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Christian History Study Series #7 (key)
NOTES
The Division of Eastern and Western
Churches, the Rise of Islam, the Crusades,
and Medieval Scholarship
By Craig B. Esvelt
Introduction: When Constantine moved his capital to Constantinople in
A.D. 330, the seeds of political and ecclesiastical separation were sown in
the Roman Empire and the Church. Conflict was predictable, and not only
did it arise within the Empire but a new threat emerged from without—an
aggressive new religion from Arabia.
I.
THE DIVISION OF THE EASTERN & WESTERN CHURCHES
A. Causes of the Division
1. The tendency of separation was further exacerbated in
395 A.D. when the emperor at that time, Theodosius the
Great, divided the leadership of the empire between his
two sons on his deathbed—Honorius taking the West and
Arcadius the East.
2. The fall of Rome in the 5th century furthered the schism.
The Church in the East remained under the jurisdiction of
the emperor, which led to a conviction in the East: convinced of the divine hand in the conversion of the emperor
Constantine and believing that his city, Constantinople,
was the new center of Christianity, believers in the East
tended to see the state as the bearer of religion which
expressed the divine will for human society.
3. Differences also arose between the policies and practices
of the East and West.
a. The Western Church was more interested in policy
than doctrine, whereas the Eastern Church was more
intent on solving theological problems.
b. The East permitted marriage among the clergy below
the rank of bishop, whereas the West forbade
marriage among the clergy altogether.
c. In the East priests had to wear beards; not so in the
West.
d. A special area of contention was the use of icons
(images). The Eastern Church forbade the use of pictures or statues, while the Church in the West continued to utilize both, with the pope and Charlemagne
favoring their use. The more than century-long dispute
was called the iconoclastic (“image breaker”) controversy. A major proponent of the use of icons was
John of Damascus (730-760), who cleared the way for
Lesson 7
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Dr. Craig B. Esvelt, Valley View Christian Church, Kent, WA., ARR.
their acceptance by insisting that icons were not so
holy as to be worshiped but were imitators and aids to
worship, much like the Bible. The Eastern Church
ultimately kept icons (usually pictures of Christ or the
saints).
B. The Occasion and the Division
1. Hostilities came to a head in 1054 when Cerularius, the
patriarch of Constantinople, condemned the Roman
Church for using unleavened bread in the Eucharist. Pope
Leo IX sent Cardinal Humbert and a delegation to discuss
the issue, but the differences widened.
2. On July 16, 1054, Cardinal Humbert entered the Cathedral of St. Sophia and laid a papal bull (official church
document) of excommunication on the altar and marched
out. Constantinople’s bishop thereupon anathematized the
pope and the Roman Church. The breach was complete.
C. Aftermath of the Schism
1. The East was shut off from many positive and progressive
influences that occurred in the West, e.g., the Renaissance and Reformation. Without ecumenical cooperation,
the Eastern Church remained stagnant until recent times.
2. Missionary efforts of the Eastern Church
a. Eastern Christianity gained a foothold in the north
when Boris, king of Bulgaria, turned to Christ in the 9th
century.
b. In Russia, an acting regent and widow, Olga, accepted
the Faith in 955 A.D. One of her grandsons, Vladimir*,
further extended Christianity’s influence.
D. Distinguishing Characteristics of Eastern Orthodoxy
1. Whereas Roman Catholicism and Protestantism see sin
as a “legal” violation of trust with God, the Eastern Church
views man as God’s image-bearer on earth and sin as a
marring of spoiling of that image. Salvation is the recovering of this image. Emphasis is placed on the incarnation
of God and re-creation of man.
2. Icon’s continued to be an important element in Eastern
Orthodoxy and are seen as “windows” between heaven
and earth. Typically, churches have an iconostasis, a wall
of images of Christ and the saints that separates the nave
from the sanctuary.
*See Lesson no. 6.II.B.4
II. The Rise of Islam
Prior to a discussion of the Crusades, it would be well to provide
a brief overview of the rise of Islam, since the Crusades were
undertaken largely in response to its spread.
Lesson 7
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Dr. Craig B. Esvelt, Valley View Christian Church, Kent, WA., ARR.
A. Its Founder, Mohammed
1. He was a camel driver who became a spiritual leader and
a warrior. He had been exposed to Judaism and Christianity on a trip with his uncle. He married an older widow,
Khadijah, who supported him financially.
2. In 610 A.D. he purportedly received an angelic appearance and was given the dictation for holy writings (now
called the Quran or Koran).
B. Islamic Theology
1. Islam is monotheistic, and the central belief is in Allah
(God), who had many prophets (Abraham, Moses, Jesus)
but Mohammed was the last and greatest.
2. It is legalistic and fatalistic with passive submission (islam)
to God’s will. Afterlife is either sensual paradise or the
terrors of hell.
