Discovering the humanities 3rd by henry m sayre 2016 chapter 04

Discovering the Humanities
THIRD EDITION

CHAPTER

4

The Flowering of
Religion: Faith and
the Power of Belief in
the Early First
Millennium
Discovering the Humanities, Third Edition
Henry M. Sayre

Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010
by Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates
All Rights Reserved


Learning Objectives
1. Examine the impact of Roman rule on
Judaic culture.
2. Discuss the development of
Christianity from its Jewish roots to its
rapid spread through the Roman world.


Learning Objectives
3. Describe the new Byzantine style of art
and discuss how it reflects the values

of the Byzantine emperors, especially
Justinian.
4. Outline the principal tenets of the
Muslim faith, and account for its rapid
spread.
5. Characterize the spread of Buddhism
from India north into China.


Closer Look: Dome of the Rock

The Dome of the Rock. Jerusalem. Late 680s–691.
A.F. Kersting/akg-images. [Fig. 4.1]


The Flowering of Religion
• The ambulatory (a circular,
colonnaded walkway) of the Dome of
the Rock is one of the earliest examples
of Muslim architecture.
 The sanctity of this spot at the heart of
Jerusalem is recognized equally by the
three great faiths of the Western world—
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.


The Spread of Christianity by 600
[Fig. Map 4.1]

CE.

Developments in Judaic Culture
• The Jewish religion had become
increasingly messianic.
• A large number of people had
proclaimed to be the Messiah.
• The apocalypse is the Christian
understanding of the coming of God (or
the Messiah, as in Judaism) on the day
of judgment.
• Sectarianism of Judaism grew.


The expansion of Islam to 850
[Fig. Map 4.2]

CE.


Model of the Second Temple of Jerusalem. ca. 20
Erich Lessing/akg-images. [Fig. 4.2]

BCE.


Developments in Judaic Culture
• A sect is a small, organized group that
separates itself from the larger religious
movement because it asserts that it

alone understands God's will and
therefore it alone embodies the ideals
of the religion.


Developments in Judaic Culture
• Three philosophical sects
 Pharisees
 Sadducees
 Essenes

• Purity laws were a special point of
contention.
• Rome became increasingly less tolerant
of the Jewish faith.


The Rise of Christianity
• Although Jesus's teachings were
steeped in the wisdom of the Jewish
tradition, they antagonized both Jewish
and Roman leaders.
• The promise of resurrection, already a
fundamental tenet of the Pharisee and
Essene sects, became the foundation of
Christian faith after Jesus's crucifixion in
30 CE.


Cutaway drawing of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, showing the site of

Christ's Tomb.
Gary Cross © Dorling Kindersley. [Fig. 4.3]


The Evangelists
• After Jesus' death, his evangelists
("bearer of good") spread the word of
his life and death, followed by his
apostles ("those who have been sent"
by God as his witnesses).


The Evangelists
• The earliest writings of the new
Christian faith are Paul's epistles, or
letters.
• Shortly after Paul's death, Christianity
spread rapidly through Asia Minor and
Greece.


Symbols and Iconography in
Christian Thinking and Art
• Christians believed that the stories in
the Hebrew Scriptures prefigured the
life of Jesus.
• Christians interpreted events from the
Old Testament as prefiguring events in
the New Testament.
• Typology ("example"): Solomon, in his

wisdom, is a type for Christ.


Symbols and Iconography in
Christian Thinking and Art
• Based on the few early Christian
artworks, the symbolic significance of a
scene or figure was of utmost
importance.
• Over the years, Christians developed a
consistent iconography, the literal
(factual) and figurative (symbolic)
significance of images.


Document: Discourse to
the Greeks Concerning
Hades by Flavius Josephus

Video: Students on Site:
The Good Shepherd

The Good Shepherd. ca. 300 CE.
Marble. Height 39".
Vatican Museums, Vatican State. © Photo Scala, Florence. [Fig.
4.4]


Traditional Christian Symbols.
[Fig. 4.5]

Christian Rome
• Diocletian, Constantine's predecessor,
persecuted the Christians (303–311).
• Roman authority was cemented through
a four-part monarchy known as a
tetrarchy.


Christian Rome
• Constantine tolerated Christianity and
eventually converted to Christianity.
• By the fourth century CE, Roman art
abandoned naturalism and instead
focused on representing the symbolic
function in a more abstract style.


The Nicene Creed
• Constantine convened the first
ecumenical (worldwide) council of
Church leaders at Nicea in 325.
• The ecumenical (worldwide) council
produced the first Nicene Creed.
 This document unified the Church
behind a prescribed doctrine, or dogma,
creating an orthodox faith.

The Nicene Creed
• The Church's liturgy, the rites
prescribed for public worship, was
established when Constantine was
provided with administrative
organization through the Church.
• Transcribed in to Latin, the Vulgate,
meaning "common" or "popular," was
the official Bible of the Roman Catholic
Church.


Music in the Liturgy
• Iambic tetrameter, four sets of feet
with short-long emphasis, was used in
four hymns written by Ambrose.
• Ambrose also seems to have introduced
an antiphonal method of chanting,
where one side of the choir responds to
the other.


Roman and Greek Influences on
Christian Churches and Rituals
• Constantine built the first Christian
church in Rome modeled on the Roman
basilicas: Old St. Peter's (ca. 320–327).
• The church proper consisted of a
narthex, or entrance hall, and a nave,
with two aisles on each side.

• At the eastern end was an apse,
housing the altar framed by a giant
triumphal arch.