Medieval Catholicism, then The Protestant Reformation

Above — Notre Dame de Paris (“Our Lady of Paris”) Cathedral.
Begun in 1163, largely completed in 1260. The roof was lost to a fire in 2019.
Reconstruction was completed in late 2024.

Medieval Catholicism, then the Protestant Reformation

“All the world’s major religions contain both factual errors and poetic wisdom…
And so do the fictional tales of Homer’s Odyssey, Melville’s Moby Dick, & Aesop’s Fables.”
– J.X. Mason

(Essay #24, at 7-3-25)

This is Continuing Natural Creation’s third of 3 Essays on Christianity. The first was Evaluating Jesus’ Teaching, and the second Essay was Early Christianity: From Jesus’ Death to 312 C.E.

In the early decades following Jesus’ death, over the next 300 years, Christianity gained popularity in the Hellenized cities of the Mediterranean, which were under Roman Empire rule. The religion described in St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans and also in the Gospel of John ultimately prevailed over Gnosticism and all the other early forms of Christianity. Gnosticism was in marked decline by the latter third century.

How did what we now call Roman Catholic Christianity in Western Europe, along with the Eastern Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe, become the world’s largest and most powerful religion? By becoming the official state religion of the Roman Empire, which by the year 330 effectively had two capital cities – Rome and Constantinople.

The Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (272-337 CE) was Emperor of Rome from 306 to 337. He converted to Christianity in 312, reportedly after seeing a cross in the sky near the sun during the Battle of Milvian Bridge. However, several scholars believe that Constantine actually adopted his mother St. Helena’s Christianity in his youth, or that he gradually adopted it over the course of his life. ¹

Note: The ways we celebrate Christianity (especially Christmas) go back centuries before Jesus’ life. See our Essay #39, “4,000 Years of Christmas.”

Note: Our “Timeline of Christianity” lists the dates of key events spanning the 2,200 years since Jesus’ crucifixion. You can find it in APPENDIX A at the end of this Essay.

Constantine the Great, Emperor of Rome (272-337 CE)

“I don’t think we can understand Constantine converting to Christianity as an exclusive religion. Clearly, he covered his bases… Constantine was a consummate pragmatist and a consummate politician… It’s clear that after he converted to Christianity, he was still paying attention to other deities. … But …Constantine was a remarkable supporter of Christianity.”
— Holland Lee Hendrix, President of the Faculty Union Theological Seminar. ²

Dr. Bart Ehrman writes that Constantine saw Christianity as a tool for “bringing together his socially and culturally fractured empire.” Christianity has one God, who has one Son; there is one way to salvation, one church, one liturgy, one Truth, and one priesthood organized in a strict military hierarchy. This oneness and unity could be harnessed to unify the empire. The alliance between the Empire and the Church would also vastly increase the wealth and power of the Church. It was a “win-win” merger for both parties. ³

Command & Control: The Imperial Roman Catholic) Church

With Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity, Roman money, power, and administrative efficiency were infused into the “Roman Catholic” Church. Women are often excluded from significant roles in the hierarchy. Christian sects having different views of Jesus’ message (such as the Gnostics) were put down, and their various gospels were excluded from the Bible by one or more of the first seven Ecumenical Councils (meetings of the Christian Bishops) from across the Mediterranean world.

Note: The word “Catholic” means a wide variety of things. Synonyms include all-embracing, universal, diverse, wide, broad-based, eclectic, liberal, and latitudinarian. However, through usage, it has come to denote the specific Catholic Church headed by the Pope in Vatican City, Rome.

After his conversion, Constantine took on the role of patron of the Christian faith. He supported the Church financially, had an extraordinary number of basilicas built… promoted Christians to high-ranking offices… and endowed the church with land and other wealth. ⁴

The literate intelligentsia of Europe was attracted to the Church in the early Middle Ages. The priesthood achieved consistency of doctrine and established a monopoly on direct communication with God. Since monks and priests cannot marry, there is no temptation to pass property down to biological heirs. All Wealth resulting from the labor of priests, and particularly from monks, remains and accumulates inside the Church. With wealth comes political power.

Between 324 and 330, Constantine built a new imperial capital at Byzantium on the Bosporus, which would be named “Constantinople,” after himself. Unlike “old” Rome, the new city began to employ overtly Christian architecture, contained churches within the city walls, and had no pre-existing temples from other religions. ⁵ By the end of his reign, Constantine had begun to order the pillaging and tearing down of Roman temples in other cities. ⁶

Characteristics of Roman Catholic Christianity

As we saw in an earlier Essay, “For Jesus, the Kingdom of God was supposed to be a community of radical or unbroken equality in which individuals are in direct contact with one another and with God, unmediated by any established brokers or fixed locations.” — J.D. Crossan. ⁷

The new, winning religion about Jesus, Roman Catholic Christianity, is very different than the loose collection of Christian congregations that came before, which we call the Religion of Jesus. Under Constantine, his successors, and the Popes, the Roman Catholic Church became highly structured, and its celibate clergy became militarily hierarchical. Individual worshippers’ direct contact with Jesus and/or God was virtually eliminated.

Roman Catholic Christianity asserts the following articles of faith. Note that all the logical contradictions are maintained and accepted. They are explained by the “mystery” of God, which is “beyond human knowledge.”

God is both one and three at the same time, the three being God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
On Earth, Jesus was both a real, flesh-and-blood man and yet was God at the same time.
Jesus now sits at the right hand of God. He will return to Earth to judge the dead at the End of Days.
While it is still important to follow the Scriptural Law as it was reformulated and taught by Jesus, one can yet be forgiven from sin and enter heaven through repentance, an earnest belief in Jesus as the Son of God, and acceptance of Jesus as one’s personal Savior.

Instead, the Catholic Church says, do these four things and you can go to heaven after death:

Confess your sins to a priest.
Be truly contrite.
Focus on not doing any harm (don’t commit any sins),
In the future, try to do good, although proactive “good works” are not essential.
Touch all the applicable ritual bases called the sacraments – Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance and Reconciliation, Anointing the Sick, and Marriage and Ordination as applicable.
Embrace Catholic doctrines (about the Trinity, having a living human body after death, etc.),
And have plenty of children to continually re-populate the ranks of church membership.

Under Emperor Constantine’s patronage, the still-young Roman Catholic Christian Church had everything it needed to grow:

A pageant of sensational, mysterious, and semi-scary miracles and demi-gods (saints) to awe and enthrall new recruits.
Impressive uniforms (“vestments”) for the priesthood – pure white for the Pope (Commanding General), bright red for colonels (Cardinals), purple for majors (Bishops), and plain back for the junior officers (Priests) who do all the work.
A way of life for the ordinary people that was practical and consistent with everyday biological and social imperatives, including unrestricted birthing to provide more Catholics.
Followers could now confess their sins and start anew in life, while avoiding melancholy, guilt, and depression.
The promise of eternal life in Heaven, after the labor and frequent pains of human life (provided a person fulfilled the “Seven Sacraments” listed below).

The Roman Catholic Church instituted the “Seven Sacraments.” The Sacraments are visible rites seen as signs and efficacious channels of the g race of God to all those who receive them with the proper disposition. Here are the Seven Sacraments:

Baptism
Confirmation
The Eucharist
Penance
Anointing the Sick
Holy Orders
Matrimony

The Roman Catholic Church established a spiritual class system. The top class was the priesthood — including the Pope, Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, and Priests. Only men of the priesthood were able to forgive sins and perform Mass. Moreover, (until 1965) the mass could only be read in Latin, a language reserved and preserved exceptionally for them. The insistence on Latin also kept the text from being changed and confused over time as local languages rapidly evolved.

The monks and nuns were a second class, unable to hear confession, forgive sins, or perform the mystery of communion; however, some monks also became priests.

All the people in the first two classes were required to remain celibate. Priests, monks, and nuns took vows of celibacy because their “carnal” needs were to be supplanted by the more ethereal and holy satisfactions of their supposed “closer” relationship with God.

