waypoints in church history episode 1: introduction dr. ann t. orlando music: o happy band of...
TRANSCRIPT
Waypoints in Church HistoryEpisode 1: Introduction
Dr. Ann T. Orlando
Music: O Happy Band of Pilgrims
Place: Waypoints
• A waypoint is a place along the way to a final destination
• As individuals and as Church we are pilgrims on our way to the kingdom of God
• Personal waypoints• Pilgrim Church also has waypoints
– Locations where especially important events and people shaped the route of the Church’s corporate pilgrimage
– But destination is always the same: the heavenly Jerusalem
Introduction
• Purpose of this series: to introduce the viewer to Catholic Church History
• Method: Use a location (waypoint) as the center for each episode
• Instructor: Dr. Ann T. Orlando, professor of Patristics and Church History at St. John Seminary, Brighton, MA and Blessed John XXIII Seminary, Weston, MA
Place: Series Waypoints
• Cenacle, Jerusalem• Coliseum, Rome• St. John Lateran Baptistery, Rome• Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Constantinople)• Iona, Scotland and Monte Cassino, Italy• Aachen Cathedral, Germany• Assisi, Italy• Notre Dame, Paris• Sistine Chapel, Vatican• Church of the Gesu, Rome• Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico• St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican
• World map with waypoints on it
Episode 1 Objectives
• History in time and space
• Introduce historical eras or periods
• Introduce waypoints for each era
Time: Most Important Historical Division A.D. and B.C.
• Birth of Jesus Christ is the most important moment in human history
• B. C. = ‘Before Christ’ – Time before Christ’s birth and is
measured ‘backwards’ from his birth
– 300 B.C. is earlier than 200 B.C.• A.D. = ‘Anno Domini’ or The Year
of the Lord– Time since Christ’s birth– We are now in the 21st Century
after Christ’s birth• In the last 25 years many news
and scholarly journals have replaced B.C. and A.D. with B.C.E. and C.E.
– B.C.E. = Before Common Era– C.E. = Common Era
Time: Historical Eras or Periods
• Invention of later historians• Convenient for organizing events and people as
related to each other• Division between one era and another are
sometimes obvious, some times not• But even ‘obvious’ divisions are dependent on
objective of historian– Important Church history divisions are different from
history of politics, technology or economics
Timeline of Historical Periods
Timeline Historical Eras Begin EndRoman Empire (West) 31 BC 476Roman Empire (East) 31 BC 1453Late Antiquity 100 600Early Middle Ages 600 1000Middle Ages 1000 1350Renaissance 1350 1550Reformation 1520 1700Enlightenment 1700 2000
Waypoints in Time
• Timeline with waypoints on it
Expectations and Limits
• Expectations– Introduction to history of the Catholic Church – Understanding of roots of some contemporary
issues– Provide a framework for continued
investigation
• Limitations– Many, many important events, people, places
will not be discussed
Next Episode..
• First Waypoint: the Cenacle, Jerusalem
• The ‘birth’ of the Church
• Apostles and the Early years of Christianity
• Beginning of persecutions