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FORMATION OF THE WESTERN CHRISTIAN (CATHOLIC) CHURCH
Western and Eastern Halves of the Roman Empire
After the Christianization of the Roman Empire, the next great stage of Christian history was associated with the split of the Roman Empire into two halves in A.D. 395 and this ultimately lead to the division of Christianity into the Western (Catholic) Church, based in Rome, and the Eastern (Orthodox) Church, based in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey). These cities were centers of Western and Eastern Roman Empire, respectively, after the Roman Empire was split. The bishop of Rome became the pope, the leader of the Western (Catholic) Church.
Talcott Parsons wrote in the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences: In its original cultural constitution Christianity was much more Greek than Roman. It seems that it could not have arisen and grown to the level it attained had it been confined to the western half of the empire, since not only the Judaic but the Hellenistic component of its heritage was essential. Nevertheless, its greatest mission materialized not in its eastern “homeland,” but in the west. One condition of this lay in the fact that, for a longer period, the west proved to be politically less stable than the east. At the same time, the west was the focus of both the ancient origin and the medieval resurgence of the distinctively Roman institutions of autonomous legal order; in both respects it developed much further than the Greek and the Byzantine elements indigenous to the east. [Source: Talcott Parsons, International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 1960s, Encyclopedia.com]
The decline of the Roman Empire was in the first instance that of the western empire. The eastern portion became highly stabilized, surviving the western by a full millennium. Even though its structure was gradually undermined, the sheer length of this survival is an extraordinary fact. In the west, however, the new crisis of the disorganization of the secular society (beginning with the removal of the capital from Rome to Constantinople) was associated with a great and many-sided surge of organization and innovation in the church.
The tendency for the two halves of the empire to split politically was related to a parallel tendency within the church. At the time of the Council of Nicaea in A.D., the Arian faction derived its main support from the eastern segments of the church and the Athanasian faction from the western. In accord with this division, the east moved broadly toward political stabilization without major cultural innovation, whereas the west tended more to foster cultural innovations within the church and organization changes partly determined by them.
Websites and Resources: Early Christianity: PBS Frontline, From Jesus to Christ, The First Christians pbs.org ; Elaine Pagels website elaine-pagels.com ; Sacred Texts website sacred-texts.com ; Gnostic Society Library gnosis.org ; Guide to Early Church Documents iclnet.org; Early Christian Writing earlychristianwritings.com ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Christian Origins sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; BBC on Christianity bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity ; Candida Moss at the Daily Beast Daily Beast Christian Classics Ethereal Library www.ccel.org
Forces Behind the Formation Of The Western Church
There were four primary trends behind that development if the Western Church, that evolved into the Catholic Church, according to Parsons: 1) The highest levels of theological formulation were greatly transformed by the figure whose doctrines, more than those of anyone else, shaped the distinctive nature of western Christianity, namely, St. Augustine. He lived and worked in western north Africa and wrote in Latin, not Greek. Augustine’s conception of the “City of God” was, in one of its two main references, a potentiality for human life on earth. He argued salvation was conceived to be not only from the sinfulness of the flesh but also for participation in the divine mission that God had ordained for Christian man in and through the church. The use of the concept of city is particularly significant in that it emphasized the continuity of the conception of the church with that of the polis. [Source: Talcott Parsons, International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 1960s, Encyclopedia.com]
2) We have noted that the monastic movement was first established in the east, emerging in close relation to the spread of Christianity, which culminated in its becoming the state religion of the empire. Basilian monasticism, which predominated in the Eastern church for many centuries, was overwhelmingly contemplative and devotional in its emphasis. But in the west there followed closely upon the theology of Augustine and certainly in connection with it a new turn in the monastic movement, starting with the establishment of the Benedictine order. The Benedictine Rule instituted a regime of secular useful work for its members, labor in agriculture and in crafts, as a religiously valued ascetic exercise.
First Council of Nicaea
3) The west strongly consolidated the organizational structure of the church itself, with special reference to the position of the secular clergy and their control. In contrast to the Byzantine pattern, which placed the emperor religiously as well as politically above any bishop, the crucial factor in this development was the consolidation of the Roman papacy and the establishment of the primacy of the See of Rome and of the position of its bishop as the true head of the church in the west.
