The Extend to Which the Early Christian Church Absorbed Cultural Influence From the Roman Empire
The Roman religion developed at almost the same rate as the Roman Empire. It was diverse in religious beliefs. The early Christian church was a creation of the Roman Empire even though the religion was a borrowed religion like all the others. One cannot say the church was totally dependent on the Roman systems for the structures; they had aspects that were associated with the Roman Empire’s structural system. A good example is the bishop and deacon patterns which were based on the Greco-Roman’s deliberate organizational structures.
The Latin language was one of the features of the Roman culture that the church adopted. Even after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Christianity was still widely spread and the church still insisted on the use of Latin language in church. Meanwhile, the papacy which is still based in Rome where a lot of control is exercised over all the Roman Catholic Churches all over the world was a Roman Empire organization method. Just like the Roman Emperors were worshipped by their subjects, the pope, who was considered the highest authority in the Church was considered an all-powerful and was worshipped. The church government insisted on mono-episcopacy where there was supposed to be only one leader of the church government, a system that was borrowed from the Empires.
However, since Christianity was supposed to be based on the teachings of Jesus, they had to go against the Roman Empire’s quest to conquer and expand its territory.
Contribution of Muslims to Mathematical Knowledge
Many people assume that all Muslims are Arabs and that they can recognize them by dressing. The facts on the ground are; Arabs form only eighteen percent of the Muslim population in the world. They come in all races and are found everywhere from West Africa to Eastern Europe and are now establishing themselves fast in the West. Muslims have made remarkable contributions to all areas of human venture from Science to Mathematics.
Muslim is not just a religion but is a way of life. The acts of worship recommended in Islam are supposed to make the daily life patterns of a Muslim.
Even though it has been depicted by the world through the media in a negative manner, there are so many things that we should be grateful to Muslims for, especially concerning the mathematical inventions that are useful to us today, for example, Musa Al-Khwarizmi (780-850 A.D) a native of Khwarizm was one of the greatest mathematicians of all times. He is associated with arithmetic and algebra works. He and many others made great contributions to the Mathematical knowledge we work with today.
Natural Calamities That Occurred During the Century (1300-1400) And the Impact to the Society and Culture
The fourteenth century is a period that was characterized as a period of reservations and fear. The lives of many people lives were in danger of extinction by either war, Bubonic plagues, famine, and other calamities. It is a period in which people lived in despair and they were totally hopeless. Despite all these, there was the strong faith in the power of God to reinstate them that still lingered. Due to the insecurities that were a common feature of this period, the people lost their faith in the law and its capability to administer justice even though there had been a rationalization of law earlier on. Consequently, the society turned to the supernatural for protection where they appeased them and appealed to them through oaths and foretelling, hence the assertion of magic in the society. This led to the mystery of miracles taking root in society. The most common miracle stories were those that were related to saving individuals believed to be innocent who was rescued from a certain kind of violent death. These kinds of miracles were referred to as ‘rescue miracles’ and they were easily believed owing to the fact that they were told with a high level of accuracy and they even went to an extent of being specific. This highlighted the fact that there was fear and conflict in society in this tumultuous period.
Features From Ancient Greek and Roman Culture That Was Important to Renaissance Thinkers and Artists
Most of the early written works that renaissance thinkers and artists were exposed to were typically written in either Latin or Ancient Greek. Works from early Greek writers in Philosophy like Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus were the main interests of these renaissance artists and thinkers whose main aim was to improve them and re-introduce them into the Western world as a source of new intellectual material that would be used by European scholars. The most important material included the material on mathematical knowledge and the scientific methods of learning about the world. Others included classical Greek literature and Roman law, material that has survived to this day.
To the renaissance thinkers and artists, the use of color to create linear outlooks that were very pragmatic was highly considered as a step towards achieving reality. Owing to this, those who were involved in the art of painting came up with other techniques; light studying and shadow for example Leonardo da Vinci’s piece on human anatomy.
Works Cited
Haight, R. Christian Community in History: Historical Ecclesiology: 2004. Web.
Doods, E. The Roman Empire and the Rise of Christianity. Web.
Goodich, M. Violence and the Miracle in the Fourteenth Century: Private Grief and Public Salvation: 1995.
BBC- Science & Nature- Leornardo. Web.