Fuzzy Wuzzy Contract: Fill & Download for Free

I do not go to cat shows, so the only cats I’ve seen are those I’ve had in my house. Petunia, a black kitten when found in a parking lot and given to me, grew to be at least 25 lbs and would throw herself at people as they came through the doorway if she didn’t like them. Her opinion was instantly formed, and by golly, she was always proven right.Portia was a calico, with markings near her mouth that made it appear she wore a perpetual sneer. She developed a short-tempered attitude so we kept her confined when people came to visit.Note: we had our cats declawed as kittens for many years, because it seemed the best way to preserve our furniture and drapes. We had no idea the trauma and pain caused by this little operation, until we looked into getting a Ragdoll and were shown exactly what was involved in removing claws. From that point on, it was never a consideration. Besides, when we got our first Ragdoll, part of the contract we had to sign stipulated that we’d never declaw the kittens we bought/acquired. We discovered that having scratching posts in every room and showing the kittens how to use them did away with any problems, as the kittens and then cats knew what to do when they wanted to scratch anything.Enter the world of Ragdoll cats, if you please. These are large cats, anywhere from 12 to 20+ pounds. They tend to be relaxed and laid back, able to lie over a person’s arm in a completely limp position. Their fur is dense and beautiful, their eyes almost always blue and large, and they love their humans.Our third Ragdoll was, indeed, the most handsome cat I’d ever seen. We got him when he was fully grown, flown to us from a breeder in the next state. In the car ride home from the airport, I sat in the back and opened the door of his carrier. He’d been called “Magic,” perhaps because he was a black cat with green eyes. He was simply magnificent, but I really disliked his name. Into my lap he came, purring loudly and butting his head up against my chin. It was a no-brainer, I loved this cat instantly. His name was…Fuzzy-Wuzzy, or The Fuzz for short.He was the most magnificent cat I’ve ever seen or known about. A force to be reckoned with, he owned the room when he entered. Very large paws, and when he stomped by you, you knew it. I cannot remember why he died, perhaps my memory is deliberately vague, because I felt the loss so greatly. When he sat in my lap, he covered my legs completely, he was that large. RIP, Fuzzy.

We ended up with three Ragdoll cats. The first two were from a breeder in the Atlanta area, so we drove the 3-hour (each way) trip to go get each of them, about two years apart. The breeder had a website with pictures of the little darlings, so we’d choose and then go over to pick them up.We had to sign a contract for each kitten. Ragdolls at that time weren’t released until 12 weeks old (while most domestic cats and dogs are gone at 8 weeks of age), and the contract stipulated things like no declawing, and a couple of other things. Also, if we were dissatisfied with the kitten, we were to only return him or her to the breeder, not sell him or her to anybody else.At the time, we had a Labrador cross dog, a big gallumph of a boy, who made our house a happy home. When he encountered the first of the Raggies, he thought it was a toy. Just for him. Willow (Raggie in question) was very patient and taught him that he didn’t mess with the kitten. Those little claws, fortunately, didn’t cause any lasting harm, but they put the fear of Willow in Biko’s mind and he always gave Willow plenty of walk-around room.We returned to the breeder for Whiney-Pot, because he was just a cute little guy, and we knew Willow needed something in the house to offset our big dog. That seemed to work.And then. One of the Ragdoll breeders had become sort of a friend, and she lived in TN. It would be a far drive for us, but she had a black Ragdoll I coveted. I really wanted that cat. So, I mailed her a certified check, which included the cost of a shipping crate and the air fare. We went to the back side of our airport to pick up this cat and put him in the car. I sat in the back seat with him and, after a while, carefully opened the door to the crate. The door opening was such that the open door was on the front edge of the seat, making a sort of enclosed area for the cat to enter. He came right to my lap and then up to my shoulder, purring loudly. He had thick, thick black fur and green eyes. He was beyond gorgeous and we loved each other from the start.We named him Fuzzy-Wuzzy, The Fuzz. He had presence, that cat. When he entered a room, everyone knew it immediately. The dogs kept their distance, and I was the only one onto whose lap he would jump. He had a way of setting each paw deliberately while he walked, most regal to see.Because Raggies are intelligent as well as beautiful (enormous blue eyes), they get along with their inferiors, the dogs in the house. At least, ours did. We had a happy household of three cats and two dogs, for a good many years.

Wow, what a fun question—it’s probably impossible to answer—but I still love it! The problem is, by what standard do you define most important? Paradigm shift for the individual? Positive impact on Western society? World impact of any kind, positive or negative? Theological impact on Christianity itself? All of the above? I have no clue how to divide this up, but I am going to jump in anyway just because this is going to be too much fun for me to pass up.All my history of Christianity texts are about three inches thick! Then there are the separate books on each individual era. Writing this requires leaving a lot out, and what’s “most important” to my point of view, may not be yours. All of that said, I am breaking the entire 2000 year history of Christianity down into seven parts, for about a 30 minute read. I hope you enjoy!(Edit: Six parts. I am stopping there. I apologize, but the modern era will have to wait for another question. I had seven sections outlined, but in my enthusiasm, it has simply gotten too long. I am thinking this probably wins the prize for longest Quora answer ever. … what do you mean there’s no prize?)Christianizing an urban Empire (30–250 AD)The Constantine Shift: From Martyrs to Persecutors (250–450)After the Fall (450–850)The Watershed Era (850–1200)The Persecuting Society (1200–1648)Faith, Reason and Scientific Revolution (1648–1870)A Movable Faith (1870- )Christianizing an urban Empire (30–250 AD)At the beginning of our 2000 year modern church history, historians, critics and scholars agree, lies the death of one man by crucifixion, Jesus, known as the Christ. He was in many ways an ordinary man, yet in others, like no one else who had ever lived. He had a vision for his people, and of his role for them. He taught and traveled. He healed. He had followers.Historians agree, this Jesus, was crucified. He died, and was buried. Whether or not the reader believes He was resurrected thereafter is of little consequence, here, as his followers clearly did believe, with all they were worth, and they told their neighbors, and they traveled near and wide to tell the world, and Christianity began, and the world changed course.Within a decade of the crucifixion of Christ, the Greco-Roman city became the dominant environment of the Christian movement. How did this obscure little country sect on the edge of empire dislodge classical paganism and become the dominant faith of this urban world?There is not one answer. But with all the other things that were significant to, and impacted that development, I think the ‘event’ of Christianity to focus on as most important during the earliest period, concerns women.Much can be learned of early Christianity by studying its critics. One of the most prolific critics of the second century was Celsus, whose writings we know from Origin’s Contra Celsus. Celsus had a particular interest in the fact women were present among Jesus’ followers and had a prominent role in Christianity’s development. Celsus describes early Christianity as a “lurer of women.” Celsus saw Christian women as both deluded females and influential evangelists.[1][1][1][1] It is this second characteristic that is significant here.The fact women were leaders in Christianity’s “seditious evangelizing” presented a threat to the very foundation of Roman society. Roman men were the absolute head of their household.[2][2][2][2] (p.103–115) Yet it was women who were the primary interface between early Christianity and Graeco-Roman society, evangelizing, out in the market, getting water at the well, going about their daily business—just talking to each other. The result of that culture clash was booming growth for Christianity, and the persecutions and martyrdom which followed it.Many of those martyrs were women.The impact of female initiative on Christianity, and the repressive persecuting reaction of the surrounding culture, helped create a revolution that changed the world—and Christianity itself.The Constantine Shift: From Martyrs to Persecutors (250–450)AD 1-300 Church History TimelineIn 313, from the great imperial city of Milan, Constantine and his co-emperor Licinius despatched a series of flowery letters to provincial governors. The two rulers thought it ‘salutary and most proper’ that ‘complete toleration’ should be given, by the State, to anyone who had ‘given his mind either to the cult of the Christians’ or any other cult ‘which he personally feels best for himself.’All previous anti-Christian decrees were revoked; Christian places of worship and other properties seized from them were to be restored and compensation provided where legally appropriate. The new policy was to be ‘published everywhere and brought to the notice of all men.’ [3][3][3][3] (p.67)In 325 the First Council of Nicea was called by Constantine to settle theological disputes raised by Arius, over the how, and when, of Christ’s deity. Was he God before he became human or after? Dissenting Arian bishops were initially exiled, but shortly before Arius’ death in 336 Constantine reinstated him. Arians then returned and exiled Trinitarians; later, Trinitarians returned and exiled Arians. The conflict did not resolve until the First Council of Constantinople in 381,[4][4][4][4] and even then, Arianism continued outside the empire for some time.In 380, Emperor Theodosius I (reigned 379–395) made Christianity the Roman Empire's official religion and in 392 passed legislation prohibiting all pagan worship. Theodosius did enforce those edicts. For the Roman nation state, methods and approaches to violations of policy didn’t change much, but they did change some, and there were no mass murders of pagans as some allege.Towards the end of the century, Bishop Ambrose of Milan demonstrated his disapproval of murder as a tool of the State. After the massacre of Thessalonica [5][5][5][5] (390), Ambrose refused to see Theodosius, requiring him to repent of his act, do penance, and change law, to prevent such an event from ever taking place again. It was the first time an emperor bowed to the will of the church, and the first time the church asserted morality over secular authority.But with all of the major events of late Antiquity, the one I find most significant—because of its far-reaching impact—involves Augustine and the Donatist controversy. Augustine of Hippo, a prominent Bishop, brilliant thinker and a prolific writer, had maintained the conviction that Christianity was incompatible with the willful shedding of blood. Defended by other eminent individuals like Tertullian of Carthage, Hippolytus of Rome, and Origen of Palestine and Egypt, it was a widely held principle within early Christianity.Later, Augustine wrote that there were times when violence was not only justified but was a required act of conscience. It opened the door for all the future violence practiced by the Christian church: and it began with a group called the ‘Donatists.’During Diocletian’s bloody persecution (303–305) there had been some who renounced Christ to avoid martyrdom or who handed over sacred artifacts rather than face death. In light of the many who endured martyrdom rather than do these things, those who survived the persecution were outraged when priests and deacons—called traditores (meaning those who handed over)—were allowed by the church to resume their same positions of ministry after confession. This perceived injustice provoked a popular backlash that included the rejection of the Catholic Bishop appointed as Bishop of Carthage.North Africa was roiling in political, social, ethnic, and religious controversies when, in 311, Donatus, replaced his predecessor Majorinus as Bishop of Carthage. Donatus was a shrewd leader. His organizational skills and charismatic personality attracted huge numbers of those fed up with Roman imperial rule which the Catholic church was tied to. Donatus ordained hundreds, who fanned out across Numidia to establish churches. A schism developed between them and the Catholics.