The lowest and largest class was the Catholic laity – the general Catholic populace. Yes, they worked on the land, in the trades, and as merchants, but a sociologist might say their primary duty was to have children and raise them as Catholics. The overarching purpose of all their lives was “to glorify God.”

Practically, since all churchly lands belonged to the priestly hierarchy (or to holy orders of celibate monks and nuns), and since the priests, nuns, and monks had no (legitimate) biological heirs, none of them could pass wealth along to their children. Over the centuries, this served to concentrate wealth (and power) in the hands of the church (and/or the monastery) itself!

The post-Constantine Catholic Religion About Jesus is actually more practical than the Religion Taught by Jesus in a very important respect. The rituals and life practices prescribed by the Catholic Church allowed (and still allow) its followers to forget about trying to emulate Jesus’ saintly life of love, voluntary poverty, and radical sharing. Instead, the ordinary people were and are free to farm, work at trades, fight in wars, and have children… just in case the “Second Coming” may not happen until hundreds or thousands of years in the future! This was, and still is, a Strength of Roman Catholic Christianity.

However, these Strengths become Shortcomings in a more modern age, when people want to read, discuss, and share their faith among themselves as equals in a congregation. And besides, all the Roman Catholic Bibles were in Latin. These shortcomings (along with substantial financial and moral corruption in the Roman Catholic organization) gave rise to the Protestant Reformation, as we discuss later in this Essay.

The Earthly Power of the Roman Catholic Church

The larger a religion becomes, the more it resembles a government, with interests in land, wealth, political power, governance, and politics, as well as involvement in trade, warfare, and espionage. At least, that has been true for the religions of the West, including Roman Catholicism.

However, Worldly Powers Come with Worldly Dangers… Dangers for all Religions

> Danger of popularization & sensationalism
> Danger of corruption (doctrinal, financial, political)
> Danger of bureaucratization and institutional paralysis
> Danger of autocratic command & control
> Danger of fragmentation
> Danger of pursuit of wealth (cravenness, materialism)
> Danger of ossification
> Danger of trivialization (e.g., the Book of Revelation, or the Mormon creation story)
> Danger of not evolving to meet the needs of the people
> Danger of being hijacked by political or societal forces

Any religion or social movement can fall prey to one or more of these dangers. Note that these dangers can conflict with each other. If you over-control a movement, you get calcification & bureaucracy. But if you under-control it, you can experience fragmentation and dissolution. Over the centuries, the Roman Catholic Church would fall prey to nearly all ten of the Worldly Dangers listed above, as we shall see.

Popularization – The Strategy of Simplification

Early Roman Catholic Christianity made it easier for the populace (the “laity”) to believe and easier for church leaders (the priesthood) to govern by decreasing the amount of spiritual work and amends-making its followers had to do to “get to heaven.” Bible study was replaced by memorization of a short “catechism” and repeating an even shorter “creed.”

“There are thousands of catechisms in the Catholic tradition, with texts already appearing in print for the instruction of lay people by the early medieval period. Only two “universal” catechisms have been promulgated by the popes of the Catholic Church: The Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566), written chiefly for priests, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992), written chiefly for bishops.” — Wikipedia

The hard work of self-examination, personality transformation, and charitable works (e.g., the work done by priests, nuns, and monks) was replaced by simply repenting and believing that Christ is the Son of God. Catholic people were (and still are) allowed to wipe their life slates clean and start over by making a sincere confession to a priest and performing a penance prescribed by that priest.

For centuries, the Catholic laity was not allowed to study the Bible (which was available only in Latin). They had to rely on their priests as intermediaries between themselves and God. Catechisms and creeds also get around the fact that much of Jesus’ preaching was, and still is, confusing and unclear, as we discuss in our Essay, “Evaluating Jesus’ Teaching.“

Co-opting Paganism

Over the centuries, Roman Catholicism has co-opted and absorbed pagan holidays and rituals to make Christianity appeal to unconverted “pagans.” The date for Jesus’ birthday, now celebrated as Christmas, was chosen as December 25th because it nearly coincides with the Winter Solstice. (12/21, 12/22, or 12/23). Pagans living in what is now Germany celebrated the Winter Solstice by festooning an evergreen tree with candles (representing the return of longer, sunnier days) and exchanging gifts. This Nature-based Solstice ceremony is now part of Christianity’s Christmas on 12/25. For more information, see our Essay, “Winter Solstice, to Christmas, & Back,” by guest writer Laura Emerson.

Pagan religions, being Earth-centered, often center on a nurturing goddess, such as Mother Earth, Mother Nature, or Gaia. Early Christianity provided no such female deity who could provide feminine love and gentle solace to worshippers! The Catholic Church responded by creating an entire “Cult of the Virgin Mary,” an appellation used by secularists. Catholics refer to it as “The Veneration of Mary in the Catholic Church.” Catholics today often recite the well-known prayer…

“Hail Mary, full of grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Pray for us sinners,
Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

Classic Christian Creeds

In late October of 312 CE, Emperor Constantine convened the Christian Bishops to meet in Nicaea, near Constantinople. While the palace there was closely protected by the imperial guard, Constantine commanded the Bishops to erase any significant theological disagreements between them. ⁸ The Bishops did so and then went on to develop a short Creed, which all Roman Catholics were expected to recite during various gatherings and ceremonies.

Creeds are simplified, easy-to-remember summaries of key beliefs. They are meant to be recited by worshipers, and thereby remembered and ingrained. Creeds are one of several codifications and simplifications, including the catechism, the doxology, fixed ritual prayers, and fixed ritual blessings such as “last rites.” All of these serve to make a religion understandable to ordinary people and to provide uniformity in belief and practice. In all these documents, the church stresses the institutional Religion About Jesus, and neglects teaching the Religion Taught by Jesus.

Historically, there are three principal Creeds, all of them similar:

Apostles’ Creed – Our present version dates from around 450 C.E.
Creed of Nicaea – 381 C.E.
Nicene Creed – 325 C.E. (which somewhat modifies the Creed of Nicea).

Amazingly, the Apostles’ Creed, quoted below, contains nothing of Jesus’ moral teachings, nor does the more recent Nicene Creed!

The Apostles’ Creed (Most likely written in the 5^th Century, and widely used since the 8^th Century)

“I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell: the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of God the Father almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the Holy Catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. — Amen.”

The Nicene Creed & Church Fathers

The longer but highly similar Nicene Creed is easily found and read online.

The figure of Jesus in these creeds is a mythical or heavenly figure, whose connection with the sage from Nazareth is limited… Nothing between his birth and death, i.e., nothing Jesus said, appears to be essential in his mission or to the faith of the church. In other words, there is nothing in these creeds about believing in what Jesus taught, only about Jesus’ divinity and magical powers. Jesus has been replaced with Christ. “This conception was undoubtedly derived from the view espoused by the apostle Paul, who did not know the historical Jesus. For Paul, the Christ was to be understood as a dying/rising lord, … of the type he knew from Hellenistic mystery religions. In Paul’s theological scheme, Jesus the man played no essential role.” — The Jesus Seminar ⁹

Note: The Practice of Nature’s Continuing Creation has something similar to a creed. See our Essay, “The Principles We Hold True.” (So that the reader can make comparisons, that Essay also includes copies of Christianity’s “Apostles’ Creed,” the Unitarian Universalists’ “Seven Principles & Six Sources,” and Reverend Michael Dowd’s “Eco-Credo.”)

The Roman Catholic Religion teaches that if you believe Jesus is the Son of God who will return to Earth and usher all his followers (alive and dead) into heaven; and if you go through several ritual sacraments including Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Confession & Penance, Anointing the Sick or Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, Matrimony, and Last Rites, then you will in fact get to go to Heaven.

Protestant Denominations are, in varying degrees, less formal and less ritualistic; they call for more Bible study, free-form prayer, and inward searching. (More about Protestantism later in this Essay.)

