Cambridge Camden Society
The Cambridge Camden Society, known from 1845 as the Ecclesiological Society, was a learned architectural society founded in 1839 by undergraduate students at Cambridge University to promote "the study of Gothic Architecture, of Ecclesiastical Antiques." Its activities would come to include publishing a monthly journal, The Ecclesiologist, advising church builders on their blueprints, advocating a return to a medieval style of church architecture in England. At its peak influence in the 1840s, the society counted over 700 members in its ranks, including bishops of the Church of England, deans at Cambridge University, Members of Parliament; the society and its publications enjoyed wide influence over the design of English churches throughout the 19th century, are known as the ecclesiological movement. During its twenty-year span, the Cambridge Camden Society and its journal influenced every aspect of the Anglican Church and single-handedly reinvented the architectural design of the parish church.
The group was responsible for launching some of the first earnest investigations of medieval church design and through its publications invented and shaped the "science" of ecclesiology. Throughout its lifetime, all of the Society's actions had one goal: to return the Church and churches of England to the religious splendour it saw in the Middle Ages; as well as aesthetic arguments, a number of theological arguments for the unique appropriateness of the Gothic to church buildings were promoted. The Cambridge Camden Society held tremendous influence in the architectural and ecclesiastical worlds because of the success of this argument: that the corruption and ugliness of the 19th century could be escaped by the earnest attempt to recapture the piety and beauty of the Middle Ages; the society took its original name from historian William Camden. It was re-established as the St Paul's Ecclesiological Society in 1879; that society reverted to the old name, the Ecclesiological Society, in 1937. The society's "ecclesiology" was an idea about both architecture and worship, inspired by the associationism of the Gothic revival and reform movements within the Anglican Church.
Beginning as far back as Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill, Gothic architecture was used to associate a building with certain attractive aspects of the Middle Ages. For the early revivalists, this attractiveness was the picturesque quality of the architecture. However, the Middle Ages had always had a strong association with religious piety; the Anglican Church of the early 19th century was a languishing body, filled with corruption among the clergy and a lack of respect among the parishioners. When, in 1833 John Henry Newman began the Oxford Movement, or Tractarianism, a renewal of theology, ecclesiology and liturgical practices within the Anglican Church, all of the pieces were in place for the inception of the Cambridge Camden Society, its founders, John Mason Neale, Alexander Hope, Benjamin Webb, formed the society with the belief that by using Church reform in conjunction with piety of Gothic architecture, England could recapture the religious perfection of the Middle Ages. Their idealism is clear in one of the society's early letters: "We know that Catholick ethics gave rise to Catholick architecture.
The Ecclesiologists earnestly believed that medieval men were "more spiritually-minded and less worldly-minded" than were those of the modern world and that it was their duty to help return England to its former piety. The Cambridge Camden Society began in May 1839 as a club for Cambridge undergraduates who shared a common interest in Gothic church design, its first activities were the collection of information about churches across the island. The amount of knowledge obtained from travellers' visits to and careful measurements of long-forgotten parish churches was immense and led to the publication of A Few Hints on the Practical Study of Ecclesiological Antiquities; this handbook contained "A Blank form for the Description of a Church", a checklist of medieval architectural elements one could use to examine a church. This checklist was not only a useful tool for the investigator, but served as a database of knowledge for the society, was updated with more detailed information sent from country churches.
Thus the Cambridge Camden Society amassed an enormous amount of information about medieval parish churches and came to be seen as an authority on religious architecture. Nor was this attribution misplaced; the society's vigour in examining and defining every detail of the medieval church was enormous, so much so that its magazine, the Ecclesiologist published both heated debates about the usage of small slits dubbed "lychnoscopes" that were observed in some churches and an invention called an "Orientator" that allowed one to determine whether or not a church faced East. The motive for these extraordinarily scrutinising investigations was the society's unshakeable belief that man could regain the piety of the Middle Ages by reconstructing them. In 1841 the society published a pamphlet entitled A Few Words to Church-builders, summarising its ideas about what a modern church should be, it consisted of 32 pages with an appendix of 22 pages. In the first edition they recommended the early English style for small chapels and the decorated or perpendicular for larger ones, but by the third edition of 1844 they were unreservedly recommending the Decorated style.