“Once the leaders had got the Punic-speaking masses on to their side, no power on earth could heal the schism." [6][6][6][6]Donatus taught that death for the "cause," even death by suicide, was holy and merited a martyr's crown and eternal life. Donatists would accost Catholics, beat them, and force them to kill their attackers. Among the Donatists a faction known as the Circumcellions were particularly violent.[7][7][7][7] They harassed, despoiled, mutilated, and killed Catholics simply for being Catholic. They preyed on farms, rural chapels, country estates, Catholic churches, and unprotected Catholic travelers.Augustine, as Bishop, was responsible for doing something about these recalcitrant, violent people, and he tried everything. He wrote. He spoke. He engaged Donatist apologists in public debates. He even composed apologetics songs. "…as early as 393 Augustine composed an alphabetical psalm against the Donatist party for the more unlettered among his followers."[8][8][8][8] Repeated efforts and appeals were made by various Bishops, councils, and even Constantine himself, all to no avail. The Donatists were immovable. They would not accept Catholic leadership. They would not stop the violence.Eventually, in his letter to Vincentius, Augustine used the New Testament ‘Parable of the Great Banquet’ to justify using force against the Donatists: "You are of the opinion that no one should be compelled to follow righteousness; and yet you read that the householder said to his servants, 'Whomsoever ye shall find, compel them to come in’.”[9][9][9][9] The Roman state, whose responsibility it was to police their territory, thereafter used torture and death as a means to control the Donatists. They were so brutal that Augustine eventually felt led to protest. But it was too late to put that genie back in the bottle.There is no church father who has had a greater influence on the doctrines and practices of the Christian church under Catholicism (before Thomas Acquinas) than did Augustine.Jesus had been peaceful. Augustine said it was okay to force compliance with belief through violence. The conflict between these views would reverberate down the centuries and impact Christianity’s treatment of opponents throughout the Middle Ages. The conflict would never go away.The Fall of Empire and its Aftermath (450–850)There is no other single event anywhere in history that has had the far reaching and lasting impact the fall of the Roman Empire has had. Theories of causes have come and gone. It’s true that barbarians were relentless and the borders porous; that Roman bureaucracy was increasingly incompetent and corrupt with self-protection its primary goal; that there was plague, war, and shifting demographics; that the masses were politically inert and more and more apathetic; that there was rampant inflation, a crushing and inequitable tax system, and above all else—it’s true that the Roman army became a dangerous part of Rome’s problems.[10][10][10][10]The army was filled with the marginal and the foreign with upper class Romans no longer upholding the virtue of civic service—and since Romans were racist and class conscious, they didn’t trust or respect—or sometimes even treat fairly—those foreign military men they had placed in positions of power. The Germanic soldiers of fortune were fierce warriors, but they also had little or no loyalty to the empire, and their power-hungry officers often turned against their Roman employers. In fact, many of the barbarians who sacked the city of Rome had, (like Alaric), earned their military stripes while serving in the Roman legions.[11][11][11][11]“Rome fell because of inner weakness, either social or spiritual; or Rome fell because of outer pressure—the barbarian hordes. Or perhaps both!What we can say with confidence is that Rome fell gradually and that Romans for many decades scarcely noticed what was happening.”“The citizens of the City of Rome, therefore, could not believe it when toward the end of the first decade of the fifth century, they woke to find Alaric, king of the Visigoths, and all his forces parked at their gates. He might as well have been the king of the Fuzzy-Wuzzies, or any other of the inconsequential outlanders that civilized people have looked down their noses at throughout history. It was preposterous.They dispatched a pair of envoys to conduct the tiresome negotiation and send him away. The envoys began with empty threats: any attack on Rome was doomed, for it would be met by invincible strength and innumerable ranks of warriors.Alaric was a sharp man, and in his rough fashion a just one. He also had a sense of humor. “The thicker the grass, the more easily scythed,” he replied evenly. The envoys quickly recognized that their man was no fool.All right, then, what was the price of his departure? Alaric told them: his men would sweep through the city, taking all gold, all silver, and everything of value that could be moved. They would also round up and cart off every barbarian slave. But, protested the hysterical envoys, what will that leave us?Alaric paused. “Your lives.”In that pause, Roman security died and a new world was conceived.” [12][12][12][12]Unable to collect taxes, authorities could not maintain a currency and pay the Legions. There was, in effect a vacuum of government. After 476, no further western emperors were elected, and the old imperial system of government became inoperative in the West.Life became precarious. Those who survived built small huts, and huddled together in the shadow of what little security the Christian church could provide. Society returned to an agrarian economy with the accompanying decline in trade and commerce as bartering became the primary form of economics. The standard of living dropped to its simplest level. The light of the Western world went dark—then rekindled.“…all through Europe, matted, unwashed, barbarians descended on the Roman cities, looting artifacts and burning books, when the Irish, who were just learning to read and write, took up the great labor of copying all western literature – everything they could lay their hands on. These scribes then served as conduits through which the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian cultures were transmitted to the tribes of Europe, newly settled amid the rubble and ruined vineyards of the civilization they had overwhelmed.Without this Service of the Scribes, everything that happened subsequently would be unthinkable.”[13][13][13][13]There are two men of this Age who altered everything that came after them: one a monk and one a king.St. Benedict[14][14][14][14]The period between 500 and 700, often referred to as the "Dark Ages," could also be designated the "Age of the Monk." Christian aesthetes, like St.Benedict (480–543) vowed a life of chastity, obedience, and poverty, and after rigorous intellectual training and self-denial, lived by the principles ‘work and pray’ following the “Rule of Benedict.”This “Rule” became the foundation of thousands of monasteries that spread across what is modern day Europe; "...certainly there will be no demur in recognizing that St.Benedict's Rule has been one of the great facts in the history of western Europe, and that its influence and effects are with us to this day."[15][15][15][15]Monasteries were self-supporting models of productivity and economic resourcefulness which taught their local communities animal husbandry, cheese making, wine making and various other skills. They were havens for the poor, hospitals, hospices for the dying, and schools. Medical practice was highly important in medieval monasteries, and they are best known for their contributions to medical tradition, but they also made some advances in other sciences such as astronomy. These monks had impact on every level of society both directly and indirectly since all leaders of this period were educated by monks. [16][16][16][16] [17][17][17][17]301-600 Church History TimelineIn the seventh century (630–680), the Franks under the influence of its Christian queen, Bathilde, became the first kingdom in history to begin the process of outlawing slavery.Somewhat earlier in that same century (571–632), Muhammad had a vision, at the age of 40, in which he felt himself called by God to be a prophet to the Arab people. Among the divine words given to Muhammad was jihad, the command to ‘holy war.’ Armed with this sacred order, Muhammad launched a religious campaign and military movement that quickly conquered Arabia.Muhammad died in 632, and in the century or so after, (from 632 to 750), his followers unleashed a series of seemingly unstoppable military campaigns that consumed much of Christendom.Motivated by the lure of plundered wealth, the pressures of overpopulation, and the command to make holy war, the Arabs proceeded to build a world state that rivaled Roman Empire.By 650 the Arabs had conquered and ruled Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt and Persia, and by 740 North Africa and most of Spain. These lands were predominantly Christian and contained some of the oldest Christian communities in existence.[18][18][18][18] The juggernaut continued until 1453 AD when the Ottomans conquered the Byzantine seat of Constantinople and change its name to Istanbul.At its peak, the Arab empire stretched from the Indus river and the borders of China in the East, to the Atlantic in the West, and from the Taurus mountains in the North to the Sahara in the south.Contact with Islam communicated philosophical and scientific ideas, algebra and other mathematical concepts, the rediscovery of classical writings including Aristotle, increased wealth, and plague.Charles Martel — (c. 688-741) played a crucial role in Western Europe’s transition from “ancient” to “medieval.” He is considered to be a founding figure in the development of feudalism and therefore of the European Middle Ages, but he is most famous for his victory at the Battle of Tours. This battle ended the "last of the great Arab invasions of France."It was left to his grandson, Charlemagne, to conquer the Saxons and build the first Christian empire.[19][19][19][19]On the 23rd of December in the year of our Lord 800 AD, a lengthy meeting took place in the secret Council Chamber of the Lateran Palace in Rome. There were two items on the agenda: should the Pope remain in office and should Charles be designated Emperor of the West? He was undoubtedly the greatest monarch in the West—perhaps in the entire world at that time—and as Abbot Alcuin pointed out, the British had a system for appointing their strongest king as overlord, the Franks should as well. The argument carried the day and Charles agreed to become the western emperor. Two days later, in St.Peter’s cathedral, the Pope presented him with a crown.[20][20][20][20]Charlemagne created the most efficient and centralized State the West had seen in four centuries. He built a capable bureaucracy, a fair judicial system, revived the arts and humanities, sparked an early Renaissance, supported and furthered education, maintained law and order, invented lower case letters, and much, much more.[21][21][21][21]He also massacred over 4000 prisoners at Verden.Charlemagne’s reign (768-814) was one of almost continuous warfare, but his longest and most difficult war was against the Saxons whom he fought for thirty years. His father had fought the Saxons. His grandfather had fought the Saxons. The Saxons had raided Frankish borders for a century. Warfare between these two groups was ferocious, as Charlemagne—and his enemies—could field armies in the tens of thousands.The events of 782 started when Widukind, the Saxon leader, persuaded a group of Saxons who had submitted to Charlemagne, to rebel. They went to battle with a Frankish army and annihilated it, killing two of the King’s chief lieutenants, some of the king’s closest companions and counsellors, his tent-sharers, and the men of his hall. By the standards of the day, a good lord could not fail to respond.Charlemagne responded. He gathered his forces, returned to Saxony, and unleashed a massacre at Verden, giving the captured rebels the option, convert or die, allegedly killing 4500 people in one day.Did it really happen? Was it justified? Was it monstrous?All else aside, the most important impact of Charlemagne’s rule was in the melding of Classical, Christian and Germanic elements into a new civilization centered in Europe instead of around the Mediterranean.[22][22][22][22]When the Western Roman empire fell, the Eastern half of the empire, centered around Constantinople, remained. It had an autocratic government, a stable farm economy, Greek intellectual heritage and Orthodox Christianity, but the changing borders reflect an empire under continual siege. Byzantium’s borders reached their farthest western limits in the sixth century, then contracted more or less steadily for the next 800 years.