To reinforce the certainty of a magical journey to heaven, and to prove Jesus’ supernatural power, believers were, and still are, told that a number of miraculous events happened during Jesus’ life. These include Jesus’ immaculate conception, his feats of healing, his resurrection from the dead, and his appearance after death.

The Official Books (‘The Canon’) of the New Testament

While the Roman Catholic Creeds were being written, important Christian theologians and bishops convened in a series of meetings to determine which of the many “gospels” were worthy of inclusion in the New Testament of the Holy Bible.

Many different Jesus movements emerged in the decades following Jesus’ death, and several had their own gospels and extensive libraries of literature that are still available to us today. Among these documents are the substantial writings of the Gnostics. These groups emphasized personal spiritual knowledge (gnosis) above the teachings, traditions, and authority of the early Roman Catholic religious institutions.

What we now know as the “New Testament” is a very small selection of Gospels and books compiled by the Catholic Church in the 4^th century of the Common Era (CE). This selection gained power through the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine to Christianity. After that, other early writings about Jesus were actively suppressed, and much of that literature was lost for centuries. ¹⁰

The Choice of Latin for the Bible and the Mass

For centuries, the texts of the New Testament were kept only in the dead language of Latin. This was a strategy to keep them pure. Christians spoke scores, perhaps hundreds, of languages and dialects. If the Church had allowed the Gospels to be translated into many languages, it would have led to mistranslations and doctrinal differences, particularly over the course of hundreds of years. Additionally, there was minimal intellectual discourse outside of Greek and Latin, at least until the later Middle Ages.

Keeping the sacred texts in Latin also gave the Catholic priesthood a “monopoly on reading and understanding, ” thereby centralizing priestly power over the dissemination of the religion. Thus, the early choice of “Latin Only” can be seen as a strategy of simplification, preservation, and political control.

The Book of Revelation

The New Testament’s apocalyptic Book of Revelation, also known as “The Apocalypse of John,” has been attributed to John the Apostle, one of the Twelve Disciples; however, it is historically believed to have been written by an unknown author between 81 and 96 CE. The Book of Revelation is a fantastical nightmare of frightening myths and visions. Its inclusion in the New Testament clearly reveals the political motivations behind the Ecumenical Councils’ selection of the books for inclusion. Apparently, they needed a scary horror show to be the “stick,” to go along with Jesus’ far more positive “carrot” message.

In future editions of the Bible, the entire Book of Revelation should be lined through to indicate its macabre insanity to the reader. Or, future editions of the Bible could leave the Book of Revelation out of the Bible altogether! — JXM

Catholic Monastic Life – Calm, Devotion, & Prayer

With the hierarchical structure of the priesthood in place for cultivating the faith of the general populace, the Roman Catholic Church, in a stroke of genius, created “side-pocket” organizations for those who actually wanted to follow the Religion of love and charity taught by Jesus. Men could become monks, and women could become nuns.

The monastic and ascetic path is present in nearly all great religions. It is a prime example of the withdrawal response to social and economic stress. Examples include the Essenes in Judaism, Buddhist monks and nuns, Hindu yogis, and even the Amish and the Mennonites, in their own practical, American way. As we’ve said elsewhere, we Co-Creators in Nature’s Continuing Creation do support the choice of contemplative life… for the minority of People who find it attractive. However, the main thrust of Our Natural Way is to actively construct, cultivate, discover, invent, and create.

The monastic traditions enable individuals who wish to follow Jesus’ communal doctrine of radical sharing and living without possessions to do so. For the most part, these people have been asked to live apart from the general populace, so that mainstream people would not come to question the worth of their own lives in comparison to the lives of those who emulate Jesus.

The ascetic (simple and self-denying) lifestyle of the Essenes living in the first century set the example of Jesus’ life for the Christian monks and nuns. The word “monastic” derives from the Greek word “monos,” meaning alone, and the earliest Christian monks did live alone, as hermits. The first Christian monastery, the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, was built in 346 C.E. in Egypt. The Benedictine Order was founded at Monte Cassino, Italy, in 529. Later orders include the mendicant (begging for alms) Orders – the Franciscans, founded in 1209, and the Dominicans, founded in 1216. (See Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_monasticism_before_451.)

Note: To capture the contemplative tenor of monastic life, go to YouTube online and listen to a chorus of contemporary monks or nuns perform a Gregorian Chant.

The interrelated Processes of Nature’s Continuing Creation show us that a life of complete retreat into introspective prayer is more like death than life. Continuing Creation’s design for most of us is to engage the world all around us. However, partial or periodic retreats – into meditation, contemplation, introspection, or “alone time” – are salubrious ways to regenerate our creative energies. Older people may benefit from increased (but hardly total) retreats, which help them evaluate their lives, allowing their wisdom to be passed on more effectively to the young people around them.

The separation of monks from secular life (at least theoretically) also served a social function. Monasteries became a place for second sons to live in celibacy, ensuring that the entire family estate would pass to the first son and not be divided among all the sons (and/or daughters).

Poverty, Chastity, Obedience… and Monastic Wealth

The monasteries also proved to be centers of literacy, learning, and the development of new technologies, such as improvements in waterwheel and grindstone technology. ¹¹ Most of the Greek literature, philosophy, and science we still have today exists because it was preserved in medieval monasteries. ¹² And many Catholic orders have been devoted to charity work for hundreds of years, and that is clearly a laudable use of their members’ time and energy.

Ironically, many Catholic monastic orders in Europe accumulated significant wealth during the Middle Ages. Since none of the monks were allowed to marry, none of the wealth they created during their lives could be passed down to sons or daughters. Instead, the fruits of their labors stayed in the hands of the monastery, thereby increasing the wealth of the Roman Catholic Church. When King Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church and established the Church of England, he closed many monasteries and annexed their considerable lands to the crown. (See the Wikipedia article, “Dissolution of the Monasteries.”)

Original Sin

Satan Tempts Eve in The Garden of Eden

“Original Sin,” also called “ancestral sin,” is the Christian doctrine that every person is born in a state of sin stemming from Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience to Jehovah when they succumbed to the Devil’s temptation and consumed fruit from the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil,” an event known as “The Fall.” Some scholars contend that this Hebrew phrase is best understood as “the knowledge of everything,” rather than the narrower “knowledge of morality.” ¹³ We will stick with the traditional interpretation – moral knowledge. Early Roman Catholic theologians, including Tertullian, Cyprian, and Ambrose supported this doctrine, seeing that it was based on the New Testament teaching of Paul the Apostle (Romans 5:12–21 and 1 Corinthians 15:22) and the Old Testament verse of Psalm 51:5.

Augustine of Hippo (354-430), well-known today as “Saint Augustine,” and perhaps the foremost theologian of Christianity, formulated a rather severe interpretation of original sin that would become particularly popular among Protestant reformers, such as Martin Luther and John Calvin, who equated original sin with even thinking about or tending toward sin. Augustine affirmed that original sin persisted after baptism and that it completely destroyed humankind’s freedom to choose. ¹⁴

The earliest known portrait of Saint Augustine, a 6th-century fresco, in the Lateran Palace, Rome

The biological subsystems within Nature’s Continuing Creation reveal that humans are born with a mix of both good and evil, possessing both cooperative and competitive traits. Much of this duality stems from the fact that humans are naturally selected on two levels: as individuals and as members of a group or tribe, known as “Group Selection.” ¹⁵.

Nature’s Continuing Creation suggests that evolution at the individual level favors selfishness, while evolution at the group level promotes sharing with others. The constant tension between the two cannot be fully resolved; it must be worked out situation by situation, precedent by precedent. That’s why the law may be the best example of cultural evolution that there is. Religion alone will never meld societies together – fair and just laws are also required.

The religious doctrine of Original Sin attributes evil to humans. This doctrine adds guilt and shame to our psyche, which are totally uncalled for and unproductive. On balance, the doctrine of Original Sin is likely a Shortcoming of Christianity; although when it alerts us to seriously harmful and immoral behavior in our cultures, it acts as a Strength.

