Christian Reading Non-Christian Literature

Christianity prevailed over paganism because the former successfully offered a new culture that could make sense of an increasingly chaotic world and because it was not weakened by the pluralism inherent in ancient paganism. With its insistence on exclusive monotheistic worship of the Christian God it won where paganism could only fail, in demanding solitary allegiance to its movement (Hamilton 38).

One of the all-time greatest Christian theologians, Augustine of Hippo proclaimed that a Christian could be both a soldier and a man of God, being devoted to his country and to a higher power in equal rights. He justified this notion by referring to the book of Romans in the Christian Bible, which states that God himself has given power to the government, and those who follow that government in turn follow God. He believed that Christians, though being taught to shun violence, should not be ashamed to use any means necessary to serve their country, protect their peace, and punish those who do evil against them. However, Augustine knew that some governmental disputes would be immoral, to which he said his people, "by divine edict, have no choice but to subject themselves to their political masters and [should] seek to ensure that they execute their war-fighting duty as justly as possible

I agree with Augustine on his spiritual principles. It is essential in the Christian faith to study the scriptures to gain wisdom and knowledge on how one is to live life. I refer to scriptures from the Holy Bible; scriptures that encourage us to seek knowledge from God. In the book of James 5:1, we are told to seek wisdom from God, not from the books written by men. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him,” (Holy Bible) and here we are advised in the book of I Corinthians 3:19-20, “For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” (Holy Bible)

Augustine challenged the claims of pagans, including those who sacked Rome. He wished to refute the claims which accused the Christian God as the source of turmoil in Rome. Augustine assured his fellow Christians , through his writing, of the false notions these pagans believed in. Furthermore, he showed the way in which pagans worshipped their gods, including the practice of offering sacrifices, was not the way to eternal salvation. In a time of Chaos and uncertainty, Christians could look to Augustine’s writing in order to find solace in their faith. Therefore, the invaders held no power over them, since

‘Christians to the lions’ as Trajan would say, an emperor in the early centuries Christianity to them have alienated the favour of their gods which has and would continue to cause disasters in the Roman Empire. The misfortune of Christians did not stop during this period, but it did come to a composed halt as Galerius, gave Christians the right to worship in some sense. Christianity during the early stages was clearly a course of persecution and forced pagan accusations. Constantine dramatically changed the recourse of religions with the battle of Milvian Bridge as Christianity became the predominant religion of the Roman Empire.

          Brown begins part II, after the chronology, with a chapter on Ambrose, the bishop of Milan that helped Augustine to convert with his interpretation of the pagan philosophers and the similarities in the Hebrew prophets that the future bishop had misread, and their influence on the great Greek minds.  Chapter nine, titled “The Platonists,” describes Augustine’s influence by the Plato revivalists Plotinus and Porphyry, who brought back the old master’s works into the mainstream mindset, and how Augustine reconciled Christianity with this existential thought, leading directly to the next chapter, “Philosophy.”  It describes the problems that arose in and around Augustine with such reconciliation; the Platonist teaching

After reading this week’s lecture notes and viewing the video presentations, it is clear that Christians should study secular literature. It is important to be a careful reader, critical thinker and skillful writer because these skills are important for Christians that study secular literature. When readers have the ability to understand the literary text, this will allow the individual to understand what the author is trying to convey. As mention in lesson three, “acquiring information using electronic media jeopardize an individual to think critically and how it devoices an individual from a sense from the past and perception from the future” (Presentation Lesson 3, Liberty University). As a Christian, learning about secular literature

In the first book of his Confessions, Augustine dismisses the Aeneid, describing it merely as depicting “the wanderings of some legendary fellow named Aeneas” (Conf. 1.20). However, this is not the only thing that he dismisses throughout the text. Augustine also rejects other culturally significant texts and the work of both himself and others in his life. While he does admit there are positive lessons to learn from each of these pursuits, Augustine argues the only texts or professions that matter are those that bring an individual closer to God, specifically by mentioning Him and His teachings.

