The World of Christendom

Religion and Its Impact in Third-Wave Civilizations

Christianity Today

• Global Christianity Today – 60% of the world’s Christians lived in Africa, Asia, or Latin America – Europe and North America largely outnumbered in relation to global Christianity

The Spread in the 6th and 7th Centuries

• 6th and 7th Centuries –Christianity enjoyed an Afro-Eurasian reach – Arabia, Egypt, North Africa, Ethiopia, Nubia, Syria, Armenia, Persia, India, China, and Europe

• over the next thousand years, however, Christianity witnessed drastic changes.• Why? What would be the leading factor in its global

decline?

• Spread of Islam throughout Asia and Africa, left Christianity to spread in Western Europe

Christianity’s Role

• Christianity was to western Eurasia, as Chinese Civilization and Buddhism did to East Asia, and Islam did to the Middle East and beyond

Orthodox V Catholicism

• Shape divide in the Christian world with the Byzantine Empire (Byzantium) – evolved a form of Christianity – Eastern Orthodox

• Western or Latin Christianity occupied what we call Western Europe today

• Fall of Western Roman Empire – collapse in 476 CE – weakening features = roads fell into disrepair, cities decayed, long-distance trade vanished.

• Rise of Roman Catholic faith in the west relied on the Pope – had political independence - Eastern Orthodox church did not

• Western Church rural, Byzantium = Constantinople

Hagia Sophia

Asian Christianity:

• - Arabia – Christianity didn’t last• - Muslim forces took control of Jerusalem in 638 – the Dome of

the Rock (687-691) – location sacred. To the Jews – the stone in which Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac to God, site of first two Jewish temples. To Christians, place where Jesus spread his teachings

• - Syria and Persia, majority of people voluntarily turned to Islam• -Other regions, Armenia, Syria, Jerusalem = Christians pay jizya• - Depended on the local Muslim rulers if Christians could

continue to practice or not.

Dome of the Rock

Nestorian Christianity

• - Nestorian Christian communities – Syria, Iraq, Persia = Church of the East – survived the assault of Islam – abandoned their art and religious paintings – didn’t want to offend Muslims

• - Nestorian Church took root in China under the Tang Dynasty – “Chinese-afying Christianity” = using Buddhist and Daoist concepts to translate the Christian message – book – Jesus Sutras, God = “cool wind,” Sin = “bad karma”

• - Mid ninth century, China turned against all religions of foreign origin…why?

Mongols and China

• -Mongol conquest of China led to a brief opportunity for Christianity – Mongols were tolerant of Nestorian Christians. Mongols appreciated Christians because they could eat meat and drink.

• Mongol rule ended in 1368 – with the rise of the Confucian Ming Dynasty suppressed all other religions

Egypt =

• Christianity was the dominant religion by the time of Muslim conquest around 640 – Egyptians continued to speak Coptic and practice their religion as dhimmis under tolerant Muslim rulers

• - By the 13th century relations changed – with threats from the Crusaders and the Mongols, Muslim rulers questioned anyone of Christian faith

• - Mid 14th Century – anti-Christian pogroms, destruction of churches – most rural Egyptians converted to Islam as a result – Arabic replaced Coptic. Some Christians remained, 10%

Nubia=

• in the 5th and 6th Centuries = introduced by Egyptian traders and missionaries – parts of the Bible were translated into Nubian language. Cathedral in the Nubian City of Faras. Kings served as priests, Christian Bishops held state offices.

• -Nubian armies defeated Arab invasions twice• -Nubian Christianity faced difficulties as Islamized

tribes pushed into Nubia. By 1500 Nubian Christianity had largely disappeared

Ethiopia

• – Axum rulers adopted Christianity in the 4th century. Ethiopia became a Christian inland = protected by the Red Sea and its Mountainous geography – distant from Islamic trade centers – Ethiopia not conducive to the spread of Islam

• -Ethiopian Queen – Sheba – visited Solomon – has his child, connect blood line to Jesus – gives legitimacy to the ruler of Ethiopia – descendent of Jesus

• -12th Century – linked 12 underground churches to create a New Jerusalem, since Jerusalem lay under the control of the Muslims

12 Underground Churches