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THE 1000C Assignment Sheet 4 - Noll Reading
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THE 1000C CLASS # 4 |

encountering christianity assignment sheet 4


I.        ask

Age 4: Middle Ages (AD 800 - 1500): Culmination of Christendom & Division between East and West

What is the importance of the coronation of Charlemagne by the Pope for the history of Christianity?

What is the meaning of the Great Schism (AD 1054) for understanding Christianity in the Middles Ages and also for understanding it today?

II.         read

III.         answer

Noll, Turning Points, Chapter 5, Culmination of Christendom - Coronation of Charlemagne (AD 800)

1) What are the significant events that had a key role in strengthening the role of the papacy?

2) Was it the historical events of their day or the personalities of the early popes that most increased their influence and power?

3) what caused the bishop of rome, as opposed to the ones in Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, or others key cities, to gain such influence? What events might have ended differently if the seat of ecclesiastical power had been in the East?

4) What characteristics of the influential popes like Leo and Gregory brought the most positive good to the life of the church?

5) What ways did the spread of islam change the growth and character of the church in the seventh and eighth centuries?

6) What is “Christendom”? How did it shape medieval Europe’s outlook on everyday life including politics, social conduct, and economic conduct, and how they related to the church?

7) Sacramental theology evolved throughout the Middle Ages. What was at the core of this way of thinking? How does a sacramental perspective on the Christian faith help a believer follow God better?

8) Christendom created a delicate balance of power between the church and the state. What ways could that power be abused by either side?

9) What sources do we have for discerning the life of the church in the Middle Ages? How do our sources limit what we know? what gaps are there?

Noll, Turning Points, Chapter 6, Division between East and West - The Great Schism (AD 1054)

10) What role did church corruption play in provoking the final split between East and West?

11) How did the complex interplay of church and state, which was typical within that period’s understanding of Christendom, encourage the Great Schism?

12) What were the characteristics of the church in the West? Why is Tertullian a worthwhile representative of it?

13) What were the characteristics of the church in the East? What are some of the distinctive theological concepts that differed from the West’s?

14) What theological issues played a role in the schism? Was it the theological issue or the political / cultural issues behind it that escalated this issue?

15) What were the forces outside the church that encouraged the rift between the East and West?

16) How did the Crusades contribute to dooming the future of reunification between East and West?

17) What are the distinctive characteristics of the Christian faith as it developed in Orthodox Russia?  

18) How is modern Orthodoxy similar to the Eastern church of the eleventh century? How is it different?