This declaration was a precursor to the manipulation of religion as a means to acquire wealth, enhance social and political power, and as a method of societal control; a manipulation that would only grow and continue in coming centuries. Constantine understood that by getting people to believe that there was only one true and worthy God to worship and obey, convincing them to obey and worship only one worthy and true earthly leader, was entirely feasible. Implementing this religion upon his people was a self-serving attempt at coming to be an all-powerful, rightful and ruling God on earth: a concept later defined as “divine right” by successive emperors (Lundskow, 2008, 72). Abrupt social changes occurred under the rule of Constantine, and this aided with the people’s ready reception of and conversion to the Christianity. Pagan practices, although still in existence, were becoming out-dated and society was open to the idea of a religion that was a more accurate reflection of their current lifestyle; Christianity responded accordingly to this desire. Similarly, to the Emperor, not every individual was particularly overcome by everlasting faith in Christianity. Rather, its social advantages and opportunity for economic advancement proved to be the deciding factors for most. The people’s acceptance of Christianity is attributable to Constantine’s political ascension to power, which in turn is attributable to a multitude of subsequent worldly leaders embracing the Christian faith to push their own personal

Hello Brittany Harrington,I enjoyed reading your post and I think you came up with a good idea why Christians should study secular literature. Children nowdays are being easily exposed to electoronic divices like smartphone and television. As they keep watching television and smartphone, they lose the senses and imagination. They also lose creativity, strategic thinking, and how to feel other's emotion. It is important for Christian to share other people's feelings as Christ did. Jesus was always sensitive to other's feeling. Whenever He saw people who were harassed and helpless, He had compassion on them. He sensed other's pain and empathize with all people's weaknesses. The literature can help people to engage in a world where people have

The textbook lists three "Pagan Sources," or non-Christian sources, that refer to the early movement of Christianity. Who were these writers and what did they say about this new movement?

The conversion of Roman Emperor, Constantine, marked the start of a reform that would change Rome forever. A once pagan society, Rome was one of the last to grasp the Christianity concept. The start of “Christianizing” Rome began with two of Jesus’ disciples, Peter and James, as well as the apostle Paul in the Roman province of Antioch during the first century ("New Women of Color Study Bible" 1742). From this, Christianity spread all over the province, by the time it got to Rome it was not widely practiced. It wasn’t until the reign of Constantine that Christianity took its place as the empires forefront religion. Since Rome was known for its worship and idolizing of gods, how and for what reasons did Constantine transform his subjects’ beliefs? According to authors, Ramsay MacMullen, John Curran, and A.H.M. Jones, a number of tactics were used to sway the masses’ minds. Use of coercion, money, and campaigns aided Constantine’s questionable Christian “cleanse”.

The Romans were hard headed when it came to religion, as to a lot of things. This probably explains why they had a really tough time understanding the concept of a single, all knowing and most powerful god. The change from being a Pagan city to a Christian city was hard and it took the city of Rome a long time to get used to it. There are many differences between Paganism and Christianity, Christian beliefs are all centered around the words of the Bible. Also, Christianity has one singular God they worship whereas Paganism have many different Gods they worship.

Romans were a highly skilled and educated lot and they demonstrated mild tolerance to religious sects, like Judaism. The goal of religion was to ensure the prosperity of the state, the people and the emperor under the protection of the gods. They honored this communal argument by preserving traditional ideology, moral conduct and religious responsibilities. But the rise of Christianity and their teachings became troublesome, with its circumcision, keeping the Sabbath holy and refusal to honor the Roman practice of occasional sacrifices for the Emperor, which Christians deemed to close to worshipping false idols

With its insistence on exclusive monotheistic worship of the Christian God it won where paganism could only fail, in demanding solitary allegiance to its movement (pp. 201-204). In demanding such commitment, those won to Christianity were far more allied to its goals and purposes than adherents to pagan movements that were non-exclusive. Further, the possibility of publicly suffering for their faith offered Christians the hope of enormous communal esteem. For those already firmly committed, the benefits of esteem and other-worldly reward far out-weighed whatever cost in suffering martyrdom might bring. Paganism had nothing analogous to win such enthusiastic commitment. Whereas, Christianity promised life after death in heaven while in the Roman religion, only gods went to heaven; emperors were considered gods, everyone else went to the underworld.