By Rev. Patricia Buben
According to the course, Judaism gave us the most perfect system of moral philosophy in existence. The Jews saw sin as a violation coming from an impure heart that resulted in external sinful actions. Salvation was viewed as being only from God, and not in human ethical works or subjective mystery cults.
Because of the location of Rome, at Christianity's birth and in the first three centuries of its existence, conditions were more favorable for the spread of the Christian gospel throughout the Mediterranean world than at any other time in previous eras. Of all the religions and cults practiced in the Roman Empire at the time of Christ's birth, only Judaism and Christianity have been able to successfully survive the changing course of world history and still be a major influence today.
The life, death and resurrection of Christ began the era of Christianity. Unlike other traditions, Christ cannot be separated from Christianity. Christ did not leave a structure—just the apostles and the Holy Spirit from which the apostles were instructed. The entirety of the church structure came from the apostles with the Holy Spirit working through them and continues to this day.
The members of the original Christian church were Jewish. It wasn't until the apostle Paul went out to "all corners of the earth" that the Gentiles were invited to hear the gospel message. This work is still not complete and is the continuing goal of the Christian church. Although there was splintering of the church, it forced the creation of a canon, organizing the content of the doctrine and eliminating heresies created by those who wanted to wield authority. All of these challenges served to strengthen, not weaken, the church.
Over the years, many errors entered into the church as a result of pagan influence, scholarly debates and other doctrines brought into the church by St. Augustine and others. The Protestant Reformation was an attempt at bringing the church back to the purity of salvation by grace through faith alone.
It is interesting that the dogmas and doctrines that have further "defined" Christianity were mainly a result of specific people's interpretations (personal opinions). I always thought they were inspired by God, like the Bible. This course gave a great overview of the historical events of Christianity giving timelines and putting everything into sequence—including how doctrines were formed, and who was involved in making these decisions. It's interesting because these doctrines have always been communicated as fact, not the result of consensus or opinion of the church fathers.
Putting all of this information into the right context can be a challenge because of differing opinions and rhetoric. This course was very objective in its presentation and outlined the facts. Therefore, one gets a good sense of how Christianity developed and why it is still viable today.
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