How the Catholic Church Survived Two Thousand :: Essays Papers

How the Catholic Church Survived Two Thousand Introduction On theDay of Pardon in the Year of Jubilee, 2000 years after the birth of JesusChrist, Pope John Paul II and several other high members of the Catholic Churchperformed a prayer of forgiveness and confession, apologizing for all thewrongdoings of the Church. The Pope said later that they had been preparing todo this for several years, but had chosen the year 2000 Further, the Popeactually apologizing for the wrongdoings of the Church poses several questions:â€Å"Why did the Pope need to apologize: what ills did the Church, itsofficials and it followers commit that required the Pope to publicly clear hisconscience by apologizing for them? Further, to what extent did the Churchembody both human and divine e! lements in the past, and to what extent does ittoday?† To understand the Catholic Church today it is essential tounderstand the society it was born into and how the culture and politics of thepast 2000 years have shaped the Church and the Bible itself. After oneacknowledges the behavior and dogma that dominated the papacy in theChurch’s history (including the papal infallibility clause stating thatthe Pope being God’s voice on earth, can do no wrong), one can see howrevolutionary these speeches really were. TheEarly Church Effectivelyunderstanding the Catholic Church today requires one to unders! tand how theculture and politics of the Roman Empire shaped the structure of the Church andthe Bible itself. Jesus lived in what is modern day Palestine, which was partof the Roman Empire. Judaism and Hellenistic Greek traditions were the dominantreligions of the day. Several sects of Jews existed but although they agreed onthe basic tenets of Judaism —there is only one God, God’s peopleought to follow certain guidelines and God would fulfill his promise—they spent most of their time bickering over how to serve God. Theearly Church faced several struggles such as maintaining the purity ofChristianity, defining the structure of the Church and surviving the constantattacks on Christians by the Roman Empire. One of the Church’s firststruggles! was to define itself vis-à  -vis the Jewish tradition and theRoman World. Both Paul and the Book of Acts reveal questions and issues theearly Church wrestled with. For example: â€Å"Should Christianity be its ownreligion or a new sect of Judaism?† â€Å"Which books should be includedin the Bible and which were the works of heretics?†