[23][23][23][23]During the Iconoclast Controversy (726–843), Emperor Leo III commanded the removal and destruction of all religious images. Siding with the emperors were the bishops, the army and the civil service; opposed were the monks. Civil unrest spread and many monks lost their lives. In the West, the papacy refused to join the frenzy and broke relations with Byzantium. The controversy lasted for 100 years and by the time it was over, the emperors had destroyed nearly all religious art. [24][24][24][24]601-900 Church History TimelineThe Watershed Era (850–1200)901-1200 Church History TimelineThese centuries are sometimes called the “Christian Centuries” or the “Age of Synthesis” (between the spiritual and the secular), or simply the “High Middle Ages.” Momentous changes in the political, social, and economic realms of life took place before the end of this era—changes that proved to be a watershed for both society and for Christianity in multiple ways.The synthesis between the secular and religious at the beginning of this era creates a kind of “golden age” for the Christian church. The historian Geoffrey Blainey, says the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages is similar to an early version of a welfare state:"It conducted hospitals for the old and orphanages for the young; hospices for the sick of all ages; places for the lepers; and hostels or inns where pilgrims could buy a cheap bed and meal".It supplied food to the population during famine and distributed food to the poor daily. The church funded this welfare system through collecting taxes and by owning large farmlands and estates.[25][25][25][25]The Catholic Church established a hospital system in Medieval Europe that was different from the merely reciprocal hospitality of the Greeks and family-based obligations of the Romans. These hospitals were established to cater to "particular social groups marginalized by poverty, sickness, and age," according to historian of hospitals, Guenter Risse.[26][26][26][26]The Western Papacy resembled a feudal monarchy at this time, and, in spite of its many accomplishments, it was having problems with scandal and corruption, when in the 900s, a reform movement that began in Cluny, France gradually swept through Europe. Little by little, the Cluniacs impressed everyone with their superior spirituality.As their reform spread, the church revived, and a watershed event occurred in 1059 when the College of Cardinals was founded with sole responsibility for electing the Pope. This freed the papacy from many of the manipulations and power struggles of German and Italian politics that had led to political corruption in the church. The church owed its medieval influence to the tireless work of the reformed clergy and the powerful effect of the Christian belief system.[27][27][27][27]At the same time the Bishop of Rome was becoming the head of the church in the west, the Patriarch of Constantinople was becoming the head of the Orthodox church in the East. In 1054, another watershed event took place when the Patriarch of Constantinople refused to yield to the Roman demand for submission to the Pope and permanent Schism split the two traditions.But all other watershed events pale by comparison to that of the impact of the Crusades.By 1081, the Byzantine Empire was living on borrowed time. Surrounded by enemies—Seljuk Turks, Hungarians, Serbs, and Bulgars—and continually losing territory, the East appealed to the West for help. There is little doubt western Christendom genuinely intended to aid their brethren, and with this appeal, organized the First Crusade in 1095.“Over the two hundred years that followed, Islam and Christianity…clashed in a succession of chillingly brutal wars. … the Crusading era, its passion, and barbaric grandeur…legendary champions— like Richard the Lionheart and Saladin—shadowy Assassins, poet-warriors, and pious visionaries… reshaped the Medieval world and continue to influence events today.”[28][28][28][28]Crusading was saturated with a religious dimension, but this did not necessarily lead to uniquely barbaric acts.“While the Crusaders and the Muslims both sacked cities and slaughtered civilians, those were both part of the accepted rules of warfare during that period. Historians of that era considered the Crusades to be largely civilized and honorable affairs.And, by the standards of their day, some of today’s accepted actions would be considered “war crimes.” For instance, there are accounts of both Christian and Muslim armies making safe paths through their battle-lines to allow pilgrims to pass through unmolested, a practice which would be unheard-of today.Fun fact: the primary mission of the Militant Orders (Templars, Hospitaliers) wasn’t to be a military force. It was to defend Pilgrims and holy sites (basically they were cops) [29][29][29][29]It did mean faith was a pervasive and enduring aspect of the entire 200 year struggle. This faith infused these wars with a unique character, inspiring remarkable feats of resilience, courage, and occasionally, intolerance, from both sides.However, as the centuries passed, the European crusaders became part of what eventually brought Byzantium to an end. Leaders, both Christian and Muslim, secular and spiritual, came to realize the ideals of Holy War could be harnessed. Programs of militarization, the imposition of autocratic government, the attempt to control and direct violence—ostensibly for the common good—served the interests of the ruling elite most of all.The Muslim world was eventually victorious because of the insightful and charismatic leadership of Nur al-Din, and Saladin, and by the Baybars’ unflinching ruthlessness.But the very nature of Christian crusading was also a cause of its ultimate defeat. Crusades were constructed as voluntary and personal; crusaders mostly saw themselves as fulfilling a duty of service to God, offering succor to fellow Christians, and even imitating the sufferings of Christ, and this did not readily lend itself to unity of purpose where military goals were concerned.[30][30][30][30]The Crusades had a huge social, political and economic impact. They not only reshaped society, they reshaped Christianity itself by militarizing what had previously been a predominantly pacific religion. Within the church, the ideals of military service and penance—the purification of the soul—fused into a form of devotion. There is virtually no sign of theological or practical concern over the union of violence and religion within the church at this time. One can’t help but contrast this with Christianity’s beginnings.The Pope of this era stood at the head of a strict hierarchy; supporting him was the papal curia—administrators, financial experts, secretaries, clerics and legal advisors. A system of ecclesiastical courts, born in the 1100s, called the “Inquisition” (from the Latin inquisitio meaning inquiry) were religious courts established to deal with the issues of the day. Technically restricted to cases involving church personnel, they actually had a much broader jurisdiction because of the huge number of ‘civilians’ enmeshed in the workings of the church.[31][31][31][31]The Medieval Inquisition was not a single Inquisition but was actually a series of Inquisitions from around 1184, including the Episcopal Inquisition (1184–1230s) and later the Papal Inquisition (1230s). Authority rested with local officials based on guidelines from the Holy See, but there was no central top-down authority running the inquisitions, (as would be the case in later post-medieval inquisitions). Practices and procedures of episcopal inquisitions could vary from one diocese to another.[32][32][32][32]Though they later evolved into something more sinister, these early courts were, in most cases, an attempt to bring the rule of law to local communities. Mob violence against heretics was becoming an increasing problem. In 1076, Pope Gregory VI excommunicated the residents of Cambrai because a mob had seized and burned a Cathar ‘heretic’. A similar occurrence happened in 1114 during the bishop’s absence in Strassburg. In 1145 clergy at Leige managed to rescue victims from the crowd.It was not just the mob either, the secular authorities were also not on the side of the ‘heretic’. The first official execution for heresy occurred at Orleans in 1022, ordered by the King of the Franks, Robert the Pious. In 1034, heretics were burned to death in Italy, in the diocese of Milan, on the insistence of the magnates of the city. In 1051 the (German) Holy Roman Emperor Henry III, ordered hangings at Goslar. These are just a few examples.Convinced that Church teaching contained revealed truth, the first recourse of bishops was that of persuasio. Through discourse, debates, and preaching, they sought to present a better explanation of Church teaching and turn the wayward from their ways. This approach often proved successful.[33][33][33][33]But for the majority of the people:“Heresy was both hated and feared… a heretic was regarded in the same manner as we might regard someone carrying a highly contagious and incurable deadly disease. We would lock such a person up where they would not come in contact with anyone; the people of the Middle Ages killed them. Moreover, they often killed them in public, in horrible ways, as a warning to everyone of how dangerous heresy was.”[34][34][34][34]And so the church established courts.Before 1100, the Catholic Church suppressed what they believed to be heresy, usually through a system of ecclesiastical proscription or imprisonment, but without using torture and executions. Such punishments were opposed by a number of clergymen and theologians—in spite of Augustine. The goal of these early Inquisitions was to bring order and law to volatile and violent situations.Even so, in the late 1100s, a wave of lay ‘piety’ swelled up from the lower social ranks based on a new theology that was a combination of Zoroastrianism and Gnosticism. At first the church attempted to direct and correct, but the movement soon grew uncontrollable as it spread rapidly, permeating the church and secular society at all levels. In 1199 Pope Innocent III’s decree vergentis in senium declared heretics subject to the same procedures and penalties that Roman Law had laid down for treason.The most powerful of these ‘heretics’ were the Albigensians (also known as Cathars). Apparently founded by soldiers from the Second Crusade, who, on their way back to France had been converted by a Bulgarian sect, the Bogomils, Pope Innocent III called for their destruction in 1214.[35][35][35][35]Feudal nobles—motivated by greed for the Albigensian lands—responded with ferocity and cruelty. Most Albigensians were slaughtered, their property confiscated, and others tried by the Inquistion were turned over to the state to be burned at the stake.“The orthodox Church managed to meet the challenge of the heretical, anti-clerical, and uncontrolled popular movements of the twelfth century, but lost much of its power of moral suasion by using force in doing so. From this time on, the Church could not count on the automatic support of the mass of believers, and it was forced to adopt ever-greater regimentation.”[36][36][36][36]Between 1150 and 1200, a group of hardy Christian scholars took their lives in their hands and traveled to out-of-the-way centers of learning—like Muslim dominated Sicily and Toledo, Spain which had been freed from Muslim control in 1085. These Christian scholars were able to work with Islamic and Jewish scholars to study and translate Aristotle’s writings. They learned Arabic, and translated Greek and Arabic philosophy and science into Latin, allowing it to enter the mainstream of European Medieval thought.This led to a cultural ferment that spawned some of the greatest achievements of medieval times, including the founding of the first Western schools of higher education since the sixth century: the universities. By 1200, this intellectual watershed produced a university in Bologna, Paris, and at Oxford, and in the century that followed, similar centers of learning sprang up all across Europe and England.At the University of Paris, the intellectual community split into two camps in response to this ferment. The greatest mind of the High Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas, would eventually resolve the disputes with two monumental summas and a ‘middle way.’ His contributions extended into politics and economics, the secular state and natural law, as well as theology, with a confidence in human reason and its ability to comprehend the world. This rationalist tradition is an intellectual watershed that helped to lay the foundation for the later scientific revolution.