Here’s the Church, Here’s the Steeple: Peeking into the Christian Church

“When did we stop giving an ‘amen’ and start giving the ‘wave’?”

 

In this part...

Although the Church is nicknamed the “Body of Christ,” it’s made up of a bunch of imperfect people. Given the wide spectrum of tradition and doctrine across the Christian Church, many big differences – and occasional loud arguments – have surfaced since the very beginning of Christianity.

 

In the chapters that follow, I show you key highlights of Church history from its humble origins in a stable to 21st-century megachurches. You then go on a whirlwind tour through the major branches of the Church today, including Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Churches, exploring their beliefs and worship traditions. You also consider how modern society has impacted the Church and look at changes that have developed over the past century.

 

Tradition, Tradition: The Catholic and Orthodox Churches

In This Chapter

Discovering how the Christian Church emerged from its Jewish roots

Seeing the split between the Eastern and Western Churches

Knowing the uniqueness of the Catholic Church

Understanding what’s distinct about the Orthodox Church

 

In the well-known musical Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye is a Russian peasant in pre-revolutionary Russia who belts out the memorable song “Tradition,” emphasizing the importance of tradition as a guide for his family’s life. Although tradition means something far different for them, Catholic and Orthodox Christians may as easily join alongside Tevye and sing the same tune. That’s because tradition is all-important to Catholicism and Orthodoxy; it’s a defining characteristic of these two parts of the Christian Church. In fact, they hold tradition so dearly that they place it on the same lofty plane as the Bible in terms of divine authority.

 

In this chapter, you explore the Catholic and Orthodox Churches and discover how tradition plays out in their beliefs. You also find out what’s unique about Catholics and unique about Orthodox Christians and how they distinguish themselves from each other and others within the Christian faith.

 

Transferring from a Nation to a Church

During Old Testament times, Judaism was something like a state religion – it was a religion of the Jews, and for the Jews. Occasionally, non-Jewish people converted to the faith, but the vast majority of worshipers of the One True God, whom they called “Yahweh,” were born and bred Hebrews. The Old Testament itself backs up this Jewish orientation with its emphasis on Israel’s history, on prophecy directly related to the nation of Israel, and on talk of a coming Jewish messiah to save the nation. Yet, in spite of the priority it places on “God’s chosen people,” the Old Testament provides hints that God’s future plans involved reaching out to the Gentiles (non-Jews), as well.

 

Although Jesus died for the sins of both Jews and Gentiles, his ministry focused primarily on the Jews. Jesus made it clear that he came first for the Jews, then for the Gentiles. He wasn’t saying that the Jews deserved salvation more than the Gentiles. Instead, God, in his mercy, gave his chosen people the first focus, so that they could branch and share the news of the coming Messiah. Quite naturally, then, all the twelve disciples that he selected were Jewish, and their early activities concentrated on getting Jews to believe in Jesus as the fulfilment of Jewish prophecy. During these early years, the Christian Church was still centered geographically in Jerusalem and had almost exclusively Jewish leadership. So it probably doesn’t surprise you to hear that Romans saw the Christian faith as an offshoot version of Judaism. And, in reality, that’s exactly what Christianity was – a branching of Judaism; the first Christians were Jews who saw Jesus as the fulfilment of their faith, while the rest of the Jews rejected Jesus as Messiah and maintained their Jewish faith.

 

The close connection between the two faiths began to change, however, around A.D. 70. In what’s known as the Fall of Jerusalem, Rome cracked down on Jewish rebels who were trying to throw the Romans out of the Holy Land and, in the process, burnt the entire city of Jerusalem to the ground. Not only did this event cause major changes in Jewish religious life, but it also impacted the Christian Church. Because Jerusalem could no longer be the Church’s home base, the Body of Christ began spreading throughout the Mediterranean region in Italy and parts of Asia Minor. Gentile leadership became increasingly important as Christianity stretched out geographically and increased in size during this time. As a result, even by the early second century, Christianity took on its own distinct identity apart from Judaism.