Today, Christianity and its practices vary depending on location and denomination. At its onset, however, Christianity was not as diverse and house churches driven by simplicity were the norm. How did such a variety of beliefs and ways of practicing the same religion? Part of this can be explained by the early attempts to Christianize the pagans of the unreached parts of Europe. As the movement grew, it began more structured and strategically organized for more effective ministry, eventually leading to the institutionalized Catholic Church. While Roman Christianity had become homogenous, the spread of the religion to other, more distant areas required change and adaptation. As Christian missionaries attempted to convert the rest of Europe, approaches to achieve this conversion varied from complete destruction of pagan culture, appeals to power, and the less violent, slow approach in which Christians assimilated the beliefs of the true religion into common practices. These different approaches led to the adaptation of Christianity to the cultural settings as it continued to expand.
One of the earliest ways Christianity spread throughout Europe was through the rulers of the lands who accepted the religion on the basis of the power it granted them. Clovis, king of the Franks, is a prime example of this type of adaptation of Christianity. After allowing his children to be baptized according to Christian belief and seeing one die and another become sick quickly after, Clovis charges into a battle that is said to have been a "grievous slaugher" against Clovis' men (Christianity and Paganism, 82). As Clovis' loss seems imminent, he says a prayer declaring that Christianity's truth will be accepted if "[t]hou grant me victory" ...
... middle of paper ...
...tices and festivals used among the ancient world while also illuminating Christianity's unique ability to adjust to culture's outside of its own.
Christianity's expansion and adaptation is a result of these various methods and results in plethora of ways to practicing Christianity. While some convert to Christianity because of the power it gives, others, including many of the lower classes, convert based on logic or the acceptable nature of slow assimilation offered by the missionaries dispersed among the area. Although Christianity adapts and adjusts to different cultures, it never strays from the fundamentals of belief. Power is not the only reason to serve God, logic does not take priority over Christian belief, and pagan practices are not left unchanged. With its diversity, Christianity proves itself relevant and able to exist in any culture and any place.
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.
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
Throughout history, the rise and fall of empires in Europe had become so prevalent that it was hardly a surprise anymore. There were a great deal of changes in rulers, land ownership, and religion in all the areas of Europe. The area that I plan to focus on is Afro-Eurasia between the times of 300-600 CE. During this time, new borders were made, religions were traded from area to area, and new empires came to be.
Christianity, on the other hand, never changed or adapted. The ideas and beliefs have stayed the same since the beginning. The reasons it succeeded in spreading was because it was attractive to everybody. Anyone could be a part of it, not just monks or very strict people. It united all types of people for one cause, to serve God and achieve eternal life. Both these religions spread and attracted many people, and continue to do so even to this day.
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...
In The History of the Franks, Gregory of Tours portrayed Clovis as a leader who, although his conversion to Christianity appeared to be genuine, nonetheless, used his conversion to realize his political aspirations. By converting to Christianity, Clovis, according to Gregory of Tours’ narrative, was able to garner the support of Christian leaders such as Saint Remigius and, consequently, gain powerful political allies. Moreover, as a result of his conversion, Clovis became a king who was more attractive to orthodox Christians. Furthermore, Clovis’ conversion provided him with a reason for conquering territories that were not ruled by orthodox Christians. Thus, Clovis was able to bring additional territories under his command without resistance from local orthodox Christian leaders and with a degree of approval from the orthodox Christian masses as he, in essence, took on the Christ-like role of savior and liberator who relieved the orthodox Christian masses of flawed leadership from “false” Christians, pagans, or the morally inept. Interestingly, it seems that Clovis’ alleged behavior was not entirely unique as parallels and discrepancies exist between Gregory of Tour’s account of Clovis’ conversion to orthodox Christianity, his depiction of Gundobad’s conversion, and Eusebius’ description of Constantine’s conversion.
Although popular knowledge of early Christians emphasize their persecution and severe ostracism within the Roman Empire, a closer study of Roman law reveals that Christianity and being Christian were not crimes in and of themselves. As a matter of fact, citizens of the Roman Empire were free to worship any god. Even their proclamations about Jesus were not considered heretical. On the contrary, it was not out of the ordinary to declare a human to be divine. After all, the emperor himself was thought by many to have been divine. In addition, the “secret meetings” of Christians to celebrate the Lord’s Supper often portrayed, as highly covert and something the Christians attended in fear of being found out, also were not illegal. As a matter of fact, most of the rituals and beliefs associated with being a Christian in ancient times were not deemed criminal. In actuality, the Roman Empire punished Christians for breaking laws that were applicable to every Roman citizen.
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.
Religions play a crucial role in impacting how adherents live their lives and their understanding of humanities enduring questions of life. Religion is an active system of faith. Christianity is a religion centred on the teachings of Jesus Christ and the bible. A living tradition is one that is active amongst followers in present society. Whereas a dynamic tradition is capable of adapting and amending in order to meet the needs of society. Christianity is formed as a living and dynamic tradition, which is defined by its distinct characteristics. Characteristics include, sacred texts and writings, rituals and ceremonies, beliefs and believers and ethics. Ultimately, Christianity is shaped as a living and dynamic tradition through the characteristics of religion’s impacts on adherents.
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).
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 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.
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.
A conquering religion often retains some of the subjugated religion’s traditions to make the conversion easier. An example of such blending is hidden in the text of Beowulf by the Beowulf Poet (translated by Burton Raffel). From the beginning, Beowulf held Pagan and Christian traditions. “There in the harbor was a ring-prowed fighting ship…and there they brought the beloved body of their ring-giving lord…They heaped up treasures…then sadly let the water pull at the ship, watched it slowly sliding to where neither rulers so nor heroes nor anyone can say whose hands opened to take that motionless cargo” (Line 32-Line 52, Prologue).
In conclusion, Christians that belonged to the early church found themselves being persecuted from massive amounts of tension caused from strife between religions, imperial policies that were set into place by hostile emperors, and empire-wide persecutions that were set in place against Christianity. Constantine ultimately aided in keeping Christianity alive throughout the 300 years of hostility that the religion as a whole underwent, and made way for the growth and development of the Christian church.