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The rise of christianity quizlet
Impact of Christianity on society
The rise of christianity quizlet
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The Beginnings of Christianity
From the time that man became a thinking and reasoning being, there has been a driving need to explain what is unknown to us. Man’s fear of the unknown and his need to explain it gave rise to various different religions that attempted to provide answers to all of man’s mystical questions. The different religions of the world competed for followers and through time many died out, just as new religions were born. Eventually there came about there came about the birth of one of the biggest religions of today’s world, this was Christianity. Unlike most new religions Christianity grew and spread throughout the entire world. How did Christianity become this successful? Many different elements contributed to making Christianity what it is today, one key element was Christianity’s ability to adapt characteristics from other religions so it could replace them. The biggest competitor of Christianity was paganism "…with its multiplicity of divine powers, rituals of sacrifice, temples, statues of deities, votive offerings, and periodic festivals", therefore to become more popular with the people Christianity borrowed elements from the existing pagan religions so it could eventually replace them (Ferguson p.3). This method of drawing followers could be viewed as cut throat in retrospect, but it was tactics such as this combined with giving the people what they wanted that helped to make Christianity what it is today.
With the coming of Christianity to the Roman Empire no one paid this new religion much thought. The cities were full of every type of religion imaginable from Judaism to various religions devoted to Greek gods. "If you walk the streets at the western edge of town, you pass: a temple ...
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Christianity developed with Jesus of Nazareth (6 BCE- 29 CE). He was born during the reign of Augustus Caesar. He practiced Christianity from 26 CE to 29 CE. He was the Son of God and the Redeemer of all Mankind. The Romans viewed him as someone “rocking the boat” with what was already a nation of the religiously obsessed. Eventually h...
Dio, Cassius. "Roman History - Book 50." 17 June 2011. University of Chicago. 31 October 2011 .
Marcel Le Glay, Jean-Louis Voisin, Yann Le Bohec. A History of Rome. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
All comes to show, that Christianity took hold on the ancient world because it was easy, convenient and powerful. Christianity is a strong religion seeming as it still stands
... Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997. Hopkins, Keith. A. A. Death and Renewal: Sociological Studies in Roman History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983 Johnston, Harold Whetstone. The Private Life of the Romans.
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In conclusion, it is important to realize that it was not one single factor which was responsible for the spread of Christianity, all these figures came together to give the perfect platform for a new religion to develop, " Never before in the history of the race had conditions been so ready for the adoption of a new faith by the majority of the peoples of so large an area" (K.S Latourette).
1. Tim Cornell, John Matthews, Atlas of the Roman World, Facts On File Inc, 1982. (pg.216)
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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.
Grant, Michael the fall of the roman empire: a reappraisal, Radnor pa, Annenberg school of