Family Values as Written and Preached by the Apostles

The beautiful and touching story of Jesus’ birth in a manger, attended to by a loving father and mother, is a marvelous image of family values. The presence of the wise men and the shepherds extends the love to all humanity, and the presence of the farm animals extends it to all Earth’s creatures.

But in the central mystical myth of post-Jesus Christianity, God has his own son tortured and killed. He does this to save the world from himself, i.e., from his own wrath over the sinful nature of humankind, which he supposedly created in his own image. Despite being illogical, this story hardly sets a positive example of “family values” for humans to follow. (John 3:16) The illogic and unreality of this central myth is a Shortcoming of Christianity.

In Paul’s letters (epistles) to various nascent Christian congregations around the Mediterranean, “Family Values” continue to get short shrift, just as they did in Jesus’ own teachings:

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul wishes that men and women would abstain from sex, but he tells them to “come together” to avoid being tempted by Satan. Finally, after discouraging marriage for eight verses, Paul concedes that “it is better to marry than to burn” (1 Corinthians 7:5 and 7:9)
A Christian believer may either keep or divorce an unbelieving spouse. (These verses are known as the “Pauline Privilege.”) (1 Corinthians 7:12-13)
“Else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.” This verse implies that the children of nonbelievers are considered unclean, whereas the children of believers are regarded as holy. (1 Corinthians 7:14 )
“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” (Ephesians 5:22-24)

The Early Positive Portrayal of Mary Magdalene

We saw in our earlier Essay, “Evaluating Jesus’ Teaching,” that Jesus regarded Mary of Magdalene as an important and respected follower. The earliest post-Jesus Christian communities also held Mary Magdalene in high regard.

The Gnostics, who were eventually suppressed by the Roman Catholic Church, gave Mary Magdalene even more importance. The Gnostics portrayed her as a visionary leader of the early Christian movement, someone whom Jesus had loved more than he loved the other disciples. ¹⁶ (See “FRONTLINE | PBS,” Web: 2 November 2009.) The Gnostic Gospel of Philip names Mary Magdalene as Jesus’ “koinônos,” a Greek word variously translated in contemporary writings as “partner, associate, comrade, or companion.” ¹⁷

The Gnostic text Pistis Sophia (“Unadulterated Wisdom”), possibly dating back to as early as the 2nd century and discovered in 1773, presents a lengthy dialogue with the risen Jesus, in the form of his answers to questions from his disciples, including his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Martha. In this text, the risen Jesus has spent 11 years teaching the “lower mysteries” to his disciples. Now Jesus reveals the “higher mysteries,” which are complex cosmologies and knowledge required for the soul to reach the highest divine realms. At one point, Jesus says to Mary Magdalene: “Mary, thou blessed one, whom I will perfect in all mysteries of those of the height, discourse in openness, thou, whose heart is raised to the kingdom of heaven more than all thy brethren.” ¹⁸

Later Roman Catholic Denigration of Mary Magdalene

The notion of Mary Magdalene being a former prostitute or loose woman dates to a claim by Pope Gregory I (“Gregory the Great”) made in an influential homily in/or around 591. Pope Gregory identified Magdalene with the anonymous sinner bearing the perfume in Luke’s gospel. ¹⁹ (See the Wikipedia article, “Mary Magdalene.“)

Artist’s miniature of Pope Gregory the Great (540-604 CE)

The seven devils removed from Mary Magdalene by Jesus (Luke 8:1-3 and 8:3) “morphed into the Seven Deadly Sins.” In a subsequent religious legend, Mary’s story became conflated with that of St. Mary of Egypt, another repentant prostitute who then lived as a hermit. With that, Mary’s image was “finally settled [as negative]… for nearly fourteen hundred years,” according to author Susan Haskins’ 1993 book, Mary Magdalen: Myth and Metaphor. ²⁰

Tellingly, the “composite” Mary Magdalene (half saint, half whore) was never accepted by the Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. They consistently saw Mary Magdalene as “the good disciple,” and believed that after Jesus’ Resurrection, she lived on as a companion to Jesus’ mother, the Virgin Mary.

Modern Views of Mary Magdalene

Today, the “rehabilitated” Mary Magdalene is considered a saint by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran denominations. In 2016, Pope Francis raised the level of liturgical memory on July 22 from “memorial” to “feast,” and required her to be referred to as the “Apostle of the Apostles.” Several Protestant churches also honor her as a heroine of the faith. ²¹

The “Magdalene Houses”

For centuries, through the 1900s, many European and American cities had “Magdalene Houses” (also called Magdalene asylums or Magdalene laundries) to house former prostitutes. In the pre-industrial Magdalene laundries, women and girls toiled ceaselessly with little reward. Meanwhile, other orders of nuns were favored by monarchs and wealthy families to keep and educate their maiden daughters before an arranged marriage (or to hold daughters indefinitely because they were considered to be “too unappealing” for marriage. Medieval Roman Catholicism was clearly a male-dominated production, like everything else in the Medieval world.

A “Magdalene laundry” in early 20th-century Ireland

Mary, Mother of Jesus

People worldwide have a need and a desire for the divine to be represented by a female figure. But Mary Magdalene was not to be the source of female spirituality in the Roman Catholic Church. Instead, the Roman Church elevated Mary, Mother of Jesus, not only to sainthood but to near Goddess-like status in what modern (often non-Christian) scholars call “The Cult of the Virgin Mary.” ²² (See also the Wikipedia article, “Immaculate Heart of Mary.”)

Secular Popes, Catholic Ossification & Corruption

During the European Middle Ages (500-1500 CE) and the European Renaissance (c. 1400-1700), several popes led armies into battle, had wives and mistresses, and fathered sons. (See Wikipedia’s “List of Sexually Active Popes.” See also, Piers Paul Reed, “The Popes Who Waged War,” in the Catholic Herald, 8-15-2019.) In the mid-1600s, the so-called “Secular Popes” ruled over the Papal States in central Italy, in addition to governing the worldwide Roman Catholic Church.

Opposition to Birth Control

The Catholic Church has long been opposed to birth control and abortion, regardless of the hardship and suffering this causes for poor families, and despite today’s clear evidence that Earth’s human population threatens to overwhelm the planet’s environment. This is an ongoing Shortcoming of Roman Catholic Christianity. – JX Mason

**Suicide is a “Mortal” Sin**

In Catholic Christianity, a “mortal sin” is a gravely immoral act that can lead to damnation if a person does not repent of the sin before death. Catholic doctrine also holds that it is a mortal sin to commit suicide, no matter how much pain a person may be in, no matter how hopeless the medical prognosis may be.

This doctrine about suicide is a Shortcoming of Roman Catholic Christianity. Every adult has the right to end his or her own life, particularly when (but not always) medical and psychological treatments have not achieved their goals, and when (but not always) the suicide is unopposed by the person’s immediate family. — JXM

The Catholic Crusades

Note: All the information in this Section is paraphrased from the Wikipedia article on the Crusades, retrieved 12-21-22.

“Beginning in the 7th century, Muslim rulers expanded their territories into Christian Roman and Byzantine lands, conquering Egypt and the Levant (modern Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria), and gradually taking over all of North Africa and most of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). In 1071, the Muslim Turks defeated the Byzantine Christian army and captured modern Turkey.

“The Christian countries of Europe responded to Islamic expansion by sending huge armies to fight for control of the holy city of Jerusalem. This effort, known as Crusades, was a series of nine campaigns of religious war sanctioned by the Latin (Roman Catholic) Church, fought between the years 1095 and 1187 CE. (The word “Crusade” is related to the word “Cross.”)

“During the First Crusade (1096-99), Pope Urban II told the Christians that fighting the war would repay God for their sins and that if they died on a crusade, they would go straight to heaven. (Not very different from what Islam promises to “Jihadi” warriors in our modern era!) In 1099, the Christian Crusader armies captured Jerusalem. Then, in 1187, Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt and Syria, recaptured Jerusalem for Islam, ending the Third Crusade.