“A historical watershed occurred in the mid-twelfth century that was reflected in architecture, scupture, music, learning and literature. Before 1150, Western culture [revered] the warrior and the monk as social ideals and women were treated as chattel, or property. After 1150, the urban values of the new towns became paramount along with a more courtly attitude toward women. The church encouraged this with the rise of the cult of the virgin Mary…”[37][37][37][37]A political watershed also began at this time when the feudal nobility slowly lost power to the kings laying the foundation for the national monarchies that followed in the early modern era.The two major mendicant (or begging) orders, the Franciscans and the Dominicans, appeared toward the end of this age, in the 1200s. They were both dedicated to working among the urban poor, but by 1250, the Dominicans were taking the lead in higher education.The gentle nature of the founder of the Franciscans, St.Francis of Assissi, has led many to continue to uphold his piety, selflessness, and his legendary humility as the epitome of what it is to be a true Christian.Bernard of Clairvaux founded the Cistercian order which, unlike the Benedictines, observed a severe rule and remained remote from the rest of society.Medieval abbesses and female superiors of monastic houses gained powers that were never available to women in previous Roman or Germanic societies. They were often powerful figures whose influence could rival that of male bishops and abbots: "They treated with kings, bishops, and the greatest lords on terms of perfect equality;... they were present at all great religious and national solemnities, at the dedication of churches, and even, like the queens, took part in the deliberation of the national assemblies..."[38][38][38][38]The writings of Danté, of Thomas Aquinas, Gothic cathedrals, the system for writing music, and the rationalist tradition, are only some of the legacies passed down to us from the Christianity of these middle ages.The Persecuting Society (1200–1648)1201-1500 Church History TimelineFor the most part, Christians and Jews had lived in tolerance of one another for hundreds of years. Church teaching said the Jews should be allowed to live as people who honored the Old Testament, and various Popes and Bishops had periodically protected and aided them accordingly. Jews were supposed to be under the jurisdiction and protection of the secular rulers, but it was the kings and princes who expelled the Jews from their lands, and confiscated their belongings, for economic and political reasons. Discrimination was certainly the norm, but there was not official persecution from the church.The majority of historians agree that the thirteenth century was a turning point in Jewish-Church relations. How and why?The late eleventh (after 1050) to the thirteenth (c.1250) centuries were a turning point for nearly all aspects of culture. The crusades were a century old, the church had lost many of its most devoted, and it had become militarized, changing many of its rituals, traditions and even theology accordingly; trade opened to the East, and a cash economy developed; towns grew and urban values rose, replacing and challenging other long established values; literacy rose; laws changed; social structure changed; social ideals changed: and the political power of the developing secular States grew and started becoming centralized. This led to Europe becoming a persecuting society.The persecution of minorities became the tool used for limiting opposition and taking their power. [39][39][39][39]The church, which was also becoming a centralized power, did not play the leading role in this development, but they did play a significant one: the church conferred legitimacy on this approach and developed the necessary mechanism for its administration.[40][40][40][40]In November of 1215, prelates assembled at the Fourth Lateran Council. The council gave a statement of faith; it reorganized the clergy; and it presented a formidable array of legal sanctions against heretics. Neither the theory or the practice of persecution was the invention of the twelfth century, however, Lateran IV laid down the “moral machinery” needed for persecution to be seen as legitimate. Its wide range of sanctions were easily adaptable to a variety of victims, Jews, Moslems, “sodomites,” prostitutes, and any other minority groups that did not ‘fit in.’In later centuries, targets multiplied. In 16th Century Germany, beggars, gypsies, spendthrifts, discharged soldiers, and others, were made vulnerable by being classified as outsiders; the witch hunts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were persecutions of this type; and the totalitarianism of the twentieth century can be seen as an outgrowth of the mindset toward minorities and outsiders that was sanctioned in the middle ages. [41][41][41][41] [42][42][42][42]The Fourth Lateran Council included a regulation that Jews must wear a special dress to distinguish them from Christians: a yellow badge.In 1236 a Jewish convert to Christianity, Nicholas Donin, submitted a memorandum to Pope Gregory IX explaining that Jews did not follow the Old Testament alone as the Popes had thought, but that they also followed oral teachings called the Talmud. He said they had elevated Oral Law to the level of Scripture, and in it were blasphemies about Jesus and Mary, attacks on the Church, pronouncements hostile to non-Jews, and foolish and revolting tales. He listed 35 charges against the Talmud.Pope Gregory IX was shocked. He had not known of the Talmud. He ordered a preliminary investigation, and in 1239 sent a circular letter to ecclesiastics in France summarizing the accusations and ordering the confiscation of Jewish books on the first Saturday of Lent (March 3, 1240).The Talmud went ‘on trial.’An inquisitorial committee condemned it two years later. In June 1242, 24 wagon loads of books totaling thousands of volumes were handed to the executioner for public burning. For the next several years the burning of the Talmud was repeatedly urged by the Popes who followed Gregory and by multiple Kings across Europe.In the words of Hebrew University historian Benzion Dinur, from 1244 on, the European nation States and the Church would “consider the Jews as people of no religion (benei bli dat) who had no place in the Christian world.” [43][43][43][43] [44][44][44][44] [45][45][45][45]By the 1300s hard times had come to Europe.New military tactics rendered chivalry obsolete making war increasingly brutal.In the universities new currents of thought drove a wedge between philosophy and theology and the unity of thought that had characterized previous centuries dissolved into conflict.There was economic depression, soaring prices and wide-spread famine.Against the backdrop of the Hundred Years War, social unrest, urban riots, peasant revolts, and renegade armies ravaged the countryside for decades.But of all the calamities that befell Europe of 1300–1500, the worst was the Plague.[46] [47] Imported from the East, carried across the sea on ships, the initial outbreak killed a third of Europe’s population—70 million people.[48] Even when the worst was over, smaller outbreaks continued, not just for years, but for centuries. The survivors lived in constant fear of the plague's return, and the disease did not disappear until the 1600s.The church’s response was mixed.According to the Sicilian Franciscan, Fr. Michael de Piazza, only a few clergymen and lay ocials wanted to help the dying at the initial outbreak of plague in Messina in 1347, leaving both the pastoral and juridical work of hearing their last confessions and writing down their wills to the Friars Minor[49][49][49][49] , and Preachers, whose extreme selflessness caused them to die ‘in such large numbers that their priories were all but deserted’.[50][50][50][50]The church now entered a period of decline, and throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth century (the 1300s and into the 1400s), it experienced dislocation, schism, heresy, division and rampant corruption.Clement V is remembered for suppressing the order of the Knights Templar, allowing the execution of many of its members, and for moving the Papacy from Rome to Avignon in 1309. He abandoned Rome because factional politics became too threatening and moved to Avignon, France, where the Popes for the next 70 years felt safer. (They were then accused of being in the pocket of the French crown instead of the Italian one.) The Avignon Popes reorganized the church’s monetary systems but rarely made any moral reforms.Under Pope Gregory IX the Papacy returned to Rome in 1377; he died; and the Cardinals elected an Italian Pope to take his place. The French did not approve. They went back to Avignon and elected their own Pope.So now there are two Popes, two Colleges of Cardinals, two curias, and two tax systems. They excommunicated each other, but neither would back down. Different secular states threw their support to one or the other.In 1409, the two Popes were called upon to both resign and a third Pope was elected to take their place—they refused—now there were three Popes!People became disgusted. Finally, the secular head of the Holy Roman Empire stepped in, convened the Council of Constance (1414–1418), and they elected a new Pope and made everyone else go home.The Popes of these centuries were vitally concerned with the trappings of political power. They owned lands and ruled them in the manner of secular Princes. They devoted themselves to the arts and humanities, built cathedrals, and mostly did not bother themselves over moral and spiritual issues. Their worldly interests and blatant power maneuverings intensified the mounting disapproval of the Papacy. The clergy became demoralized. Then the laity did too.Monastic reform had been a major force in the previous generations of the church, but such collective acts of devotion were almost completely unknown in this era. Dedicated and virtuous monks and nuns became increasingly rare. Corruption ran rampant and largely unchecked. The increasing worldliness of the clergy and their declining commitment to the church’s traditional values meant their influence not only waned, it became actively negative. They became objects of ridicule and resentment. People not only became disgusted with the church, its conduct, and its leadership, they also became disillusioned and angry.[51][51][51][51]After the resolution of the Western Schism in 1418, the Popes reasserted control of the church, and by 1447, were back in command. They turned their attention to consolidating the Papal states and became caught up in the pursuit of power. They engaged in wars, conducted diplomacy when force failed, were masters of political deceit, accepted bribes for church offices, or filled them with kinsmen.They also patronized Renaissance artists and scientists and brought riches to the church. They attracted artists and intellectuals to Rome, they collected manuscripts, paintings and sculpture, and built the Sistine Chapel.Perhaps the church could have reformed the clergy and stemmed the tide of anticlericalism if the papacy itself had been able to provide the morally and politically strong leadership that would have required, but at this time, they did not.Even if its leadership was lacking, the church of this age was not totally without dedicated followers who cared deeply. It is the lay people of these centuries that provide the only really positive spiritual developments in the entire religious landscape of the 1300s and 1400s. Many, such as the Brethren, the German pietists, John Wycliffe and others, challenged the church and its hierarchy and made no attempt to reform it. Others were thinkers associated with the universities, and their work in theology, philosophy and science laid the foundations of much cultural development that followed.William of Ockham resolved the philosophical debate over what human beings could know through reason, developed Ockham’s Razor, and broadened the path to modern science. Robert Grossteste (1175–1253), a Franciscan at Oxford University, developed a scientific method using step-by-step procedures and mathematics to test hypotheses which was further demonstrated by Roger Bacon, another Franciscan (1220–1292). Nicholas Oresme (1330–1382) applied pure reason and theoretical arguments to assert it was plausible that the earth moved around the sun.Galileo GalileiGalileo's championing of heliocentrism and Copernicanism was controversial during his lifetime, when most subscribed to either geocentrism or the Tychonic system. He met with opposition from astronomers, who doubted heliocentrism because of the absence of an observed stellar parallax. The matter was investigated by the Roman Inquisition in 1615, which concluded that heliocentrism was "foolish and absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical since it explicitly contradicts in many places the sense of Holy Scripture."Galileo defended his views in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632), which appeared to attack Pope Urban VIII and thus alienated him from both the Pope and the Jesuits, who had both supported Galileo up until this point.He was tried by the Inquisition, found "vehemently suspect of heresy," and forced to recant. He spent the rest of his life under house arrest. While under house arrest, he wrote Two New Sciences, in which he summarized work he had done some forty years earlier on the two sciences now called kinematics and strength of materials.