Chapter 10 (The Worlds of Christendom)

The Worlds of Christendom
Contraction, Expansion, and Division

Christianity was a pattern of contractions and expansions globally. In African and Asian communities, it vanished (contraction), but it became a large phenomenon in Europe (expansion). Though Christianity provided commonality in Western Eurasia, it was divided. In the east, the Byzantine Empire was conquered (contraction), and from it came the emergence of the Eastern Orthodox tradition. In the west, Roman imperial order vanished (contraction) and was replaced by fragmented society. Roman Catholicism was independent from government, unlike the Byzantine empire. Eventually, the innovative Western Europe third-wave civilization emerged (expansion).

Christian Contraction in Asia and Africa

• Islam was a driver in Christianity contraction.
• Asia: Muslim forces took control of Jerusalem's Christian and Jewish holy sites. In Syria and Persia, Christian conversion was negotiated and voluntary, despite warfare. Syria, Iraq, and Persia survived the assault of Islam, but the Church of the East and Nestorian Christian communities shrank at the same time. A Nestorian Church took root in China but withered. Later, Christianity was renewed in China under the conquest of the Mongols, but disappeared because of small numbers of Chinese Christians and the short Mongol rule. (Contraction)
• Africa: In North Africa, Islam conversion reduced Christian communities. In Egypt, Coptic religion was the majority and tolerated by Muslim rulers, but this changed when Mongol and European Christian Crusaders threatened Egypt, and these Muslim rulers began to question the Christianity of their subjects, leading many to convert to Islam, but a minority urban people to remain Christian. (Contraction)
• Africa: Christianity took shape in Nubia, but diminished by 1500. (Contraction). Christianity took root in Ethiopia by Axum rulers, geographically isolated and protected from Islam forces allowing for distinctive features. (Expansion)

While reading, I thought of how I have encountered the Church of the East several times in my life, whether I was studying the different types of Christianity or driving by a Church of the East in the car. The text emphasized how Nestorian Christian communities shrank in size in Syria, Iraq, and Persia, and how one such church took root in China, but withered, leaving me wondering why   So, with this question in mind, I researched if the Church of the East still exists today, and apparently it is now known as the Assyrian Church of the East. I also find it interesting that the expansion of Ethiopian Christianity was possible. This highlights the significance of geography in history.

Byzantine Christendom: Building on the Roman Past

• Europe and Anatolia were the centers of Christendom, left by the contraction of Christianity in Asia and Africa.
• There is no clear starting point to the Byzantine Empire. Western half died, Eastern half of Roman empire survived (Byzantium), home to ancient civilizations. More urbanized, secure, advanced.  Byzantium had a conscious goal to preserve classical Greco-Roman civilization and continue Roman infrastructure through military, systems, admin, structures, access to Black sea, even apparel. 
• The Islamic expansion reduced the size of the Byzantine state, allowing for a tightly centralized political authority in Constantinople, but it shrank after European, Catholic Crusader, and Turkic Muslim invasions. It officially ended when the Turkic Ottoman Empire took over in 1453.
• Caesaropapism: The church is tied to the state, especially in Byzantium. The Caesar, the head of state and church, appointed the patriarch, made doctrinal decisions, and treated the Church as a government. Eastern Orthodox created a major influence of Byzantine life because it legitimated imperial authority, enriched cultural identity with beliefs and icons, and was theologically controversial. Eastern Orthodox as a religious tradition defined itself with opposition to Latin Christianity, and they had a tense relationship. Eastern Orthodox was different from Western Roman Catholicism politically, competing for territory, theologically, with small practices, culturally, with language and practices. There was much violence between the two, and Western forces attacked Byzantine a lot, even ruling them.
• Byzantium interacted with other regions, continuing a Roman fight with the Persian empire, they were a central player in worldwide trade and coinage, and had vast cultural and religious influences on other regions. 
• Kievan Rus was a culturally diverse third wave civilization, led by princes, that was the most important expansion of Orthodox Christianity. It became considered the "third rome" after Roman Catholicism emergence and Constantinople's fall. 

