Strayer 10 European Christendom

10/10/2019

Bingham

10/10/2019 11:31:14

Okay, let's give this a try tonight!

Sylvia Zhao

10/10/2019 15:11:10

MQ2: In what respects did Byzantium continue the patterns of the classical Roman empire? In what ways did it diverge from those patterns?
Continuance:
- Byzantium's roads, taxation system, military structures, centralized administration, imperial court, laws, & Christian organization
- continuation of long term struggle (Roman empire) with Persian empire
Divergence:
- diverged through a reformed administrative system which gave appointed generals civil authority in the empire's provinces & allowed them to raise armies from landowning peasants of the region
- new ideas in Caesaropapism (political system in which the head of state is also the head of church) defined the relationship between church and state

Francesca Abraham

10/10/2019 17:22:06

MQ2-
Continuance:
-same as above
-continued to refer to themselves as Romans
-clothing
Divergence:
-same as above
-the power over the centralized state over the lives of its people
-church and state were basically the same entity now

Sylvia Zhao

10/10/2019 15:30:30

MQ3: How did Eastern Orthodox Christianity differ from Roman Catholicism?
- Roman Catholic Church maintained a degree of independence from political authorities (Byzantium: the emperor assumed the role of both "Caesar" as head of state & pope as head of church)
- Nestorius argued that Mary had given birth only to the human Jesus which was seen as heretical to Roman Catholics
- Latin remained the language of the Church (Roman Catholics) but was abandoned by Eastern Orthodox in favor of Greek
- Eastern Orthodox thinkers sought to formulate Christian doctrine in terms of Greek philosophical concepts
- Disagreements about the nature of the Trinity, the source of the Holy Spirit, original sin, and relative importance of faith and reason gave rise to controversy
- Eastern Orthodox attempts to prohibit the use of icons
- Roman Catholic priests shaved and remained celibate, while Eastern Orthodox priests were allowed to grow long beards and marry
- Eastern Orthodox ritual called for using bread leavened with yeast in the Communion, but Catholics used unleavened bread
- Eastern Orthodox leaders sharply rejected the growing claims of Roman popes to be the sole & final authority for all Christians

Francesca Abraham

10/10/2019 17:28:54

MQ3:
I think you covered all the examples mentioned in the textbook, nice work.

Sylvia Zhao

10/10/2019 17:33:05

thanks for helping me!!! to everyone else: please add to the forum, we're struggling:)

Sylvia Zhao

10/10/2019 17:31:37

MQ4: In what ways was the Byzantine Empire linked to a wider world?
- Byzantium continued the long-term Roman struggle with the Persian empire, which weakened both states
- "Greek fire" was passed into Arab & Chinese arsenals
- Byzantium was a central player in the long-distance trade of Eurasia
- The bezant was a widely used currency in the Mediterranean basin (not too sure if this one would count ?)
- Luxurious products of Byzantine craftspeople were much in demand
- The empire preserved much of ancient Greek learning & transmitted this classical heritage to the Christian west
- Byzantine religious culture spread widely among Slavic-speaking peoples in the Balkans & Russia
- The alphabet was developed based on Greek letters, with which Slavic languages could be written
- Cyrillic script made it possible to translate the Bible & religious literature into these languages which greatly aided the process of conversion

Francesca Abraham

10/10/2019 17:46:27

mq4
-same as all above
-"The empire preserved much of ancient Greek learning & transmitted this classical heritage to the Christian west" <--- and to the Islamic world as well!!

Sylvia Zhao

10/10/2019 17:55:27

MQ5: How did the links to Byzantium transform the new civilization of Kievan Rus? (this one was surprisingly hard)
- Development of Rus was stimulated by trade, which linked Scandinavia & Byzantium
- Prince Vladimir married the sister of the Byzantine emperor and numerous Byzantine priests & advisers
- Vladimir was looking for a unifying religion that would link Rus into wider networks of communication & exchange and decided on Eastern Orthodoxy
- Borrowed Byzantine architectural styles, the Cyrillic alphabet, the extensive use of icons, a monastic tradition stressing prayer & service, and political ideals of imperial control of the church
- When Byzantine had fallen to the Turks, Russian church leaders proclaimed the doctrine of a "third Rome", which was Moscow, the final protector & defender of Orthodox Christianity