[52][52][52][52]The Medieval world was dying. The modern world was struggling to be born. And intellectuals of the fifteenth century began to speak of a ‘rebirth’ of civilization; the Renaissance was born and the church was a major patron and supporter.1501-1600 Church History TimelineThe unity of previous centuries began dissolving. Secular and Christian humanism developed separately, and the liberal arts and the humanities began taking precedence over theology in the educational curriculum. But a Florentine named Machiavelli (1469–1527) did not have humanism’s positive attitude toward human nature. He wrote a book titled “The Prince” where he treats the State as a human invention without need to conform to religious or moral rules.[53][53][53][53]Except for Martin Luther, Machiavelli left a stronger imprint on western culture than any other figure between 1494 and 1564. He had several motives for writing his famous work, but it is said to be based on Machiavelli’s realization that the only way to rid Italy of foreign influence was to adopt the methods of its successful enemies. For that, his greatest role model, the one he is said to have based his book upon, was Ferdinand II, King of Spain.Surely it can be fairly said that, even allowing for Stalin, Mao, and other modern despots killing much larger numbers of people, there is no one in western history who has wielded fear in the cause of an amoral state more effectively than Ferdinand II of Spain.The Spanish Inquisition was established in 1478 as a tool for unifying the new country of Spain under the leadership of Ferdinand II and his wife Queen Isabella, its first regents.The Marranos (Jewish converts) were denounced as a danger to the existence of Christian Spain, so Pope Sixtus IV authorized the monarchs to appoint inquisitors to address the issue. But the first Spanish inquisitors, operating in Seville, proved so severe that Sixtus IV attempted to intervene and shut it down.There are some historians who assert the Spanish regents manufactured the ‘danger’ of the Marranos in order to manipulate the Pope into authorizing an Inquisition, but contrived or planned, the Spanish crown now had in its possession a weapon too powerful to give up. The efforts of the Pope to stop or even limit it were to no avail. He wrote bulls. Ferdinand responded by ‘blackmailing’ the Pope with threats of withdrawing Spain from Papal authority; the Cardinals pressed the Pope to back down. He did.In 1483 Pope Sixtus was induced to authorize the Spanish crown to name the grand inquisitor for Castile (instead of the church, who should have had that authority, doing that naming). Ferdinand named the infamous Torquemada.[54][54][54][54]Historians are still divided as to the extent to which torture was used and how far it went, but it seems clear this torture, and the fear it generated—not death—were Ferdinand’s weapons of choice. Methods of torture were used to extract confessions, in the old Roman manner, as opposed to being used as a punishment in its own right, but women, children, the infirm, and the aged were not exempt. Historians now assert that in the entire 400 year history of the Inquisition, only about 4000 died, but that misses the point. It was never his intent to kill. The point was control, and that meant the use of fear, not death: dead men have no fear.During the same year Torquemada was appointed, Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia also fell under the power of the Inquisition.[55][55][55][55] Ferdinand used the power and fear of the Inquisition to increase his control of his lands, establish unity behind the throne, and eliminate any possible source of opposition.By 1492 and again in 1501 the King began ordering Jews and Muslims to choose baptism or exile and more than 160,000 Jews were forced to leave their homes in Spain. Eventually the goal of the Inquisition became racial purity, and even the Catholic nobility lived in fear.Napoleon’s elder brother, Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples and Sicily (1806-08) and King of Spain (1808-13) is the man credited with ending the Spanish Inquisition, although it wouldn’t be officially abolished by royal decree until July 1834.[56][56][56][56]While Italy was experiencing Renaissance, Germany was the epicenter of Reformation. The break-up of Europe’s religious unity is both complicated and confusing, but two basic causes are clear: the radical reshaping of Western society that had begun in earlier centuries contributed to it, and the timeless spiritual yearnings of human beings drove it on.In 1517, the Archbishop of Mainz offered indulgences for sale to raise money. Martin Luther, a Catholic monk teaching at nearby Wittenburg University, responded to the Archbishop’s appeal by compiling his 95 theses (questions and arguments) about the legitimacy of indulgences, the sacraments, the requirement of confession and penance, and the authority of the Pope. Just to be sure they didn’t miss it, he carried it over to the church and nailed it to the front door.In 1520, the Pope excommunicated him. Luther burned the order publicly.His 95 theses were banned; no one was allowed to read them, and the enforcement of the ban fell to the secular authorities.On 18 April 1521, Luther was ordered to appear in court at the Diet of Worms, (A Diet is a general assembly of representatives from the estates of the Holy Roman Empire; this one took place in Worms, a town on the German Rhine river). It was conducted from 28 January, to 25 May, in 1521, with the Catholic Emperor Charles V presiding. Prince Frederick II arranged safe conduct for Luther to and from the meeting.Johann Eck, prosecuting, presented Luther with copies of his writings laid out on a table and asked him if the books were his, and whether he stood by their contents. Luther confirmed he was their author, but requested time to think about the answer to the second question. He prayed, consulted friends, and gave his response the next day:Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. AmenEck informed Luther that he was acting like a heretic.Luther responded "Here I stand. I can do no other".Over the next five days, private conferences were held to determine Luther's fate. The Emperor presented the final draft of the sentence on 25 May 1521, declaring Luther an outlaw, banning his literature, and requiring his arrest: "We want him to be apprehended and punished as a notorious heretic." It also made it a crime for anyone in Germany to give Luther food or shelter. It permitted anyone to kill Luther without legal consequence. But Luther had ‘safe passage’ home so it would have to be executed afterwards.Then Luther was ‘disappeared’ by his friends.Frederick III had Luther intercepted in the forest near Wittenberg by masked horsemen impersonating highway robbers while on his way home. They escorted Luther to the security of the Wartburg Castle at Eisenach where he stayed for some time, translating the Bible into the common language of the people of Germany and writing his famous commentaries.Luther was one of many reformers who appeared in this Age. The invention of the printing press was a boon to Protestant causes with Protestant literature being produced at great levels in the larger cities. If a press was present in a city, it made it more likely that city would become Protestant.Greater political autonomy among the States of Europe increased the patronage and protection those states could offer to protect the lives of the reformers. This increased the likelihood Protestantism would be adopted in those places. Proximity to neighbors who had adopted Protestantism spread it, and cities where there were non-orthodox universities also spread it.1501-1600 Church History TimelineSpurred on by the loss of virtually half its members, the Roman Catholic church—as it was now called—responded with a superbly organized campaign called the Counter-Reformation. It slowed the progress of Protestantism and won back many adherents.Beginning with Pope Paul III (1534–1549) there were a series of reform minded Popes. Pope Paul called the Council of Trent [57][57][57][57] —reminiscent of the council of Nicea called by Constantine long ago—of representatives from local churches all over Europe and thereby gained the support of the whole church in his efforts to make serious changes. He tapped into the religious enthusiasm of the faithful, established new monastic orders, reorganized church structure, and began to work toward purifying the church of abuses. His successors perpetuated his policies, and in the process, reclaimed moral leadership of the church.But the authoritarian tendency to repress rather than respond remained, and the first Index of Forbidden Books that included all Protestant literature was drawn up in this era and continued to be updated till the 1960s.Dissent divided Europe. Warfare became the usual means for secular rulers to attempt to restore order. While these wars are generally referred to as “wars of religion” there is strong modern debate as to their religious nature. Many historians are concluding these conflicts were nationalistic wars, dynastic wars of succession, and financial conflicts more than religious ones.[58][58][58][58][59][59][59][59] [60][60][60][60]The European Wars of religion have long been regarded as a “set” of wars with a coherent single cause. This provided the backdrop for the Enlightenment’s critique of religion. Benedict Spinoza, Thomas Hobbs, John Locke, Edward Gibbon, Rousseau, Voltaire, and others of the period, all saw these wars from the same perspective: religious groups quarrel over doctrines and “religious creeds” and the state steps in to make peace. This interpretation was based on their belief that religion itself was the “last gasp of medieval barbarism and fanaticism before the darkness was dispelled.”If they were right about their interpretation of the nature of these wars, (if these wars are genuinely wars of religion), then it would be reasonable to expect these wars to have broken out immediately upon Europe dividing along religious lines. Instead decades pass between Luther’s acts, Pope Paul’s response, and 1547— when the first ‘religious’ war, the First Schmalkaldic War, begins.We might also expect to see the sides divided based on religion, with Protestant killing Catholic, and vice versa. But in this First Schmalkaldic War the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, attacks Rome, he does not go after Luther or other Protestants.The Papacy had sponsored a reform program which limited the authority of kings. The kings responded. This war was part of the ongoing struggle between the Pope and the Emperor for control of Italy and the church in German territories.The Lutheran Duke, Maurice of SaxonyThe Protestant Duke provided assistance to the Catholic Emperor Charles V in the First Schmalkaldic War in order to become the Saxon elector instead of allowing his Lutheran cousin, John Frederick, to take the position. (Perhaps personal ambition outweighed both family and religious loyalty.) There were actually a number of important Protestants on the Catholic Charles’ side during this conflict.The Catholic king Henry II of France supported the Lutheran cause in the Second Schmalkaldic War in 1552 to secure French bases in what is now modern day Lorraine. [61][61][61][61]In 1521, 1527, 1536, 1542, and 1552 Catholic France warred against the Catholic Emperor. The Italian Wars of 1494–1559, only involved Catholics, and the Northern Seven Years’ War (1563–1570) only involved Lutherans.Starting in 1525, Catholic France made frequent alliance with Muslim Turks against Catholic German emperor Charles V.Catholic Bavaria refused to fight for the Catholic Habsburg Emperor in 1531 and instead allied with Lutheran Princes in opposing Ferdinand’s election.The French wars of Religion, generally dated between 1562–1598 are usually assumed to have pitted the Calvinist Huguenot minority against the Catholic majority, however there is evidence they were instead aimed at asserting the ancient rights of nobility against the increasingly centralizing power of kings. Dissident nobility frequently joined Protestants against the monarchy and the Catholic church.The entire latter half of the Thirty Years War was a struggle between the two great Catholic powers of Europe: the Habsburgs and France.Nobles of both sides switched churches at whim.There are dozens and dozens of examples of collaboration between Protestants and Catholics of both the nobility and the lower classes as well.Historian William Cavenaugh asks,“Why, in a war over religion, would those who share the same religion kill each other? Why, in a war over religion, would those of opposing religions fight together?If the answer is that people prioritized other concerns over their religious ones, then it does not make sense to call them wars of religion.” [62][62][62][62] (pages 141–153)What everyone agrees came out of these wars is what Cavenaugh and others say these wars were actually about: the rise of a system of sovereign, secular, and mutually hostile nation states.Throughout its history and on into the medieval era, mainstream Christian doctrine had denied the existence of witches and witchcraft, condemning it as pagan superstition.Somehow, which no one has yet adequately explained, here on the thresh-hold of the modern era, with universities, education, humanism and secularism becoming more and more common, a change in that belief began. Certain Christian theologians, along with many ordinary people, seemed to grow in fear and panic that it was actually possible for a person to obtain real supernatural power through collaboration with the devil.There are multiple theories from a vast variety of fields of study as to how and why witch-phobia began. Some have suggested there really were witches that were remnants of ancient culture.