1. The World of Christendom
Religion and Its Impact in Third-Wave Civilizations

2. Christianity Today
Global Christianity Today – 60% of the world’s Christians lived in Africa, Asia, or Latin America – Europe and North America largely outnumbered in relation to global Christianity

3. The Spread in the 6th and 7th Centuries
6th and 7th Centuries –Christianity enjoyed an Afro-Eurasian reach – Arabia, Egypt, North Africa, Ethiopia, Nubia, Syria, Armenia, Persia, India, China, and Europe
over the next thousand years, however, Christianity witnessed drastic changes.
Why? What would be the leading factor in its global decline?
Spread of Islam throughout Asia and Africa, left Christianity to spread in Western Europe

5. Christianity’s Role
Christianity was to western Eurasia, as Chinese Civilization and Buddhism did to East Asia, and Islam did to the Middle East and beyond

6. Orthodox V Catholicism
Shape divide in the Christian world with the Byzantine Empire (Byzantium) – evolved a form of Christianity – Eastern Orthodox
Western or Latin Christianity occupied what we call Western Europe today
Fall of Western Roman Empire – collapse in 476 CE – weakening features = roads fell into disrepair, cities decayed, long-distance trade vanished.
Rise of Roman Catholic faith in the west relied on the Pope – had political independence - Eastern Orthodox church did not
Western Church rural, Byzantium = Constantinople

8. Hagia Sophia

9. Asian Christianity: - Arabia – Christianity didn’t last
- Muslim forces took control of Jerusalem in 638 – the Dome of the Rock ( ) – location sacred. To the Jews – the stone in which Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac to God, site of first two Jewish temples. To Christians, place where Jesus spread his teachings
- Syria and Persia, majority of people voluntarily turned to Islam
-Other regions, Armenia, Syria, Jerusalem = Christians pay jizya
- Depended on the local Muslim rulers if Christians could continue to practice or not.

10. Dome of the Rock

11. Nestorian Christianity
- Nestorian Christian communities – Syria, Iraq, Persia = Church of the East – survived the assault of Islam – abandoned their art and religious paintings – didn’t want to offend Muslims
- Nestorian Church took root in China under the Tang Dynasty – “Chinese-afying Christianity” = using Buddhist and Daoist concepts to translate the Christian message – book – Jesus Sutras, God = “cool wind,” Sin = “bad karma”
- Mid ninth century, China turned against all religions of foreign origin…why?

12. Mongols and China
-Mongol conquest of China led to a brief opportunity for Christianity – Mongols were tolerant of Nestorian Christians. Mongols appreciated Christians because they could eat meat and drink.
Mongol rule ended in 1368 – with the rise of the Confucian Ming Dynasty suppressed all other religions

13. Egypt =
Christianity was the dominant religion by the time of Muslim conquest around 640 – Egyptians continued to speak Coptic and practice their religion as dhimmis under tolerant Muslim rulers
- By the 13th century relations changed – with threats from the Crusaders and the Mongols, Muslim rulers questioned anyone of Christian faith
- Mid 14th Century – anti-Christian pogroms, destruction of churches – most rural Egyptians converted to Islam as a result – Arabic replaced Coptic. Some Christians remained, 10%

14. Nubia=
in the 5th and 6th Centuries = introduced by Egyptian traders and missionaries – parts of the Bible were translated into Nubian language. Cathedral in the Nubian City of Faras. Kings served as priests, Christian Bishops held state offices.
-Nubian armies defeated Arab invasions twice
-Nubian Christianity faced difficulties as Islamized tribes pushed into Nubia. By 1500 Nubian Christianity had largely disappeared

15. Ethiopia
– Axum rulers adopted Christianity in the 4th century. Ethiopia became a Christian inland = protected by the Red Sea and its Mountainous geography – distant from Islamic trade centers – Ethiopia not conducive to the spread of Islam
-Ethiopian Queen – Sheba – visited Solomon – has his child, connect blood line to Jesus – gives legitimacy to the ruler of Ethiopia – descendent of Jesus
-12th Century – linked 12 underground churches to create a New Jerusalem, since Jerusalem lay under the control of the Muslims

16. 12 Underground Churches