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Peter the Hermit leading The First Crusade, “The People’s Crusade” (1096-1099)

During the centuries of the crusades, powerful orders of military monks were created, including the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller (which later morphed into the chivalric Knights of Malta). These orders established four fortified military duchies in the Levant (the Eastern Mediterranean). Some of these knightly orders amassed great wealth.

“The fighting during the Crusades was fierce and cruel, with what we would today call war crimes and atrocities committed by both sides, depending on the particular battle. To this day, Muslims resent the “inhumane” behavior, as they remember it, of Christian armies during the Crusades.

“The Crusades had a profound impact on Western civilization: they consolidated the collective identity of the Roman Catholic Church under papal leadership and reinforced the connection between Western Christendom, feudalism, and militarism. In this era, the Christian theologians Augustine and Thomas Aquinas (both of whom became Saints) developed Roman Catholic doctrine that supports the conduct of a just (i.e., moral & legal) war.” Real and imagined accounts of heroism, piety, and chivalry from the Crusades fueled medieval romantic philosophy and literature and spurred the European tradition of respectful, chivalrous treatment of women.”

**The Catholic Church Sold “Indulgences” that Erased Sins**

In 1230, the Dominican priest and bishop Hugh of Saint-Cher proposed the idea of a “treasury” at the Church’s disposal, consisting of the infinite merits of Christ and the immeasurable abundance of the saints’ merits (a thesis that was demonstrated by great scholastics such as Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas.) ²³ From 1230 through the 1500s, the Catholic Church sold “indulgences” granting forgiveness of sins in exchange for money that replenished the Church’s “treasury of infinite merit.”

A Catholic sale of indulgences (woodcut, Jörg Breu c. 1530.)

Indulgences became increasingly popular in the Middle Ages, and the later Middle Ages saw the growth of considerable abuses. ²⁴ With the permission of the Church, indulgences became a way for Catholic rulers to fund expensive projects, such as Crusades and cathedrals, by keeping a significant portion of the money raised from indulgences in their own hands. ²⁵

Celibacy, the “For Men Only” Priesthood, & The Molestation of Parishioners

The Catholic insistence that only men are eligible for the priesthood and that priests may not marry has persisted down to the present day. This unfortunate policy likely exacerbated the phenomenon of the Catholic Priesthood becoming a harbor for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of active child molesters, most of whom persisted decade after decade. Rather than being expelled, these Priests were routinely shuffled from parish to parish in a shell game of concealment. The ongoing, long-standing tragedy was finally exposed in the 1990s, starting in the United States, as we discuss in a separate Section of this Essay, below.

The Protestant Reformation

“It’s Tyndale’s New Testament, Liz. Read it for yourself, Liz. It’s in English! That’s the point: English, not Latin. How can this be heresy? Read it and you will see how you’ve been misled. No mention of nuns, monks, or relics. No mention of Popes.” — The character Thomas Cromwell, speaking to his wife in the acclaimed television series, Wolf Hall, Part One.)

The beginning of the Gospel of John from a copy of the 1526 edition of William Tyndale‘s New Testament, in English, at the British Library.

The Protestant Reformation during the 1500s and 1600s was a widespread revolt against the corruption and the power of the Roman Catholic Church. Vast numbers of believers left Catholicism for new Protestant Denominations where they could read the Bible in their native languages, elect their own ministers, and seek personal relationships with God. The new denominations – e.g., Lutherans, Puritans, Presbyterians, Methodists, etc. — eliminated most of the rampant fiscal and moral corruption that had infected Roman Catholicism over the centuries.

Martin Luther’s “95 Theses”

In 1517, the Catholic Priest and theologian Martin Luther posted his revolutionary and famous “Ninety-five Theses“ to the door of the Catholic All Saints Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Luther’s 95 Theses are widely regarded as the primary catalyst for the Protestant Reformation.

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Luther’s theses protested Catholic clerical corruption centered in the five principal categories listed below:

Nepotism – granting jobs, favors, or advantages to relatives and friends.
Simony – Selling church offices, roles, or sacred things.
Usury – making unethical loans that unfairly enrich the lender, i.e., “loan-sharking.”
Pluralism – Accepting non-Catholic religious doctrines as equally valid as Catholicism.
Selling Indulgences – Granting full or partial absolution of sins in exchange for money or influence.

In addition, the people who would soon become known as “Protestants” took issue with the following dysfunctional dogmas and traditions (which they regarded as overblown and petrified) that were being practiced in the Roman Catholic Church:

The New Protestants Opposed the Following Roman Catholic Dogmas & Traditions

The doctrine was that church masses, homilies, and Bibles had to be in Latin only.
Having to approach God only through a priest or a saint as an intermediary.
Believers having no direct access to the Bible (i.e., the Bible was not printed in their native tongue)
Priestly reliance on catechisms, creeds, and prayers recited by rote.
Telling all of one’s sins to another human being.
The “Slap on the wrist” penances that priests granted to favored parishioners.
Having hundreds of Catholic saints acting as intermediaries.
Having Guardian Angels, Mother Mary, & The Holy Ghost – still more intermediaries.
Overblown, macabre art: for example, Jesus’ exposed purple heart encircled in thorns.
Transubstantiation – Wine and a cracker do not become Jesus’ blood & body in the mass!
The vast and growing wealth of the Catholic monasteries.

“Original Sin” According to the Protestant, John Calvin

The French-Swiss Protestant Theologian John Calvin (1509-1564) preached that “Original Sin” is a hereditary corruption of human nature, which renders all people, down through time, worthy of God’s wrath. Our natures are not only destitute of all goodness but also ceaselessly fertile in generating evils. As a result of the Fall, humankind’s will is no longer free but in bondage to “original” sin from the time of each person’s birth. Only divine grace can change the will from bad to good and perform good works in all of us. ²⁶

John Calvin’s Doctrine of Predestination

The French-Swiss Protestant Theologian John Calvin (1509-1564) twisted the idea of “Original Sin” even further with his doctrine of “Predestination,” which argued said that Since God is all-knowing and all-seeing, every human that is born is “pre-destined” by God to be either saved and enter heaven, or damned and enter hell. And so, why even try to be good? Since God knows all and controls all, Calvin reasoned that each newborn baby is predestined to go either to Heaven or to Hell. Those predestined for Heaven are called “The Elect.” Those predestined for hell are “The Damned.” God’s Grace is given only to the elect! Further, His granting of grace does not depend on merit; it is a purely gratuitous gift from God. And finally, no living person can ever know for sure whether he or she is destined for heaven or for hell.

Followers of Nature’s Continuing Creation say, “Clavin’s doctrine may be logical, but it’s completely ridiculous and totally pessimistic.” Nature’s Continuing Creation rejects the ideas of predestination, original sin, godly omniscience, and the existence of an anthropomorphic (human-like) God who cares for individual humans. These doctrines are not consistent with Nature, Science, & History. — JXM

By the end of his career, Calvin had achieved complete dominance of the Swiss capital, Geneva, and that domination made it possible for his program to fully bloom. All Geneva inhabitants had to renounce the Roman Catholic faith or face expulsion from the city. Nobody could possess images, crucifixes, or other articles associated with the “Roman” worship. Fasting was prohibited, together with vows, pilgrimages, prayers for the dead, and prayers in Latin. Nobody could say anything good about the pope. It was forbidden to give non-Biblical names to children. Attendance at sermons was compulsory. Additionally, people were expected to arrive at church on time, remain seated, and pay attention. (See, http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/texts/carrie_books/gilbert/14.html.) ²⁷

Note: The Spanish theologian Michael Servetus (1511-1553) challenged Calvin’s views on the Trinity, original sin, predestination, justification by faith, the depravity of man, and infant baptism. Based on charges brought by Calvin, Servetus was put on trial. The trial was conducted by the civil authorities, but the accusations were based entirely on Servetus’s writings and theology. Servetus was convicted and burned at the stake in Geneva. Today, Servetus is revered as an early model and martyr within the Unitarian Universalist denomination, a free-thinking faith that broke away from Calvinism and its successor, Puritanism.