4) Underlying this organizational consolidation were developments in the sacramental system, especially its extension to all the laity. The core sacrament, the Eucharist, formally ritualized the central constitutive symbolism of Christianity, the sacrificial death of Jesus and its transcendence. The Mass was the primary occasion upon which the communal solidarity of all members of the church was demonstrated at the parish level.
The sacramental system required a formally ordained, professional priesthood. The episcopal system organized the priesthood in a firm way, and papal monarchy had an opportunity to hold the territorially scattered bishops to a common organizational focus. These features of the organization of the church, which gradually became increasingly formalized and systematized through the development of canon law and administrative agencies, was particularly important because of the decentralized, segmented nature of the emerging feudal society. In the face of these tendencies the church in the west maintained a fundamental unity and a relatively bureaucratic structure.
What was new in the Western church was the idea that the church was not only ordained for the salvation of souls for eternity, but that it also had a mission for this world, to establish the kingdom of God on earth. In the first instance, this was to be realized in the monastic life, then in the church as a whole, and eventually in the whole of secular society. In contrast, the Eastern church had only one focus: eternity and the afterlife of the individual.
Eastern Orthodox Church Established
After invasions from northern Europe in the fifth century, Rome its political power, and Constantinople, the eastern capital of the empire, became the center of the Roman Empire, which evolved into the Byzantine Empire. Divisions between the Rome and Constantinople were already strong at that time. By the end of the second century The church in began using Latin as the language of worship and in religious texts. The church in the East, however, still used Greek. The Eastern Church had a less centralized structure, with the patriarch, or district leader, of Constantinople as the unofficial head of that branch. Most real power in the East, however, lay in the hands of the Roman — then Byzantine — Emperor. [Source: Encyclopedia.com]
There were also doctrinal issues between the Rome-based Western Church and Constantinople-based Eastern Church. Differences grew, particularly over the Nicene Creed (whose main point is that Jesus is "of the same substance" as God rather than a separate being). Finally in 1054, the two churches formally split, resulting in two distinct churches: the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. After that the popes in Rome vied for secular power with the princes and kings of Europe. By 926, European states had loosely joined together as the Holy Roman Empire, with the pope in Rome as the spiritual head. The pope would in turn make one of the many princes in Europe the emperor. This system remained in place until 1806 when Napoleon changed it. Over the centuries there continual competition between the popes and the princes for power.
In the meantime, the Eastern Orthodox Church extended its control over Asia Minor and over Christians in the Middle East. Constantinople became the center of what was called the Byzantine Empire. This empire ruled over what had been the eastern half of the Roman world, including Asia Minor, the Middle East, parts of North Africa, and some of Europe, including what is now northern Greece. After the Muslim-Arab conquests in the 7th century, Byzantine Empire was whittled down in size but endured until the fifteenth centuries when Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman Turks.
Ecumenical Councils
Iconoclasm
In the early years of Christianity a great deal of debate, intellectual energy and soul searching went into resolving the questions of how God and Jesus could both be divine if God was one as Jesus himself said and the fact that Jesus must be both human and divine for him to take the place of human kind and die for their sins. The resolution of these questions shaped how Christianity evolved and defined itself.
Controversial issues were debated and decided at local councils of bishops, while the first truly universal, or "ecumenical," council occurred in A.D. 325, where the leaders from all the Christian communities were represented. Ecumenical Councils were called to settle theological issues. Constantine inaugurated the ecumenical movement. He called first general ecumenical council, in Nicaea in A.D. 325 to settle questions of doctrine, combat heresy and work out disputes between different sects. The six Ecumenical Councils that followed — Constantinople 381, Ephesus 431, Chalcedon 451, Constantinople 553, Toledo 598, Constantinople 680 and Nicaea 787 — further defined the doctrines of the church.
At the Council of Ephesus in A.D. 431 several sects were forced to split from the Christian church. At the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 it was declared that God alone could be worshiped and saints were given respect and veneration. At the council in 1054, the Catholic and Orthodox churches split. The Eastern Church recognizes the authority of the Councils of Nicaea 325 CE, Constantinople I (381), Ephesus (431) Chalcedon (451) Constantinople II (553), Constantinople III (680) and Nicaea II (787).
