The following important division occurred in the 16th century with the Protestant Reformation. Those who remained faithful to Roman Catholicism believed that the central regulation of doctrine by church leaders was necessary to prevent confusion and division within the church and corruption of its beliefs. Most of these branches agree on the basic belief of the faith regarding Jesus, salvation by his death, the oneness of God, and the existence of heaven and hell. They differ however in different important points which caused the division among Christianity. The Roman Catholic branch of Christianity is governed by a hierarchy with the pope at the top and then the bishops and priests follow.
Catholicism Being baptized by a Catholic church and raised a Christian, I naturally became curious as to what the differences were between these two religions. Through my research and observation of a Catholic service (mass), I’ve learned that there are many similarities in their beliefs and that it is their practices of worship and salvation methods that becomes the dividing factor. Many people, including myself, typically mistaken Catholicism and Christianity as two very different religions. The fact is that they have an interrelationship, figuratively speaking. By this I mean that Catholicism is simply a denomination of Christianity.
As student of both Christian History and the European Renaissance I have decided to focus this research paper on Thomas Aquinas’s Views on the Role of the Church as an administer of Grace through the medium of the Sacraments. Of all the many topics dealt by Thomas concerning the Christian faith, none of them could have further solidified the theological authority of Roman Catholic Church than that which dealt with the Role of the Church itself. It would be no more than one century before his rational views on Grace and the Sacraments which seemingly defended the function and the authority of the Church so well would be challenged by reformers such as Wycliffe, Huss, Luther, and Calvin. I believe it is important to note that his views in these areas gave the Catholic church its basis for asserting its dominance over religious and public affairs
During this same time, the Catholic Church was moving further from the theology of the Protestants. The reformation was also known as the “Protestant revolt from the medieval Roman Catholic Church” (Harvey, 1918, p. 321). Luther was active in pointing out the “characteristic differences of attitude, of tendency, and of judgment, as well as of method, exhibited in these modern attempts to portray and interpret the most widely influential of the earliest founders of Protestantism” (Harvey, 1918, p. 321). Luther wanted to stress that there was a need to expunge the “corrupt bureaucracy” within the church, which can only be done when the church returns to the Bible (Owenby, 2011, p. 1). Luther believed that all believers should abide by the words of ‘our Lord and Master Jesus Christ” and repent of our sins (Morris, 1998, p. 56).
Over the past decade many revisions have been made to how people publicly celebrate their faith. Church and state cases have been continues throughout history ranging from whether Jehovah witnesses should be excused from saluting the American flag to whether religious symbols and sayings should be in government buildings or not. The lack of clarification which the term separation of church and state provides sets an unclear message to what the term actually means. The U.S. is a very religious country with religions spanning across the world. Separation of church and state is meant to keep religious freedom while keeping it out of both politics and people with separate religions.
During the time of Arius, the true nature of Jesus Christ resided at the top of a controversy list, which had many in the church quarreling. In a time prior to the ecumenical councils when the church’s view of Christ was not concretely established, Arius was purposing an angelic Christ. In this paper, I will detail that although the Christian church has sought to clear the misconceptions of Arianism through the centuries, it is still being practiced. I assert that modern day Arianism can be found in the theology of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. This is the organization responsible for leading and instructing the modern Christian
The Rise of the Papacy This paper, The Rise of the Papacy, will define the Papacy and Reformation , evaluate how and why the Papacy became the center of power in Rome, discuss the factors that contributed to its dominance of Western Europe until the Reformation, as well as, analyze the positive and negative ramifications of the Office of the Papacy. The Papacy is the system of ecclesiastical government in the Roman Catholic Church in which the Pope is recognized as the supreme head. It has its beginning with Peter and is represented now by Pope Benedict XVI. The Papacy can be looked at from two different viewpoints: biblical and historical. When looking at it from a biblical standpoint, the truth of its inception is shown in a light that the Protestant and Catholic theologians have a different opinion.
There have been more than seven church councils, but these crucial first seven, known as the Ecumenical Councils, were the most important in establishing official church doctrine. The seven councils span a time period over four hundred years, with the first council in 325 CE and the seventh in 787 CE. The goal of these councils was to create a unified religion, now that Christianity had become the official religion of the Roman Empire. Hundreds of church fathers from all across the known world were invited to attend the first council. Topics of discussion included the nature of Jesus (was he fully divine or fully man or somewhere between?)
Namely, those are the Protestant Revolution, the French Revolution, the era of Romanticism and Modernism, and the revolution we are in currently. Each is noteworthy for the unique focus of ideas represented during each timeframe. The Protestant Revolution ( 1500 - 1660 ) can be described as most centered around the exploration of religion and what to believe within that sector of life (xxi). Luther’s Ninety-Five Thesis plays an incidental role, urging the masses that “one must fight for the truth” as opposed to the then-common practice of purchasing a token of the Lord’s forgiveness (14). He suggested that salvation was only an attainable goal through certain means which did not need to be mediated by the church.
Christianity and Islam are the two largest religions in the world. Both share with Judaism a belief in one God who created the world and cares about the behavior and beliefs of human beings. In recent centuries, mutual distrust between Christians and Muslims has continued to grow. On the other hand, some have pointed out that the conflict has more to do with political tensions and divergent cultural worldviews than with religion, and efforts have been made by both Christians and Muslims to find common ground and engage in respectful dialogue. (http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/charts/christianity_islam.htm) Christianity broadly consists of individuals who believe in the deity Jesus Christ.