Module 7

Christianity Key Concepts:

• For centuries after the crucifixion, Christians in the Roman Empire were forced to worship secretly, away from the centers of civilization as they were fleeing persecution.
• Sinai is a place where both Muslims and Christians live in harmony despite their different beliefs and cultures.
• In 1504, Christianity was divided in half, forming the Western and Eastern branches.
• Romanesque churches have rounded arches.
• Christian architecture is renowned for its beauty across the world and among all faiths.
• St. Peter's took 120 years to build and began a symbol of the strength of the Counter-Reformation.
• The construction of St. Basil's Cathedral was tied up with the politics and philosophy of the 16th century.
• Within Orthodox churches, there is always an iconostasis which is a wall of icons and has a tradition of being a "book for the illiterate" because not everybody during that time was able to read the gospel.

Islam Key Concepts:

• It is believed in Islam that the prophet Mohammed declared whoever builds a house for Allah (mosque), Allah will build him a house in paradise.
• Jerusalem has been a site of complex religious conflict between Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. 
• The Dome of the Rock is considered the first Muslim monument. Most of the monument has been replaced but the structure remains the same.
• Kairouan is the center of Islam because of its strategic placement.
• Muslims believe there is a direct relationship between those who pray and God and therefore there is no need for those who pray to look directly at the imam. 
• There are no figurative representations or sculptures in mosques. 
• Islam is a monotheistic religion and regarded as a continuity of Christianity and Judaism. 
• The Cordoba Mosque was not just a place for worship but also one for knowledge and learning. The interior of the mosque focuses on the spirituality of the individual. It allows Muslims to concentrate and prepare to speak with God. 
• As Catholicism dominated Europe and Spain, the tolerance period between the religions ended.
• The fall of Constantinople, the Christian capital of the Roman Empire, in 1453 to the Ottoman Turks was an important progression in Islam and to Christianity, as well.

2) The videos relate to the readings because we are able to see from this content how religious and art history are interrelated. The readings discuss periods of art history and how religion affected its development while the videos provide examples.

3) I enjoyed the films because it was interesting to learn just how much religion has affected aspects of art and its history. From the videos, we learn about how religious art, including architecture and sculptures, held political and philosophical importance.

4) I chose Christianity because I grew up in a Roman Catholic family and felt it would be interesting to learn about the ancient religious relics. I chose Islam because it is the second-most practiced religion in the world, behind Christianity, and we often don't hear about it much living in the western world.