[63][63][63][63] Some have offered gender-based theories, social theories, anthropological, economic and even political theories. But no one really knows why, not even the church can explain it, since it violated its own stated beliefs in the process.The canon Episcopi (also capitulum Episcopi) is a passage in medieval canon law that addresses folk belief and surviving pagan customs from the time of about the 900s. This passage condemns belief in witchcraft. It was an important argument used by the opponents of the witch trials (such as Johann Weyer) during the 16th century.[64][64][64][64]The passage had many supporters, and still seems to have been supported by the theological faculty at the University of Paris in 1398. It was never officially repudiated by any Pope, nor by a majority of bishops, nor by the Council of Trent which immediately preceded the peak of the trials.Yet, in 1428, starting in the French-speaking lower Valais, the witch trials lasted six to eight years, condemned many, and eventually spread to German-speaking regions and beyond. This time period also coincided with the Council of Basel (1431-1437) and some scholars have suggested a new witch-phobic view may have spread among certain theologians and inquisitors in attendance at this council.[65][65][65][65] But many prosecutions were instigated—not by the religious or secular authorities—but by popular demands from within the population.That many sincerely believed in the reality of witches was only part of what makes this whole series of events problematic; it was the irregularity of procedure that led to these later Inquisitions developing the reputation as the most notorious instrument ever created by the Christian church.Ignoring the basic ideals of Roman law upon which they had been founded, these courts allowed suspects to be accused without having to face their accusers; confessions gained under torture were allowed to stand as evidence—which had been copacetic in Rome, but only for slaves. In 1635, the Roman Inquisition acknowledged that it had "found scarcely one trial conducted legally." In the middle of the 17th century, the difficulty in proving witchcraft by legal process contributed to the councilors of Rothenburg, Germany following advice to treat witchcraft cases with caution.There had never been a lack of skepticism regarding the witch trials. The phobia eventually ran its course, or cooler heads prevailed, or something ended them that can’t be explained anymore than its beginnings can be, but by 1750, witchcraft had ceased to be considered a criminal offense throughout Europe.The period of the European witch trials with the largest number of fatalities seems to have occurred between 1560 and 1630. Recent scholarly consensus on the total number of executions ranges from 40,000-60,000 people, with an estimated 75% to 85% of those being women.[66][66][66][66]The fierce denunciation and persecution of supposed sorceresses that characterized the cruel witch-hunts of a this age were not found in the first thirteen hundred years of the Christian era—and then weren’t found again.Why they began, and why they ended, remains a matter of fierce debate.Europe was recovering from the devastations of the Plague, population was growing, increasing from about 45 million in 1400, to 69 million in 1500, and to 89 million by 1600. There was a shift from rural to urban and there was increasing prosperity, but throughout most of this period, prices rose faster than wages for most people. Merchants and bankers profited either way, and they began amassing capitol, and the potential of the New World as an opportunity for investment was grabbed. The era of European Exploration and Expansionism began slowly in the late 1400s, picked up the pace in the 1500s, peaked in the 1600 and 1700s, and lasted into the 1900s.Colonialism was driven primarily by economics, but population growth, politics, competition between nation states, personality and nationalism, and even geography also contributed. Religion was not a motive for colonialism, but it provided support and a sense of legitimacy to many.[67][67][67][67]Christian missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant, did often travel with, or arrive soon after, the European conquests in the Americas, Asia and Africa. Missionaries saw the opportunity provided by these explorations to convert the world, but economic expansionism would have happened whether those missionaries had gone along or not.And in many cases it turned out to be a good thing they were there because it was the missionaries and church leaders, not the government, or the merchant companies, who were most often the heroic defenders of the rights of indigenous peoples.[68][68][68][68]New research shows that, contrary to popular postcolonial ideas that most contacts with the western world during colonialism were negative, Christian missionaries were catalysts for democratic reforms and education. About half of the democracies in Africa, Asia and Latin America today can be explained as descendants of Protestant missionary work.[69][69][69][69]How can that be?"(m)uch of the standard Western scholarship on Christian missions proceeds by looking at the motives of individual missionaries and concludes by faulting the entire missionary enterprise as being part of the machinery of Western cultural imperialism."Lamin Sanneh presents a different perspective:Missionaries of course went out with all sorts of motives, and some of them were clearly unwholesome. Yet if we were to try to separate good from bad motives, I daresay … that exercise would do little to further our understanding of the nature and consequences of cross-cultural missions.Instead of examining motives, I propose that we focus on the field setting of missions, where local feedback exerted an influence all its own. And what stands out in particular about the field setting is the emphasis missionaries gave to translating scripture into vernacular languages.Most Protestant missionary agencies embarked on the immense enterprise of vernacular translation with the enthusiasm, urgency, and commitment of first-timers, and they expended uncommon resources to make the vernacular dream come true. Today more than 1,800 languages have been involved in the worldwide translation movement. … Catholic missions has been similarly committed to the transposition of the catechism into vernacular terms, with language study a crucial part of the enterprise. The importance of vernacular translation was that it brought the missionary into contact with the most intimate and intricate aspects of culture, yielding wide-ranging consequences for both missionary and native alike.Armed with a written vernacular scripture, converts to Christianity invariably called into question the legitimacy of all schemes of foreign domination—cultural, political and religious. Here was an acute paradox: the vernacular scriptures and the wider cultural and linguistic enterprise on which translation rested provided the means and occasion for arousing a sense of national pride, yet it was the missionaries—foreign agents—who were the creators of that entire process.I am convinced that this paradox decisively undercuts the alleged connection often drawn between missions and colonialism. Colonial rule was irreparably damaged by the consequences of vernacular translation—and often by other activities of missionaries.Because of its concern for translations that employ the speech of the common workaday world, Christian proclamation has had a populist element. In many traditional societies, religious language has tended to be confined to a small elite of professionals. The Christian approach to translatability strikes at the heart of such gnostic tendencies, first by contending that the greatest and most profound religious truths are compatible with everyday language, and second, by targeting ordinary men and women as worthy bearers of the religious message. This approach introduced a true democratic spirit into hitherto closed and elitist societies, with women in particular discovering an expanded role.The project of translation contains implications about the nature of culture itself. Translation de-stigmatizes culture—it denies that culture is “profane”—and asserts that the sacred message may legitimately be entrusted to the forms of everyday life. An example is the Zulu Bible, which enabled Zulu converts to respond to missionary criticism of the Zulu way of dressing. The Zulus said that they found in Genesis 27:16 sanction for their custom of dressing in skins, a practice the missionaries had attacked. In the eyes of the Zulus, it was the missionaries who were flouting the dress code. Thus it was that, confronted with the bewildering fact of Western intrusion, local populations used the vernacular to avert ultimate disenchantment, in this way utilizing the gains of mission to offset the losses to colonialism.The evidence of the importance of translation in Christian missions is remarkably consistent. From the 16th century when Francis Xavier decided to cast his lot with the East against his own Western culture, to the 19th century when Christaller singlehandedly promoted Akan culture, to the 20th when Frank Laubach inveighed against the encroachments of American power in the Philippines, missionaries in the field have helped to promote indigenous self-awareness as a counterforce to Western cultural importation.…we must note this salient, consistent feature of their work—namely, that they confidently adopted the language and culture of others as the irreplaceable vehicle for the transmission of the message. …Besides the paradox of foreign missionaries establishing the indigenous process by which foreign domination was questioned, there is a theological paradox to this story. Missionaries entered the missionary field to convert others, yet in the translation process it was they who first made the move to “convert” to a new language, with all its presuppositions and ramifications.Christian missions expanded and deepened pluralism—in language, social encounter, and ethnic participation in the Christian movement. Missions helped to preserve languages that were threatened by a rising lingua franca, extended the influence of the vernacular through careful methodical and systematic investigations in the field, and helped to establish connections within the wider family of languages. In their grammars, dictionaries, primers, readers, and systematic compilations of proverbs, axioms, customs, and other ethnographic materials, missionaries furnished the scientific documentation by means of which the modern study of cultures could begin. Whether missionaries translated well or badly—and there are masterpieces as well as outrageous parodies—they made field criteria rather than the values of empire-building their operative standard.Indeed, if there is any aspect of missionaries’ motives I would want to pursue, it would be their desire to excel in whatever they undertook. They scrutinized their work in the hard and somber light of giving an account before God. Thus we find in their meticulous record-keeping, in the minutiae of account ledgers, in faithful official and family correspondence and in the assembling of petitions, an extraordinary concern for accuracy.In examining missionary archives I am struck constantly by the missionaries’ painstaking attention to detail. Inventiveness was a rather rare vice in that stern, austere world of missionary self-accounting. Thus, unwittingly, was laid the firm foundation of modern historiography in Africa and elsewhere. Even the nationalist point of view that came to dominate much historical writing about the new Africa was to a large extent molded by the missionary exploration of indigenous societies.There is a widespread tendency in the West to see missions as destroyers of indigenous cultures or else as alien cultural agents from the West.Christian missions are better seen as a translation movement, with consequences for vernacular revitalization, religious change, and social transformation, than as a vehicle for Western cultural domination. [70][70][70][70]Beginning in the 1600s, when Protestant European countries became involved in overseas expansion, the first translation of Scripture in a non-European language for the purpose of evangelism was Matthew’s Gospel, in Malay, done by a director of the Dutch East Indies Company in 1629.The first entire Bible in a new language for missionary use was the work of John Eliot of England in the Massachusetts language of America in 1663.Ziegenbalg, a Danish missionary, translated the first New Testament in a language of India in 1717.Beginning in 1804, Bible societies were formed for the translation, publication and distribution of the Scriptures in the countries where the work was needed. Bible translation soon was worldwide. What had begun continued to accelerate.The Roman Catholic Church has changed in its attitude toward the use of vernacular languages, reading of Scripture by the laity, and the translation of the Bible, especially since Vatican II. Of the 574 projects listed by the United Bible Societies in 1982, Roman Catholics were actively involved in 133 either as translators or as reviewers.