Sylvia Zhao

10/10/2019 17:57:52

*in my haste, i completely forgot to put "acquired" before the "numerous Byzantine priests & advisers", which made it seem like the sister was related to them all, my bad

Francesca Abraham

10/10/2019 17:55:49

MQ5: How did links to Byzantium transform the new civilization of Kievan Rus?
-The Eastern Orthodox Church separated Kievan Rus from the realm of Islam and the Roman Catholic west
-Byzantium's architectural style, Cyrillic script, icons, monastic tradition stressing prayer and service, and political ideals of imperial control of the Church
-Orthodoxy provided religious legitimacy for rulers and a unified identity for the civilization
-Kievan Rus' proclamation of a "third Rome" in Moscow after Byzantium fell in which it would be the final defender and protector of Eastern Orthodox Christianity

Sylvia Zhao

10/10/2019 18:03:24

Would Vladimir's decision to adopt Eastern Orthodoxy not count as a link to Byzantium? He decided on Eastern Orthodoxy in an effort to "unify the diverse peoples of his region", which also captured the imagination of Rus's envoys. Would that not count as a link to Byzantium that transformed the new civilization?

Francesca Abraham

10/10/2019 18:17:32

yes it would, I hadnt seen your comment because i was in the midst of writing my own. all the points i had not mentioned that were on your comment are also valid.

Francesca Abraham

10/10/2019 18:15:25

MQ1: What variations in the experience of African and Asian Christian communities can you identify?
(this was a toughie, some feedback would be appreciated)
- In Arabia and Jerusalem, Christians were overpowered by Islam
-In Syria and Persia, the conversion to Islam was voluntary due to the allure of the success of the Arab empire
-Christians and Christianity was often oppressed by Arab empire, leading to fewer rights (save for Syria, Jerusalem, Armenia and elsewhere who eventually negotiated with Muslim authorities for rights in return for a special tax)
-During the Mongol conquest of China, Nestorian Christianity was revived, the Mongols appreciated that the Christians could eat meat unlike the Muslims, drink alcohol, etc
-In North Africa, Christianity was virtually extinct
-Egypt maintained their Christianity under tolerant Muslim rulers until the crusaders and Mongols arrived to threaten the Muslim rule. Thus, Egyptians had to convert to Islam to reassure their political loyalty to the Muslim rulers
-Nubia was very Christian until Egypt and Islamized tribes became hostile
-Ethiopia remains very Christian to this day due to their geographic
barriers and distance from major Islamic centers protecting them from Islam's reach. Ethiopian Christianity became distinct in that it found Judaism and Jerusalem fascinating, which is reflected in their story of the Queen Sheba to King Solomon
-

Audrey Tollett

10/10/2019 18:53:59

Hello! First off, great job tacking this question so far.

To your point "In North Africa, Christianity was virtually extinct", I would clarify North-West Africa because depending on what you think of as North Africa you could be saying that Egypt had no Christianity which for a period of time was quite the contrary, as you describe in your next point.

Francesca Abraham

10/10/2019 18:22:19

MQ6: What replaced the Roman order in Western Europe?
(these answers are very loose, feel free to expand on them)
-the increase of germanic people living in western europe
-regional kingdoms= decentralization
-feudalism
-serfdom practices
-the Roman Catholic Church emerged

Alexander DeGreiner

10/10/2019 18:52:49

Things I thought about while answering this question,
-When Roman order collapsed, Germanic warlords replaced them politically. But most of the states maintained Roman features, like penalties for the justice system, and written Roman law.
-Some of the bigger German Kingdoms, sought to re-create something like the Roman Empire, although these tries were unsuccessful.
- Social systems between lords and warrior elites replaced the Roman social structure. Roman slavery led the path to serfdom (basically slaves), and the Roman Catholic Church's influence increased.

This basically touches on everything you said.

Audrey Tollett

10/10/2019 18:25:45

Do y'all think I could refer to feudalism as a socio-political system?

Francesca Abraham

10/10/2019 18:36:11

id stick to referring to it as feudalism on the test to make sure you get a point for mentioning it, if thats what youre asking. :)

Audrey Tollett

10/10/2019 19:03:34

Oh haha I meant more like, I know it would be considered a political system but I'm confused as to whether it would be considered a social system or not.