The two essential parts of a church were a nave, a well-defined chancel not less than a third of the length of the nave. Aisles were recommended, because a tripa
Constantine the Great
Constantine the Great known as Constantine I, was a Roman Emperor who ruled between 306 and 337 AD. Born in Naissus, in Dacia Ripensis, town now known as Niš, he was the son of Flavius Valerius Constantius, a Roman Army officer, his mother was Empress Helena. His father became Caesar, the deputy emperor in the west, in 293 AD. Constantine was sent east, where he rose through the ranks to become a military tribune under Emperors Diocletian and Galerius. In 305, Constantius was raised to the rank of Augustus, senior western emperor, Constantine was recalled west to campaign under his father in Britannia. Constantine was acclaimed as emperor by the army at Eboracum after his father's death in 306 AD, he emerged victorious in a series of civil wars against Emperors Maxentius and Licinius to become sole ruler of both west and east by 324 AD. As emperor, Constantine enacted administrative, financial and military reforms to strengthen the empire, he restructured the government, separating military authorities.
To combat inflation he introduced the solidus, a new gold coin that became the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years. The Roman army was reorganised to consist of mobile field units and garrison soldiers capable of countering internal threats and barbarian invasions. Constantine pursued successful campaigns against the tribes on the Roman frontiers—the Franks, the Alamanni, the Goths, the Sarmatians—even resettling territories abandoned by his predecessors during the Crisis of the Third Century. Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. Although he lived much of his life as a pagan, as a catechumen, he joined the Christian faith on his deathbed, being baptised by Eusebius of Nicomedia, he played an influential role in the proclamation of the Edict of Milan in 313, which declared religious tolerance for Christianity in the Roman empire. He called the First Council of Nicaea in 325, which produced the statement of Christian belief known as the Nicene Creed.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built on his orders at the purported site of Jesus' tomb in Jerusalem and became the holiest place in Christendom. The Papal claim to temporal power in the High Middle Ages was based on the forged Donation of Constantine, he has been referred to as the "First Christian Emperor", he did promote the Christian Church. Some modern scholars, debate his beliefs and his comprehension of the Christian faith itself; the age of Constantine marked a distinct epoch in the history of the Roman Empire. He renamed the city Constantinople after himself, it became the capital of the Empire for more than a thousand years, with the eastern Roman Empire now being referred to as the Byzantine Empire by historians. His more immediate political legacy was that he replaced Diocletian's tetrarchy with the principle of dynastic succession by leaving the empire to his sons, his reputation for centuries after his reign. The medieval church upheld him as a paragon of virtue, while secular rulers invoked him as a prototype, a point of reference, the symbol of imperial legitimacy and identity.
Beginning with the Renaissance, there were more critical appraisals of his reign, due to the rediscovery of anti-Constantinian sources. Trends in modern and recent scholarship have attempted to balance the extremes of previous scholarship. Constantine was a ruler of major importance, he has always been a controversial figure; the fluctuations in his reputation reflect the nature of the ancient sources for his reign. These are abundant and detailed, but they have been influenced by the official propaganda of the period and are one-sided; the nearest replacement is Eusebius's Vita Constantini—a mixture of eulogy and hagiography written between 335 AD and circa 339 AD—that extols Constantine's moral and religious virtues. The Vita creates a contentiously positive image of Constantine, modern historians have challenged its reliability; the fullest secular life of Constantine is the anonymous Origo Constantini, a work of uncertain date, which focuses on military and political events to the neglect of cultural and religious matters.