I think it would be interesting to live in a place where Church and state were unified. All religions share a common theme of universal kindness, values, and morals, so it would be interesting to note the cross between doing what is fair and right, and how political oppression comes into play. It is also interesting to note that the growth of Eastern Orthodox religion was very much a result of political ideals. 

Western Christendom: Rebuilding in the Wake of the Roman Collapse

• Though Western Europe was isolated from trade and political unity, it had internal exchange and a good climate. After the fall of the Roman empire in 476, population, government, urban life, trade, and literacy declined, and Germanic peoples emerged.
• Germanic leaders and peoples preserved Roman culture and prestige, embracing Roman law and aspiring to recreate Roman imperial unity, though failing, revealing an appeal to the classical world.
• Feudalism emerged, fragmented kingdoms, lords and kings. Social hierarchies - lesser lords swore allegiance to greater lords or kings, and serfdom took place instead of slavery. The Church became known as the Roman Catholic, Latin and Greek thrived. Many people converted, attracted to the wealth and status of the Church. The Church and ruling class (nobles/warriors) reinforced one another, the right to appoint was controversial.
• Change was accelerated in European civilization, known as the High Middle Ages (1000-1300), signs of expansion included warmer weather leading to deforestation and overconsumption, more trade from production and agriculture, a growth in population giving rise to new skills sets, a growth of territorial states with stronger governments with an emphasis on loyalty, new roles in urban work life and in religious life for women, but declined.
• Crusaders tried to get hold of Jerusalem's holy places and sites, weakening Byzantium, European taste for luxury goods, Muslim intellect entered, conquest of regions.

Something that interested me in reading about the replacement of Roman empire by Germanic peoples is the concept of serfdom. It is compared to slavery, but a less extreme version because there are more rights and freedom. Though it was briefly introduced in this chapter, something I would want to explore for further knowledge are the socioeconomic origins of this practice. I am also curious about why artisan opportunities for women decreased. Reason is given to technological advancement, but how did this idea of masculinity come to emerge all of a sudden?

The West in Comparative Perspective

• Western civilization is less developed than Islam, Byzantium, China, and India. The cities of Europe were smaller, weaker authority, less advanced, and were regarded by Muslims as barbarians, and Europeans were aware of it. So they were willing to borrow and exchange from more advanced Eastern civilizations, welcoming trade, intellect, and most importantly from China. Europe was in the process of developing and eventually caught up by 1500 and even became more advanced than Islamic and Chinese civilization, through technology, warfare, energy, and agriculture. 
• Europe became a series of crystallized, competing states, rivalry, stimulating technological development, with communication among one another about economics and intellect, but weaker rulers than Eastern counterparts, leading to capitalism and parliaments.
• There also emerged a controversy between science/reason and faith/idealism. Intellectual life flourished, with the creation of universities allowing for scholarly freedom within them. Human reason was a popular explanation of the Divine, and reason was applied to law, and nature. This flourishing was also accompanied by the idea of "natural philosophy." This curiosity motivated European scholars to search for classical Greek texts, and it was found in Byzantium and the Islamic world, especially Aristotle. Aristotle's impact was large because his ideas of science, human rationality, and logic dominated European intellectual life and gave rise to Christian doctrine.
• In the Byzantine Empire, the classical Greek tradition was kept alive, with a focus on humanities and theology rather than science and medicine, but Church authorities were suspicious of classical Greek thought. 
• In the Islamic world, there was a deep enthusiasm for interaction with Greek thought, giving rise to translation, Muslim debates on science and faith, Arab scholarship, but eventually moving away from natural philosophy.  

I have always been curious about the origins of capitalism. The text provides an interesting insight into the beginning of this economic system, saying that the "relative weakness of Europe's rulers" gave urban merchants more freedom to develop independent markets. This demonstrates political influences on the economy and on the individual. I also am curious about the origins of Europe breaking into crystallized states. The text emphasizes the conditions and life of having crystallized states, but it doesn't really go into depth about how or why this has occurred. Certainly though, it paved the way for much advancement in European civilization. I also think it is interesting that natural philosophy was concerned with the physical world rather even before the emergence of modern science.