Unit 12 Christianity II

Christianity is the most widely practiced religion in the world, with more than 2 billion followers. The Christian faith centres on beliefs regarding the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. While it started with a small group of adherents, Christianity grew to massive proportions in a short amount of time.

In this unit, students will explore reasons for the Great Schism and explore the distinctive nature of Orthodox Christianity. The nature of conflict in human relationships is paralleled with the difficulties at the time of the Great Schism. Students will study the Medieval Church by examining the events and challenges of the time as seen through the eyes of significant people of the time period.

SCV.01 - demonstrate knowledge of the key narratives and events in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures and identify their importance for the life decisions of Jewish and Christian people;

SCV.02 - demonstrate an understanding of divine revelation and its connection with the sacred writings of Judaism and Christianity;

CMV.07 - demonstrate an understanding of the role of Covenant and commandment in the religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam;

RBV.01 - summarize the major historical influences on and events in the development of Christianity;

RBV.03 - analyse and describe the connection between the human experience and sacred writings and oral teachings.

CMV.08 - recognize the role of Sacred Scriptures in the development of moral codes for the religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam;

RBV.04 - demonstrate how practice, ritual, and symbolism are external representations of the beliefs and principles of religion

CM2.05 - respect the moral teachings of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as guidelines for daily living

RB3.01 - categorize the practices and rituals of various religions (e.g., almsgiving, asceticism, atonement, anointing, Covenant, sacrifice, holy days, dietary laws);

SS1.05 - identify ways in which religion is reflected in specific works of art, architecture, music, literature, dance, and in dress and cuisine, and interpret their religious significance.

Christian festivals can be found and identified on a Liturgical Calendar seen below. Note how the colours on the calendar correspond with seasonal colours and liturgical vestments.

Lent - is a period of fasting for Christians to prepare for Easter. The fasting represents piety and spiritual cleansing. This is a 40 day period.

Easter - Remembers and honours the death and resurrection of Jesus. On Easter Sunday, Christians attend a special service followed by feasting and celebration. Easter is a 50 day season.

Pentecost - This marks the last day of Easter season and celebrates the ascension of Jesus into heaven. This is considered to be the birthday of the Church.

The Gregorian Chant is named after St. Gregory I, during whose papacy (590–604) it was collected and codified. Charlemagne, king of the Franks (768–814), imposed Gregorian chant on his kingdom, where another liturgical tradition—the Gallican chant—was in common use. During the 8th and 9th centuries, a process of assimilation took place between Gallican and Gregorian chants; and it is the chant in this evolved form that has come down to the present.

Click here to listen to 2 minutes of this clip of a Gregorian Chant (The full video is over one hour, you only need to listen to 2 minutes)

Groups and Institutions

The term "Christian" originated some time in the middle of the 1st Century, and it refers to the initial followers of Jesus and his disciples. These early Christians grew to massive proportions in a short amount of time to the point where it became legalized and ultimately made the official religion of the Empire. The Council of Nicaea formalized Christian beliefs and practices in 325 CE to keep Christianity consistent across the entirety of the Roman Empire. Watch the video below to better understand what happened at the Council of Nicaea.

Shortly after the Council of Nicaea, several groups began to break away from the church to create their own belief system that differed slightly than the version that the rest of the world was practicing. Look at the timeline below to see when some of these schisms occured.

The largest split in the church occurred in 1054 known as the Great Schism. This event saw the creation of the Roman Catholic Church in the west, and the Greek Orthodox Church in the east. Watch the video below to better understand what the Great Schism was and why it happened.

Constantine to Schism Kahoot

During the 16th and 17th Centuries, more branches of Christianity broke away from the Roman Catholic church because of theological differences. These groups are known as Protestants, because they protested some Church practices that were contrary to the teachings of Christ. The biggest concerns were the sale of relics and indulgences. Watch the Protestant Reformation video below to help you answer the questions in this section.

Want to learn more about Luther's 95 theses? Click here to see all of his issues with the Church during the 16th Century.

Several other churches borrowed from Luther's ideas to disconnect from the Catholic church. Henry VIII of England wanted the right to divorce his wife so he could remarry in an attempt to produce a male heir. Since the Catholic Church would not grant him a divorce, he created his own church, the Anglican Church, where the English monarch would be the head of church and state.

Look at the chart below to see a summary of some of the early protestant reformation belief systems.

• Sola Fide: That Faith alone does not provide salvation. "Faith without works is dead."

• On Transubstiation: That the Eucharist though in species of bread is remaining, it does become the actual body of Christ.

• Indulgences: This practice was reformed and no longer considered a necessity to free souls from purgatory

• On Confirmation and Baptism: While the sacrament of baptism will continue to initiate infants into the faith, a conscionable decision to declare one's faith would take place at the age of approximately 13 for the sacrament of Confirmation.

• Masses would be conducted in the vernacular instead of Latin

• Women could become readers, lectors, and Eucharistic Ministers

• Corrected the orientation of the Catholic Church on Jews, removing any blame or responsibility for the death of Christ

Watch the following documentary for a more detailed look at the Protestant Reformations, what were contributing factors, and the details of the outcomes.

Protestant Reformation Kahoot

Be sure to complete the UNIT COMPLETION ASSESSMENT and consult with your teacher BEFORE you continue on to the Second Unit Task.

Choose one of the following task ideas below to demonstrate your learning and complete this unit. It is always advisable to consult with your teacher while you work on this task to ensure you are meeting the expectations and getting the best possible mark. Be sure that all of your work is properly cited with appropriate analysis. As Mary Ward is a Self-Directed Learning system, you may also create and develop your own task in consultation with your teacher.

1. SELF DIRECT! Always recommended! Choose one topic in this unit that you were particularly interested in (i.e. Symbols, Rituals, History, Beliefs, etc . . . or a topic related to this unit that was not covered but worthy of exploring), then choose one style of presentation that you are confident with or would like to develop (i.e. written paragraph, website, documentary, video, slide presentation, art installation, podcast, etc . . . ) and consult/discuss with your teacher what the product will look like. You also have the option to make the task interdisciplinary with another course(s), and/or do a group project.

OR

2. Make a comparison between Christian festivals and at least two other festivals that were covered in the course. What elements of the festivals are fundamentally similar, and what elements are culturally different? You can present this in a correctly-cited paragraph or slideshow, a mini-documentary, etc . . .

OR

3. Most world religions have different groups and/or factions because of differences in approach to practice. There is usually a traditional side and an experiential side. Using 2 different institutions in Christianity, compare them to one other religion with similar divisions. Why do you think these divisions exist? What does it suggest?

OR

5. Just like any other religion, Christianity marks certain life moments as Milestones. What Milestones do you find interesting and compare them with one other religion that we have studied in the course.

NOTE: All of your work must be properly cited. Work that is not cited properly will be returned to you to be redone with a stronger sense of academic integrity.

Please see evaluation rubrics below for your task. Consult with your teacher for any clarification regarding your evaluation.

Be sure you have answered the following questions and completed the following tasks before submitting your unit to your teacher. This checklist needs to be signed by the religion counter for your unit submission to be accepted.