The Protestant Puritans

The Puritans were English Protestants who largely agreed with Martin Luther, and (to a lesser degree) with John Calvin. They felt that King Henry VIII’s new Church of England (established in 1534) had not moved far enough away from the doctrines and ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church. The Puritans called for individual piety and “purity” in both conduct and in one’s mind. Most Puritans believed that their individual congregations should have a minimal (if any) supervisory hierarchy above the ministers at their particular churches.

Oliver Cromwell and British Puritanism

After winning a linked sequence of three “English Civil Wars” (1639-1653) against King Charles I, the extremist Puritan General, Oliver Cromwell, ruled Great Britain between 1649 and 1653 as “Lord Protector of the Commonwealth.” An intensely religious man, a self-styled “Puritan Moses,” he fervently believed that God was guiding his victories. His “Rump Parliament” in London enacted Penal Laws against Roman Catholics and confiscated a substantial amount of their land. Cromwell’s measures against Catholics in Scotland and Ireland have been harshly criticized.

Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the British Commonwealth from 1653 to 1658. Portrait by Samuel Cooper, 1656

Other Large Protestant Denominations

In Scotland, the largest Protestant denomination was the Presbyterian Church, which also accepted a significant portion of Calvinist doctrine. The British Methodist and Baptist denominations became known for their emphasis on evangelism and the transforming effect of the sanctification of newcomers.

The Counter-Reformation

The Counter-Reformation (also known as the Catholic Reformation) is the grand effort undertaken between 1545 and 1648 by the Roman Catholic Church to address many of the faults revealed by the Protestant Reformation. It included extensive anti-corruption efforts, spiritual movements, and the creation of new religious orders, including the Jesuits.

The Spanish Inquisition

Unfortunately, the Counter-Reformation included an expansion of the infamous “Inquisition” (begun in the 12th century) that “examined” suspected heretics and “witches” by torturing and even burning many of them at the stake. Starting in 1480, the Spanish Inquisition worked to convert (or force the departure of) Jews and Muslim Moors from Spain. The Inquisition’s trials, torture, and executions between 1480 and 1530 are estimated at about 2000 people. (See the Wikipedia article, Spanish Inquisition.)

“My Lords, I can offer you no words of comfort. This Armada that sails against us carries in its bowels the Inquisition! God, forbid it succeeds! For then there will be no more liberty in England; of conscience or of thought. We cannot be defeated!” — Cate Blanchett, starring as Queen Elizabeth I, in the film “Elizabeth: The Golden Age.”

The Jesuits

In 1534, the Spanish priest Ignatius of Loyola founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) – a new order of highly disciplined priests designed to act as “shock troops” in the fight against the spread of Protestantism and to root out corruption within the Catholic Church. This fight included the severe and often cruel Spanish Inquisition. The Jesuits also undertook challenging missions to remote and dangerous parts of the world. Known for their intellectual mastery of secular disciplines, modern Jesuits have been instrumental in founding and operating schools and universities. Ignatius of Loyola was made a Catholic Saint after his death.

A rack used during the Spanish Inquisition, on display at the Torture Museum in Toledo, Spain

Witch Hunting and Witch Burning

Witch-hunts in Europe and Colonial America took place between 1450 and 1750, spanning the upheavals of the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, resulting in an estimated 35,000 to 50,000 executions. Both Catholic and Protestant leaders burned witches at the stake through the 1750s. (See the Wikipedia article, “Witch-hunt.”) ²⁸

Modern Priestly Molestation of Children and Youth

In modern times, and likely going back hundreds of years, members of the Catholic Priesthood have molested children and teens. Investigations have been held worldwide, and priests, bishops, and cardinals have been transferred to Catholic “retirement homes” all over the world. Thousands of news stories have been written, hundreds of lawsuits have been litigated, and damages have been paid to parents. An accurate, thorough, and impactful presentation of this scandal is in the 2015 motion picture, “Spotlight,” which follows a real-life group of reporters at the Boston Globe Newspaper as they investigate the abuse of kids by Catholic priests in Massachusetts. These Priests were under the supervision of Boston’s Cardinal Bernard Law, who was proven to be cognizant of their abuse. The Spotlight motion picture starred Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, and Liev Schreiber.

Similar (but less prevalent) abuse has also been uncovered in Protestant denominations and in the Boy Scouts of America, although the abuse in those organizations was not as prevalent as in the Catholic priesthood. Richard Sipe, a former Benedictine monk and priest, and now a practicing psychotherapist, says in the film “Spotlight” that only 50% of priests maintain their celibacy. Mr. Sipe has written and published six books on these issues. Many people also think that the increased congregational and parental governance in Protestant churches limits the incidence of sexual abuse in those denominations.

Christianity’s Denial of Climate Change

Dr. Timothy Beal (Professor of Religion at Case Western Reserve University) has said, “In some circles of Christianity, there is this notion that God created the entire rest of creation for us humans, who were created in God’s image to be rulers of it. And then the Second Coming is going to come, and all the Christian faithful will be swept up into Heaven.” In effect, these Christians are saying, “So, God pumped all that oil down in there in the ground for us humans to freely use. And if it causes a bit of global warming, that’s fine because Jesus’ Second Coming will surely arrive before we use up all that oil.” And Christians “are good to go with this chain of events.” — JXM

Christianity’s implicit minimization of global warming is a major Shortcoming of modern Christianity. However, Pope Francis has been working to remedy this shortcoming. See his Encyclical, ‘Laudato Si’ – “On Care For Our Common Home,” which builds on the Bible’s “stewardship verse” in Genesis 1:28; and on Saint Francis of Assisi’s love for plants and animals.

Final Thoughts

We Co-Creators see Productive work as a moral good if that work contributes to the progress of Nature’s Continuing Creation — the progress of science, engineering, medicine, ecology, justice, relationships with family, friends, community, society, and personal well-being.

Millions of followers draw their spiritual sustenance from Christian denominations. In addition, Christianity has, over the centuries, provided a wealth of charity to the world’s less fortunate people. The Catholic Church has supported artists, providing the world with magnificent cathedrals and churches, as well as masterpieces of music and art.

Life is difficult, and if Christianity works for you, we have no desire to turn you away from it. But if you seek a different path, or if you have questions, consider Nature’s Path of Continuing Creation.
__________________________
— J.X. Mason ContinuingCreation.org

APPENDIX A – Timeline of Christianity

Note: Reference for much of the following Timeline is from: “The Birth of Jesus: Two Gospel Narratives, a Crossroads Mini-Course,” Boston College, at http://www.bc.edu/schools/stm/crossroads/resources/birthofjesus/intro/the_dating_of_thegospels.html

0-33 CE – Approximate years for the Crucifixion and Death of Jesus.

33-43 CE –- “The Apostles spread Christianity to Jewish communities around the Mediterranean. The religion taught by Jesus first grew among the Jews in Judea. Then, the original Twelve Apostles, who accompanied Jesus as a living man, fanned out to preach Jesus’ teachings to Jewish communities across the Mediterranean. The book of Acts reports that the early followers continued to attend the Temple daily and observe traditional Jewish home prayers. Other passages in the accepted (canonical) Gospels mention reverence for the Torah (generally translated as “the Law” in English translations of the Bible) and observance of Jewish holy days.

33-100 CE – The “Apostolic Age.” Most of the Gospels are written based on oral retellings that include myths and fantastical stories. These Gospels are attributed to the Apostles and their contemporaries, but they were usually written by later authors.

40-60 CE — Paul of Tarsus (St. Paul) begins preaching to Gentiles, starting in Antioch, then a major Roman city near today’s border between Turkey and Syria. [7] The new converts did not follow all Jewish Law and refused to be circumcised, [11] as circumcision was considered repulsive in Hellenistic culture (Greek culture from the time of Alexander the Great). [12] At the Council of Jerusalem, Paul (supported by Peter) argued that circumcision was not a necessary practice.[13] The council agreed, but they deemed other aspects of “Jewish Law” to be necessary.