Alexander DeGreiner

10/10/2019 19:07:38

Yes, it created a definite social hierarchy, and therefore would be considered a social system.

Sylvia Zhao

10/10/2019 18:45:41

MQ6: What replaced the Roman order in Western Europe? (i most likely didn't cover everything, feel free to add on)
- Germanic peoples now emerged as the dominant peoples of Western Europe, which in turn shifted Europe's center of gravity away from the Mediterranean toward the north & west
- A series of regional kingdoms arose to replace Roman authority
- Larger (but short lived) Germanic kingdoms aspired to re-create Roman unity, so they erected an embryonic imperial bureaucracy, standardized weights & measures, and began to act like an imperial ruler (unsuccessful)
- A social hierarchy in the West was developed based on reciprocal ties between superior & subordinate
- Roman slavery gave way to serfdom
- Roman Catholic Church took over political, administrative, educational, & welfare functions
- Latin remained the language of the Church even as it gave way to vernacular languages in common speech
- Church authorities exercised political influence reinforced each other, strengthened prominence of church in the West

Alexander DeGreiner

10/10/2019 19:04:07

In what ways was European civilization changing after 1000?

Some things I thought about while answering this:

- Europe's population grew very fast. European towns grew and attracted lords and religious groups, that in turn introduced a new division of labor in European society. New lands opened, and therefore could be cultivated upon. Long distance trade was revived and expanded.
- Women found more opportunities because of this new growth. However, by the 15th century these opportunities were declining. Territorial states grew in this time, and put together a more effective government by commanding the loyalty of their subjects. The Roman Catholic Church also expanded into areas where the Roman Catholic Church was practiced.

Sylvia Zhao

10/10/2019 19:21:16

MQ8: What was the impact of the Crusades in world history?
- Spain, Sicily, & Baltic region were brought permanently into the world of Western Christendom
- Declining Byzantine was further weakened by Crusader sacking of Constantinople and left even more vulnerable to Muslim Turkish conquest
- Popes strengthened their position against secular authorities
- Europeans came into contact with the Islamic world, which later stimulated a demand for Asian goods
- Europeans learned techniques for producing sugar on large plantations using slave labor
- Muslim scholarship flowed into Europe
- Crusades opened channels of trade, technology transfer, & intellectual exchange
- Hardened cultural barriers between people
- Rift between Eastern Orthodoxy & Roman Catholicism deepened further and remains a fundamental divide in Christian world
- Christian anti-Semitism was both expressed & exacerbated as Crusaders on their way to Jerusalem found time to massacre Jews
- European empire building continued into the crusading notion that "God wills it"
- Proved politically popular or ideologically useful

Alexander DeGreiner

10/10/2019 19:38:42

I'll try to tackle some of the big picture questions, so here they are:

BPQ1- What accounts for the different historical trajectories of the Byzantine and West European expressions of Christendom?

-The survival of a powerful imperial state in the Byzantine Empire resulted in greater state control over the Orthodox Church. Cultural differences also played a role. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Greek became the language of religious practice instead of the Latin used in the Roman Catholic Church. More so than in the west, Byzantine thinkers sought to formulate Christian doctrine in terms of Greek Philosophical concepts.

-The Eastern Orthodox faith expanded into Eastern Europe when the Byzantine Empire was at its height, but it was driven from other religions, particularly in North Africa and the Near East, by the expansion of Islam. After 1000, the Roman Catholic tradition became the more expansive of the two expressions, as its influence spread into Islamic Spain, non-Christian northern Europe, and Orthodox Eastern Europe.

Caeleigh Alexander

10/10/2019 22:02:56

- The Byzantine Empire stemmed from the Roman Empire's collapse just as Western European states did, but, unlike the west, the Byzantine Empire continued to practice classical roman society.
- The Byzantine Empire made sure not to let "barbaric" tribes influence it's broken communities, while the western european states exchanged and altered roman traditions to fit into local beliefs.
- (already mentioned, but) Byzantine focus on caesaropapism, western focus on the Roman Catholic Church and the state as separate.

