3.3 - Empires: Belief Systems

• Belief systems can hold empires together or they can break empires up faster than a professional eater can pound a hot dog
• We will talk about Christianity, Islam, and some other religious blending that occur during the Golden Age of the land-based Empire
• Christianity has been the dominant belief system in Europe since the 4th century
• In the 11th century, a massive split occurred in Christianity, creating two different branches: the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church
• By 1500, the Catholic Church wielded enormous power in Europe, but more powerful monarchs began challenging that power
• The Catholic Church engaged in corrupt practices like the sale of indulgences and simony, leading to Martin Luther's criticism and the Protestant Reformation
• The Catholic Church initiated the Catholic Reformation or Counter Reformation, addressing some of the Protestant critiques but also reaffirming key doctrines
• The split in the church had massive effects on state power throughout Europe, leading to a series of religious wars until 1648
• The Islamic empires in the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Empire, were divided along the Sunni-Shia split that originated in the 7th century
• The political rivalry between the Ottomans and Safavids intensified the split between the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam
• In South Asia, the Bhakti movement and Sikhism emerged, blending elements of Islam and Hinduism
• Sikhism demonstrated unity by holding on to significant doctrines of both belief systems, but also demonstrated change by discarding distinctions like the caste system and gender hierarchies