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Christianity and the Roman Empire
Impact of the fall of the roman empire
Christianity and the Roman Empire
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Recommended: Christianity and the Roman Empire
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The fall of the Roman empire and the rise of Christianity didn't seem to come over night but it did seems to be a correlation. Yes, fall of one and the rise of another took over an 80 year period. Well, one thing is that Rome grew too big and tried to cover top much of the world for it emperor to be stable. The people as they got farther out from Rome was in a sense hired hands for war and had no loyalty to Rome. Barely loyalty to officers over them.They were in it for the gold. This is just one of the reason that the Roman Empire would fall. The rises of Christianity will also contribute to the fall of the Roman Empire such as the things that Christianity presented to everyday people,
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causing division in Rome, Christians being put to death, Constantine. The differences in the roman empire Gods versus the one God of Jesus The roman had different deities for every part of nature even though they came under one God it still is not the same as having a monoGod and this was the big different of the religion.
It's easier to keep in mind the one God then severals that are under one this would create an edge for christainity. Roman also looked at you had to d a lot of physical and monetary sacrifice for the roman Gods. The roman religion was more of a rich man religion and I do mean man. The Christian religion was more of a religion of the poor man. It also included women on some points where the Roman Gods religion did not have any allowance for the women. Christanity would allow the women to have the say so in their house but not on a street. This would give an advantage where women could have a church meeting in their homes where Roman Gods practice for the religion had to be in a more formal place. This probably leads to division in homes and also more division on the battlefields. The other that helped a rise in Christianity is the promise of an afterlife. The roman Gods did not cover this subject as well and in depth, as Christianity did . Unfortunately, the Christians faith in the afterlife would be
tested. Because of the scriptures of the New Testament about a lot of fires, there were emperors thought or manipulated to the people that this is the work of the Christians. Rome at this time had 70% percent of their building burned down. Nero was the main emperor that put this out there that the Christian was probably behind the burnings or Their God was at fault. So this lead to the Christians being rounded up by Nero. The Christians seem even when being tortured before death to be dying with dignity for the people seeing this it would leave an imprint in their mind that the Christian might know something that the average Roman did not possess at this moment.This would broaden the mystic of Christianity leading to a larger interest in it. Nero plan backfired. Making him feared but probably less popular among the people of Rome and the same time making the Christians look heroic.
Christianity took hold on the ancient world because it was spread exceptionally fast. Missionary journeys were made every set of to three years and teach people Christianity (Document F). Roman judges held trials for reported Christians, and executed them because they admitted that they were Christian. The trials were held to execute Christians so the Roman religion would continue to flourish and so Christian citizens won’t be more powerful than the government (Documents F and G). This shows that Christianity was gaining a lot of members, really fast, in comparison to the government.
The Early Christians had numerous different practices. Some of them sacrificed animals, others held mass, and some even died in order to go with God. This helped with the spread of Christianity because it allowed people to attend mass and be forgiven of their sins. It also showed how cruel the Romans were and that religious freedom was being taken away from them.
...eligious practices. Christianity affected not only the Roman Empire but many other countries as well, altering their practices and making way for worship in the present day.
The rise of Christianity in Rome did not come easily. It came with much destruction and death. The spark of Christianity in Rome came from an appearance of Martyrs in Rome. Martyrs were people that were executed for going against the common beliefs of pagan (polytheistic) ways. (Tignor, 2011, p. 286) Because of these awful executions, Christianity is said to be based off of “the blood of martyrs.” One of their main ways of spreading Christianity was through the sharing of their writings and by 300 CE there was an exceptional amount of book production throughout Rome. (Tignor, 2011, p. 289) “Christianity operated as one among many minority religions in the Roman Empire, and on several occasions experienced widespread persecution, especially under the emperors Nero (r. 54–68), Decius (r. 249–251), and Diocletian (r. 284–305). However, the situation changed radically under the emperor Constantine (r. 306–337), who in 313 issued the Edict of Milan that made Christianity a legitimate religion in the empire.” (Melton, 2010, p. 634)
But really, the Romans were trying to prevent people from sharing the Christian beliefs. As part of the religion, Augustus insisted that everyone should view him as God. Augustus didn’t want people to have their own beliefs.
As a result, it can be concluded that many factors attributed to the collapse of the Roman Empire. First and foremost, the collapse of the economy caused what was once a beautiful, elaborate empire to fade away. The system of government in place was not capable of controlling the vast territories in its possession. The spread of Christianity resulted in a loss of Roman culture. Though the Western-Roman Empire was completely diminished, some characteristics of the Eastern-Roman Empire were preserved. This is due to the fact that it was further advanced and a more civilized region. Over a period of time, all of these different factors together cause the collapse of what was once an outstanding and extremely powerful empire.
Christianity became more prevalent in Roman society as time went on because it appealed to Rome and what Roman ideals were. In the beginning Romans were skeptical of changing religion, but as the years went by, the Romans adopted and changed. Christianity appealed to the Roman ideals, as it gave certain perks that their current polytheistic religion did not offer to them. The emperors of Rome had many different views on Christianity; some emperors encouraged change, and others were more traditional and wanted to stick to their current, polytheistic religion. Roman views on Christianity have changed drastically from the early years of the Roman Empire to the 4th century, as well as its appeal to the ordinary Roman citizen.
The Roman Empire is known as one of the most powerful and influential empires the world has ever seen. At it’s height, this Empire had peace, economic prosperity and was expanding. Roman cities contributed to a fair amount of this success because they contributed to many advances during Pax Romana and united the empire. After the fall of the Empire, Christianity survived because although the empire separated into many kingdoms they were still being influenced by the religion.
