Early Church Research Paper

The Rise of the Church

The early Church father help brought order and structure to the church in many ways. There were three Church Fathers who helped the Rise of the Church, they were Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome. These great men was responsible for the habitual doing, beliefs, and doctrine of the early Church during this time period, around 500 AD, (Babcock 2011 p.139).

First, Augustine was considered the most important of three men at this time of early Church Fathers. Augustine was born in 354 and lived until 430, he was recognized for his vision of biblical teaching and he was a very great thinker. The Church was blamed for the fall of Rome, “Augustine defends the faith during a time when Christianity, though already the official
state religion, was still under attack by pagan philosophers and pagan politicians.” Augustine Responded by writing a book called “City of God.” Augustine accused the Roman paganism themselves for the fall of Rome, (Babcock 2011 p 140).

Second, Ambrose was also an important part of the rise of early Church.
He was born in Milan, one of the greatest cities of Rome, around 339 and lived until 397. Ambrose arranged the church guidance and presumption. Ambrose also developed the “principles of biblical interpretation,” he was not the thinker that Augustine was, but he used “the principle of hermeneutics (how to interpret the scripture)” this was to help understand the meaning of the important passage of the Bible (Babcock 2011 p. 140). He established the church “liturgy” which was the way of worshiping, which included scripture reading, sermon delivery, and singing. This is still continue to be done though out many churches today. (Babcock 2011
p.141).

Third, Jerome was born in 342 and live until 420. His family was very religious and Jerome was educated in Rome, where “he received the best classical education one could get in the late Roman Empire, where he studied Latin and Greek languages” (Babcock 2011 p.141). This gave him the confidences he need to help the early Church. Jerome reformed the whole Bible, so that Latin people could understand it, because the Bible was written in the Greek language. Jerome’s translation of the Bible was called “vulgate” which means “the common language” (Babcock 2011 p.141).

As we look at “three quick reason” of the rise of the early Church, first there was the “imperial connection,” this was when the “changing of the guard” between empire and church (Babcock 2011 p.141/142). This was when the church started to obtain the things of the old imperial Rome and this justified the church. “Rome was the center of the political power, so it logically became the center of religious power as well” (Babcock 2011 p.142).
The second reason was “medieval Catholicism” which was the most important in the West as the pope took control and used his power.
At this time there were two men that play a role in this process. Leo was the first “so-called” of the popes. “He was the Bishop of Rome (they weren’t called popes at the time), and his reign was from 440 to 461, right to the end of the Roman Empire” (Babcock 2011 p.142). Leo was responsible for the Attila not destroying Rome, and this was the beginning of the name pope. Leo also merged his power over the church. He was the first to take ownership of what is called “Petrine authority” which was given to
Peter.
Gregory was Bishop of Rome around 590 to 604. He was the first one official carry the name Pope, which is “Father.” Gregory is best known for work on church music. He was very dedicated to the church and Gregory “promoted missionary activity throughout the former Roman Empire” (Babcock 2011 p.143).

Our final of the three reason was negative way, in which the rise of the early Catholic Church. “There was many threats from the outside Europe that we know as the rise of Islam” (Babcock 2011 p.143). Islam began from “the so-called flight, the hegira, into exile of Mohammad in 622” (Babcock 2011 p.143). This was a big challenge for the Catholic Church. (690 words)