See Separate Article: ECUMENICAL COUNCILS africame.factsanddetails.com
Iconoclasm
In the A.D. 8th century there was a split within the Byzantine church split over whether or not worshipping icons constituted idolatry. An idol is a a statue or other image that is worshiped like a god. At one point all icons were destroyed in accordance with an imperial decree, and as a result four centuries of beautiful icons were lost and we now have the word "iconoclast," or icon smasher.♪
To support their claim the iconoclasts brandished the second of the Ten Commandments (Thou shall not make graven images...and bow down to them or serve them) and blamed volcanic eruptions and deaths from the plague on the worship of idols. Their opponents, know as "wooden worshippers," responded by pointing that the Ten Commandments were made 1000 years before Christ was born and therefore did not apply to Christ, Mary and the saints, who were all born after the commandments were made.μ
Iconoclasm was in full force in Constantinople from 726 to 842. Worshiping images of Christ, Mary and the saints was forbidden. At the height of the iconoclastic frenzy priests were lynched by mobs on the mere suspicion of being idol worshippers and the property of nuns was seized by the government. The Iconoclasts were eventually put down by Emperor Constantine VI, who was crowned at tho age of nine and dominated by his power-hungry mother. Constantine hosted a religious conference where it was decided that idol worshipping was an acceptable form of religious expression, but sculptures and bas-reliefs were "graven images" that were not to be tolerated.μ
Differences Between the Western and Eastern Churches
Over time divisions grew between what became the Constantinople-based the Eastern (Byzantine, Orthodox) church and the Rome-based Western (Catholic) church. The division grew gradually over a long period of time and was primarily over the issue of authority. In the 7th century Byzantines and Catholics disagreed on the roll of images and icons in the church. Rome favored them as objects of worship while the Patriarch in Constantinople was against them (and still is in the form of statues). Constantinople was also very upset when Charlemagne was crowned head of Holy Roman Empire in the 9th century instead of a Byzantine emperor.
Michael J. McClymond wrote in the “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”: Constantine and his successors saw themselves as the heirs of the pagan Caesars and yet also as spiritual leaders who had the right to involve themselves in the affairs of the church. While the Eastern emperors were not exactly popes, they had a degree of authority in the church that was unparalleled in the West. After the Islamic conquest of Constantinople (renamed Istanbul), the Russian rulers, or tsars, viewed themselves as the legitimate successors of the Byzantine rulers and helped to shape the Russian Orthodox Church. [Source: Michael J. McClymond, “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”, 2000s, Encyclopedia.com]
Along with its differing conception of the Christian empire, Eastern Orthodoxy stressed the mystical or contemplative dimensions of the faith. The ideal life was given to theoria, or unceasing meditation on God, and was exemplified by holy men and women who went to the desert to purify themselves of worldly desires. Images of Christ, Mary, and the saints, known as icons, came to play a central role in devotional life. Orthodoxy held firmly to the decisions of the early Christian councils that convened in the empire's eastern portion and was generally reluctant to add to or modify what had been decided. Indeed, Orthodoxy is known for its relative constancy during the past 1,500 years. Some Eastern Christians — including the Coptic Church in Egypt; the Nestorians, or Assyrians, in Iraq; and other "separated" groups — are not a part of Orthodoxy. Though they differ on certain doctrinal points, their practice of the Christian life has more in common with Orthodoxy than with the Latin West.
In the Western, Latin-speaking empire, it was not the Christian emperor but rather the Roman bishop, or pope, who set the tone for the historical development of Christianity. Within a century after Constantine, the bishops of Rome referred to themselves as the pontifex maximus (supreme pontiff), a title that had belonged to the pagan Caesars. Because of the relative weakness of political authority in the Western empire, the popes could not avoid playing a political role. When Huns and Vandals threatened Italy in 452 and 455, for example, it was Pope Leo I who represented the city of Rome in negotiations. Rome's prestige also grew from its association with the apostles Peter and Paul, who were both said to have died there. As early as the second century, some Christian writers suggested that Rome might serve as a kind of supreme court for church disputes. There gradually emerged the idea of "Petrine primacy," asserting that Peter and his successors in Rome, the popes, had authority over the whole of the church.
