Read Before 8 September 2010: Byzantium

The Byzantine Empire lasted for more than 1,000 years. It kept classical culture alive and was critical to both the Renaissance and Reformation. Yet, the Byzantine Empire has largely been "Lost to the West" (but hopefully not to you!). How could this happen? We will look at this question in class because it helps us understand the difference between the history which has happened and history as the stories that we continue to tell one another. For some reason Americans have stopped telling those stories which trace their roots back into the Byzantine Empire. Reclaiming those stories will help us understand the flow of Western history, as well as the world we currently live inhabit, in a richer way.

1. We will be focusing our class time on (1) Constantine; (2) Justinian (3) the Eastern Orthodox Church; and (4) thinking about history.
2. Constantine: You looked at Constantine last year so this will (at least for some of you) be a review. Constantine is a particularly important figure for two reasons: (1) In 330 A.D., Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire to the Eastern part of the Roman Empire and named it after himself; and (2) Constantine provided official support for Christianity as Christianity grew to become the most prominent religion within the Empire. As we will discuss in class, this had a profound impact on the Church and it continues to impact the Church right up until the present day.
3. Justinian: Justinian enjoyed an unusually long reign as emperor from 527 to 565 A.D. This is an easy point to overlook, but achieving great significance as a ruler usually involves reigning for a long period of time. King David and King Solomon each ruled for 40 years. Augustus Caesar ruled for 41 years. Even the exceptions, such as Alexander the Great, tend to prove this rule. While Alexander reshaped the ancient world with astonishing speed - his early death left no structures or institutions in place to carry on his vision. What did Justinian do with his extensive time in power? He built the Byzantine Empire to the greatest position of glory that it would ever have. Not only did Justinian sponsor an astonishingly lavish set of building projects in Constantinople, he brought the symbolically important city of Rome back into the Empire, and had Roman laws compiled into a code known as the Body of Civil Law. This body of law, often known as the "Justinian Code" has had a massive influence on the legal systems of both Eastern and Western Europe.
4. The Eastern Orthodox Church: The Orthodox Church is the second largest Christian body in the world after the Roman Catholic Church. In fact there are more than twice as many Orthodox in the United States than there are Presbyterians. Yet, most Protestants know very little about Orthodoxy. We are going to look at the roots of Eastern Orthodoxy focusing on how the Eastern and Western Churches split and at some of the distinctive features of Orthodoxy down to our own day.