C. Its Initial Motivation
1. The energy derived from a new Faith.
2. The hope of plunder in the name of religion.
3. A zeal to convert unbelievers to their Faith*
III. THE CRUSADES (“Taking up the cross”)
It is undeniable that much evil and suffering have been perpetrated by religion throughout the history of mankind, although the
charge by some modern atheists—that religion has been the
cause of most human suffering and warfare—is baseless, and far
more oppression and violence have their roots in atheistic ideology (see Christian Apologetics outline no. 7, p. 6)*. Nevertheless,
critics have pointed to the Crusades as one of Christianity’s
“black eyes,” and some have maintained that the Crusades were,
in fact, aggressive Christians making unprovoked attacks on
peace-loving Muslims. This, too, is far from the truth, and the
Crusades—however their results are judged—are more appropriately seen as counterattacks. More than that, they were unfortunate and misdirected attempts by the Church to achieve the kingdom of God on earth.
A. The Cause of the Crusades
1. Four centuries prior to the Crusades the Muslims had
forcibly captured Jerusalem, the rest of the Middle East,
Christian North Africa, and Christian Spain. Not content
with that, the aggressive and rapacious armies of Islam
had attacked Rome on three occasions as well as parts of
Europe. At length, Christians took up the sword in a
counteroffensive.
2. For centuries Christian pilgrims had made spiritual journeys to Palestine (some of which were organized by
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*By the sword, if necessary!
*Some modern atheists claim "religious
belief has been the main source of evil and
violence throughout history" or "most wars
in history have been fought for religious
reasons." In fact, a recent comprehensive
compilation of the history of human warfare,
Encyclopedia of Wars by Charles Phillips
and Alan Axelrod documents 1,763 wars, of
which 123 have been classified to involve a
religious conflict. So, what atheists have
considered to be "most" really amounts to
less than 7% of all wars. It is interesting to
note that 66 of these wars (more than 50%)
involved Islam, which did not even exist as
a religion for the first 3,000 years of
recorded human warfare.
Dr. Craig B. Esvelt, Valley View Christian Church, Kent, WA., ARR.
bishops*), even after the 7th century Islamic control. The
largest mass pilgrimage included over 7,000 from Germany in 1065 A.D. In the 11th century, however, the Middle East was taken over by the newly-converted and fanatical Seljuk Turks who allegedly began mistreating Christian pilgrims, inciting anger among churches to the north.
3. In 1095 A.D. Alexius, the emperor at Constantinople,
asked Pope Urban II for aid in recouping lost Byzantine
territories from the Muslims invaders. This was fuel for the
western popes who desired to heal the breach between
the East and West and restore Christian unity.
4. Crusaders were promised complete remission of sins,
freedom from penance, and pardon from Purgatory. Indulgences could even be purchased by those who did not
take part in a Crusade so long as a sizable contribution
was made.
5. Aside from religious factors, there were political and economic reasons for Christian Europe to take up the banner.
a. The Venetians (and others) hoped that the Crusades
would add stimulus to trade with the East. The
Normans were interested in plunder.
b. The desire for adventure, fame and power drew many
feudal nobles and knights to conquest.
B. An Overview of the Crusades
There were a number of Crusades that occurred over a period
of around 130 years (with intermittent conflicts).
1. The first (and most successful) Crusade took place as a
directive of Pope Urban II at a synod of Clermont in 1095
with the battle cry, “Deus volt!” (God wills it). Muslim forces were divided among themselves, and in 1097 Nicea
was retaken, Antioch in 1098, and Jerusalem in 1099.
a. In the victorious battle of Jerusalem, such was the
insane zeal of the crusaders that they slaughtered
people everywhere and indiscriminately, including
women and children, until bodies littered the streets.
Jews hiding in a synagogue were burned alive.* In the
aftermath sobered crusaders gathered in the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre to beg forgiveness.
b. Baldwin was made king of Jerusalem, and eventually
semi-monastic military orders—the Knights Templar,
the Hospitallers, and the Teutonic Knights—were created to construct fortresses, defend Jerusalem from
further Muslim invasion, and to aid Christian pilgrims.
2. The Second Crusade (1146 A.D.) was motivated largely
by the preaching of a popular monk, Bernard Clairvaux. It
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*The first Christian “cruises!”
*What could have been a glorious victory
became a huge disgrace from which the
Church has never recovered
Dr. Craig B. Esvelt, Valley View Christian Church, Kent, WA., ARR.
was led by the king of France and Emperor of the Holy
Roman Empire but failed, and Jerusalem was retaken by
the Muslim general Saladin’s more unified forces in 1187.
3. The Third Crusade (1189 A.D.) was a joint effort by three
famous medieval kings—Philip Augustus of France, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of Germany, and Richard of
England (“the Lion-Hearted”). Frederick drowned on the
journey, Philip and Richard quarreled and Philip turned
back; Richard failed to take Jerusalem but made a pact
with Saladin to allow pilgrims’ access to the city.
4. The Fourth Crusade (1202 A.D.) was vigorously promoted
by Pope Innocent III but failed to even reach the Holy
Land. The crusaders depended on Venice for travel by
ships and the Venetians, eager for greater commercial
gain in the East, turned them against Constantinople instead with the intent of putting a leader sympathetic to
their interests on the imperial throne. For a while the Eastern Church was brought under subjection to Rome.
5. The Fifth Crusade (1212 A.D.), called the Children’s Crusade, was organized and led by two boys—Stephen and
Nicholas—who believed the purity of the children’s lives
would assure victory where their sinful parents had failed.
