How Did Catholicism Start?

the almost 2 000 year old catholic church is one of the oldest institutions in the world the catholic tradition considers itself a continuation not a branch or successor to early christianity still some non-catholic theologians and historians dispute this claim for the sake of this video we shall start at the perceived beginning of catholicism by its followers which lay with its messiah jesus christ we shall also explore the beginning of the roman catholic church which many non-catholic sects of christianity claim to be the foundation of catholicism according to saint john jesus christ is the eternal son of the father because his nature is divine and his purpose is the preservation of the world but the son of god also has a human nature in which he is simply jesus of nazareth as such his purpose is to symbolize the religious growth of humanity thus jesus has a dual nature a divine one and a human one when unified in one person these natures create the perfect man the ideal of virtue and piety jesus christ was born in bethlehem in judea sometime between 6 and 4 bce it is widely believed that he was born during the reign of the first roman emperor caesar augustus we know little to nothing about the childhood of jesus christ but there are apocryphal gospels that try to fill the void jesus started his public mission around the age of 30 and was inaugurated as the messiah by baptism performed by john the baptist but his public work lasted for only about three years the most profound meaning of the history of the christian religion and subsequently catholicism is condensed in these three years jesus was a jew and he was introduced to jewish teachings his teachings never left the sphere of jewish beliefs but he expanded on them and gave them a new meaning he chose 12 apostles also jews and 70 sometimes 72 gentile disciples gentiles do not practice the jewish faith they were all common people illiterate fishermen and field workers he did not choose scholars and leaders nor did he preach to mainly wealthy and powerful individuals his world revolved around the low-born of sinners thieves and betrayers he traveled to palestine in the towns and villages north of the sea of galilee teaching with power and authority that gave him the people's unconditional obedience and love he had no previous training on how to teach and he had to rely on his intuition and experience to shape the minds of his disciples the culmination of christ's mission came with his entrance into the city of jerusalem by this time he had already had a reputation for being a political and religious agitator especially among the romans much of what we know about jesus in his life comes from the gospels written by the four evangelists mark matthew luke and john the main goal of the gospels was not to record a biographical and historically accurate account of jesus's life but to persuade readers of his divine nature the gospels were written some 40 years some even say 70 years after the death of jesus christ their authors never claimed to know the life of their messiah they simply wrote down what remained in the collective memory of the christian communities it is this collective memory that lived on to form the catholic church the christian faith began with the act of resurrection before that jesus was regarded as the messiah of an already existing faith judaism but early christianity wasn't anything like we know it in the modern day it was still just a branch of judaism and his followers were members of an apocalyptic messianic jewish sect resurrection was not a new concept in judaism as early christians did not see themselves as followers of a different faith they only thought that jesus's resurrection gave a new meaning and clarity to their religious sentiment it is essential to understand that at this point christianity was still not a religion on its own it was a sect within judaism therefore the apostles didn't spread a new faith but rather a new thought within the already existing one the apostles and their followers remained faithful to the temple and judaic law but not all jewish leaders welcomed this new sect and the belief that jesus was the promised messiah the spread of christianity was not an explosive event instead it occurred gradually at first it came to the jewish communities around the mediterranean sea as they began fearing persecution in jerusalem the apostles spread their faith in other countries when the first christians reached antioch in ancient greek city in modern day turkey the spread of the church exploded and changed the history of the world this was one of the first places where the gentiles were baptized and the faith spread out of the closed jewish communities paul is regarded as the most important individual of the apostolic age the new testament has 27 books of which paul authored 14. these are known as the pauline epistles some of these were most likely written by his students in his name but at least seven of them have been authenticated as being paul's work to appeal to the non-jews paul stripped the gospels of all jewish characteristics and made them more attractive to everyone paul saw christianity as a liberation from the strict laws of the jewish faith and he believed that it was enough to have faith in jesus to receive salvation around 50 ce the council of jerusalem was summoned the main goal was to resolve the issue of the gentiles once and for all surprisingly peter spoke positively about the gentiles expressing his belief that both jews and non-jews were granted salvation through the grace of jesus peter is an important figure in the christian faith jesus granted him preeminence so he is seen as the bedrock of the catholic institution in fact the bishop of rome also known as the pope is considered the apostolic successor to peter the council of jerusalem decided to allow the gentiles exemption from some jewish laws but not others many traditionalists were content but some refuted the decision the roman tribune arrested paul thus saving his life from conservative jews saint paul appealed to emperor