Lactantius' De Mortibus Persecutorum, a political Christian pamphlet on the reigns of Diocletian and the Tetrarchy, provides valuable but tendentious detail on Constantine's predecessors and early life. The ecclesiastical histories of Socrates and Theodoret describe the ecclesiastic disputes of Constantine's reign. Written during the reign of Theodosius II, a century after Constantine's reign, these ecclesiastic historians obscure the events and theologies of the Constantinian period through misdirection, misrepresentation, deliberate obscurity; the contemporary writings of the orthodox Christian Athanasius and the ecclesiastical history of the Arian Philostorgius survive, though their biases are no less firm. The epitomes of Aurelius Victor, Eutropius and the anonymous author of the Epitome de Caesaribus offer compressed secular political and military histories of the period. Although not Christian, the epitomes paint a favourable image of Constantine but omit reference to Constantine's religious policies.
The Panegyrici Latini, a collection of panegyrics
Lectern
A lectern is a reading desk, with a slanted top placed on a stand or affixed to some other form of support, on which documents or books are placed as support for reading aloud, as in a scripture reading, lecture, or sermon. To facilitate eye-contact and improve posture when facing an audience, lecterns may have adjustable height and slant. People use lecterns while standing. In pre-modern usage, the word lectern was used to refer to the "reading desk or stand... from which the Scripture lessons... are chanted or read." One 1905 dictionary states that "the term is properly applied only to the class mentioned as independent of the pulpit." By the 1920s, the term was being used in a broader sense, for example, in reference to a memorial service in Carnegie Hall, it was stated that "the lectern from which the speakers talked was enveloped in black." Lecterns used in academia—generally in seminar rooms and lecture theatres—may have certain features that common lecterns lack, based on the technological sophistication of the venue.
These features include a microphone stand, audio-visual controls, sometimes an integrated computer and recording system. Lecterns of this sort are attached or integrated into a large desk, as the amount of support material tends to be larger in academic contexts than in straightforward public talks. In the Christian Church, the lectern is the stand on which the Bible rests and from which the "lessons" are read during the service; the lessons may be read or chanted by a priest, minister, or layperson, depending upon the liturgical traditions of the community. The lectern is set in front of the pews, so that the reader or speaker faces the congregation. Lecterns are made of wood, they may be either fixed in portable. A lectern differs from the latter being used for sermons. Churches that have both a lectern and a pulpit will place them on opposite sides; the lectern will be smaller than the pulpit, both may be adorned with antipendia in the color of the liturgical season. In monastic churches and cathedrals, a separate lectern is set in the centre of the choir.
This would have carried the antiphonal book, for use by the cantor or precentor leading the singing of the divine office. Lecterns are eagle-shaped to symbolise John the Apostle. In North America and Great Britain lecterns are sometimes made as'angel lecterns'; because the Torah scrolls are large, the central feature of the bimah in a synagogue is a table large enough to hold an open Torah along with a tikkun or Chumash. In some synagogues, this table may resemble a large lectern. In traditional yeshivas and some synagogues and members of the congregation may use small desks called shtenders; these resemble conventional lecterns, indeed, one shtender may be used as a lectern by the Hazzan leading the service. Note however that each study group in a yeshivah may have its own shtender and in some older synagogues, individual members of the congregation may have their own shtenders. Traditional shtenders incorporate a locker under the desktop where prayerbooks and study material may be locked when not in use, many feature a footrest for comfort during extended study sessions or standing prayers.
Some older synagogues have large collections of shtenders. Pulpit Podium Lector Lection Analogion Media related to Lecterns at Wikimedia Commons Herbermann, Charles, ed.. "Lectern". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company
Choir
A choir is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which spans from the medieval era to the present, or popular music repertoire. Most choirs are led by a conductor, who leads the performances with face gestures. A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a chorus; the former term is often applied to groups affiliated with a church and the second to groups that perform in theatres or concert halls, but this distinction is far from rigid. Choirs may sing without instrumental accompaniment, with the accompaniment of a piano or pipe organ, with a small ensemble, or with a full orchestra of 70 to 100 musicians; the term "Choir" has the secondary definition of a subset of an ensemble. In typical 18th- to 21st-century oratorios and masses, chorus or choir is understood to imply more than one singer per part, in contrast to the quartet of soloists featured in these works.
