203
under the leadership of the early
Church. Gradually, Christianity
came to be tolerated by Roman
leaders, and, after the Council of
Nicea, where a universal Christian
creed was agreed, it was eventually
adopted as the official religion of
the Roman Empire in 380 CE.
From then on, Christianity
became a powerful force in the
political and cultural life of Europe
and the Middle East. Its influence
spread rapidly and produced such
thinkers as Augustine of Hippo,
a convert to Christianity, who
integrated Greek philosophical
ideas into the doctrine. With the
decline and fall of the Roman
Empire, power in Europe moved
to the popes, who were considered
the natural successors of the
apostles and the first bishops.
In the 11th century, a split in the
Church over papal authority—the
so-called Great Schism—divided
Christianity into two distinct
branches, the Western (Roman
Catholic) Church and the Eastern
(Orthodox) Church. Christianity
also faced a challenge from the
Islamic Empire from the 8th
century on, and, through the
12th and 13th centuries, fought
a series of Crusades to recapture
Jerusalem from the Muslims.Church power
The Catholic Church retained
its influence in Europe, and its
dogma dominated learning and
culture throughout the Middle
Ages. Philosophical and scientific
ideas were often seen as heretical,
and even the great Thomas Aquinas
found his application of Aristotelian
reasoning to Christian theologyinitially condemned: only centuries
after his death was it adopted as
official Catholic dogma.
The Renaissance of the 14th
and 15th centuries heralded a new
challenge to the authority of the
Church in the form of humanism
and the beginnings of a scientific
Golden Age. The revival of interest
in classical learning prompted
criticism of the Catholic Church,
and the Protestant Reformation
was triggered by publication of
Martin Luther’s 95 Theses in 1517.
Protestantism began to flourish in
northern Europe and paved the way
for new Christian denominations.
Of the roughly 2.2 billion Christians
worldwide today (around a third of
the world’s population), more than
half are Catholic, roughly one third
are Protestant, and the remainder
are Orthodox. ■CHRISTIANITY
1095 –1291
1274
1305 1517 17 TH–18TH CENTURIES
1478 1562–98 1925
A series of religious
wars, the Crusades,
is launched by the
Catholic Church to
recapture Jerusalem
from Muslim
occupation.
Thomas Aquinas
publishes Summa
Theologica, which
becomes the basis for
official Catholic dogma.A rival papacy
to Rome is
established in
Avignon, France.Martin Luther
initiates the Protestant
Reformation in Germany
by publishing his
95 Theses, criticizing
clerical abuses.John Wesley
founds the Methodist
movement, and other
Protestant Churches
emerge in Europe.The Spanish Inquisition,
the most notorious of the
inquisitions instituted to
suppress heresy, is founded
by King Ferdinand and
Queen Isabella.Catholics and
Protestants wage
war in France
(known as the
Wars of Religion).The Scopes Monkey
Trial pits evolutionary
theory against
Biblical Creation.