The modern Eastern Church is less centralized administratively. Instead of an overall leader like The Pope, it has patriarchs or metropolitans, who do not rule the entire Eastern Church but only a portion of it. Neither is the Eastern Church the primary religious teaching authority, as it is in Catholic tradition. Moreover, priests in the Eastern Church are not required to be celibate, although their bishops are. Members of the church who are not clergy also have more power and responsibilities in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Salvation is more of a group concern in Eastern Church tradition, and the mystical element of the religion is emphasized. [Source: Encyclopedia.com]
The Catholic Western Church differs from the Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity in its central organization. The idea of papal infallibility, meaning that the pope cannot make mistakes in matters of religious doctrine, is unique to Roman Catholicism. The church is the teaching authority of the faith, and the pope has the final word about matters of faith or morals.
Friction Between Catholic and Orthodox Church
image defaced during the iconoclasm period
Although initially the Eastern and Western Christians shared the same faith, the two traditions began to divide after the seventh Ecumenical Council in A.D. 787. The rivalry became more intense and formalized in 9th century when Photius, the Patriarch of Constantinople (858-86) drew up a list of heresies practiced by the Western church in Rome that included irregularities in the way it practiced Lent, the celibacy of the clergy and the way they said the Byzantine creed. According to a Time magazine article, “The Eastern and Western churches quibbled about such inconsequential minutiae as the rings worn by bishops, whether or not priests should shave their beards and whether or not music should be allowed in the church, with the assumption that the Orthodox church was acting in accordance with the doctrine of the church and the Latins were committing heresies.”
Michael J. McClymond wrote in the “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”: Orthodoxy resisted the claim that the bishop of Rome, or pope, was leader over the whole of Christianity and held instead that decisions should be made by a consensus of bishops. In the first three centuries, three important centers of Christianity, known as "apostolic sees," emerged: Alexandria, in Egypt; Antioch, in Syria; and Rome. Constantinople and Jerusalem were later added, and some spoke of a "pentarchy" of five leading cities in the Christian world. Yet Rome followed an increasingly independent course. When Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as emperor in Rome in 800, an emperor already reigned in Constantinople, and the stage was set for estrangement between Eastern and Western Christians. [Source: Michael J. McClymond, “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”, 2000s, Encyclopedia.com]
Split Between Catholic and Orthodox Church in 1054
The Byzantine (Orthodox) church and Catholic church formally split on July 16, 1054 when Pope Leo IX excommunicated the Byzantine Eastern Orthodox patriarch and the Byzantine patriarch excommunicated the Pope. The churches broke over the claim that the Pope was universal authority for all Christians and also fought over which day Easter should be celebrated on, whether purgatory was a valid concept, whether leavened bread or unleavened bread should be offered as communion and eaten on holy days and the status of the Holy Ghost. The Catholics added "and the son" to the end of the Byzantine creed "the Holy Spirit proceeded from Father." The Byzantines believed that the Holy Ghost came from God alone, while the Catholics believed the Holy Ghost came from God and Christ. The break became final with the failure of the Council of Florence in the fifteenth century and the mutual excommunications were not abolished until 1965.
The dispute over the Byzantine creed was significant not so much as a doctrinal issue but over the political issue of whether the Pope had the right to change the creed. Accusation of heresy gave both the East and the West excuses to take military action and seize territory form their rivals. The schism in 1054 was triggered by a trivial dispute over the use of unleavened bread in communion was not taken seriously at the time and it was assumed that the two sides would quickly make but political problems (namely the presence of the Normans in the Mediterranean) cut of communication between Rome and Constantinople and the dispute was never cleared up.
The break up between the Eastern church and Western church was not a simple, definite break that the 1054 split implies. It was a drawn-out complicated affair that began in earnest in the 9th century and was not finished until the 15th century. Exactly what happened, the motivations behind it and the role of key players is still not completely understood. Until the schism the five great patriarchal sees were Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. After the break with Rome Orthodoxy became 'Eastern' and the dominant expression of Christianity in the eastern Mediterranean, much of Asia Minor, Russian and Balkans.”
