, was based on the Roman Pantheon Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ All rights reserved.

Greek and Roman Myths in Christianity Christianity incorporated many Greek and Roman mythic traditions (syncretism) For example, the Greek wine god Dionysius as a pagan type of Christ Another example is the Persian cult of Mithras, which was very popular among Roman troops in Palestine Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ All rights reserved.

Augustine and Early Christian Philosophy Augustine (354 – 430) codified the idea of typological readings of the Bible in his Confessions Augustine’s symbolic readings of the Scripture as reflected in The City of God provide the foundation of biblical interpretation down to the present day Augustine and Ambrose recognized music as an important part of the new liturgy Music was employed to bring the community of worshippers together Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ All rights reserved.

How does Byzantine art differ from earlier, Classical models, and how does it reflect the values of the empire and its church? Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ All rights reserved.

Justinian (r. 527 – 65) launched a massive building program in Constantinople and throughout his empire Through this building program, Justinian aimed to assert his political leadership as well as his spiritual authority The vast dome and space in Hagia Sophia (Istanbul, 532 – 537) symbolized heavenly space The naturalism of Greek and Roman Classical art is completely abandoned Instead the Byzantine artists employ a formally abstract and priestly hieratic style that depicts figures floating weightlessly in ethereal space Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ All rights reserved.

Ravenna and the Western Empire The most extensive examples of Byzantine art survive in Ravenna, northern Italy The mosaics of Justinian and Theodora in San Vitale, Ravenna, provide an example of the reverse perspective employed by Byzantine artists The artists rejected the attempt to create an earthly illusion in order to render a sacred space Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ All rights reserved.

What is the role of the image in Byzantine art, and why did iconclasts attack it? Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ All rights reserved.

Religious images, and the doctrine associated with them, were expected to stir the viewer to prayer The iconclasts followed the position of the new Muslim religion, which banned the use of holy images The Byzantine emperor Leo III (r. 717 – 741) saw the military success of Muslims against the Byzantine Empire as a sign of God’s approval of the Muslim religious practices and disapproval of Byzantium’s Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ All rights reserved.