Choirs are led by a conductor or choirmaster. Most choirs consist of four sections intended to sing in four part harmony, but there is no limit to the number of possible parts as long as there is a singer available to sing the part: Thomas Tallis wrote a 40-part motet entitled Spem in alium, for eight choirs of five parts each. Other than four, the most common number of parts are three, five and eight. Choirs can sing without instrumental accompaniment. Singing without accompaniment is called a cappella singing. Accompanying instruments vary from only one instrument to a full orchestra of 70 to 100 musicians. Many choirs perform in many locations such as a church, opera house, or school hall. In some cases choirs join up to become one "mass" choir. In this case they provide a series of songs or musical works to celebrate and provide entertainment to others. Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as a choral concert, by way of visible gestures with the hands, arms and head.
The primary duties of the conductor or choirmaster are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble. The conductor or choral director stands on a raised platform and he or she may or may not use a baton. In the 2010s, most conductors do not play an instrument when conducting, although in earlier periods of classical music history, leading an ensemble while playing an instrument was common. In Baroque music from the 1600s to the 1750s, conductors performing in the 2010s may lead an ensemble while playing a harpsichord or the violin. Conducting while playing a piano may be done with musical theatre pit orchestras. Communication is non-verbal during a performance. However, in rehearsals, the conductor will give verbal instructions to the ensemble, since they also serve as an artistic director who crafts the ensemble's interpretation of the music. Conductors act as guides to the choirs they conduct, they choose the works to be performed and study their scores, to which they may make certain adjustments, work out their interpretation, relay their vision to the singers.
Choral conductors may have to conduct instrumental ensembles such as orchestras if the choir is singing a piece for choir and orchestra. They may attend to organizational matters, such as scheduling rehearsals, planning a concert season, hearing auditions, promoting their ensemble in the media. Eastern Orthodox churches, some American Protestant groups, traditional synagogues do not use instruments. In churches of the Western Rite the accompanying instrument is the organ, although in colonial America, the Moravian Church used groups of strings and winds. Many churches which use a contemporary worship format use a small amplified band to accompany the singing, Roman Catholic Churches may use, at their discretion, additional orchestral accompaniment. In addition to leading of singing in which the congregation participates, such as hymns and service music, some church choirs sing full liturgies, including propers. Chief among these are the Roman Catholic churches. Mixed choirs; this is the most common type consisting of soprano, alto and bass voices abbreviate
Bristol Cathedral
Bristol Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is the Church of England cathedral in the city of Bristol, England. Founded in 1140 and consecrated in 1148, it was St Augustine's Abbey but after the Dissolution of the Monasteries it became in 1542 the seat of the newly created Bishop of Bristol and the cathedral of the new Diocese of Bristol, it is a Grade I listed building. The eastern end of the church includes fabric from the 12th century, with the Elder Lady Chapel, added in the early 13th century. Much of the church was rebuilt in the English Decorated Gothic style during the 14th century despite financial problems within the abbey. In the 15th century the transept and central tower were added; the nave was demolished. In the 19th century Gothic Revival a new nave was built by George Edmund Street using the original plans; the western twin towers, designed by John Loughborough Pearson, were completed in 1888. Located on College Green, the cathedral has pinnacled skyline.
The eastern end is a hall church in which the aisles are the same height as the Choir and share the Lierne vaults. The late Norman chapter house, situated south of the transept, contains some of the first uses of pointed arches in England. In addition to the cathedral's architectural features, it contains several memorials and an historic organ. Little of the original stained glass remains with some being replaced in the Victorian era and further losses during the Bristol Blitz. Bristol Cathedral was founded as St Augustine's Abbey in 1140 by Robert Fitzharding, a wealthy local landowner and royal official who became Lord Berkeley; as the name suggests, the monastic precinct housed Augustinian canons. The original abbey church, of which only fragments remain, was constructed between 1140 and 1148 in the Romanesque style, known in England as Norman; the Venerable Bede made reference to St Augustine of Canterbury visiting the site in 603ACE, John Leland had recorded that it was a long-established religious shrine.
