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Roles of apostle Paul in the growth and spread of christianity
Examples of christian persecution in the roman empire
The apostle paul's influence on the church
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Throughout the rise of early Christianity in rome persecution ranged from commoners to emperors and was a common practice. The unfair oppression of Christians came from a place of fear from the emperors, However the commoners believed Christians disrespected the rank of the gods. Because of the inferior label put on Christians and their “shameful” behavior during this time persecution was an ongoing sequence.
Christianity is a unified religion that took full commitment and faith in early Rome. Christianity Rose during the first century after christ 's death and its rise came from the help of the apostles. Apostles are early christian teachers who taught the message of christ as well as how to reach god through worship. They first taught the early roman christians to accept christ as their lord and savior not the emperor. Pliny, a lawyer author and magistrate in ancient rome who lived from 61 to 113 c, wrote letters to an emperor named trajan about the average sunday worship of a christian. , He writes, “ That they were wont, on a stated day, to meet together before it was light, and to sing a hymn to Christ, as to a god, alternately; and to oblige themselves by a sacrament [or oath], not to do anything that was ill: but that they would commit no theft, or pilfering, or adultery; that they would not break their promises, or deny what was deposited with them...“it was their custom to depart, and to meet again at a common but innocent meal,” The “hymn” he is talking about was connected to the bible, a physical representation of the christians denying the emperor, and in reciting an oath they separated themselves from the emperor on a divine level. When Pliny is talking the meal they eat he is explaining a traditional sunday din...
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... to heal those dealing with illnesses, and in doing so this helped to converted alot of Pagans. However alot of the roman people were still angry at the situatuion at hand in rome. Not only were they poor, becuase they wee spending money n how to help their loved ones, but those that were not in Hospitals would have had family member taken away from their original religion.
Pagans and Christians both looked for someone to blame, however the pagans who were loyal to to the emperor looked for an easy target, which happens to be the christinas. Most Christians were either slaves or soldiers, so they were hardly respectable people at that time. The main reason why Emperors persecuted Christians is because historically emperors had always been hostile to christians. How could an emperor agree to a religion where they worship Jesus Christ, a jewish criminal.
...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)
The Christians during this era focused on helping others and becoming closer to God by causing as less drama as possible. Well lets see, the profit of the Christian religion, Jesus Christ, was just an ordinary criminal killed under Roman law, and these people who were considered Christians were worshipping him. The Romans were very strict about anything that went against their authority. Christians didn’t believe in sacrifice, so they wouldn’t kill animals or anything. This was seen at that time as something that should be done to please the Roman Gods and was a benefit to everyone.
Christianity, originally, was thought of as an outsider religion, and wasn’t accepted by most Romans. The Romans could learn to live with other religions, but not when they were harmful to public order. At one point, Romans viewed it to be just that. Christians tended ...
He believed that Christians were participating in orgies, and that during this “agape feast” they ate babies they found on the street. He wanted to make Christians apostates, and in order to do this, he asked them to curse Christ, pray to the gods, and offer incense to the emperor. When some refused, he gave them opportunities to recant, and if they resisted he killed them because of their stubbornness. He wanted to protect Roman citizens, yet the church continued to thrive under this persecution. Christians in this time were indeed persecuted in the cities as Trajan and Pliny strictly enforced the law, creating numerous apostates and
It is difficult to discuss how Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire, without looking at the relationship between Jews and Christians. Christianity is rooted in Judaism. Judaism is defined as the monotheistic religion of the Jews” (Duiker and Spielvogel 142). It is a
The Great Persecution was said to be, “...a horrible, difficult time for Christians...Many Christians fell away, and many others were tortured, thrown in a dungeon, or put to death,” (Paul Pavao). During this time period, Diocletian wanted to convert the Christians back to paganism which meant the emperor at the time would be considered God. If any Christians were caught by Diocletian they, “...could be released by offering a sacrifice to the gods or to the emperor,” (Paul Pavao). Also, if the Christians gave up copies of scriptures to be burned, they would be given “great favor.” After Diocletian retired in 305 AD, Galerius, Constantine, and Maximian carried out the persecution in the east and west, causing it to end by 311
Throughout the history of Rome, from the monarchy to the late empire, religion had played a great role in it's society and was involved in almost every aspect of the life of the Roman citizen. It was common for each house to have it's own patron god/gods and ,on special occasions, the head of the house would make a sacrifice to the personal gods of the family. Also, great festivals were usually held in honor of certain gods and would include spectacles like chariot races and Gladiatorial fights.
The earliest recorded text teaching Christianity has its roots buried deep within Judaism. The birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as the Messiah, created a new ideology of worship. The Messiah is the savior for all people and of all sins. Paul carried the message of the Messiah to the Gentiles. His missionary journeys and establishment of churches enabled the spreading of the message throughout the Roman Empire. Christianity grew in acceptance; those that believed in the Messiah separated and began to worship on their own. This marked the beginning of the split of Judaism and Christianity.
Christianity is now in our modern world one of the five major religions. The other major religions include Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism from which Christianity descended. Christianity was practiced before Christ, During his life, and after his life. After Christ¹s life Christianity spread to become a main world 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.
During the first half century after the crucifixion of Jesus, the Roman government including governors in the eastern provinces took no active measures against Christians. The attitude of the higher Roman authorities had always been that Christianity was merely a sect of Judaism, and as such, were entitled to share in its privileges as a recognized religion. In 64 A.D. this attitude suffered a severe alteration. On July 19, 64 A.D. occurred the great fire of Rome. Half a million people were left homeless. Popular rumor persistently asserted that the fire was started by incendiaries acting under the orders of the Emperor Nero. It was said that Nero wanted the city burnt down so he could build a new city which was to be re-named after himself. Nero felt that something must be done to deflect the public indignation against him. To do this he contrived that accusations should be brought against the Christians. So Nero began an aggressive persecution of the Christians in Rome. Those who confessed their guilt were brought to trail. During these trials a great number of other Christians were uncovered and were also brought to trial. Oddly enough, these people were not charged with starting the great fire of Rome, but rather for “hatred of the humankind.”
From the third to the fourth century, the Roman Empire witnessed a widespread attempt to stop the spread of Christianity. Initially, leaders of the church were predominately targeted, but later anyone admitting to Christianity became a target. The persecutions hit a climax during Diocletian’s reign. These persecutions actually helped the spread of Christianity by glorifying Christians and beginning a tradition of martyrdom that shaped the Church, and the strength that Christians displayed shows that the persecutions could not have possible stopped the spread of Christianity.
The first Christian Church (the Orthodox Church) came to be in the Late Roman Empire because of Jesus of Nazareth, and the first Christian Emperor Constantine. The messages Jesus wanted to reach his disciples were this: brotherhood, equality, elevation of the poor, and anti-materialism. He preached a lifestyle that changed mankind, and gave people hope. Jesus gave the people of the Late Roman Empire some hope, and guided them through times of need. On the other hand you have the Catholic Church in Medieval Europe, with a lot of power in the medieval society. The Catholic Church was the western counterpart the Eastern Orthodox Church and it slowly became a very strict religion. Their mission was simple: faith+good works=salvation. Religion over 2000 years ago was almost more important then, than it is today. It was new, and it was important, the rise of Christianity played a central role in the early historical
Christianity is the world’s most prominent religion, with more than six billion people practicing worldwide. Although Christianity has come to dominate the world of religion, it began as a small and mysterious cult in Ancient Rome. Small, and poorly understood, Christianity soon became an enemy of Rome, marked with persecution, martyrdom, and murder. By the end of the third century CE, tens of thousands of Christians had been arrested and killed for their beliefs.