The split was not cordial. Rather than regard themselves as partners with the same covenant the two churches regarded themselves as rivals and fought over who was the single legitimate voice of the entire religion. Some have said the split over the doctrinal issues mentioned above was just a manifestation and cover from what was really a political dispute between the Byzantine Empire and Rome-centered western Europe.
Doctrinal Dispute Behind the Catholic- Orthodox Split
Doctrinal disputes over the Trinity were at the heart of the disagreement between the Western and Eastern Churches. In 1014 the Western Church included "filioque" in the Nicene Creed, the statement of the chief beliefs or tenets of Christianity. One of the most important parts of that statement read: "I believe in one God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ … And in the Holy Ghost … Who proceedeth [comes or arises] from the Father and the Son." [Source: Encyclopedia.com]
The addition of "filioque," or "and the Son" to this fundamental declaration meant that such a spirit does not come solely from God but from God and the Son, Jesus Christ. This idea went against teachings in the Eastern Church. As a result, the patriarch of Constantinople closed all Latin-speaking churches in the city, the official language of the Western Church. This act led to countermeasures by Rome, until each church excommunicated the other in 1054.
According to the BBC: “Can you believe that the Christian Church fell apart over a single word? Well it's true: The greatest row in the history of Christianity centred on a single word filioque and on the doctrine of the Trinity. The row split the Eastern Church, which mostly became the Orthodox Church, and the Western Church, which became the Roman Catholic Church and its later Protestant offshoots. There were other matters at issue as well, but the row over "the filioque clause" led to the Great Schism of 1054. [Source: BBC, July 21, 2011 |::|]
“What the row was about? The Churches were arguing about whether the Son played any part in the origin of the Spirit as one of the persons of the Trinity from the Father, who is the only ultimate source. The Latin word filioque, which means "and from the son", was gradually inserted by Western churches into the Nicene Creed so that it stated that the Holy Spirit proceeds not from the God the Father alone, as the early Church Fathers believed, but from both God the Father and God the Son. The Eastern wing of the Church believed and believes that the Father alone had given rise to the Holy Spirit, and the idea that both Father and Son had done so was condemned as heretical. |::|
“Even today, the creed used by the Eastern Churches professes faith "in the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father," without mentioning the Filioque. The Western Churches (i.e. the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches) expressly say that the Holy Spirit "proceeds from the Father and the Son." |::|
See Filioque Under THE HOLY TRINITY europe.factsanddetails.com
Later Disputes Between Orthodox Church and Catholic Church
The Orthodox were also not pleased when the Vatican-based Crusaders sacked Constantinople, where the Orthodox church was based, in 1204. Before that time the two churches feuded but they continued to recognize each other. The 1204 attack caused the dispute between East and West became irreconcilable. The churches from then on regarded each other as members of separate communities. The division was so deep that the Turks were regarded by the Byzantines as a lesser evil than submission to the Papacy. The sacking of Constantinople contributed to the loss of this Byzantine capital to the Muslim Ottoman Turks in 1453. This has never been forgotten.
The Russians who had no part in the original conflict destroyed one attempt at a reunion between the Eastern and Western churches when the Muscovite Prince Basil II repudiated the terms of an agreement made in Florence to bring the churches together. Later the Orthodox Christians were angered by Catholics declarations of the immaculate conception. They were also not pleased by the first Vatican Council (1869-70), which declared that the pope was infallible.
Other factors that played a role in schism between the Orthodox and Catholic churches were the failure of the Crusades, the fall of Constantinople to the Turks, animosity between Christians and Muslims, the increased power of the Papacy, the Reformation and rivalry between Western Europe and Russia. Some historians have argued that the Napoleonic campaign in 1812, the Crimean War in 1853-1955, the Balkan Wars in 1878 and 1912 and World War I had the schism between the western and eastern churches at their roots because one of the chief aims of all these conflicts was to gain control over Constantinople.