[71][71][71][71]Sanneh adds a commentary on this that is important and applicable to the ‘important event’ category and the influence of Christianity:The modern religious map of Africa reveals in a striking way the close connection between the growth of Christianity and the widespread employment of the vernacular. The converse also seems to hold: Christian growth has been slightest in areas where vernacular languages are weak—that is, where a lingua franca such as English, French, Portuguese, Arabic, or Swahili has succeeded in suppressing mother tongues.To make the contrast even starker, we can point out that the reverse phenomenon appears in Islam, also a missionary religion, but one that does not translate its scriptures for its canonical rites. Islam is strongest in societies where a lingua franca exists and weakest in places of vernacular preponderance. For example, Islamic gains in north Nigeria occurred at the hands of the Fulani reformers in the 19th century. In the process, the Fulani assimilated to an Islamized Hausa culture and lost their own Fulfulde language.Islamic reform has nowhere to my knowledge made the perpetuation of the vernacular a concomitant of orthodox rectitude, and I know of no Muslim language institutes dedicated to the systematic study of the vernacular. Islam has succeeded brilliantly in its missionary enterprise, promoting at the same time a universal devotion to the sacred Arabic. In Africa, we see evidence of its considerable gains in spite of what we might regard as insuperable odds against a nontranslatable scripture. For this reason the implications of Muslim success for pluralism are quite serious.One of the many consequences of colonialism was the new slave trade.In the church’s beginnings, it had accepted slavery as part of the social structure of society, campaigning primarily for humane treatment of slaves and admonishing slaves to behave respectfully towards their masters.[31]However, historian Glenn Sunshine says, it didn’t take long before Christianity began working to eliminate the practice, and Christians became the first people in history to oppose slavery systematically. Christian theology is based on a doctrine of free will and personal choice and the removal of that right by others, the degrading of basic human worth, is one of the greatest of evils.Early Christians purchased slaves in the markets simply to set them free. In the 600s the Franks outlawed slavery and it wasn’t long before it was completely eradicated in Europe.But slavery was not eradicated elsewhere, and the European nation states became involved in different levels of the existing slave trade in the late 1500s. The Portuguese, British, and French were the primary sources of slaves in the west. In 1501 the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, allowed the colonists of the Caribbean to import African slaves. The Asiento, which was the official contract for trading in slaves in the vast Spanish territories, was a major engine of the Atlantic slave trade. Supply could not keep up with demand.The monk, Bartolomé de las Casas (1484–1566), recorded the effects of slavery, argued for an end to it, and for the rights of the enslaved people.When Columbus returned to Spain with indigenous slaves, the Spanish Catholic Monarchs ordered the survivors to be returned to their homelands and opposed the introduction of slavery in the newly conquered lands on religious grounds.In 1512, after pressure from Dominican friars, the Laws of Burgos were introduced to protect the rights of the natives in the New World and secure their freedom. The papal bull Sublimus Dei of 1537, to which Spain was committed, also officially banned enslavement of indigenous people, (but it was rescinded a year after its promulgation).The other major form of coerced labor in their colonies, the encomienda (it awarded conquerors the labor of particular groups of subject people) was also abolished, despite the considerable anger this caused in local criollo elites. It was replaced by the repartimiento system where workers were forced but were free in other respects and the work was intermittent and had time limits. After passage of the 1542 New Laws, also known as the New Laws of the Indies for the Good Treatment and Preservation of the Indians, the Spanish greatly restricted the power of the encomienda system, and officially abolished the enslavement of the native population.The statutes of 1573, within the "Ordinances Concerning Discoveries," forbade unauthorized operations against independent Indian peoples. It required appointment of a "protector de indios", an ecclesiastical representative who acted as the protector of the Indians and represented them in formal litigation.Later, toward the end of the 16th century, much of this ended up reversed in the viceroyalties of New Spain and Peru, as thousands of indigenous people were forced to hard labor as underground miners in the mines of Potosi, Guanajuato, and Zacatecas, in Peru, by means of the continuation of the pre-Hispanic Incan mita tradition.[72][72][72][72]Modern slavery was worse in many ways than historic slavery as it was almost entirely based on race and kidnapping.By the 1700s, most people simply accepted slavery as a fact of life, until gradually, a Christian abolitionist movement began to take shape. It formed first amongst American Quakers.[73][73][73][73]Slavery was also coming under attack from Enlightenment philosophers like Montesquieu and Rousseau, but it was Christian activists who initiated and organized an actual abolitionist movement.[74][74][74][74]By the 1770s, Evangelicals were waking up to the seriousness of the issue – the British Methodist John Wesley and the American Presbyterian Benjamin Rush denounced the slave trade in influential pamphlets. Once the British Abolition Committee was established in 1787, abolitionism quickly became a mass movement. Within twenty years, the slave trade had been abolished throughout the British Empire. Christianity had been instrumental in stopping the highly lucrative immoral western slave trade.[75][75][75][75](If you don’t think it was Christianity that made the difference, read this: John Dewar Gleissner's answer to What are some mind-blowing facts about slavery?)In America, the argument over slavery would not be resolved until the civil war. Many Christians wrote and spoke vehemently in opposition to slavery. Many others wrote and spoke in support of it.[76][76][76][76] There were many violent episodes with passions on both sides. War became inevitable. And war always has other factors in play. Christianity in America was on both sides of the racial issue and America continues to have those struggles. [77][77][77][77]Faith, Reason and Scientific Revolution (1648–1870)In 1654, Blaise Pascal had a religious experience that changed his life. A prominent mathematician, physicist, inventor, and Christian writer, he also made important contributions to geometry, calculus, and helped develop the theory of probability. Pascal's law is the basis for hydraulic operations. At l9, he invented the world's first mechanical calculator.In 1657 Pascal published his Provincial Letters which criticized the moral teaching of the Jesuits, the rationalism of Descartes, and Montaigne's skepticism; and which urged a return to Augustine's doctrines of grace. Voltaire described the collection as "the first work of genius to appear in France," (in colloquial literature); it continues to be recognized as such.[78][78][78][78]When the Royal Society was chartered by Charles II on July 15, 1662, it was the first scientific society in history. … Its membership was overwhelmingly Puritan in makeup.It had grown out of the meetings of the so-called "invisibles" who gathered at the home of the chemist Robert Boyle's favorite sister, Katherine. She supported the Parliamentarians (and Puritans) in the revolt against Charles I. Of deep intelligence herself, she welcomed the group into her house so that she might share their findings.Theodore Haak, a professor at the largely Puritan Gresham College, initiated the meetings of the "invisibles." Other Protestant schools revolutionized medicine about the same time, and it was a Protestant school which later trained John Dalton, author of modern atomic theory.Chief architect and secretary of the Royal Society after the Restoration was John Wilkins, whose religious inclinations later led him to become a bishop and to prepare arguments in defense of scripture.John Willis also helped inaugurate the society. Considered one of the best doctors of his generation, he was so strong in his attachment to the Church of England that he was cold-shouldered at the royal court which inclined to Romanism. Among his charities he funded a clergyman to conduct worship services at hours when average working men could attend. John Wallis, a professor, was also among the earliest members.Robert Boyle's faith is well-known, not only because of the apologetics he wrote but because he endowed a lecture series to defend Christianity. He assisted persecuted Welsh clergymen. In addition, he subsidized scripture translation and made researches into Bible languages. An innovative chemist, he gave us Boyle's Law of Gases and wrote a book which exploded alchemy. He is often called the Father of Modern Chemistry.Perhaps the most accomplished man of his day, Christopher Wren, was also a founder of the Society. Best known for rebuilding St. Paul's Cathedral, he was an anatomist who prepared the drawings for Willis' Cerebri anatome, a geometer (Newton classed him among the best), a physicist who did impact studies, a meteorologist, and a surveyor. He attempted some of the first blood transfusions and made microscopic studies of insects.The motto adopted by the organization was, "Nothing by mere authority."Almost every famous scientist of Britain has since been a member, including Sir Isaac Newton.[79][79][79][79] [80][80][80][80]The scientific revolution of the 17th century was built by those who believed that what they were doing was entirely within an orthodox Christian framework. These innovators built upon late medieval rationalism and the work of those earlier medieval scholars. During this ‘revolution’ even the greatest intellectuals still held firmly to what Enlightenment thinkers called ‘superstitious medieval views.’ [81][81][81][81]Robert K. Merton asserts that English Puritanism and German Pietism were responsible for the development of the scientific revolution of the 17th and 18th centuries. The connection between religious affiliation and interest in science created a significant ‘synergy’ between Protestant values and those of modern science. Without the views the Enlightenment denigrates to motivate those early scientists, it is hard to imagine modern science would ever have emerged as it did.Johann A. Bengel was 47-years-old when he published his Greek New Testament at Tübingen in 1734. The work was a first of its kind, making him the first Protestant textual critic.[82][82][82][82]Biblical criticism would not develop fully and spread widely until the German Enlightenment of 1750–1850, but once it did, nothing would ever be the same again.The first debate over evolution occurs in 1860.[83][83][83][83]1701-1800 Church History Timeline1801-1900 Church History TimelineThere is so much more to be said, so many things that have been left out, but 2000 years, in a thirty minute read, has taken much more than 30 minutes to write, and all good things must end.(Perhaps one day there will be another question that focuses solely on the modern era and I will actually make it all the way to the finish line! )For anyone who has actually made it this far, thank you for reading! I’m sorry I didn’t make it all the way to our modern day! Life got in the way. :-)Footnotes[1] Early Christian Women and Pagan Opinion[1] Early Christian Women and Pagan Opinion[1] Early Christian Women and Pagan Opinion[1] Early Christian Women and Pagan Opinion[2] The Rise of Christianity[2] The Rise of Christianity[2] The Rise of Christianity[2] The Rise of Christianity[3] History of Christianity[3] History of Christianity[3] History of Christianity[3] History of Christianity[4] Arian controversy - Wikipedia[4] Arian controversy - Wikipedia[4] Arian controversy - Wikipedia[4] Arian controversy - Wikipedia[5] "Massacre of Thessalonica" on Revolvy.com[5] "Massacre of Thessalonica" on Revolvy.com[5] "Massacre of Thessalonica" on Revolvy.com[5] "Massacre of Thessalonica" on Revolvy.com[6] http://(*Augustine the Bishop* [London: Sheed and Ward, 1961], 80-81).