William Worcester recorded in his Survey of Bristol that the original Augustinian abbey church was further to the east of the current site, though, rebuilt as the church of St Augustine the Less. That site was bombed during World War II and the site built on by the Royal Hotel, but archaeological finds were deposited with Bristol Museum and Art Gallery; the dedication ceremony was held on 11 April 1148, was conducted by the Bishops of Worcester, Llandaff, St Asaph. Further stone buildings were erected on the site between 1148 and 1164. Three examples of this phase survive, the chapterhouse and the abbey gatehouse, now the diocesan office, together with a second Romanesque gateway, which led into the abbot's quarters. T. H. B. Burrough, a local architectural historian, describes the former as "the finest Norman chapter house still standing today". In 1154 King Henry II increased the endowment and wealth of the abbey as reward to Robert Fitzharding, for his support during The Anarchy which brought Henry II to the throne.
By 1170 enough of the new church building was complete for it to be dedicated by four bishops - Worcester, Llandaff and St Asaph. Under Abbot David there was a new phase of building, notably the construction in around 1220 of a chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, abutting the northern side of the choir; this building, which still stands, was to become known as the "Elder Lady Chapel". The architect, referred to in a letter as'L', is thought to have been Adam Lock, master mason of Wells Cathedral; the stonework of the eastern window of this chapel is by William the Geometer, of about 1280. Abbot David argued with the convent and was deposed in 1234 to be replaced by William of Bradstone who purchased land from the mayor to build a quay and the Church of St Augustine the Less; the next abbot was William Longe, the Chamberlain of Keynsham, whose reign was found to have lacked discipline and had poor financial management. In 1280 he resigned and was replaced as abbot by Abbot Hugh who restored good order, with money being given by Edward I.
Under Abbot Edward Knowle, a major rebuilding of the Abbey church began despite financial problems. Between 1298 and 1332 the eastern part of the abbey church was rebuilt in the English Decorated Gothic style, he rebuilt the cloisters, the canons' dining room, the King's Hall and the King's Chamber. The Black Death is to have affected the monastery and when William Coke became abbot in 1353 he obtained a papal bull from Pope Urban V to allow him ordain priests at a younger age to replace those who had died. Soon after the election of his successor, Henry Shellingford, in 1365 Edward III took control of the monsatery and made The 4th Baron Berkeley its commissioner to resolve the financial problems. In the late 14th and early 15th centuries Abbots Cernay and Daubeney restored the fortunes of the order by obtaining the perpetual vicarage of several local parishes; these difficulties meant. However, in the mid-15th century, the number of Canons increased and the transept and central tower were constructed.
Abbot John Newland known as'Nailheart' due to his rebus of a heart pierced by three nails, began the rebuilding of the nave, but it was incomplete at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. Newland rebuilt the cloisters, the upper part of the Gatehouse, the canons' dormitory and dining room, the Prior's Lodging; the built nave was demolished and the remaining eastern part of the church closed until it reopened as a cathe
Clergy
Clergy are some of the main and important formal leaders within certain religions. The roles and functions of clergy vary in different religious traditions but these involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices; some of the terms used for individual clergy are clergyman and churchman. Less common terms are churchwoman and cleric. In Christianity the specific names and roles of clergy vary by denomination and there is a wide range of formal and informal clergy positions, including deacons, priests, preachers, pastors and the Pope. In Islam, a religious leader is known formally or informally as an imam, mufti, mullah or ayatollah. In Jewish tradition, a religious leader is a rabbi or hazzan; the word "Cleric" comes from the ecclesiastical Latin Clericus, for those belonging to the priestly class. In turn, the source of the Latin word is from the Ecclesiastical Greek Clericus, meaning appertaining to an inheritance, in reference to the fact that the Levitical priests of the Old Testament had no inheritance except the Lord.
