12th Century Renaissance

It was interesting to read the turning point of Christian faith in the 12th Century, to see the thirst and knowledge for truth in that time. Even before the reformation, people were in search for not only a more personal relationship to God, but also in pursuit of truth and justice. As I was reading I couldn't help but wonder if there was a face behind this renaissance? In the Reformation we have the face of Luther, the father if you would of the Reformation..this makes me wonder who was the "Luther" of this renaissance? Was there one? Especially in regards to the thirst for knowledge and the movement toward a more personal Christianity. It's also interesting to read how this renaissance really led way to an overall movement toward a more personal and almost democratic system of justice. I also thought it was awesome to learn more about the formation of Universities and just the formation of a lot of the words that are used so commonly today in the academic world.

Wikipedia Assignment #2

This article briefly explains Papal Authority and gives a brief historical background on the issue. It gives background on who made the decision to institute Papal authority in the Roman Catholic church as well as gives arguments against the primacy of Simon Peter who is considered the first “pope”. In addition, quite a large portion of the article is devoted to revealing some of the challenges and arguments that surround the primacy of the Roman Pontiff.

1. 2,863
2. The term searched was “Papal Authority” and the article it came up with is entitled, “Primacy of the Roman Pontiff”.
3. There is no disambiguation link.
4. Mostly arguments on the different viewpoints of Papal authority and justification for why people inserted what they did into the article.
5. First change was June 12, 2004 and the last was March 18, 2008.
6. Two
7. Five
8. One

If one was interested in looking at this article to gain better understanding of the arguments surrounding Papal authority than I would highly recommend it. However, if someone was simply trying to gain factual historical background I do not feel that this would be the best option. After reading the article and reading through the discussions page it seems that there was a an extreme of personal opinion inserted in the article. Which would be extremely detrimental to one who was just seeking after facts as they might be mislead by someone else’s personal opinion.

Foundations of Papal Authority

I found it very interesting to read on what basis the Roman Catholic church formed their foundation for Papal authority in the church. Specifically the Biblical reference that were used to place Peter as the "first Bishop of Rome". Reading through the passages it seems to me that these passages may have been misinterpreted in the beginning as the basis for this claim. It seems at though in Matthew when Jesus refers to Peter as "the rock" He will build His church on I think it could be a referral to the overall foundation of the Apostles that Jesus will use to build His church on. I think Peter is specifically named because his name in the Greek is petra which is translated over as "rock" and in this particular passage he was the one who made the reference to Jesus as Christ, and that is what the church will be built on,the claim that Jesus is Christ, not Peter himself. Other Apostles and followers of Christ who make this claim is what Jesus will build His church on. This is merely my interpretation of the passage, I would find it interesting to read further on the subject and dive deeper into who specifically in the Roman church translated this passage to support Papal Authority.