Christianity In Early Civilization Research Paper

The Importance of Christianity in Civilization Christianity is a monotheistic religion that is based off of the teachings and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Adkins, par.1). The spread of Christianity changed many people's perspective on philosophy, the polytheistic beliefs of the Romans were challenged by the monothestic beliefs of the Hebrews. In fact, "The Christian faith that led to the Christianization of the Roman Empire in the centuries that followed the acceptance of Christianity by Emperor Constantine I in A.D. 312 arguably represents the most radical and longest lasting social and religious change that history has seen" (Schnabel, par. 1). Christianity was, at first a minor sect of the Jewish religion Judaism, because the Word (or

Throughout history, it seems as if the Christians were often used as scapegoats for the Roman people. To illustrate, during the Roman period of crisis, in about the third Century, the persecution of Christian intensified. At the end of this period, often called the Crisis of the Third Century, the emperor that would persecute the most Christians was name Diocletian. Diocletian and his four ruling emperors decided to persecute the Christians because they wanted to unify Rome. In order to do that, all of the Romans needed to worship the same

Although slow in it's development, Constantine's support of Christianity allowed for the religion to have some imperial support. Due to his believing to have heard from God in a dream telling him to put the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek, Chi Rio, on the shield of his soldiers. Because of this, Constantine believed to have won many battles. In 313 AD, Constantine met with the eastern emperor, Licinius, in Milan and together they issued the Edict of Milan. This allowed Christians to worship and gave back the churches that were confiscated during the Great Persecution. After Licnius and Constantine got into some conflict over the empire, Lincius reneged over the Edict of Milan, and the two went to war. After winning the war, Constantine believed even more that the Christian God was on his side and, although Constantine's Christian beliefs are often debated, this war allowed him to legalize Christianity in the empire. Because of this, Constantine built a city called Constantinople and churches built in the city for the worship of the Christian