Christianity

Within a few hundred years, the small, often opposed by orthodox, religious movement called Christianity became the dominant religion of Europe and the Western world. By becoming the state religion of the Roman Empire, Christianity became the largest and most influential religion in the world. Scholars still debate why and how this occurred, but it is clear that it was one of the most important transformations in history.

Devillier (2006) stipulates, “The spread of Christianity was made a lot easier by the efficiency of the Roman Empire, but its principles were sometimes misunderstood and membership of the sect could be dangerous. Although Jesus had died, his message had not”. Word of his teachings spread to Jewish communities across the empire. This was helped by energetic apostles, such as Paul and by the modern communications of the Roman Empire.

“Over 30 years, Paul clocked up around 10,000 miles, traveling across the Roman Empire. He preached in some of the empire’s most important cities. Although places like Ephesus, Philippi, Corinth and Athens looked magnificent, they were also home to tens of thousands of poor, desperate people who were the perfect audience for the Christian message of eternal life” Akhil (2000). Like Jesus, Paul spoke to people in their homes and synagogues. But he went beyond Jesus, who had only preached to Jews. Paul believed his message should also be taken to gentiles – the non-Jews. This meant taking a more relaxed approach to ancient Jewish laws about food and circumcision. It was a slap in the face for Jewish tradition, but it was also the central reason for the rapid spread of Christianity. As the Christian movement began to accept non-Jewish members, it moved further away from the strict rules imposed on Jews. In so doing, it gradually became a new and separate religion.

Despite its growing popularity, Christianity was sometimes misunderstood and membership could bring enormous risks. Widely criticized after the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, the Emperor Nero tried to divert attention away from his own failings by providing an easy scapegoat: the Christians.

Although the followers of Jesus were working hard to spread the message, there were still very few Christians in Rome. They were regarded with suspicion. Some important Christian rituals were mistaken as cannibalism, others as incest. Christians became an easy target.Nero wasted no time. He arrested and tortured all the Christians in Rome, before executing them with lavish publicity. Some were crucified, some were thrown to wild animals and others were burned alive as living torches.

Christianity spread throughout the Roman world, especially the eastern Mediterranean, in the years after the death of Christ. Because Christian communities were spread out, in sporadic contact, and forced underground by the Roman state, many forms of Christianity flourished in different areas. The Romans persecuted Christianity because they felt that the Christians endangered their cities and the whole Roman state by refusing to give the gods their sacrifices. They also feared that the Christians were traitors, since they did not worship the emperor and met in secret. There were also a variety of rumors about strange Christian behavior.

Despite the persecution, many found the Christian message appealing. To some, it offered hope in a bleak and violent time, and Christian charity may have caused others to embrace the religion. Christianity seems to have appealed especially to the poor and women, and was also spread through the spectacle of martyrdom. During the reign of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (AD 306–337), Christianity began to transition to the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. Historians remain uncertain about Constantine's reasons for favoring Christianity, and theologians and historians have often argued about which form of early Christianity he subscribed to. There is no consensus among scholars as to whether he adopted his mother Helena 's Christianity in his youth, or, as claimed by Eusebius, encouraged her to convert to the faith himself. Some scholars question the extent to which he should be considered a Christian emperor: "Constantine saw himself as an 'emperor of the Christian people'. If this made him a Christian is the subject of ... debate," Constantine's decision to cease the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire was a turning point for early Christianity, sometimes referred to as the Triumph of the Church, the Peace of the Church or the Constantinian shift. In 313, Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan decriminalizing Christian worship. The emperor became a great patron of the Church and set a precedent for the position of the Christian emperor within the Church and the notion of orthodoxy, Christendom, ecumenical councils, and the state church of the Roman Empire declared by edict in 380 .

Emperor Constantine, after a dream and a vision before the Battle of Milvian Bridge, slowly adopted Christianity. He legalized the faith with the Edict of Milan, issued in 313 AD, and patronized the religion, sponsoring the construction of churches, promoting Christians to high offices in the government, and giving special rights, such as tax exemptions, to the Christian clergy.

Constantine’s efforts to create a universal church were hampered by disagreements over Christian belief . He tried to settle the most severe disagreement, the Arian Controversy, at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, which created a definition of Nicene Christianity, but the controversy continued to rage for the rest of the century.

Christianity became more established within the Roman Empire after the death of Constantine, and under Emperor Theodosius I, Nicene Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, while Arianism, other heresies, and paganism were suppressed.

Humanity has always feared death. We don’t understand it, we don’t comprehend it. It is simply ‘The End”. All of the older religions, whether polytheistic or pagan, served to explain something that the human mind couldn’t comprehend or understand. None of these, however, could address death. Death was permanent. It was irrevocable, irreversible, and permanent. When you died, you went to the underworld, to aimlessly wander. Christianity offered a different alternative.

Christianity said that it didn’t matter who you were. Your station in life didn’t matter, your prosperity didn’t matter, your age, literacy, proficiency at arms, your trade - none of these things mattered. All you had to do was to believe. Believe in this God, in the Trinity, in Christ as the Redeemer of all of your sins. If you did this, and sincerely repented, or felt remorse, for any sin or crime against your fellow man, then you would be blessed with eternal life. Your soul would live on forever, with all of your memories, and you would be reunited with your loved ones, in a place free of strife, conflict, pain, hunger, or illness. That is why Christianity grew so rapidly, regardless of other factors. It took away the fear of death by promising an eternal afterlife for everyone , with no strings attached.