Christianity in the modern era
The history of modern Christianity concerns the
Early modern period (c. 1500 – c. 1750)
Orthodoxy under Ottoman rule
In 1453, Constantinople fell to the
For the next four hundred years, it would be confined within a hostile Islamic world, with which it had little in common religiously or culturally. This geographical and intellectual confinement partially explains why the voice of Eastern Orthodoxy was not heard during the
The new Ottoman government that arose from the ashes of Byzantine civilisation was neither primitive nor barbaric. Islam not only recognised Jesus as a great prophet, but tolerated Christians as another People of the Book. As such, the Church was not extinguished nor was its canonical and hierarchical organisation significantly disrupted. Its administration continued to function. One of the first things that Mehmet the Conqueror did was to allow the Church to elect a new patriarch, Gennadius Scholarius. The Hagia Sophia and the Parthenon, which had been Christian churches for nearly a millennium were, admittedly, converted into mosques, yet countless other churches, both in Constantinople and elsewhere, remained in Christian hands. Moreover, it is striking that the patriarch's and the hierarchy's position was considerably strengthened and their power increased. They were endowed with civil as well as ecclesiastical power over all Christians in Ottoman territories. Because Islamic law makes no distinction between nationality and religion, all Christians, regardless of their language or nationality, were considered a single millet, or nation. The patriarch, as the highest ranking hierarch, was thus invested with civil and religious authority and made ethnarch, head of the entire Christian Orthodox population. Practically, this meant that all Orthodox Churches within Ottoman territory were under the control of Constantinople. Thus, the authority and jurisdictional frontiers of the patriarch were enormously enlarged.
However, these rights and privileges (see
Devastating, too, for the Church was the fact that it could not bear witness to Christ. Missionary work among Moslems was dangerous and indeed impossible, whereas conversion to Islam was entirely legal and permissible. Converts to Islam who returned to Orthodoxy were put to death as apostates. No new churches could be built and even the ringing of church bells was prohibited. Education of the clergy and the Christian population either ceased altogether or was reduced to the most rudimentary elements.Corruption
The Orthodox Church found itself subject to the Turkish system of corruption. The patriarchal throne was frequently sold to the highest bidder, while new patriarchal investiture was accompanied by heavy payment to the government. In order to recoup their losses, patriarchs and bishops taxed the local parishes and their clergy. Nor was the patriarchal throne ever secure. Few patriarchs between the fifteenth and the nineteenth centuries died a natural death while in office. The forced abdications, exiles, hangings, drownings, and poisonings of patriarchs are well documented. But if the patriarch's position was precarious so was the hierarchy's. The hanging of patriarch
Devshirmeh
The Reformation (1520–1641)
Age of Enlightenment (1640–1740)
The
Puritan movement
The
The early Puritan movement (late 16th century-17th century) was
The later Puritan movement were often referred to as
The most famous and well-known emigration to
These Puritan separatists were also known as "
The original intent of the colonists was to establish spiritual Puritanism, which had been denied to them in England and the rest of Europe to engage in peaceful commerce with England and the Native American Indians and to Christianize the peoples of the Americas.
The most famous colonisation by Protestants in the New World was that of English
Roman Catholic missions
The
Late modern period (c. 1750 – c. 1945)
Revivalism (1720–1906)
Revivalism refers to the
Great Awakenings (18th–19th century)
The
French Revolution and worship of Reason
Matters grew still worse with the violent anti-clericalism of the
When
Restorationism
Restorationism refers to various unaffiliated movements that considered contemporary Christianity, in all its forms, to be a deviation from the true, original Christianity, which these groups then attempted to "Reconstruct", often using the
Latter Day Saints
The driving force behind and founder of the Latter Day Saint movement was
Smith first published the
In 1844,
These various claims resulted in a
Russian Orthodoxy
Orthodoxy was very strong in
Russian Orthodox Church in the Russian Empire
The Russian Orthodox Church held a privileged position in the
The church was involved in the various campaigns of
The Church was allowed to impose taxes on the peasants. [citation needed]
The Church, like the Tsarist state was seen as an enemy of the people by the Bolsheviks and other Russian revolutionaries.