When Christianity became the religion in Rome, some people accepted the change and some people did not. Christianity was brought into the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine during his reforms after a period of crisis in the late Roman Empire. The change in Religion was too big of a modification to society for some people to handle, and instead stuck with the old Roman religion of polytheism. The change in religion caused internal chaos in the empire because not everyone accepted Christianity in empire when the religion changed. With Christianity becoming the new religion, it also changed where people saw who had power, which changed the people of Rome’s believe in the emperor to God because of the religion change. Before Christianity came to Rome, people believed in polytheism, so emperors were basically gods, so the change represents the acceptance of something else to believe in. While Christianity helped with the fall of Rome, the expansion of the empire also assisted in the fall of the Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire was incredibly large and successful. In the prime of the empire population reached up to 56.8 million people. The land they conquered amasses to an outrageous 1 million square miles. Their influence is so great that even now people can see their imprint in architecture, law, and even helping spread Christianity, the world’s most populous religion. These amazing facts also begs a question. How did one of the world’s greatest civilization fall? Well, the fall of Roman Empire in 476 ACE was aided by ineffective rulers, the crumbling economy, and the invasion of the Germanic Tribes.
The rise of Christianity in western civilization is arguably among the most important memories in history. There is no denying what the spread of Christianity has done for the world, for better or worse. Its impact on western civilizations is unrivaled and unprecedented. Christianity slowly became something for many individuals to turn to; in times of hurt its provided comfort, in times of pleasure it has given thanks. The will and belief for salvation has driven individuals to be better, and to have a reference while in need. The rise of Christianity more than 2000 years ago provided necessary building blocks for the future. Without Christianity there would be no cathedrals, no monasteries, no music from one Johann Sebastian Bach, no paintings from Michelangelo, nor no philosophy from Saint Augustine (Backman 205). There are countless times in history, whether good or bad, that can be credited to
There were many reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire. Each one interweaved with the other. Many even blame the initiation of Christianity in 337 AD by Constantine the Great as the definitive cause while others blame it on increases in unemployment, inflation, military expenditure and slave labour while others blame it on the ethical issues such as the decline in morals, the lack of discipline of the armies and the political corruption within the Empire. Three major contributions that led to the collapse of the once great empire were: the heavy military spending in order to expand the Empire, the over-reliance on slave labour which led to an increase in unemployment, and the political corruption and abuse of power by the Praetorian Guard leading to the unfair selection of many disreputable emperors and the assassination of those not favoured by the Guard. One of the main reasons for the collapse of the Roman Empire was the over expenditure on the military to constantly fund wars abroad.
Throughout the early centuries of the church’s existence, the Roman government suppressed the spread of Christianity. Many emperors did their absolute best to try to stop the Christian populace from spreading with none succeeding (demonstrated by the fact that Christianity is still in existence today). It was not until 322 A.D. when Constantine united all of Europe under his throne that Christianity could be spread without threat of persecution. Under Constantine, Christianity, in terms of numerically, thrived. Councils were held, doctrine developed, and great strides were taken in order to have Christianity be one catholic church. However, in the next couple centuries, the church would grow apart and rulers would fall resulting in mass turmoil throughout the Western Empire. The Roman Catholic Church (as it would later be called) used these events to secure its grip over the entire western empire.
The single most important aspect of European empires, beginning just prior to the fall of Rome, is the spread of Christianity to all areas of the continent in as little as a few hundred years. Many theologians state that Christianities spread is the indirect influence of God and the adoration of people to one true faith. Though it is true that Christianity has brought about people that even atheists could call saints, it is unquestionable that Christianity was so monumental because it united larger groups of people and its spread is contributed to adherence to local customs and its lack of new ideas in comparison to other religions of the day.
Religion is a major influence in our lives. Although religion covers every aspect of our lives, I am going to discuss the influence of religion in two areas. Religion among young adults and Religion and sexual issues. These topics are large, so I will only scratch the surface by discussing only a few issues within these two main topic areas. Religion is gaining popularity among young adults and college students, increasingly more students are attending a church and many different colleges are becoming involved in religious activities. Students at Wake Forest University are looking into dorms that will diversify the student body to educate students about other religions (4). Other schools have programs where people with similar interests can live in the same dorm. Some examples are the University of California, Berkeley and Davis Campuses, University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, University of Missouri at Columbia, and Columbia University in New York (2). These colleges allow students with similar religious views to live together. And it’s not just a few students, there are enough students to fill at least a wing of a dorm, if not a whole dorm (2). On Monday February 22nd, students and faculty members at Clemson University in South Carolina gathered to hear what Dr. Eugene C. Scott, from the National Center for Science Education, had to say about "Adam and Eve, and creationism versus evolution and a quivering mass of protoplasm." (1). She stated that "Evolution in its simplest form refers to a change over time, or decent with modification. Evolution is a scientific explanation based on observable facts." And that "Creationism simply put, means that God created." (1). Dr. Scott was trying to relay the message that religion and science don’t have to be opposites. Like the idea that God created evolution (1). The Students at Clemson received the message well. Despite the fact that Clemson sits in the middle of a geographic area nicknamed "The Bible Belt" known for its strong religious beliefs. In the Pop music industry, which is popular with young adults, religious groups are beginning to gain popularity. Greg Graffin, the co-founder of one of punk-rock’s most venerable bands, believes " when you’re 18, some kids want more then just bland pop culture , they want something with a little more substance." (3) And that substance can be pop music with religion tied into it. Violence among young adults is also becoming a greater problem.