[6] http://(*Augustine the Bishop* [London: Sheed and Ward, 1961], 80-81).[6] http://(*Augustine the Bishop* [London: Sheed and Ward, 1961], 80-81).[6] http://(*Augustine the Bishop* [London: Sheed and Ward, 1961], 80-81).[7] Circumcellions - Wikipedia[7] Circumcellions - Wikipedia[7] Circumcellions - Wikipedia[7] Circumcellions - Wikipedia[8] http:// (van der Meer, 104-105) [8] http:// (van der Meer, 104-105) [8] http:// (van der Meer, 104-105) [8] http:// (van der Meer, 104-105) [9] Donatism - Wikipedia[9] Donatism - Wikipedia[9] Donatism - Wikipedia[9] Donatism - Wikipedia[10] Jenny Hawkins's answer to What started the Dark Ages?[10] Jenny Hawkins's answer to What started the Dark Ages?[10] Jenny Hawkins's answer to What started the Dark Ages?[10] Jenny Hawkins's answer to What started the Dark Ages?[11] 8 Reasons Why Rome Fell[11] 8 Reasons Why Rome Fell[11] 8 Reasons Why Rome Fell[11] 8 Reasons Why Rome Fell[12] How the Irish Saved Civilization[12] How the Irish Saved Civilization[12] How the Irish Saved Civilization[12] How the Irish Saved Civilization[13] How the Irish Saved Civilization[13] How the Irish Saved Civilization[13] How the Irish Saved Civilization[13] How the Irish Saved Civilization[14] St. Benedict - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online[14] St. Benedict - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online[14] St. Benedict - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online[14] St. Benedict - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online[15] Benedict of Nursia - Wikipedia[15] Benedict of Nursia - Wikipedia[15] Benedict of Nursia - Wikipedia[15] Benedict of Nursia - Wikipedia[16] Christian Community in History: Volume 1: Historical Ecclesiology: Roger D. Haight: 9780826416308: Amazon.com: Books[16] Christian Community in History: Volume 1: Historical Ecclesiology: Roger D. Haight: 9780826416308: Amazon.com: Books[16] Christian Community in History: Volume 1: Historical Ecclesiology: Roger D. Haight: 9780826416308: Amazon.com: Books[16] Christian Community in History: Volume 1: Historical Ecclesiology: Roger D. Haight: 9780826416308: Amazon.com: Books[17] Jenny Hawkins's answer to How has Christianity improved or made society/the world a better place?[17] Jenny Hawkins's answer to How has Christianity improved or made society/the world a better place?[17] Jenny Hawkins's answer to How has Christianity improved or made society/the world a better place?[17] Jenny Hawkins's answer to How has Christianity improved or made society/the world a better place?[18] Early Muslim conquests - Wikipedia[18] Early Muslim conquests - Wikipedia[18] Early Muslim conquests - Wikipedia[18] Early Muslim conquests - Wikipedia[19] What You Should Know About Charles Martel[19] What You Should Know About Charles Martel[19] What You Should Know About Charles Martel[19] What You Should Know About Charles Martel[20] History of Christianity[20] History of Christianity[20] History of Christianity[20] History of Christianity[21] Charlemagne[21] Charlemagne[21] Charlemagne[21] Charlemagne[22] The Western Humanities, Complete[22] The Western Humanities, Complete[22] The Western Humanities, Complete[22] The Western Humanities, Complete[23] Byzantine Empire - Wikipedia[23] Byzantine Empire - Wikipedia[23] Byzantine Empire - Wikipedia[23] Byzantine Empire - Wikipedia[24] The Western Humanities, Complete[24] The Western Humanities, Complete[24] The Western Humanities, Complete[24] The Western Humanities, Complete[25] http://Geoffrey Blainey; A Short History of Christianity; Penguin Viking; 2011; pp 214–215.[25] http://Geoffrey Blainey; A Short History of Christianity; Penguin Viking; 2011; pp 214–215.[25] http://Geoffrey Blainey; A Short History of Christianity; Penguin Viking; 2011; pp 214–215.[25] http://Geoffrey Blainey; A Short History of Christianity; Penguin Viking; 2011; pp 214–215.[26] Role of Christianity in civilization - Wikipedia[26] Role of Christianity in civilization - Wikipedia[26] Role of Christianity in civilization - Wikipedia[26] Role of Christianity in civilization - Wikipedia[27] The Western Humanities, Complete[27] The Western Humanities, Complete[27] The Western Humanities, Complete[27] The Western Humanities, Complete[28] The Crusades[28] The Crusades[28] The Crusades[28] The Crusades[29] Kevin Yue's answer to Who is really to blame for the Crusades? Christians or Muslims? Why?[29] Kevin Yue's answer to Who is really to blame for the Crusades? Christians or Muslims? Why?[29] Kevin Yue's answer to Who is really to blame for the Crusades? Christians or Muslims? Why?[29] Kevin Yue's answer to Who is really to blame for the Crusades? Christians or Muslims? Why?[30] Amazon.com: The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land (9780060787288): Thomas Asbridge: Books[30] Amazon.com: The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land (9780060787288): Thomas Asbridge: Books[30] Amazon.com: The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land (9780060787288): Thomas Asbridge: Books[30] Amazon.com: The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land (9780060787288): Thomas Asbridge: Books[31] Medieval Inquisition - Wikipedia[31] Medieval Inquisition - Wikipedia[31] Medieval Inquisition - Wikipedia[31] Medieval Inquisition - Wikipedia[32] Medieval Inquisition - Wikipedia[32] Medieval Inquisition - Wikipedia[32] Medieval Inquisition - Wikipedia[32] Medieval Inquisition - Wikipedia[33] http://Peters, Edward (1988). Inquisition. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-06630-8.[33] http://Peters, Edward (1988). Inquisition. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-06630-8.[33] http://Peters, Edward (1988). Inquisition. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-06630-8.[33] http://Peters, Edward (1988). Inquisition. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-06630-8.[34] The Rise of Popular Heresies[34] The Rise of Popular Heresies[34] The Rise of Popular Heresies[34] The Rise of Popular Heresies[35] The Inquisition against the Cathars of the Languedoc[35] The Inquisition against the Cathars of the Languedoc[35] The Inquisition against the Cathars of the Languedoc[35] The Inquisition against the Cathars of the Languedoc[36] Lectures in Medieval History[36] Lectures in Medieval History[36] Lectures in Medieval History[36] Lectures in Medieval History[37] The Western Humanities, Complete[37] The Western Humanities, Complete[37] The Western Humanities, Complete[37] The Western Humanities, Complete[38] What Role Did the Abbess Play in Women's Religious History?[38] What Role Did the Abbess Play in Women's Religious History?[38] What Role Did the Abbess Play in Women's Religious History?[38] What Role Did the Abbess Play in Women's Religious History?[39] The Formation of a Persecuting Society[39] The Formation of a Persecuting Society[39] The Formation of a Persecuting Society[39] The Formation of a Persecuting Society[40] Amazon.com: The Formation of a Persecuting Society: Authority and Deviance in Western Europe 950-1250 (9781405129640): Robert I. Moore: Books[40] Amazon.com: The Formation of a Persecuting Society: Authority and Deviance in Western Europe 950-1250 (9781405129640): Robert I. Moore: Books[40] Amazon.com: The Formation of a Persecuting Society: Authority and Deviance in Western Europe 950-1250 (9781405129640): Robert I. Moore: Books[40] Amazon.com: The Formation of a Persecuting Society: Authority and Deviance in Western Europe 950-1250 (9781405129640): Robert I. Moore: Books[41] The Formation of a Persecuting Society[41] The Formation of a Persecuting Society[41] The Formation of a Persecuting Society[41] The Formation of a Persecuting Society[42] LATERAN COUNCILS - JewishEncyclopedia.com[42] LATERAN COUNCILS - JewishEncyclopedia.com[42] LATERAN COUNCILS - JewishEncyclopedia.com[42] LATERAN COUNCILS - JewishEncyclopedia.com[43] Disputation of Paris - Wikipedia[43] Disputation of Paris - Wikipedia[43] Disputation of Paris - Wikipedia[43] Disputation of Paris - Wikipedia[44] Putting the Talmud on Trial in Medieval France[44] Putting the Talmud on Trial in Medieval France[44] Putting the Talmud on Trial in Medieval France[44] Putting the Talmud on Trial in Medieval France[45] The Church and the Jews | My Jewish Learning[45] The Church and the Jews | My Jewish Learning[45] The Church and the Jews | My Jewish Learning[45] The Church and the Jews | My Jewish Learning[46] Jenny Hawkins's answer to Why did the black death spread?[47] Jenny Hawkins's answer to When the Black Plague struck, why did people start to question the Church?[48] Sarah Vallieres's answer to When the Black Plague struck, why did people start to question the Church?[49] http://The Black Friars and the Black Death: Effects of the Plague on Friars Preachers in Fourteenth-Century Northern Europe | Denmark and Europe in the Middle Ages, c.1000–1525 | Taylor & Francis Group[49] http://The Black Friars and the Black Death: Effects of the Plague on Friars Preachers in Fourteenth-Century Northern Europe | Denmark and Europe in the Middle Ages, c.1000–1525 | Taylor & Francis Group[49] http://The Black Friars and the Black Death: Effects of the Plague on Friars Preachers in Fourteenth-Century Northern Europe | Denmark and Europe in the Middle Ages, c.1000–1525 | Taylor & Francis Group[49] http://The Black Friars and the Black Death: Effects of the Plague on Friars Preachers in Fourteenth-Century Northern Europe | Denmark and Europe in the Middle Ages, c.1000–1525 | Taylor & Francis Group[50] http://Ashank D'souza's answer to When the Black Plague struck, why did people start to question the Church?[50] http://Ashank D'souza's answer to When the Black Plague struck, why did people start to question the Church?[50] http://Ashank D'souza's answer to When the Black Plague struck, why did people start to question the Church?[50] http://Ashank D'souza's answer to When the Black Plague struck, why did people start to question the Church?[51] The Western Humanities, Complete[51] The Western Humanities, Complete[51] The Western Humanities, Complete[51] The Western Humanities, Complete[52] Galileo Galilei - Wikipedia[52] Galileo Galilei - Wikipedia[52] Galileo Galilei - Wikipedia[52] Galileo Galilei - Wikipedia[53] Niccolò Machiavelli - Wikipedia[53] Niccolò Machiavelli - Wikipedia[53] Niccolò Machiavelli - Wikipedia[53] Niccolò Machiavelli - Wikipedia[54] Tomás de Torquemada | Spanish inquisitor[54] Tomás de Torquemada | Spanish inquisitor[54] Tomás de Torquemada | Spanish inquisitor[54] Tomás de Torquemada | Spanish inquisitor[55] Spanish Inquisition | Definition, History, & Facts[55] Spanish Inquisition | Definition, History, & Facts[55] Spanish Inquisition | Definition, History, & Facts[55] Spanish Inquisition | Definition, History, & Facts[56] In a nutshell: Spanish Inquisition[56] In a nutshell: Spanish Inquisition[56] In a nutshell: Spanish Inquisition[56] In a nutshell: Spanish Inquisition[57] Council of Trent - Wikipedia[57] Council of Trent - Wikipedia[57] Council of Trent - Wikipedia[57] Council of Trent - Wikipedia[58] The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000-1650[58] The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000-1650[58] The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000-1650[58] The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000-1650[59] http://John Hearsey McMillan Salmon. "The Wars of Religion". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc[59] http://John Hearsey McMillan Salmon. "The Wars of Religion". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc[59] http://John Hearsey McMillan Salmon. "The Wars of Religion". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc[59] http://John Hearsey McMillan Salmon. "The Wars of Religion". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc[60] http://Nolan, Cathal J. (2006). The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000-1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization, Volume 2. London: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 708–710. ISBN 9780313337345.[60] http://Nolan, Cathal J. (2006). The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000-1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization, Volume 2. London: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 708–710. ISBN 9780313337345.[60] http://Nolan, Cathal J. (2006). The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000-1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization, Volume 2. London: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 708–710. ISBN 9780313337345.[60] http://Nolan, Cathal J. (2006). The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000-1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization, Volume 2. London: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 708–710. 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