"Clergy" is from two Old French words, clergié and clergie, which refer to those with learning and derive from Medieval Latin clericatus, from Late Latin clericus. "Clerk", which used to mean one ordained to the ministry derives from clericus. In the Middle Ages and writing were exclusively the domain of the priestly class, this is the reason for the close relationship of these words. Within Christianity in Eastern Christianity and in Western Roman Catholicism, the term cleric refers to any individual, ordained, including deacons and bishops. In Latin Roman Catholicism, the tonsure was a prerequisite for receiving any of the minor orders or major orders before the tonsure, minor orders, the subdiaconate were abolished following the Second Vatican Council. Now, the clerical state is tied to reception of the diaconate. Minor Orders are still given in the Eastern Catholic Churches, those who receive those orders are'minor clerics.'The use of the word "Cleric" is appropriate for Eastern Orthodox minor clergy who are tonsured in order not to trivialize orders such as those of Reader in the Eastern Church, or for those who are tonsured yet have no minor or major orders.
It is in this sense that the word entered the Arabic language, most in Lebanon from the French, as kleriki meaning "seminarian." This is all in keeping with Eastern Orthodox concepts of clergy, which still include those who have not yet received, or do not plan to receive, the diaconate. A priesthood is a body of priests, shamans, or oracles who have special religious authority or function; the term priest is derived from the Greek presbyter, but is used in the sense of sacerdos in particular, i.e. for clergy performing ritual within the sphere of the sacred or numinous communicating with the gods on behalf of the community. Buddhist clergy are collectively referred to as the Sangha, consist of various orders of male and female monks; this diversity of monastic orders and styles was one community founded by Gautama Buddha during the 5th century BC living under a common set of rules. According to scriptural records, these celibate monks and nuns in the time of the Buddha lived an austere life of meditation, living as wandering beggars for nine months out of the year and remaining in retreat during the rainy season.
However, as Buddhism spread geographically over time - encountering different cultures, responding to new social and physical environments - this single form of Buddhist monasticism diversified. The interaction between Buddhism and Tibetan Bon led to a uniquely Tibetan Buddhism, within which various sects, based upon certain teacher-student lineages arose; the interaction between Indian Buddhist monks and Chinese Confucian and Taoist monks from c200-c900AD produced the distinctive Ch'an Buddhism. Ch'an, like the Tibetan style, further diversified into various sects based upon the transmission style of certain teachers, as well as in response to particular political developments such as the An Lushan Rebellion and the Buddhist persecutions of Emperor Wuzong. In these ways, manual labour was introduced to a practice where monks survived on alms; this adaptation of form and roles of Buddhist monastic practice continued after the transmission to Japan. For example, monks took on administrative functions for the Emperor in particular secular communities, thereby creating Buddhist'priests'.
Again, in response to various historic attempts to suppress Buddhism, the practice of celibacy was relaxed and Japanese monks allowed to marry. This form was transmitted to Korea, during Japanese occupation, where celibate and non-celibate monks today exist in the same sects.. As these varied styles of Buddhist monasticism are transmitted to Western cultures, still more new forms are being created. In general, the Mahayana schools of Buddhism tend to be mo
Early Christianity
Early Christianity covers the period from its origins until the First Council of Nicaea. This period is divided into the Apostolic Age and the Ante-Nicene Period; the first Christians were Jewish Christians, either by conversion. Important practices were baptism, which made one a member of the Christian community, the communal meals, from which the Eucharist developed, the participation in Christ's death and resurrection; the inclusion of Gentile God-fearers lead to a departure from Jewish customs, the establishment of Christianity as an independent religion. A variety of Christianities developed throughout the 2nd and 3rd century, alongside a developing proto-orthodoxy, which defined orthodoxy and heresy. Proto-orthodoxy developed in tandem with the growing number of Christians, which necessitated the devlopment of eccelsiastical structure. Early Christians used and revered the Hebrew Bible as religious text in the Greek or Aramaic translations, but developed their own Canon of the New Testament, which includes the canonical gospels, letters of the Apostles, Revelation, all written before 120.