50’s CE – the “Q-Document” is written. Scholars believe that a now-lost gospel, dubbed the “Q-document,” was written about 50 C.E. We know that much of Matthew and Luke are based on the earlier Gospel of Mark. However, about 200 nearly identical passages appear in both gospels, Matthew and Luke, but not in Mark. Scholars conclude these 200 passages must have come from a single earlier, now-lost source — the “Q document.”

50-70 CE –The letters of Paul, written to several early Christian congregations between 50 CE and 70 CE, were among the first recorded Christian documents. However, since they do not tell the story of Jesus’ life or attempt to recount Jesus’ sayings, they are not considered “Gospels.”

55-58 CE — In Paul’s Letter (Epistle) to the Romans and the Gospel of John, Jesus, the human sage and prophet, is re-envisioned as the Son of God, and also as an indivisible part of God himself. Jesus’ original message of moral and spiritual reform is replaced by the doctrine that simply having true faith in Jesus’ correctness and divinity will guarantee a person’s entry into Heaven after death.

63-68 CE — The Apostles James, Peter, and Paul are killed. The deaths of these important church leaders likely encouraged the writing down of narratives about Jesus.

66-70 CE — Roman armies defeated the Zionist army and destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple (the Second Temple), effectively ending a four-year Jewish revolt against the Empire.

70 CE – The Gospel of Mark is written. The author is unknown. This Gospel is judged to be independently authored – it does not draw on any known predecessor documents.70–100 CE – Gnosticism. Groups of Jewish and early Christian believers emphasized personal spiritual knowledge (gnosis) over orthodox teachings, traditions, and the authority of religious institutions. Gnosticism generally presents a distinction between a supreme, hidden God and a malevolent lesser divinity (sometimes associated with the Yahweh of the Old Testament) [2] who is responsible for creating the material universe. Consequently, Gnostics considered material existence flawed or evil. They held that the principal element of salvation is direct knowledge of the hidden divinity, attained via mystical or esoteric insight. Many Gnostic texts deal with the concepts of sin and repentance, but rather with illusion and enlightenment.

77-110 CE — The Gospel of Mark probably dates from c. AD 66–70. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke date from around AD 85–90. The Gospel of John was most likely written between AD 90 and 110.

80s or 90s CE – The Gospels of Matthew and Luke are written, drawing on Mark and the now-lost Q document as their primary sources. Whenever Mathew and Luke agree, but there is no parallel in Mark, Q is the source. (Mark, Matthew, and Luke are together known as the Synoptic)

81-93 CE — The Book of Revelation is written — a nightmarish vision of apocalyptic violence intended to scare people into becoming disciples of Jesus and following the emerging doctrines of the Christian Church.

90-110 CE – The Gospel of John is written (not by John the Baptist or John the Apostle, but by an unknown author.) This Gospel reinforces and provides poetic grandeur for the theology in Paul’s Letter to the Romans. It differs significantly from Mark, Matthew, and Luke; it features Jesus speaking in lengthy and eloquent lectures. The Jesus Seminar scholars judge the Gospel of John not to have any sayings actually spoken by Jesus.

100-250 CE — In different parts of the Mediterranean, Jesus’ words are interpreted in different ways, giving rise to arguments between schools of Christian thought, including the Gnostics (100-250 CE), etc.

150 CE – The Gospel of Thomas is written. The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of 114 sayings of Jesus. About half resemble those found in the Synoptic Gospels, and half are thought to come from Gnostic sources. (Many scholars say the Gospel of Thomas contains oral traditions from around the year 50 CE.) This gospel was discovered at Nag Hammadi in Egypt in 1945.

180 CE– Saint Irenaeus, a Bishop in Gaul (present-day France), issues his book Against Heresies – a detailed attack on Gnosticism. (Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).

200-300 CE — The 2nd [100-200] and 3rd [200-300] centuries saw a sharp divergence from Christianity’s early roots. There was an explicit rejection of contemporary Judaism and Jewish culture by the end of the 2nd century, with a growing body of anti-Jewish literature.

299-303 CE – Roman Emperor Diocletian persecuted and killed Christians and also Manicheans (followers of a major post-Jesus religion that taught that the universe is a struggle between light and darkness).

305 CE – The Council of Elvira decides that “marriage be altogether prohibited to bishops, priests, and deacons, or to all clerics placed in the ministry, and that they keep away from their wives and not beget children; whoever does this, shall be deprived of the honor of the clerical office.” (Canon 33)

312 CE – Roman Emperor Constantine the Great converts to Christianity.

313 CE – Constantine issues the Edict of Milan, decreeing that Christians are free to practice their religion in the Roman Empire.

312-337 CE — Throughout his rule, Constantine supported the Church financially, built basilicas, granted privileges to clergy (e.g., exemption from certain taxes), promoted Christians to high office, and returned property confiscated during the persecution by prior Emperor Diocletian (244-311). Thus, Christianity gets a tremendous boost of money and organizational power. This is a principal reason for Christianity’s growth and power, allowing it to become the world’s largest religion today.

325 CE – First Council of Nicaea. Constantine assembles nearly all Catholic Bishops and commands them to erase all major theological disagreements between them. The bishops do reach a consensus on key theological questions, many of which are reflected in the Nicene Creed.

346 CE – The first Christian monastery is established, in Egypt.

380 CE — The Edict of Thessalonica, issued by Theodosius I, makes Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire. As Christianity placed its stamp upon the Empire, the Emperor shaped the church for political purposes. (Charles Freeman (2008), A.D. 381 – Heretics, Pagans, and the Dawn of the Monotheistic State. ISBN 978-1-59020-171-8.)

300-500 CE — Under Imperial influence, Christianity develops a strong, unified, episcopal (bishop-governed) structure. It adopts a military-style chain of command, strict doctrine, and tight church law (canon law, ecclesiastical law). Non-orthodox interpretations of Christianity are suppressed as heresies.

451 CE — The Council of Chalcedon reasserts the teachings of the ecumenical Council of Ephesus against two heresies: one that tried to separate Christ’s divine nature from his humanity, and another that tried to portray Christ as solely divine in nature. [see wiki Council of Chalcedon, foots 1, 2, and 3.]

1054 CE — Split between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

1500 CE onward – The Protestant Reformation.

1517 CE – Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany. The theses are severe critiques of the Roman Catholic Church, principally objecting to (1) the ease of priestly forgiveness of sin, (2) the idea of purgatory, and (3) the church’s sale of indulgences promising to ease guilt and punishment after death.

1535-45 CE – Henry VIII Dissolves the Catholic Monasteries in England. The monastic lands (about 25% of England’s landed wealth) passed to the King, who granted much of it to his nobles. (This was part of the Protestant Reformation in England.)

1545-1648 CE – The Counter-Reformation, also called The Catholic Reformation. The Catholic Church works on many fronts to reform itself and to counteract the influences of the Protestant Reformation. The Counter-Reformation included extensive anti-corruption efforts, spiritual movements, and the creation of new religious orders, such as the Jesuits. The Catholic Reformation also included an expansion of the “Inquisition,” (begun in the 12th century), which “examined” suspected heretics and witches and burned a number of them at the stake. In Portugal and Spain, Jews and Muslims were forced to convert or emigrate.

1540 CE to the present day -–The Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), was a new religious order of Catholic Priests. It was formed to energetically carry out the goals of the Counter-Reformation. Jesuits became known for their robust health, intellectual abilities, and advanced academic education – all of which were useful in arguing against Protestantism and secularism. They are known as the “Soldiers of God.” Jesuits have founded and operated numerous schools and universities. Jesuits have also performed difficult missionary work all over the world, particularly in Mexico, Central, and South America.

1600-1750 CE — the “Puritan” movement within Protestantism seeks to “Purify” the Church of England of “Roman Catholic practices. “Reformed” Churches such as the Presbyterians (particularly in Scotland).