nero to transfer him to rome pagan rome could not allow the spread of a new uniform version of judaism they perceived it as a threat not only to their religious values but to the status quo as well paul was eventually sentenced to death in rome and was beheaded however christianity had continued to spread and by the end of the first century it was a well-established faith as for the exact date of the catholic faith that remains a matter of some dispute according to the catholic tradition the catholic church was established exactly 50 days after the crucifixion on pentecost for the first 60 or so years it was referred to as the way but by the beginning of the second century the word catholic started finding its way into the zeitgeist one of the earliest usages of the word comes from a letter written by saint ignatius in 108 so they consider the apostolic age a purview of the catholic church some historians suggest otherwise claiming that constantine founded the catholic church this school of thought believes that there is no clear lineage from the apostles to the pope and that the problem of the great apostasy which was emphasized in the lutheran reformation was present even during the first and second centuries furthermore the first official catholic church was the roman catholic church founded in the 4th century the spread of christianity among pagans though it was persecuted during the previous three centuries was quite the phenomena there are different theories as to what contributed to this spread a popular claim is that its disregard for the status quo made it famous in other words christianity owes its success to the love it preached the christians devoted themselves not only to the rich but also to the workers slaves sinners prisoners soldiers travelers orphans widows and anyone in peril in need christianity had a morally higher ground but it did not boast about it it was a religion of peace and love many converted pagans among them philosophers tatian and justin admitted that they were attracted to christianity because of its morals while there was a hierarchy of the missionaries apostles and other officials of the christian church it had become a well-defined system by the second century with authorities such as bishops priests and deacons this organization came in the form of the monarchical episcopate shortly after the first epistle of clement the church built its structure on three doctrines the bishops who were the apostles direct successors the canonical scripture and the authoritative creed over the years the church of rome had raised itself above the other churches because it claimed to be the seed of saints paul and peter it became even more powerful when christianity was adopted by the roman emperors especially constantine in 313 he met with lycinius who ruled part of the empire and pressured him into agreeing on complete religious tolerance the edict of milan which allowed christians to be free and retrieve all of their property and preach their religion as they saw fit was a major milestone gradually constantine started suppressing paganism in his early days he still acted as the supreme pontiff of the pagan religion and he paid homage to the sun god but later he started publicly displaying christian symbols and imposing various restrictions on pagan ceremonies and rituals according to tradition he converted to christianity in 312. constancy's genuine acceptance of christians would only come once he began identifying the state's interests as being the same as the church's interests he hoped to achieve the unity of the state and the church and it would use his imperial power to meddle in religious affairs in 324 constantine became the sole ruler of the entire empire in 325 the emperor gathered more than 200 of the empire's bishops in the first general ecumenical council known as the first council of nicaea he took a personal interest in the debate and even joined the council on a few occasions but it seemed that the matter wouldn't be easily settled and it continued to bring disunity in the church until the death of constantine in 337 the answer to when did catholicism start will be different depending on who you ask some will point to constantine's unification of the state in the church while others draw a papal lineage from peter and the church fathers there is no simple answer and it is a multifaceted question that people have argued about for centuries just like any other religion there is no absolute common ground the catholics believe their church was founded by none other than jesus christ and they draw their spirit from the ancient period and the tradition of the early centuries the popes felt it was their duty to preserve the purity of the faith the only way they knew how to do that was by preserving the old doctrines dogmas and traditions others claim that catholicism as a branch may have emerged anywhere between the first and fourth centuries but that it did not derive from the messiah himself to learn more about how catholicism started check out our book catholic history a captivating guide to the history of the catholic church starting with the teachings of jesus christ through the roman empire and middle ages to the present it's available as an e-book paperback and audiobook also grab your free mythology bundle ebook while it's still available all links are in the description if you enjoyed the video please hit the like button and subscribe for more videos like this

Channel: Captivating History

Views: 2,411,744

Keywords: Catholic church, Catholicism, Beginning of Catholicism, Catholic religion, Catholicism vs Christianity, Catholic tradition, Catholic followers, Catholic old testament, Messiah, Jesus Christ, Roman Catholic Church, non-Catholic, Christianity vs catholicism, Jesus of Nazareth, Bethlehem in Judea, baptism, Catholic Baptism, Christian religion, Jewish teachings, Jewish beliefs, twelve apostles, Jewish faith, Palestine, Sea of Galilee, Christ’s mission, city of Jerusalem

Id: OY3ZrNV6Xyg

Length: 11min 51sec (711 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 28 2022