Early Jewish Christians referred to themselves as'The Way' coming from Isaiah 40:3, "prepare the way of the Lord." According to Acts 11:26, the term "Christian" was first used in reference to Jesus's disciples in the city of Antioch, meaning "followers of Christ," by the non-Jewish inhabitants of Antioch. The earliest recorded use of the term "Christianity" was by Ignatius of Antioch, in around 100 AD. Christianity "emerged as a sect of Judaism in Roman Palestine" in the syncretistic Hellenistic world of the first century CE, dominated by Roman law and Greek culture. During the early first century CE there were many competing Jewish sects in the Holy Land, those that became Rabbinic Judaism and Proto-orthodox Christianity were but two of these. There were Pharisees and Zealots, but other less influential sects, including the Essenes; the first century BCE and first century CE saw a growing number of charismatic religious leaders contributing to what would become the Mishnah of Rabbinic Judaism.
A central concern in 1st century Judaism was the covenant with God, the status of the Jews as the chosen people. Many Jews believed; the Law was given by God to guide them in their worship of the Lord and in their interctions with each other, "the greatest gift God had given his people."The Jewish messiah concept has its root in the apocalyptic literature of the 2nd century BC to 1st century BC, promising a future leader or king from the Davidic line, expected to be anointed with holy anointing oil and rule the Jewish people during the Messianic Age and world to come. The Messiah is referred to as "King Messiah" or malka meshiḥa in Aramaic. In the Synoptic Gospels Jewish eschatology stands central. After being baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus teaches extensively for a year, or maybe just a few months, about the Kingdom of God, in aphorisms and parables, using similes and figurs of speech. In the Gospel of John, Jesus himself is the main subject; the Kingdom is described as eschatological, becoming reality in the near future.
Jesus talks as expecting the coming of the "Son of Man" from heaven, an apocalyptic figure who would initiate "the coming judgment and the redemption of Israel." According to Davies, the Sermon on the Mount presents Jesus as the new Moses who brings a New Law, the Messianic Torah. His ministry was ended by his execution by crucifixion, his early followers believed that three days after his death, Jesus rose bodily from the dead and was exalted to Divine status. Paul's letters and the Gospels document a number of post-resurrection appearances, the resurrection of Jesus "signalled for earliest believers that the days of eschatological fulfilment were at hand." The resurrection was seen as the exaltation of Jesus to the status of divine Son and Lord. His followers expected Him to return in the near future. Since the 18th century, three scholarly quests for the historical Jesus have taken place, each with distinct characteristics and based on different research criteria, which were developed during each specific phase.
Scholars involved in the third quest for the historical Jesus have constructed a variety of portraits and profiles for Jesus, most prominently that of Jesus as a Jewish apocalyptic prophet or eschatological teacher. The first part of the period, named after the lifetimes of the Twelve Apostles as narrated in the Acts of the Apostles, is called the Apostolic Age; the Great Commission is the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciples to spread his teachings to all the nations of the world. After the death of Jesus, "Christianity emerged as a sect of Judaism in Roman Palestine." The first Christians were all Jews, either by birth or conversion, who constituted a Second Temple Jewish sect with an apocalyptic eschatology. The New Testament's Acts of the Apostles and Epistle to the Galatians record the existence of a Christian community centered on Jerusalem, that its leaders included Peter, the "brother of Jesus", John the Apostle; the Jerusalem Church "held a central place among all the churches,".
Christian missionary activity spread Christianity
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Back-Choir". Encyclopædia Britannica. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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