Where did Catholics and Catholicism come from?
score:5
I don't think they called themselves Catholics instead of...Christians. They called themselves Catholic and also as Christians. Just like Catholics do even today.
Incidentally the same place where Christians got their name as Christians, is the same place where the Church was first called Catholic. That is at Antioch. The very first reference to the term Catholic is found in a farewell letter by St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch. Around the year A.D. 107, he wrote, "Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" (To the Smyrnaeans 8:2). Note that he doesn't explain what the term means. Thus, the second century of Christianity had scarcely begun when the name of the Catholic Church was already in use.
In the English language, the first known use of the term is in Andrew of Wyntoun's Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland (~1420 AD), "He was a constant Catholic/All Lollard he hated and heretic." (src)
The reason why they used the term Catholic is because they believed being universal, that is being same everywhere with regards to what was believed, is one of the four marks of the true Church.
Upvote:2
Generally people say "Catholic", but really mean "Roman Catholic". Roman Catholics believe that they were the Christians before denominations as seen here:
THE ORIGINATOR OF PROTESTANT “CHRISTIANITY”
If you are Catholic, you know that your religion was founded in the year 33 by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, true God and true man; and that this one Church, to which people must belong to be saved, will exist until the end of time.
What I would say next is better articulated here:
The exact date of the beginning of the Roman Catholic Church is indeterminable. While the belief system recognized as Christianity is in place by the first century, institutional structures developed over time. Nor is it possible to distinguish Catholicism as a separate tradition until it can be differentiated from other Christian traditions (most notably, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism).
The name "Roman Catholic" is generally not used unto the Council of Trent (1545-1563), it clearly didn't exist before Council of Nicea (325). It was use to mostly distinguish "the others" than to identify themselves.
Trying to pin point a date leads us into murky waters. For example, when was the actual split between Judaism and Christianity? And who considered who different first? Was it when Christians consider themselves distinct from Judaism or when Judaism considered Christians distinct OR when they both agreed (did they ever)? A similar set of questions appears when you ask when Protestantism split from Catholicism. Did Catholics consider Protestants different or did Protestants consider themselves different or do they agree?
Back at the ranch, there is no way to pin point the exact day that Catholicism appeared as it was transition, not a quantum leap.
More post
- 📝 What is synthetic theology?
- 📝 Was the Mosaic Covenant a covenant of "works" or "grace"?
- 📝 Do any Protestant denominations organize a canon starting from a collection of books other than the Roman Catholic Church's canon?
- 📝 In what sense was Mary born without original sin in Roman Catholic dogma?
- 📝 Are there any remains/fossils after Noah's flood?
- 📝 Is a claim of 50,000,000 Baptist martyrs accurate?
- 📝 Difference between wisdom and knowledge in 1 Cor. 12?
- 📝 Who wrote the Sub Tuum Praesidium?
- 📝 Can anyone explain Pope Paul VI's arguments in favor of Padre Pio?
- 📝 Why such importance given to the hour of death?
- 📝 Who would Cain be worried about slaying him in Gen 4:14? Up till this point, all that are mentioned are Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel
- 📝 In the Catholic Church, what is the explanation for having, and the history behind Principal Co-Consecrators?
- 📝 What are the major criticisms of the NIV?
- 📝 Why do people call Mary Magdalene the "Black Madonna"?
- 📝 How do Protestants understand major differences in doctrine between denominations?
- 📝 What is the justification for relying on faith healing and conventional medicine?
- 📝 In Catholic understanding when there is more than one Pope, who decides which Pope is real and by what criteria?
- 📝 Do Fetuses have souls? Is the aquisition of a soul instantenous or continuous?
- 📝 How did Christians respond to abortion in the early Church?
- 📝 How do seraphim in Isaiah 6 relate to the cherubim?
- 📝 Does St. Gertrude's prayer have any (semi-)official standing in the Catholic Church?
- 📝 What did Jesus think he was?
- 📝 Who do Catholics say the Mary in Matthew 27:56 is?
- 📝 If we are saved by grace, then why does Jesus say we must be baptized in both spirit and water?
- 📝 Is the Militia of the Immaculata a sect within the Catholic branch of Christianity?
- 📝 Do any Christianity denominations really offer something for addiction problems specifically?
- 📝 Has Catholic Church always taught that our corporeal nature necessary for humans to experience affection? (Catholic)
- 📝 What does it mean that someone managed to live beyond 120 years?
- 📝 Are there any denominations that teach their members how to hear God's voice better, as exemplified by the Apostles in Scripture?
- 📝 Why did ancient catechumens delay baptism as long as possible?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Where did Catholics and Catholicism come from?
- 📝 Where did the hierarchical designations of priest, cardinal, bishop, and pope come from in the Catholic church?
- 📝 From where did the Pearl of Great Price come and how did it become recognized as Scripture in the LDS church?
- 📝 From where did the Book of Abraham come and how did it become part of LDS Scripture?
- 📝 Where did all the water come from and go during the flood?
- 📝 Where did the idea of deacon's benches come from and what are they for?
- 📝 Where did the notion that Adam and Eve ate an APPLE come from?
- 📝 Where did the belief that Saul fell from a horse come from?
- 📝 According to Biblical Literalists, who is Satan? Where did he come from? What is he? And what will happen to him?
- 📝 Where did the idea that Catholics can have a break from their Lenten discipline on Sunday originate?
- 📝 Where Catholicism lost influence and property during the reformation, what did Luther think should be done with the acquired assets?
- 📝 Where did the trait in man come from which causes him to deny the superiority of God?
- 📝 Did God change from a wrathful God to a loving God between Old Testament and New Testament?
- 📝 According to those holding that Lazarus was literally raised from the dead, why did Matthew, Mark, and Luke not mention it?
- 📝 Where did Noah find polar bears and penguins in Palestine, according to those who accept a global flood?
- 📝 Where did Baptists get their name and what do they believe?
- 📝 Where did the idiom "asking Jesus into your heart" come from?
- 📝 Where did Goliath come from?
- 📝 From where do Jehovah's Witnesses derive the doctrine that Jesus was and now is Michael the Archangel?
- 📝 How did Easter come to be associated with Eggs, Bunnies and Flowers?
- 📝 Where does the Catholic tradition that Mary did not have pain giving birth to Jesus come from?
- 📝 Where did the "humans become angels" tradition come from?
- 📝 What is the basis for King Melchizedek actually being Jesus? Where did this idea come from?
- 📝 When did Christians switch from an ‘immediate baptism’ to ‘after years of instruction and scrutiny’ baptism, such as in the Apostolic Tradition?
- 📝 Did Jonah die and rise from the dead?
- 📝 Where did the religious symbol of the 'halo' come from?
- 📝 From where did Mary get the attribution of "Full of Grace"?
- 📝 From where does the tradition come that Mary rode on a donkey to Bethlehem prior to the birth of Jesus?
- 📝 Where did the concept of Christians attending a church building come from?
- 📝 Did John Wesley admire and learn from Arminias or did he just have a couple similiar ideas?