Chapter 7- The Early Church (to A.D. 300) What connects you to a community?
Why was Jerusalem an important city in the time of Jesus?
What words do you associate with the word
martyr?
Pentecost story in Acts of the Apostles:
Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles
Tongues of fire
Peter told the people to repent and believe in the Good News of Jesus
About 3,000 people baptized
Holy Spirit- guided the first Christian community to believe in Jesus and help them live out Jesus’ teachings
Challenges for early Christians:
Tension with Jewish neighbors
Nero- Roman emperor who began the first persecutions of Christians around A.D. 64
Early persecutions- thousands of Christians put to death for refusing to deny their faith
Stephen- disciple who was put to death in Jerusalem because he was falsely accused of speaking blasphemy against Moses and God
St. Paul- the most famous early Christian missionary
When have you had to stand up for your faith?
Gentiles- non-Jewish people
Presbyters- a new generation of leaders in the early Church (today would be called priests)
Torah- the sacred law of faith given by God to Moses
Council of Jerusalem- around A.D. 49, the first great council of the Catholic Church
Decided to require many aspects of the Law of Moses (Ten Commandments), but not others (circumcision) for Christians
Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch after the council with a letter describing the council’s decision to Gentiles
Scripture- book of faith written by human authors inspired by the Holy Spirit
Epistles- oldest books of the New Testament, 14 letters that were written by or attributed to St. Paul
Four Gospels:
Synoptic Gospels- closely related, many similarities
Mark- first Gospel written, about A.D. 60-70
Matthew and Luke- based their accounts on Mark as well as on other early Christian sources, written A.D. 70-90
John- probably written around A.D. 90, similar to the first three Gospels, but also includes material not found in them
Acts of the Apostles- New Testament book about the very earliest days of the Church
Revelation- last book of the Bible, calls believers in Christ to look forward with hope to eternal glory
Tradition- written and spoken beliefs and practices that have been passed down to us from the time of Christ and the Apostles, a living witness of faith
How does the Church welcome people today?
Why are Scripture and Tradition important to us today?