Luther explains in the "The
Babylonian Captivity of the Church":
In their own sufferings as a persecuted minority, Jansenists also saw themselves like the Jews in
Babylonian captivity, and like the crucified Christ.
Florovsky, always the consummate historian in his work, does not bring to our attention only the Western deviations in Christendom; he also unreservedly presents the fact that Orthodox theology itself, in its long historical journey, has experienced a kind of "pseudomorphosis," and has been taken into a long "
Babylonian captivity" under both Roman Catholic and Protestant influences.
Following medieval traditions, the author divides the history of mankind into seven ages: the first age extended from the creation to the deluge; the second from the deluge to the birth of Abraham, the third to the kingdom of David; the fourth covered the period from the reign of David to the
Babylonian Captivity; the fifth to the birth of Christ; the sixth (by far the longest) from the birth of Christ to the present; and the seventh dealt with the arrival of the Antichrist and the Last Judgment.
Jewish history is sprinkled with examples of intense assimilation, perhaps beginning with the
Babylonian captivity and including the interaction between Jews and non-Jews in Spain before 1492.
[19] During the dismal period of their
Babylonian captivity, the Hebrew peoples quite understandably could have lo st their enthusiasm to sing happy songs of Zion and, in the interest of their own safety, also may not have publicly sung songs of protest and struggle for liberation from Babylon.
Persia overran three continents, from Egypt to Greece to India, spreading these beliefs and values far and wide, including, most prophetically for later Western civilization, to the ancient Hebrews during the
Babylonian Captivity.
is becoming a problem of biblical proportions, like the
Babylonian captivity, we are going to need a religious solution.
Major, Works: Lectures on Romans (1515-16), The Ninety-five Theses (1517), An Address to the Nobility of the German Nation (1520), The
Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520), On the Liberty of a Christian Man (1520), On Good Works (1520), On the Bondage of the Will (1525)
From the
Babylonian captivity down through their history, the people of Israel suffered threats to their faith and to their identity.
The book begins with a chapter on the history of Israel to the time of the
Babylonian captivity, by M.
Take the 14th -- Barbara Tuchman's "Calamitous Century." It brought the
Babylonian captivity of the papacy (when most of the time bishops of Rome didn't even live in Italy); the Great Schism (when at one point three different men were simultaneously claiming to be pope, and even saints disagreed about who the true pope was); the Black Plague, which killed 25 million, perhaps one out of every two or three Europeans; the start of the Hundred Years' War; and the Wycliffe/Lollard anti-papal rebellion.
For continuing to pray to his own God during the
Babylonian captivity, which followed the conquest of Jerusalem by the Babylonians (586 bc ), he was cast into a den of lions but was divinely delivered.