Sylvia Zhao

10/10/2019 19:52:14

MQ10: Why was Europe unable to achieve the kind of political unity that China experienced? What impact did this have on the subsequent history of Europe?
- Geographic barriers, ethnic + linguistic diversity, & the shifting balances of power among its many states prevented emergence of a single European empire
- Multicentered political system gave rise to frequent wars, enhanced the role & status of military men, and drove the "gunpowder revolution"
- Intense interstate rivalry, combined with a willingness to borrow, also stimulated European technological development
- Capital, labor, & goods found their way around political barriers
- Roman Catholic Church in the West maintained a degree of independence from state authority that served to check the power of kings/lords (separation of church & state)
- High-ranking nobles, acting through formal councils, had the right to advise their rulers and to approve new taxes
- Relative weakness of Europe's rulers allowed urban merchants more leeway and paved the way to a more thorough development of capitalism in later centuries
- Also led to the development of representative institutions or parliaments
- Embryonic parliaments did not represent the "people" or the "nation" but instead embodied the clergy, landowning nobility, & urban merchants

Caeleigh Alexander

10/10/2019 21:42:54

just +1 (kind of addressed in the development of representative institutions comment)

- Due to the lack of a centralized rule, some cities were able to exercise their freedoms and enforce their own laws. This freedom, that the constant shifting of power in Europe provided, is what contrasted so heavily to China's enforced strict laws that were barely governed by the people.
- However, because European states didn't have an enforced law overseeing all of Europe, they didn't expand economically to the extent that China did.

Sylvia Zhao

10/10/2019 20:09:30

MQ11: In what ways did Classical Greek philosophy & science have an impact in the West, in Byzantium, and in the Islamic world? (much easier compared to other q's)
Western Europe:
- Intellectual life in Europe changed dramatically
- European intellectuals applied new confidence in human reason to law, medicine, world of nature, astronomy, alchemy, etc
- Aristotle's writings became basis for university education & largely dominated the thought of Western Europe
- Aristotle's ideas were integrated into a logical & systematic presentation of Christian doctrine
- Growing emphasis on human rationality was one of the foundations of the Scientific Revolution and the secularization of European intellectual life
Byzantium:
- Byzantine scholars kept the classical tradition alive
- Primary interest lay in humanities & theology rather than in natural sciences or medicine
Islamic world:
- Greek thought was embraced "with far more enthusiasm and creativity" than in Byzantium
- Flowering of Arab scholarship, especially in sciences and natural philosophy
- Stimulated a debate about faith and reason among Muslim thinkers

Sylvia Zhao

10/10/2019 20:19:02

I'm realizing that the first point in the Islamic world section doesn't actually answer the question so please disregard it!

Jackie Hickman

11/10/2019 00:17:55

BPQ 2: How did Byzantium and Western Europe interact with each other and with the larger world of the third-wave era?

Each other:
- The Romans disagreed with Byzantium about several religious matters (listed in MQ4) and during the crusades, the Romans ransacked Byzantium towns and even seized Constantinople and ruled Byzantium for half of a century in 1204.
- After, in 1300, Italian cities participated in long-distance trading with the world of Islam and Byzantium (things like silk, spices, drugs and precious stones).
- As Western Europe became more interested in Greek rationalism, they sought to find original Greek texts and found them in Byzantium.
Byzantium spread greek learning to the Western Europe.

Byzantium with the world:
(this is already stated in the MQ4 answer Sylvia provided earlier)
- Byzantium continued the long-term Roman struggle with the Persian empire, which weakened both states
- "Greek fire" was passed into Arab & Chinese arsenals
- Byzantium was a central player in the long-distance trade of Eurasia
- The bezant was a widely used currency in the Mediterranean basin
- Luxurious products of Byzantine craftspeople were much in demand
- Byzantine religious culture spread widely among Slavic-speaking peoples in the Balkans & Russia
- The alphabet was developed based on Greek letters, with which Slavic languages could be written
- Cyrillic script made it possible to translate the Bible & religious literature into these languages which greatly aided the process of conversion of people in Balkans and Russia.

Western Europe with the world:
- After 1000, Europe started participating in a lot more long-distance trading like England trading with the Baltic coast and Italian Cities trading with Byzantium and The Islamic World.
- While Western economies grew, they came into contact with India, China and Mongolia through Eurasian commercial networks.
- And of course, the crusades caused Western Europe to interact quite a bit with the Islamic Middle East, the Iberian Peninsula, lands along the Baltic Sea, the Byzantine Empire and Russia.

Strayer 10 European Christendom

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