Lecture 5 Religion_ Cultural and Sicial Life学生.doc

Lecture 5 Religion, Cultural and Social Life Part One Religion Overview a Christian country. The first Christian church was established at Canterbury in 597 by Augustine. Two established churches in UK: the Church of England (the Anglican Church) and the Church of Scotland.( the Presbyterian) The holy book: the Bible The British monarch is Supreme Governor of the Church of England and the Defender of the Faith 2. The Origin and Development of Christianity Judaism (/Tanakh/Hebrew Bible/the Old Testament) Christianity (Bible/ the Old Testament and the New Testament) 63 BC, the Romans invaded Palestine. The Roman Empire cruelly persecuted the Believers and suppressed Christianity. Constantine became the Roman Emperor in the early 4th century. He realized the great strength of Christianity and decided to make use of it in wars against his enemies. He declared Christianity to be the state religion. As the Roman Empire was split into the West and East Roman Empires in 395, the church was divided into the Western and Eastern churches. After the fall of the West Roman Empire, the Middle Ages began. It was “the age of faith”, when almost all Europeans belonged to the Christian Church. Religion was of great importance in almost every aspect of daily life. The pope had more authority than any other person in Europe. A monk, Augustine, was sent to England (596 AD) to concert the Anglo-Saxons there. In 1054, Christianity was finally split into the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church. The Reformation was a 16th century religious movement against the Roman Catholic Church, which had become more and more corrupt and unpopular. The Protestant Reformation 1) A religious movement started in 1517, when the German monk Martin Luther posted for debate a series of theses that challenged Roman Catholic teaching. 2) Many Protestant sects broke away from the central organization of Roman Catholic Church. For example, the Church of England 3) Most of the Protestants stressed the