Russian Orthodox Church in the Soviet Union
The Russian Orthodox Church
) after the October Revolution. This may have further strengthened the Bolshevik animus against the church.After the October Revolution of 7 November 1917 (October 25 Old Calendar) there was a movement within the Soviet Union to unite all of the people of the world under Communist rule (see Communist International). This included the Eastern European bloc countries as well as the Balkan States. Since some of these Slavic states tied their ethnic heritage to their ethnic churches, both the peoples and their church where targeted by the Soviet.[22][23] The Soviets' official religious stance was one of "religious freedom or tolerance", though the state established atheism as the only scientific truth.[citation needed] Criticism of atheism was strictly forbidden and sometimes lead to imprisonment.[24]
The Soviet Union was the first state to have as an ideological objective the elimination of religion. Toward that end, the Communist regime confiscated church property, ridiculed religion, harassed believers, and propagated atheism in the schools. Actions toward particular religions, however, were determined by State interests, and most organised religions were never outlawed. Some actions against Orthodox priests and believers along with
The result of thisThe main target of the anti-religious campaign in the 1920s and 1930s was the Russian Orthodox Church, which had the largest number of faithful. Nearly its entire clergy, and many of its believers, were shot or sent to labor camps. Theological schools were closed, and church publications were prohibited. In the period between 1927 and 1940, the number of Orthodox Churches in the Russian Republic fell from 29,584 to less than 500. Between 1917 and 1940, 130,000 Orthodox priests were arrested. Of these, 95,000 were put to death, executed by firing squad.[
After Nazi Germany's attack on the Soviet Union in 1941, Joseph Stalin revived the Russian Orthodox Church to intensify patriotic support for the war effort. By 1957 about 22,000 Russian Orthodox churches had become active. But in 1959 Nikita Khrushchev initiated his own campaign against the Russian Orthodox Church and forced the closure of about 12,000 churches. By 1985 fewer than 7,000 churches remained active.[27] Members of the church hierarchy were jailed or forced out, their places taken by docile clergy, many of whom had ties with the KGB. [citation needed]
In the Soviet Union, in addition to the methodical closing and destruction of churches, the charitable and social work formerly done by ecclesiastical authorities was taken over by the state. As with all private property, Church owned property was confiscated into public use. The few places of worship left to the Church were legally viewed as state property which the government permitted the church to use. After the advent of state funded universal education, the Church was not permitted to carry on educational, instructional activity for children. For adults, only training for church-related occupations was allowed. Outside of sermons during the celebration of the divine liturgy it could not instruct or evangelise to the faithful or its youth. Catechism classes, religious schools, study groups, Sunday schools and religious publications were all illegal and or banned. This persecution continued, even after the death of Stalin until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. This caused many religious tracts to be circulated as illegal literature or samizdat.[25] Since the fall of the Soviet Union there have been many
Diaspora emigration to the West
One of the most striking developments in modern historical Orthodoxy is the dispersion of Orthodox Christians to the West. Emigration from Greece and the Near East in the last hundred years has created a sizable Orthodox diaspora in Western Europe, North and South America, and Australia. In addition, the Bolshevik Revolution forced thousands of Russian exiles westward. As a result, Orthodoxy's traditional frontiers have been profoundly modified. Millions of Orthodox are no longer geographically "eastern" since they live permanently in their newly adopted countries in the West. Nonetheless, they remain Eastern Orthodox in their faith and practice.
Western Christianity in the 20th century
Fascism
Fascism describes certain related political regimes in 20th-century Europe, especially the Nazi Germany of Hitler, the Fascist Italy of Mussolini and the falangist Spain of Franco. About Italian Fascism Pope Pius XI is said to have been moderately sceptic[citation needed] and G. K. Chesterton friendly but critical.[citation needed] In the Spanish Civil War Roman Catholics internationally were mainly in support of either neutral or on Franco's side, due to Azaña's de facto toleration of anti-clerical violence in and just before this conflict.[citation needed] Dollfuss in Austria was the ideal politician realising Pope Pius XI's Quadragesimo anno.
Nazism
The position of Christians in Nazi Fascism is highly complex.
Regarding the matter, historian Derek Holmes wrote, "There is no doubt that the Catholic districts, resisted the lure of National Socialism [Nazism] far better than the Protestant ones."[28] Pope Pius XI declared – Mit brennender Sorge – that Fascist governments had hidden "pagan intentions" and expressed the irreconcilability of the Catholic position and Totalitarian Fascist State Worship, which placed the nation above God and fundamental human rights and dignity. His declaration that "Spiritually, [Christians] are all Semites" prompted the Nazis to give him the title "Chief Rabbi of the Christian World".[29]
Catholic priests were executed in concentration camps alongside Jews; for example, 2,600 Catholic priests were imprisoned in Dachau, and 2,000 of them were executed. A further 2,700 Polish priests were executed (a quarter of all Polish priests), and 5,350 Polish nuns were either displaced, imprisoned, or executed.
