I'm teaching a workshop on the research paper this week, and in the afternoons, I have my students (teachers themselves) do an abbreviated research project to simulate their students' experience. And I get to do some free ranging research myself, which is fun.
That's a round about way of saying I found myself reading about the schism between the Roman and Byzantine churches in 1054 CE. This schism profoundly altered the history of Europe - allowing for a more separate church and state in the West - and therefore world history. Fareed Zakaria places the birth of Western ideas of liberty in the schism.
And what caused this epochal rupture between Rome and Constantinople?
Whether or not to use leavened or unleavened bread in the Eucharist.
Historical knowledge like this - combined with a reading of the headlines - makes it really hard to see whatever good lies in the bosom of the church.
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