2016/9/1
shiftdimDr . Frederick Hok-ming CHEUNG
xhtmlThe Ri
of
Christianity &
the
Fall of the Roman Empire
Background
n Roman Empire
n 3rd & 4th centuries:
武汉服装设计学校n Internally: anarchy*; economy ↓(+ inflation)n
billabong
Externally: barbarian invasions
spiritually: looking for new relief, liberation n Promis -----salvation, eternal life n yet, with precedent examples:n Egypt: Isis (resurrection of Osiris)n Persia: Mithras (dualism)
n Plato: unmoved mover, uncaud cau n
(prime mover) monotheism
Background
n
Jesus: charismatic, a prophet, a preacher, a teacher, a social worker (?), the son of a carpenter, humble (not legendary).
第一时间英文
n
Historical person ----warm, magnetic leader
n Miraculously healed the sick,n raid the dead n stilled the wind n
Amazing Grace
Hebrew monotheism
n
Hebrew monotheism: well-grounded, strong ideology
n Discipline and organization
n Appealing to the majority: the poor + women n
: had powerful appeal to the distresd, down-trodden, disinherited, despairing.n Equality of all men all men are brothers n
No distinction between slave & free poor & rich
n
appealed especially to the poor.
The ri of Christianity
n Luke 14: 8-11
n For everyone who exalts himlf will be humbled, and whoever humbles himlf will be exalted.
n Blesd are the sorrowful, for they shall find
consolation, Blesd are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
n Hope & promis
n------Life beyond death: in the Kingdom of God
(Heaven) salvation [eternal life]
n+ Love, forgiveness, charity (caritas)Luke 6: 20-29
n Love your enemies, do good to tho who hate you, bless tho who cur you, pray for tho who treat you spitefully.
n When someone hit you on the cheek, offer him the other cheek, too. When a man take your coat, let him have your shirt as well. …
n Treat others as you would like them to treat
you.
n Love thy (your) neighbors as thylf.
Favorable condition for spreading
n1st century: Pax Romana
元宵节快乐的英语n Roman Empire------united, good roads, (communication)
n+ Peter & Paul (good leaders)
n architects of the Christian Church
n flexible
n preached without regards to the races (not just for the Jews)
n no circumcision ( )
Latin Doctors
1.St. Ambro (c. 340-397)
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commitsuiciden Bishop of Milan ( )
n: administrator, orator, theologian n+Plato, ↘
n Cicero,→ Christianity
n Virgil↗Latin Doctors
n St. Jerome(c. 240-420)
n( ) Latin Bible
n Prerve Greco-Roman culture
n+ translation (+footnotes)
n Hebrew & Greek Bible into Latin
n nightmares: Christianity % pagan Homer. Virgil, Horace, Cicero?
n(Similarly, St. Augustine)
Latin Doctors
n St. Augustine of Hippo (Bishop) (c. 354-430)
厦门教育网n
n City of God or
n The ri of Christianity
加权平均n4th –5th centuries Roman Empire was a period of
profound disturbances, marking the transition from the classical civilization of Greco-Roman to Christian civilization of Western Europe
n= bridge between the thought of the antiquity & that of the Middle Ages Christian faith
n= synthesized Classical & Christian culture :
foundation of medieval theology
n8th c. (classical + Christian) + Germanic
n = Birth of Europe
n[Robert Lopez, The Birth of Europe]
The City of God
n Book 1-9
n Rome s glory was not granted by pagan polytheism but by ONE god
n Book 10
n World view of Christianity % other religions n Book 11-
n City of God % earthly (cular) city
n Soul % body
n Love of God % love of desire The City of God
n Breakdown of an earthly empire = a small event in world history (viewed from the perspectives of
eternity )
n
n Vital contributions to political philosophy have been made more frequently in periods of political
disturbance than in more peaceful times
n e.g. Plato, Aristotle Athens↓
n e.g. St. Augustine Roman Empire↓
The City of God
n When men face rious difficulties which the traditional political system ems unable to solve
n+ When conflicts % groups, class, regions, religious cts were so inten
n political philosophy↑
n---exactly, St. Augustine lived & wrote (4th –5th centuries Roman Empire)The Decline and Fall of Roman Empire
n Edward Gibbon, The Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire
n( )
n(6 volumes)
n
n Donald Kagan, ed., Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire
n
n Lynn White, Jr., ed., The Transformation of the Roman World