Fighting between Byzantines and Arabs in the 13th century
Byzantines Loss Territory to the Muslim-Arabs
In the 7th century the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Byzantine Empire faced new challenge — the Arab-Muslims who quickly appeared on the seen during the lifetime of Muhammad and the decades afterwards and with a relatively short period of time took control of much of North Africa, Egypt, and Palestine, which were formally part of Byzantine Empire. After that the Byzantine were threatened by the Persians and Turks to the east, Arabs to south and Europeans to the west. The Persian Sassanians were also rivals of the Byzantines. The two great empires were almost constantly at war. The Catholic Church in the West also felt the power of Islam when Spain was invaded in the 8th century and Muslim, or Moorish, rule was established there.
One of the most important battles in the history of mankind, The Battle of Yarmuk, took place in the year A.D. 636 on the present day border of Jordan and Syria. Here the Muslim armies of Khalid ibn al-Walid met the armies of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius. Even though they were outnumbered two to one the Muslims prevailed over the more disciplined 50,000-man Byzantine army because the Muslims had greater mobility and more determination and zeal. "The Byzantine infantrymen," wrote National geographic journalist Thomas Abercrombie, "took oaths to 'stand or die' and chained themselves together, 10 on a shackle, 30 ranks deep. On the other side the women accompanying the Muslim soldiers stood behind the lines with tent poles and stones to punish any cowards who turned from battle."
The Arabs earned a reputation of being fierce fighters and just masters, prompting many cities to give in to them without a fight. After of Battle of Yarmuk and defeat of the Byzantine forces Asia Minor and Asia opened up for the Muslim armies. Christians lost control of the Holy Lands and Syria until the First Crusade, almost 500 years later, when they briefly claimed it again.
Christians Under Muslim Rule
Under Muslim rule Christians were tolerated and permitted to practice their own religion but liable to pay special taxes, denied political and legal rights granted to Muslims and control by Muslim “patrons,” who subjected Jews to special laws that kept them in a position inferior to Muslims. The fate of the Jews and Christians in the Middle East depended largely how they were treated by their Arab and Ottoman overlords.
Muslim leaders have traditionally tolerated people from other faiths living in their territories. Under Islamic rule and Islamic law, Jews and Christians lived with Muslims in relative harmony, and were allowed to practice run their own affairs as long as they met certain obligations, namely paying a poll tax, which Muslims did not have to meet. In some places many, Jews had their own legal system and social services and Christians had their own religious authorities.
There were periodic episodes of discrimination and violence between Christians and Muslims but for the most part Christians lived in harmony with the Muslim neighbors often living on mixed communities of Sunni Muslims, Shiites and Christians. One Muslim engineer who lived in community with Christians told the Washington Post, “From the time of my birth, there has never been a question of whether you are Christian or Muslim. We rent our upstairs to a Christian family, we share food with each other. the bonds between us are very strong.”
Under the Ottomans, Jews, Christians and other “protected” minorities were obliged to follow Ottoman law and keep a low profile. They had to pay special taxes and could not build conspicuous places of worship and were required to show deference to Muslims. In return minority communities were given considerable autonomy. For internal matters they were under the authority of religious leaders. From 1839, the Ottoman government maintained a hierarchy of “chief rabbis.” In some communities Muslims and Christian celebrated Easter, Christmas and Eid together and slaughtered a sheep for the Virgin Mary..
On people of different religions and ethnic groups living peacefully for centuries under the Ottoman rule, the historian Karen Armstrong wrote: “The sultan did not impose uniformity on his subjects nor did he try to force the disparate elements of his empire into one huge party. The government merely enabled the the different groups — Christians, Jews, Arabs, Turks, Berbers, merchants...and trade guilds — to live together peacefully, each making its own contribution, and following its own beliefs and customs. The empire was thus a collection of communities, each which claimed the immediate loyalty of its members.”
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Christian Origins sourcebooks.fordham.edu “World Religions” edited by Geoffrey Parrinder (Facts on File); “ Encyclopedia of the World’s Religions” edited by R.C. Zaehner (Barnes & Noble Books, 1959); King James Version of the Bible, gutenberg.org; New International Version (NIV) of The Bible, biblegateway.com; Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ccel.org , Frontline, PBS, Wikipedia, BBC, National Geographic, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Live Science, Encyclopedia.com, Archaeology magazine, Reuters, Associated Press, Business Insider, AFP, Library of Congress, Lonely Planet Guides, Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.
Last updated March 2024