Chpl 500 Writing Assigment 1
LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
WRITING ASSIGMENT ONE
a RESEARCH paper sUBMITTED TO Dr.Charlie Davidson
iN PARTIAL FULFILMENT oF THE REQUIREMENTS
chpl 500
lIBERTY Baptist THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
BY
wILLIAM nESTOR
LAGRANGE GA
March 24, 2013
When we think of a chaplain we think in of those who sever in the military providing spiritual comfort to soldier’s hospital. This role of spiritual leader can be traced back to the Roman imperial period where the Roman emperor was not just in charge ruling the empire but also was in charge of the state religion. Since the emperor was head of the state religion he was known as the “pontifex maximus” and it was his job to maintain the “pax deorum (peace of the gods)” to ensure welfare of the state. Those who served in Roman army religion were important, in every camp there was a shrine called aedes signorum which was locate at the headquarters. Within military there were personal that held different religious responsibilities such as victimarius and turarius who were the incense keepers. It was not until the fourth century when Christian clergy began to emerge in the Roman army. The source that is often looked at about the use of Christian clerics comes from Eusebius of Caesarea. In his report Life of the Emperor Constantine when he engaged in war he would make his tent in shape of a church to have sacred edifice to worship God in which the priests and deacons would provide the service according to the law of the church. Other group soldiers that practice religion was the Barbarians who professed Arian from of Christianity and these soldiers were attached the Roman army and were the first examples of Christian’s clerics being attached to an army unit. The Arian clerics would follow the barbarian armies for practical because when the armies would travel they could not find any Arian churches to meet the spiritual needs of the soldiers at the time. As stated earlier Christian clergy started to
WRITING ASSIGMENT ONE
a RESEARCH paper sUBMITTED TO Dr.Charlie Davidson
iN PARTIAL FULFILMENT oF THE REQUIREMENTS
chpl 500
lIBERTY Baptist THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
BY
wILLIAM nESTOR
LAGRANGE GA
March 24, 2013
When we think of a chaplain we think in of those who sever in the military providing spiritual comfort to soldier’s hospital. This role of spiritual leader can be traced back to the Roman imperial period where the Roman emperor was not just in charge ruling the empire but also was in charge of the state religion. Since the emperor was head of the state religion he was known as the “pontifex maximus” and it was his job to maintain the “pax deorum (peace of the gods)” to ensure welfare of the state. Those who served in Roman army religion were important, in every camp there was a shrine called aedes signorum which was locate at the headquarters. Within military there were personal that held different religious responsibilities such as victimarius and turarius who were the incense keepers. It was not until the fourth century when Christian clergy began to emerge in the Roman army. The source that is often looked at about the use of Christian clerics comes from Eusebius of Caesarea. In his report Life of the Emperor Constantine when he engaged in war he would make his tent in shape of a church to have sacred edifice to worship God in which the priests and deacons would provide the service according to the law of the church. Other group soldiers that practice religion was the Barbarians who professed Arian from of Christianity and these soldiers were attached the Roman army and were the first examples of Christian’s clerics being attached to an army unit. The Arian clerics would follow the barbarian armies for practical because when the armies would travel they could not find any Arian churches to meet the spiritual needs of the soldiers at the time. As stated earlier Christian clergy started to