‘The Spanish Inquisition’ is a term that rouses thoughts of torture and a fiery death. It is a term that sits uncomfortably with modern views of a God of Love and acceptance of everyone whatever their beliefs and life choices.
Whilst the ‘Inquisition’ is largely used to describe the events in medieval Spain, the Roman Catholic institution to root out heresy started in France in 1184 and officially continues to this day in the Catholic Church under a different name.
This presentation will look at the reasons for the Inquisition, its victims, and compare it with the civil law and processes current at the time.
Stephen White has had a career as a physicist and is now retired. He has been a very supportive member of the Reasonable Faith Adelaide committee for a number of years.
Papias (c 60 AD to c 130 AD) was bishop of Hierapolis in western Turkey. He provides the first extant record about the authorship of the gospels and the manner of Christian oral tradition.
His writings are highly debated and controversial, as they impinge on basic questions such as
Who wrote the gospels?
Are the gospels based on eye-witness sources?
Are the gospels an accurate record of what Jesus said and did?
Kevin Rogers
Kevin Rogers is the director of Reasonable Faith Adelaide. He is also an engineering lecturer and researcher at the University of South Australia.
Mary the mother of Jesus was and is highly revered within the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox traditions of the Christian church.
Mary and child in Hagia Sophia
The reformers believed that there was a lot of superstition surrounding Mary to the point of inappropriately worshipping her as a divine figure or praying to her as if to Christ or God. So there was and is a reaction against Mary within the Protestant traditions. Perhaps this was an over-reaction.
Christopher Sabolidis
Christopher Stabolidis will take us through how Christ’s mother Mary came to be called “the Mother of God” by the Church. There actually was a good reason. Chris’s talk is available on You Tube.
Where is Christianity at today?
Hillsong
On one level, it is impossible to answer that, given we’re discussing a phenomenon that includes 2 billion people from an astonishing array of backgrounds, cultures, denominations, and with varying levels of devotion.
A Kenyan congregation
Still, Church historian Dr Matthew James Gray from Tabor gives it a shot.
Dr Mathew James Gray
The answer is that the Church is the same as it always has been, and also completely different to what it’s ever been before. This is because the Christ that is its Head, it is always the same, yet is also incarnating into the shifting cultures and situations that humanity experience. Exploring this, in light of its past, as well as peering into the future a little, is an exciting and fascinating topic to dive into.
On the 29th November 1947, by a majority vote of its members, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a plan to create an independent Jewish state in the region of modern Israel. Then, on 14 May 1948, the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel was proclaimed.
So Israel was born; or re-born. It is the only Jewish majority state in the world, which is something that hasn’t existed for over 2500 years. So:
How did it happen?
Why then, and not previously?
What happened when the State was proclaimed?
What, broadly, has happened over the following 70 years?
When it comes to talking about the development of science as we know it in the West, the standard pop level narrative usually goes something like:
“From the time of the Ancient Greeks, figures such as Aristotle were the fathers of science, and then unfortunately the Roman Catholic Church came into power during the Middle Ages/Medieval period (5th century to around 15th century) and during this 1000-year period, science was stagnated, that is, until science finally broke free from its religious roots in the early modern period i.e. the scientific revolution from the 16th century onwards. At this point modern science developed rapidly (finally) due to the fact that scientists were no longer religiously constrained as they once were.’”(Nathan Bossoh)
However, if we ignore “pop level narrative” and look at actual history we see something very different.
Brian Schroeder argues that, rather than hindering the rise of modern science, Christianity was actually the underlying philosophy and the driving force behind it.
My philosophy lecturer once said, “All philosophy is a commentary on Plato”. There is much that is impressive about Greek philosophers, such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. In Athens Paul referred to Stoic philosophers as a point of contact in proclaiming the Jewish Messiah. Early Christian apologists integrated Platonism with Christian belief but others were not so keen. Tertullian, a notable early church father, put it this way: “What has Athens got to do with Jerusalem?” What is the relationship between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world? Are they different?
These questions are considered here by Geoff Russell.
From the time of Constantine I, the relationship between the Church and state radically changed. It was so revolutionary that the New Testament writers would have found it impossible to fathom, or possibly to abide. Certainly, many since (on the side of the Church, and on the side of the state) have lamented this change, then and now. Christianity and the Roman government became Christendom, a strange union. Having said that, it isn’t as clear-cut as that. This was a stormy romance at times.
Dr Matthew James Gray explores some of the key moments of the later Greco-Roman empire, opening a window into the volatility, complexity, beauty and tragedy of the emperors and their bishops.
Historian Diarmaid MacCulloch has written: “Augustine’s impact on Western Christian thought can hardly be overstated; only his beloved example Paul of Tarsus, has been more influential, and Westerners have generally seen Paul through Augustine’s eyes.“
Augustine was born in 354 AD of Berber parents in the Roman province of Numidia – now Algeria. His family regarded themselves as Roman citizens of African origin. At the age of 17 he was sent to Carthage to finish his education and fell into bad company – he took a lover and they were together for 14 years and had a son together. He adopted a gnostic faith to excuse his hedonistic life style; much to the grief of his Christian mother. He became a brilliant orator of rhetoric and by 30 years of age was selected to teach rhetoric in Milan, which was the location of the Imperial Roman Court. It was there that he came in touch with the kindly Bishop Ambrose whose life and teaching confronted Augustine with his own failings, and it was there that that he was converted back to Christianity.
He proceeded to write his “Confessions”, which was the most detailed autobiography of his times. After his mother and son died he returned to Africa and became the Bishop of Hippo in modern Algeria. Rome was sacked by the Visigoths in 410 AD and Augustine wrote “The City of God” to counter those who blamed Christian influence for the fall of Rome. He died in 430 AD as the Germanic Vandals besieged Hippo – and when they sacked Hippo the Vandals left his Cathedral and Library untouched out of reverence for him.
This is an informal debate between Scott Sharrad and Kevin Rogers on “Is Christianity a force for good?” The original title for this debate was “Has organized Christianity been a force good?”
The Last supper, by Leonardo da Vinci
Scott Sharrad is the president of the Atheists Foundation of Australia. He was also formerly the secretary of the SA Humanists and president of The Council of Australian Humanist Societies (CAHS).
Scott Sharrad,
Kevin Rogers is the director of Reasonable Faith Adelaide. He is also a research fellow and lecturer at the University of South Australia. They are also both on quite friendly terms.
