Christendom is the name we give to the hegemony of the Roman Catholic Church in Western Europe during the early and middle centuries. After the Emperor Constantine declared the Roman Empire to be Christian, the Church in Western Europe based its structures upon the Empire's legal system. This can be seen in the dress of priests and bishops and the architecture of the earliest churches, for example.
Of course, the Roman Catholic Church was never the whole of Christianity. Eastern European Christianity remained independent as did other small churches, such as the Coptic Church. During the Middle Ages there were several heretical movements in Western Europe, mostly put down with great brutality.
One such groups was the Anabaptists. They practiced adult believers baptism. At that time the baptism of the infant was into the state as well as the church. To be rebaptised was to sever your links not only with the church but also with the state, It was an act of treason.
After the Catholic Middle Ages, the main Protestant denominations such as Anglicans and Lutherans copied the Roman way, setting up small Christendoms across Europe. The more radical sects opposed these moves and were persecuted even by the episcopal Protestants.
To this day elements of Christendom can be found in most churches. I will develop this further when I turn to Pentecostalism and eclectic ecclesiologies.
It is important to understand the common origin of all branches of Western Christianity in Christendom. Some people think it is time to leave some of these trappings behind. Whatever view we take it is important to understand our common origins.
For a full account of Christendom and the move to post-Christendom, Stuart Murray's book Post-Christendom: Church and Mission in a Strange New World is a good place to start. Details as always are in the left-hand side bar.
Comments