In Austria there was strong Catholic resistance to National Socialism. The outstanding resistance group is that around the priest Heinrich Maier. This Catholic resistance group very successfully passed on plans and production sites for V-2 rockets, Tiger tanks and aircraft to the Allies. From the fall of 1943 at least, these transmissions informed the Allies about the exact site plans of German production plants. With the location sketches of the manufacturing facilities, the Allied bombers were given precise air strikes. In contrast to many other German resistance groups, the Maier Group informed very early about the mass murder of Jews through their contacts with the Semperit factory near Auschwitz. In total, as Austrian resistance fighters, 706 priests were imprisoned in the Nazi regime, 128 in concentration camps and 20 to 90 executed or murdered in the concentration camp. In 1940 the SS designated Dachau concentration camp with its own priest block as a central internment place for Christian clergymen who were often severely tortured. In addition, there were always special riots against the priests.[33][34][35][36]
The relationship between Nazism and Protestantism, especially the German Lutheran Church, was complex. Though the majority of Protestant church leaders in Germany supported the Nazis' growing anti-Jewish activities, some, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer (a Lutheran pastor) were strongly opposed to the Nazis. Bonhoeffer was later found guilty in the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler and executed.
Ecumenism
Ecumenism broadly refers to movements between Christian groups to establish a degree of unity through dialogue. "Ecumenism" is derived from
Catholic ecumenism
Over the last century, a number of moves have been made to reconcile the
On 30 November 1895,
Some of the most difficult questions in relations with the ancient
to note but a few) as well as practical matters such as the concrete exercise of the claim to papal primacy and how to ensure that ecclesiastical union would not mean mere absorption of the smaller Churches by the Latin component of the much larger Catholic Church (the most numerous single religious denomination in the world), and the stifling or abandonment of their own rich theological, liturgical and cultural heritage.With respect to Catholic relations with Protestant communities, certain commissions were established to foster dialogue and documents have been produced aimed at identifying points of doctrinal unity, such as the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification produced with the Lutheran World Federation in 1999.
Ecumenism within Protestantism
Ecumenical movements within Protestantism have focused on determining a list of doctrines and practices essential to being Christian and thus extending to all groups which fulfil these basic criteria a (more or less) co-equal status, with perhaps one's own group still retaining a "first among equal" standing. This process involved a redefinition of the idea of "the Church" from traditional theology. This ecclesiology, known as denominationalism, contends that each group (which fulfils the essential criteria of "being Christian") is a sub-group of a greater "Christian Church", itself a purely abstract concept with no direct representation, i.e., no group, or "denomination", claims to be "the Church". Obviously, this ecclesiology is at variance with other groups that indeed consider themselves to be "the Church". The "essential criteria" generally consist of belief in the Trinity, belief that Jesus Christ is the only way to have forgiveness and eternal life, and that He died and rose again bodily.
Trends in western theology
Modernism and liberal Christianity
Fundamentalism
Fundamentalist Christianity, is a movement that arose mainly within British and
Contemporary Christianity (1946 – present)
Second Vatican Council
On 11 October 1962 Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council, the 21st ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council was "pastoral" in nature, emphasising and clarifying already defined dogma, revising liturgical practices, and providing guidance for articulating traditional Church teachings in contemporary times. The council is perhaps best known for its instructions that the Mass may be celebrated in the vernacular as well as in Latin
See also
- History of Christian theology
- History of the Roman Catholic Church
- History of the Eastern Orthodox Church
- History of Protestantism
- Christianization
- Timeline of Christianity
- Roman Catholic Church
- Eastern Orthodox Church
- Protestantism
- Timeline of Christian missions
Notes
- OCLC 2009379999.
- ^ Adherents.com, Religions by Adherents
- ^ Jan Pelikan, Jaroslav (13 August 2022). "Christianity". Encyclopædia Britannica.
It has become the largest of the world's religions and, geographically, the most widely diffused of all faiths.
- ^ The Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies Archived 2007-06-07 at the Wayback Machine The New York Times.
