Takeaways from Tuesday’s Class
- idea of the Trinity, not three separate things but rather one with different characteristics (orthodox Christians); one substance, three emanations/hypostases (ousios)
- Irenaeus talks about importance of orthodox teaching
- begotten, not made
Monastic Movements
- 300s - there are people who decide that the way to follow Christ is to imitate his time in the desert
- Lent mimics this
- 4th century - certain followers of Christ following him by literally trying to embody his time in the desert, based on ancient idea of teaching that says that the way you learn is by doing what your teacher does
- ermetic lifestyle - individual monks living out in the wilderness
- eventually, there are so many hermits, that they begin to dwell together
- people begin to write out rules and guidelines by which these monastic groups should live
- imitatio christi - Imitation of Christ (will be on exam!)
- Augustine - writes a rule for how to live as a monastic
- Benedict of Nursia - 5th-6th century monk who writes a rule called the Benedictine Rule which becomes very important model for monks and nuns, becomes one of the most widely adopted rules
- basis is work and prayer, artistic labor, singing, praying
- make food, beer, wine
- prayer is work, work is prayer
The Impact of Mendicant Orders: Friars (Franciscans and Dominicans) in the City
- religious orders - people who decide to live together in community for religious reasons and create architectural spaces to reflect their religion
- Francis and Saint Dominic
- Benedictine community was supposed to be a self sufficient and separate entity
- opposing groups - monks following a rule or the Mendicant orders who are urban, engaged with the public, study in universities, oriented toward public preaching
- friars live in cities, and are dedicated to preaching, apostolic poverty, and “public outreach”
- clothing was a very important social identifier in this era
- starting in the early Christian church, religion had moved inside
- Christianity was a religion of the initiated, which was inside, becomes private and personal
- Franciscans and Dominicans did the opposite of this, externalized religion
- the pope and the papal curia
- secular clergy: parishes and cathedrals, both urban and rural, engaging with lay public
- monastic communities = “regular clergy,” inherently rural, no mission in the public
- mendicant orders are so good at preaching, they engage with people in public, drives a
wedge between secular and regular clergies
- soon, the lay public wants to go to mendicant orders’ churches to pray, be a part of
- Saint Dominic - 1170-1221; priest, anti heretical movement
- Saint Francis - 1181-1226; parallel drawn between Francis and Christ, stigmata (wounds of crucifixion), Christ reborn, intense identification with the life and suffering of Christ
- the new religious orders (mendicant orders) - Franciscans and Dominicans
- fundamental principles:
- apostolic poverty - the renunciation of traditional clerical sources of income
- outdoor
- a new model of religious life
- new types of texts: concordance (index of the Bible), penitentiaries, the Golden Legend (lives of saints), sermon collections
- new connectivity to the law public
- new academic system
- preaching was to lead to penance; an externalization of the sacraments: confession and absolution offered outside, in public space, in the piazza
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