Many factors led to the rise of Christianity in Ancient Rome. However, from what I understood from this course, there were three which greatly helped Christianity spread. First, Christianity was a religion which sought to be spread. Although Rome then was a polytheistic city, Christianity easily spread because its followers paved way for its growth. Believers of the religion travelled to different places for a long time so that they may spread out the teachings of Christianity and encourage them to convert to Christianity. Through the evangelic missions they spearheaded, they made sure Christianity reached most parts of Rome and they didn’t falter on this mission. Of course. it helped a lot that Roman civilization already existed. The road …show more content…
It doesn’t exclude the poor, weak or sinners from its teachings. Moreover, Christianity looked morally perfect once you’ve known its beliefs and stand on things (i.e., how it was a religion of love.) Lastly, the believers set a good example. Although Christianity faced much challenges with the persecutions and indifference of other people then, believers were persevering to proclaiming their faith to others. They did not let fear stop them from practicing the religion; they did not give up. Instead, they used this to believe in the faith more. Rampant stories of martyrdom of Christians attracted the attention of the people. I think somehow, this spark of curiosity became a stepping stone for some people to get to know the religion for themselves (kind of like what happened in Junia’s story). Furthermore, the acceptance of upper class men, especially the Emperors, encouraged the people to accept them as well. Roman emperors paved the swift emergence of Christianity as a legalized religion (by Constantine) and more importantly, as the official religion of the state (by Theodosius …show more content…
Examples of which are heresies and schisms. Heresies, as a brief explanation, refers to the beliefs which oppose or differ from the dogma of the Church. In ancient Rome, there were two main heresies which arose: Arianism and Nestorianism. These heresies came about from erroneous interpretation of the concepts in the teachings which resulted to doctrinal crisis in the Church. However, despite the spread of these heretical beliefs, the Church remained involved in clarifying these misconceptions. They established creeds and called out councils who investigated what the heresies and the believers of such were asserting. Once they have proven that the belief was heretical, they would ask those who are spreading them to recant their teachings or else, they will be excommunicated. Schism (division or disunion of the Church) was also an immense problem which challenge Christianity. The Great Schism came from ecclesiastical and theological differences of the East and West. The early Church was not able to unify the division made by the schisms. Until now, the division between east and west is still present, and the Church is still finding a way to reconciliate the East and West. Previous popes made contemporary efforts to settle this conflict by reaching out to the Eastern Orthodox Church. Although this ancient schism happened a long time ago and when and where it sprung is not clear to both the east and
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.
The city of Rome was and is one of the most well-known cities of the world. It has always lured in huge visitors for its attraction for the elaborate Pagan temples or for the eloquent Cathedrals of the Rome. Now the city is known for being the center of the catholic faith. The city is interesting in a way that, it has not always been a Catholic hotspot. The city was originally under the control of the Romans who worshiped Pagan Gods. The Romans believed that Rome was a holy city chosen by their Gods (Cowling). The switch from being a Pagan centered place to a Christian centered place was not as easy transition for the city. It took time and perseverance. As the Christian influence started to build up, the face of the Roman city started to change; the structure of the city was changed, the major public places changed, and along with that major monuments in the city changed. The city changed so much that now if you don’t look closely enough, you might think the city was always under the Christian influence.
From 300-600 CE The Roman Empire allowed new religions to be formed and universalized. The Religion that was associated with The Roman empire was Christianity. Christianity became the religion of Rome because of a man named Constantine who allowed Christianity to spread and flow throughout the empire create a harmony throughout the people. Constantine allowed for the Roman officials to adopt Christianity and this led to the building of the Constantinople. Christianity had basilicas which were opulent churches that were open to all which meant any person could go there allowing Christianity to be very universal. Christianity was also very appealing because the worshiped deity walked on land with the people. Christianity split and became the Roman Catholic church which consisted
...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 Great Schism of Christianity occurred at 1054 was mainly caused by the different ideas of understanding Christianity, and led to the variation in doctrine the truth and the different style of governing the Church.
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.
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.
Jesus’ teachings created the religion of Christianity. Though Christians were persecuted during the beginning of time in which they began to spread, many factors helped to shape Christianity into the popular religion it is today. Christianity was able rise from just a Jesus ministry to a popular religion with the help of martyrdom, missionaries, governmental support and Jesus himself.
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.
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
Factors Which Led to the Spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire Christianity was not born in a vacumn. There were many social, geographical, historical and religious issues prevailing at the time of Christ and all of which were favorable to the spread of Christianity. Geograpicly, Christianity came into being in the Meditation world, the largest of the various centers of civilization at that time. Israel stands almost central to the five continents, dividing the east and west.
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 it provided comfort, in times of pleasure it gave thanks. The will and belief for salvation has driven individuals to be better, and to have a reference while in need.
Secondly, Rome's legacy was spread by the advancement of the church. As the Catholic Church continued to flourish into the middle ages the church capital remained in Rome (Hadas 159). This allowed the spreading of Roman culture to continue. Not only did the church keep the capital in Rome, but also it continued to teach the Roman language of Latin, and kept the writings of Roman literature on record for many years. This aided to the study and adoption of Roman culture throughout the parallels of time.
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.