Many died on the way; most of the others were sold into
slavery in Egypt.
6. The Sixth Crusade (1228 A.D.), led by Frederick II under
the threat of excommunication by Pope Honorius III had
been aborted the previous year due to a deadly epidemic.
A treaty was negotiated with the Muslim leader, al-Kamith,
to turn over three holy cities—Nazareth, Jerusalem, and
Bethlehem—to the crusaders’ control. But in 1244 A.D.
Jerusalem once again fell to Moslems and remained in
their hands until the 20th century.
C. Results of the Crusades
1. The failure of the Crusades (both spiritually and militarily)
to win back the Holy Land, halt the spread of Islam, and
restore relations between the Eastern and Western
Churches also left Eastern Europe open to the attacks
and eventual domination of Islamic forces.
2. Feudalism in Europe was dealt a blow; many knights and
other landowners never returned from the Crusades, and
others had sold their holdings to support the Crusades.
3. The conquest of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade increased hostilities between the East and West and
weakened the East such that the long term effect was a
diminishing of the Byzantine Empire.
Lesson 7
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In 1219 A.D. after a Christian army was
defeated on the Nile Delta by Muslims, a
lone priest (believing it better to create
Christians than killing Muslims) approached
the leader, Sultan al-Kamil, and urged him
to take up the cross of Jesus. The sultan
refused, fearing the anger of his people, but
asked the priest to remember him in his
prayers. Soon thereafter the Christian army
overpowered the Muslim defenders and
massacred all. St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan Order and better
known for his vows of poverty, care of the
poor, and love for the natural world, wept
bitterly and returned to Italy.
Dr. Craig B. Esvelt, Valley View Christian Church, Kent, WA., ARR.
4. The popes in the West, however, enjoyed a heightening of
their power and prestige (they, not the emperors, had inspired the Crusades), and the emergence of the new
military orders (Templars, etc.) extended their influence.
5. More trade opened up between Europe (led by Venice)
and the Near East, laying the foundation for patronage of
art in the Renaissance and exchange of knowledge from
the Arabic world.
IV. MEDIEVAL SCHOLARSHIP
Between 1050 and 1350 A.D. an intellectual movement of scholasticism arose where certain church leaders sought to harmonize
revelation and reason, viz., to make faith reasonable. This was in
part motivated by a renewed interest in and popularity of the
works of Aristotle, Muslim scholarship, and other early philosophers. A few examples:
A. Anselm (1033-1109 A.D.)
1. Archbishop of Canterbury, he was a man of prayer with a
pastor’s heart. He taught that belief precedes understanding, that faith must be primary and must be the foundation
of knowledge.
2. His Monologium was an inductive argument from effect to
cause for the existence of God. His Proslogium is a deductive argument for the existence of God, commonly
known as the ontological argument. Since man has an
idea of a supreme being in his consciousness, a corresponding reality must have an objective existence.
B. Peter Abelard (1079-1142 A.D.)
1. He lectured in theology at the University of Paris and believed that doubt would lead to inquiry and inquiry to truth.
Ultimately, truth comes from divine revelation that is received by faith, but reason can bring such truth to light. He
excelled in his treatments of ethics and the atonement.
2. His brilliant questioning and disputations antagonized
some, including the powerful Bernard Clairvaux, and he
was excommunicated and spent the last years of his life in
seclusion.
C. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 A.D.)*
1. A Dominican monk, the “angelic Doctor” is considered the
greatest theologian of Roman Catholicism.
2. He borrowed heavily from Aristotarian logic and believed
that human reason was only slightly bent. Aquinas used
rational proofs for God’s existence and the immortality of
man. His greatest work is the Summa Theologica, a
summation dealing with God, man, and Christ.
Lesson 7
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The failed Crusades are an object lesson,
vindicating the words of Jesus that his
kingdom is not to be spread by violent,
offensive conquest but by love (Mt. 26:52).
While a defensive position may be acceptable, the sword is never the way to extend
the Church.
Abelard attracted many students and fell in
love with one of his pupils, Heloise, the
niece of a fellow canon at Paris named
Fulbert, had an affair with her that produced
a child. Against her protests (for she feared
a formal bond would hamper his career) he
secretly married her. The enraged Fulbert
subsequently had some thugs ambush
Abelard and make certain he would never
father another child. Heloise became a nun.
*Although having an aptitude for study at an
early age, he earned the nickname “dumb
ox” because of his size & quiet
demeanor.He taught that the sacrament
were channels of grace and rationalized the
idea of indulgences.
A History of Christianity by Kenneth Scott
Latourette (2 volumes, by Harper Publ.)
Church History In Plain Language by
Bruce Shelley (Word, Inc.)*
History of the Church by Philip Schaff
(Hendrickson Publ.)
The Christians: Their First Two
Thousand Years (12 volumes by SEARCH
of the Christian History Project)**
Christian History Magazine (published by
Christianity Today but now out of print)
Christian History Institutes Glimpses
pamphlets (Worcester, PA)
Dr. Craig B. Esvelt, Valley View Christian Church, Kent, WA., ARR.