390- 461 CE - Saint Patrick was a Christian missionary who went to Ireland in the fifth century CE. Patrick was kidnaped as a child and taken to Ireland where he was compelled to work as a slave, however, he later managed to escape. After Patrick's escape he became a monk …

520- 530 CE -- The Benedictine Rule written by Saint Benedict of Nursia, 480- 543 CE , advocated an ideal of moderation for monks who wished to maintain a righteous lifestyle. The sense of the rule is that one should moderate, yet one might also be compelled to deprive themself and receive …

410 CE

The City of God is one of the most famous works of Augustine. The City of God argued against pagan philosophers who believed that Rome had fallen because it had forsaken the old gods and adopted Christianity. Augustine argued that secular political authority was necessary to follow a …

339- 397 CE - Ambrose of Milan created an image of an ideal Christian bishop. He advocated for a church which was independent of state function and control. He punished Emperor Theodosius I for ordering the slaughter of citizens in Thessalonika who refused to obey him. The punishment was that Theodosius …

The Petrine Supremacy is the belief that bishops of Rome were granted special office by Jesus, and therefore held a superior position within the church. The Gospel of Matthew relates that Jesus gave Peter, the first bishop of Rome, "the keys to the kingdom of heaven."

Emperor Constantine initiated the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE to help address questions about Jesus' nature. Specifically, the council convened to determine if Jesus was human or God. The council eventually found that Jesus was made of the "same substance" as God, and therefore was a God.