Notes from 2/11

Housekeeping things

*remember that the blog can be used for personal belief, if you mention that this is YOUR perspective

*Church Sites Visit assignment is a space for us to put on our STUDIER/SCHOLARLY hat, as opposed to looking at this site as a WORSHIPPER

See Christian Traditions: Christian Church Site Visit & Visiting Christian Christian sites documents for more info

Last Class take-aways 2/9

• Trinity= 1 substance, 3 emanation/hypostases
• Begotten not made
• Diversity of ideas concerning what is tradition
• Evolution of tradition (ex Nicene Creed 2010)
• Tradition is a LIVE DISCUSSION
• Councils
• What is orthodox?
• Complexity of faith
• Acts v. Galatians
• Jesus is Christ, Christ >Jesus

*Overall idea of constant Reformation of ideas

Monasticism, Mendicants, St. Francis readings discussion

St. Francis was a medieval monastic, but Monasticism began as early as the 200s

Monasticism concerns:

Imitating Christ's sacrifice in the desert

Marked by simplicity

Lent embodies this same ideal of sacrifice in the desert

Monastics take it on as a LIFESTYLE

4th century we really begin to see this embodiment

Monasticism---pedagogy

• "Do as teacher does, that’s how learning happens"- imitation of Jesus' sacrifice

Originally Monastics were hermits and lived the hermetic lifestyle

But..

They began to dwell in communities and become communal monastic orders

Guidelines to help this (imitatio Christi) were written by:

• Augustine
• Benedict of Nursia (5-6th centuries)

Benedictine Rule --> widely adopted as "WORK AND PRAYER"- not entirely separate

OVERALL

Monastics- discipline, creation, prayer

Guest Speaker- Caroline Bruzelius "Art History and Digital Visualization" specifically "The Impact of Mendicant Orders: Friars (Franciscans & Dominicans) in the City"

Architectural spaces in Europe were shaped by religious orders in the medieval times

Franciscans, as well as Dominicans--> poverty

St. Francis was a radical with ideas still evident (i.e. our own Pope Francis)

How did his way of life change of ideals of "religious life?"

Speaker used medium of images to illustrate topics

1st image- shows characteristic difference between Benedictine, Franciscan, Dominican

• Benedictine- inside
• Dominican- clothing is black and white
• Franciscans- cloak and cord

Benedictine- self-sufficiency and isolation

BUT WE WILL FOCUS ON MENDICANT ORDERS

Mendicants go out in public

Friars live in the cities--> preach, poverty, "public outreach"

REFORM our ideas

In the Early Christian church, it was inside and private

Mendicants did outdoor preaching CHARACTERIZED THEM

Image #3- shows difference between parochial and monastic life

MENDICANTS however disrupt the system and drive a wedge in life

They reach out to the people and gain following and money

This wedge

Sacraments including funeral and Last Rights made a lot of $

Traditionally, relationships between secular clergy in parochial and the lay people was through sacraments and death, but Mendicants changed this by going into public

This made the Church wealthy--> lay people were attracted to the mendicants

In 1284 someone actually wrote to Bishop of Salerno saying that parochial(s) were violent toward mendicants because they overthrew their authority

In another image, we see St. Domenic and St. Francis, the leaders of mendicants

They were similar is ideology but also very different

Domenic 1170-1221

-priest

-anti architectural movement

-be poor yourself

Specialized in teaching and scholarship

Francis 1181-1226

-stigmata--> new Christ

-expression of "live suffering of Christ"

Friars Importance?

• New model of religious life
• Concordance (indexes), sermon collections, penitentiaries, Golden Legend
• Connection to lay
• New academic system

Many images were shown that characterized outdoor preaching especially in piazzas

• Pistoia, San Francesco
• Peter Martyr in Florence

Piazzas actually carved out the landscape because of the desire to worship

Commune destroyed environments because of the importance of preaching

Artists sometimes used comedy (animals) to speak to the relevance of outdoor preaching by mendicants