HIS 101 WEEK 6: CHRISTIANITY
Reading Assignment for the week:
- Read the appropriate chapter in the
textbook (chapter 8 in the 7th or 6th ed. of Perry).
- Read the Sermon
on the Mount (You may wish to participate in an
Online Discussion of this reading.).
-
Listen to some further information about Christianity
as a Realaudio file
or as a wav file. You can also read the information as
a txt file.
Questions to
Consider while studying this week's material:
- What was the role of Saint
Paul of Tarsus in shaping the early Christian church?
- How did the relationship
change between Christianity and the Roman empire by 500 ce?
Key Terms to study
while reading the textbook:
- Jesus of Nazareth
- Saint Paul of Tarsus
- Monasticism
- Saint Benedict of Nursia
Suggested Websites for further study:
- Early Christian Writings: All of Early Christianity
(New Testament, Apocrypha, Gnostics and Fathers). This is an excellent resource for studying
the history of the early Christian church.
- For extra credit please suggest to your instructor a
relevant website for this unit of the course. Send the title of the site, the url and a
brief explanation why you find the information interesting and applicable to
the material being studied this week.
Submit the Christianity Paragraph:
Read the Sermon
on the Mount (along with the document background notes
and the questions to consider).
Answer the following
question in a paragraph: Did the "Sermon" describe an ethical
religion?
Your paragraph should be about
one-half page in length, double-spaced with one-inch margins, font size 10 or 12; it should
contain a concise topic sentence that directly responds to the assigned
question (no need to define terms or cite a dictionary) and use
direct, quoted material to support your points. Do not spend time repeating
what happened in the document; spend your time providing analysis to
answer the assigned question.
This assignment should be sent by e-mail according to the Electronic Submission
Information instructions.
Please remember to consult
Charlie's History Writing Center for
specific information on the writing requirements of this course.
You may also wish to post or respond in the
Blackboard online discussion forum
for this assignment. Please review the instructions for
Using the Blackboard
Discussion Forums, if necessary.
The Christianity Paragraph is worth a maximum of
25 points.
Notes:
As the fortunes of political Rome declined,
the fortunes of Christianity, one might say "spiritual Rome," rose. Over
the course of the first five centuries of the new era,
the newly-developing Christian church gradually assumed
responsibility for the political activities
of the Roman government, thus ensuring a lasting legacy for the Roman empire. The church assumed
duties ranging from minor, such as recording legal documents like births, to major, for example,
arranging the military defense of cities and towns. Over time, Christianity
evolved from an extremely small, obscure Near Eastern sect to become one of the world's
major religions.
When studying the origins of Christianity,
it is very important to remember that Jesus was born into and grew up with
the Jewish faith. During his ministry, he repeatedly averred that he had
come not to destroy the law but to fulfill it, thus linking himself with
the earlier prophets who had also embarked on a reform mission, stressing
the ethical responsibilities of the religion. The prophets had urged people
to do more than just perform rituals and uphold the letter of the law. Instead,
they maintained that people should be guided by the spirit of
the law. For example, according to Jesus, it was not enough simply not
to kill someone. What was required was the complete absence of anger.
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