- ^ http://www.helleniccomserve.com/pdf/BlkBkPontusPrinceton.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ Lortz, IV, 7–11
- ^ MacCulloch, Diarmaid, The Reformation: A History (New York: Penguin Books, 2004) p. 540
- ^ Franzen, 362
- ^ Sydney E. Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1972) p. 263
- ^ Edward, The Cambridge Modern History (1908), p. 25
- ^ a b c Bokenkotter, A Concise History of the Catholic Church (2004), pp. 283–5
- ^ Collins, The Story of Christianity (1999), p. 176
- ^ Duffy, Saints and Sinners (1997), pp. 214–6
- ^ Ahlstrom's summary is as follows: Restorationism has its genesis with Thomas and Alexander Campbell, whose movement is connected to the German Reformed Church through Otterbein, Albright, and Winebrenner (p. 212). American Millennialism and Adventism, which arose from Evangelical Protestantism, produced certain groups such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (p. 387, 501–9), the Jehovah's Witness movement (p. 807), and, as a reaction specifically to William Miller, Seventh Day Adventism (p. 381); Sydney E. Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1972)
- ^ Image from the U.S. Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division
- ^ Manuscript History of the Church, LDS Church Archives, book A-1, p. 37; reproduced in Dean C. Jessee (comp.) (1989). The Papers of Joseph Smith: Autobiographical and Historical Writings (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book) 1:302–303.
- ^ H. Michael Marquardt and Wesley P. Walters (1994). Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books) p. 160.
- ^ Natalia Shlikhta (2004) "'Greek Catholic'-'Orthodox'-'Soviet': a symbiosis or a conflict of identities?" in Religion, State & Society, Volume 32, Number 3 (Routledge)
- ^ Shlomo Lambroza, John D. Klier (2003) Pogroms: Anti-Jewish Violence in Modern Russian History (Cambridge University Press)
- ^ a b "Jewish-Christian Relations" , by the International Council of Christians and Jews
- ^ It is no coincidence that in the entry on 'Orthodoxy' in the seventh volume of the Kratkaya Evreiskaya Entsyklopedia, devoted to the Russian Orthodox Church (pp. 733–743), where numerous examples are given of persecution of the Jews in Russia, including religious persecution, no evidence is given of the direct participation of the church, either in legislative terms or in the conduct of policy. Although the authors of the article state that the active role of the Church in inciting the government to conduct anti-Jewish acts (for example in the case of Ivan the Terrible's policy in the defeated territories) is 'obvious', no facts are given in their article to support this. http://www.jcrelations.net/en/?id=787
- Lenin wrote to E. M. Skliansky, President of the Revolutionary War Soviet: "We are surrounded by the greens (we pack it to them), we will move only about 10–20 versty and we will choke by hand the bourgeoisie, the clergy and the landowners. There will be an award of 100,000 rubles for each one hanged." He was speaking about the future actions in the countries neighboring Russia.
- ISBN 978-1-887904-52-0
- ^ Sermons to young people by Father George Calciu-Dumitreasa. Given at the Chapel of the Romanian Orthodox Church Seminary, The Word online. Bucharest http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/resources/sermons/calciu_christ_calling.htm
- ^ ISBN 0-88141-180-9
- ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
- ^ Ostling, Richard (June 24, 2001). "Cross meets Kremlin". Time.
- ^ Derek Holmes, History of the Papacy, p. 102.
- ^ Derek Holmes, History of the Papacy, p. 116.
- ^ John Vidmar, The Catholic Church Through the Ages: A History (New York: Paulist Press, 2005), p. 332 & n. 37.
- ^ John Vidmar, The Catholic Church Through the Ages: A History (New York: Paulist Press, 2005), p. 332.
- ^ Derek Holmes, History of the Papacy, p. 158.
- ISBN 978-3-902494-83-2.
- ISBN 978-3-7076-0622-5.
- ISBN 3-8258-7549-0, p 76–85.
- ^ Jean Bernhard: Pfarrerblock 25487. Dachau 1941–42. (2004) p 44; Walter Ferber: 55 Monate Dachau: Ein Tatsachenbericht. (1993).
Resources
- González, Justo L. (1985). The Story of Christianity, Vol. 2: The Reformation to the Present Day. San Francisco: Harper. ISBN 0-06-063316-6.
- Hastings, Adrian (1999). A World History of Christianity. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 0-8028-4875-3.
- Latourette, Kenneth Scott (1975). A History of Christianity, Volume 2: 1500 to 1975 (paperback). San Francisco: Harper. ISBN 0-06-064953-4.
- Shelley, Bruce L. (1996). Church History in Plain Language (2nd ed.). Word Pub. ISBN 0-8499-3861-9.
External links
The following links give an overview of the history of Christianity:
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The following links provide quantitative data related to Christianity and other major religions, including rates of adherence at different times:
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