1649-1659 CE – Following a civil war in England, generally between the Puritans and the nobility, and the execution of King Charles I in January 1649, the “Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland” is ruled as a Republic by Parliament and/or by Oliver Cromwell as “Lord Protector of the Republic.”

1660 CE –“The Stuart Restoration.” Charles I’s son, Charles II, was crowned King of Great Britain.

1738 CE – Origins of Evangelical Christianity. Affirms the centrality of (1) being “born again,” in which an individual experiences personal conversion, (2) the inerrant and literal authority of the Bible as God’s revelation to humanity), and (3) the importance of spreading the Christian message to other people (i.e., “evangelizing”).

1820 CE to present day – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormonism). Its exaltation doctrine says that mortal families can be reunified after the resurrection and that spiritual fathers and mothers can, after celestial marriage (“sealing ceremony”), have spirit children in the afterlife and inherit a portion of God’s kingdom.[96][107] The most significant LDS rituals can be performed via proxy on behalf of those who have died, such as baptism for the dead.

1820-1840 CE – American Transcendentalism Movement – An important Forerunner of Continuing Creation. Leaders include Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. A core belief is in the inherent goodness of people and nature. Transcendentalists saw divine experience inherent in the everyday, rather than believing in a distant heaven. Transcendentalists saw physical and spiritual phenomena as part of dynamic processes rather than discrete entities. [ wiki [foots 1,2, and 3.] (See our Essay, “Forerunners to Our Path & Practice.”)

1825 CE to the present – Unitarian Universalism. (See our Essay, “Forerunners to Our Path & Practice.“)

1886 – Discovery of the “Gospel of Peter” in the sands of Egypt. This non-canonical text is widely thought to date from after the composition of the four canonical gospels. Scholars are divided on the exact date of the text, with Bart Ehrman placing it in the first half of the 2nd century and considering it to have been compiled based on oral traditions about Jesus, independent of the canonical Gospels.

1898 – Discovery of the “Gospel of Mary. Scholars do not always agree on which of the New Testament women named Mary is the central character of the Gospel of Mary. Stephen J. Shoemaker and F. Stanley Jones suggested that she may be Mary, the mother of Jesus, while other scholars say she is likely Mary Magdalene.

1945 CE – Discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library of early Christian and Gnostic texts near the town of Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt. Includes the complete Gospel of Thomas.

1946-56 – Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (a.k.a. the Qumran Cave Scrolls). These are ancient Jewish and Hebrew manuscripts dating from the 3rd century BCE to 100 CE. They are not Christian documents. Archaeologists have long associated the scrolls with the ancient Jewish sect known as the Essenes, although some recent interpretations have challenged this connection, arguing that priests in Jerusalem (the “Zadokites”) or other unidentified Jewish groups may have written the Dead Sea Scrolls.

1962-65 CE – Second Vatican Ecumenical Council (“Vatican II”). An extensive reform of the liturgy. Mass could now be said in native languages, not just in Latin. Gave a larger role in the church to Catholic laypeople. Opened dialogue with other churches. Introduced the concept of religious freedom. Allowed prayer with people of other religions.

1970s – Gospel of Judas. The Gospel of Judas is a non-canonical Gnostic gospel. The content consists of conversations between Jesus and Judas Iscariot. It is widely believed to have been composed in the 2nd century (prior to 180 AD) by Gnostic Christians, rather than by the historical Judas himself. According to the text, Judas is the only one of Jesus’s disciples who accurately understands the words of his master. This Gospel contains few narrative elements; essentially, the Gospel records how Judas was taught by Jesus the true meaning of his message.

2015 CE – Pope Francis’ Laudato si’ Encyclical, (“Praise Be to You: On Care for Our Common Home.”) In this document, The pope critiques consumerism and irresponsible commercial and industrial development, laments environmental degradation and global warming, and calls all people of the world to take “swift and unified global action.”[see wiki on Laudato si’; footnotes 1 and 2]

Footnotes to This Essay and to its Appendix A:

Hans Pohlsander, The Emperor Constantine, 2004, Routledge, pp 38-39. ISBN 0-415-31937-4. Paperback ISBN 0-415-31938-2.
“Legitimization Under Constantine,” FRONTLINE: From Jesus to Christ, April 1998, PBS. Available in print at https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/why/legitimization.html.
Dr. Bart Ehrman, Ibid., p. 347.
R. Gerberding and J. H. Moran Cruz, Medieval Worlds, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004, pp. 55–56.
, John Demetrius John Georgacas, “The Names of Constantinople”, Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association (The Johns Hopkins University Press), 1947, pp. 346-67. doi: 10.2307/283503. JSTOR 283503.
Socrates II.13, cited by J B Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, pp. 74-5.
J. D. Crossan, Jesus, A Revolutionary Biography, Ibid., p. 101.
Dominic Crossan, Ibid. P. 201.
The Jesus Seminar, et. al., The Five Gospels, Ibid., pp 5-8.
Burton Mack, Who Wrote the New Testament: The Making of the Christian Myth, 1989, Harper Collins, pp. 6-7.
T.F. Glick, Glick, T.F. Irrigation and Society in Medieval Valencia, 1970, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, p. 178. ISBN 0-674-46675-6p.
See, for example, Thomas Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilization, 1995, Anchor Books (Random House).
Cyrus H. Gordon and Gary A. Rendsburg, The Bible and the Ancient Near East (4th ed.), 1997, W.W. Norton & Co., p. 36. ISBN 978-0-393-31689-6. See also Nicolas Wyatt, Space and Time in the Religious Life of the Near East, 2001, A&C Black, p. 244. ISBN 978-0-567-04942-1.
Kenneth M. Wilson, Augustine’s Conversion from Traditional Free Choice to “Non-free Free Will”: A Comprehensive Methodology, 2018, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, pp. 16–18; 157–159; 269–271; and 279–285. ISBN 978-3-16-155753-8.
Joan E. Strassmann, Joan E.; Robert E. Page; Gene E. Robinson; and Thomas D. Seeley, (March 2011). “Kin Selection and Eusociality,” March 2011, Nature, 471 (7339): E5-E6. Bibcode:2011Natur.471E…5S. doi:10.1038/nature09833. PMID 21430723. S2CID 205224117.
Karen L. King, “Women in Ancient Christianity: The New Discoveries, 2009, Frontline: The First Christians.
Antii Marjanen, The Woman Jesus Loved: Mary Magdalene in the Nag Hammadi Library and Related Documents, 1996, Brill. ISBN 9004106588.
James and D.E. Desiree Hurtak, Pistis Sophia Text and Commentary, 1999, Academy for Future Science, 1999. See also Pistis Sophia: A Gnostic Gospel, translated by G.R.S. Mead (1991 and 2006), The Book Tree. ISBN 978-58509-268-3.
Richard J. Hooper, “The Crucifixion of Mary Magdalene: The Historical Tradition of the First Apostle and the Ancient Church’s Campaign to Suppress It,” Sanctuary, 2005, p. 81. ISBN 978-0-9746995-4-7.2005.
Susan Haskins, Mary Magdalen: Myth and Metaphor.1993, Riverhead Books, The Berkley Publishing Group.
Holy See Bulletin 10/06/2016.
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/virg/hd_virg.htm.
“Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText”. www.vatican.va.
Article on “Indulgences,” F.L. Cross, ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Oxford University Press. 2005,
“The Historical Origin of Indulgences,” Library, www.catholicculture.org. See also Johann Peter Kirsch, “The Reformation”. The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12, Transcribed for New Advent by Marie Jutras, Robert Appleton Company
“John Calvin,” The Institutes of the Christian Religion, II.1.8, LCC, 2 vols., trans. Ford Lewis Battles, ed. John T. McNeill, 1960, Westminster, p. 251 (p. 217 of CCEL edition).
“Calvin and Geneva,” The Carrie Library, Univ. of Kansas
Richard M. Golden, “Satan in Europe: The Geography of Witch Hunts,” 1997, in Wolfe, Michael (ed.), Changing Identities in Early Modern France. Duke University Press. p. 234.