Comparing Pagan Romans And Christians Essay

Religions across the globe have their own distinctive rites and rituals, idols, traditions, and values. Each have in common a desire to explain something unexplainable by common wisdom, or attributing some aspect of life to some higher power. Many religions have at their heart etiological stories, which explain some sort of natural phenomenon through the physical manifestation of their deity or deities. From high winds and thunderstorms to love, fertility, and the sun, such religions focus on the physical world in this life. Other religions try to explain the "next" life or the afterlife. These religions usually give a moral code to live by, with stricter adherence to this code offering a better afterlife.

‘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.

Ancient Rome and Christianity experienced many similarities and differences throughout their time. Because the Roman World began their religion multiple years before Christianity began to erupt, therefore Christianity was persecuted by the Roman World. The Roman World based their religion off gods and goddesses while Christianity was based off of Jesus and his crucifixion on the cross for our sins. These religions share different but in some way similar purposes, virtue, and destiny.

On Doc A, It explains one of the many reasons the Romans persecuted the Christians. “As Christianity spread through the Roman world, some local officials feared that Christians were conspiring against them.” This quote not only shows why the Romans did what they did but it also kind of explains a little bit of background from the Romans side. It also says how there were some rulers that came to see Christianity as a threat to them and of course, they began to persecute the people who practiced it.

The Flames of Rome by Paul Maier is a documentary-fiction that has not only brought to life the evolution of Christianity in Rome but has also painted a clear picture of what it was like to live in Rome at the time. Understanding the Roman’s way of life and reasoning behind their actions plays a major role in the reasoning for Maier writing this book. The Flames of Rome is equivalent to reading a textbook but Maier makes it much more enjoyable and intriguing by adding plausible details of his own. Maier’s portrayal of the death of Claudius Caesar, in chapter nine of the novel, closely follows the primary sources of Tacitus and Suetonius but also loosely follows that of the secondary sources. It is important to compare Maier’s version to other

McGiffert, A. (1909). The Influence of Christianity upon the Roman Empire. The Harvard Theological Review, 2(1), 28-49. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1507353

When Pliny was first challenged with the issue of Christianity in his region, he was extremely confused and worried. He had never dealt with the issue before and so had no prior experience to dwell upon. However, he ended up dealing with them like any other threat to the Roman Empire he had dispensed with. He viewed these individuals as a contagion and threat to the Empire that needed to be distinguished. However, he knew that he did not have the resources or manpower to adequately confront the issue as it had spread not just in the cities, but also to the towns and farms across his region. This leads to the start of multiple letters to Emperor Trajan, so that he could be informed and order what needed to occur.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate why the Church was persecution; how the church increased devotion to their Savior Jesus Christ because of the persecution, and what cause the church to grow. Acts 8:1, at that time a great persecution

During the first decades preceding Christ's death, Christians were tolerated but not really liked by the general population of the Roman empire due to their refusal to acknowledge the emperor as a living god. This act of defiance was considered heresy by the state .The real mass persecution of the Christian people came during the reign of the emperor Nero who needed a scapegoat on whom to blame the great fire during his reign.

Article title: Tacitus and Nero's Persecution of the Christians In the age of Nero, Christian persecution occurred. Tacitus is the authority over the fire that affected Christianity. Christian writers reasoned that Nero’s victims were because of their faith. On the other hand, pagan writers reasoned that Nero persecuted because of his mere incendiarism.

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.

The relationship between Christianity and the Roman Empire is interconnected with each other in different ways. Heaps of commotion and perspectives were constructed, and it caused several disputes to form all over Europe. In addition to this, there was also a large amount of seclusion, death and persecution during the time. Events such as the Fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD, the rise of Christianity, and its expansion throughout the Europe were a result of the political conflict. Due to the actions of many individuals and groups that influenced the course of major events, the relationship between the Roman Empire and Christianity was quite tense, problematic and confrontational.

Rough Draft: Saint Mark on Bringing Christianity to Egypt “Section One: Set the Scene – think about what was going on in the time period before your topic happens. What was happening in history that the reader should know to help them understand your topic? Think about the context of the time period that the reader needs to know.” The initial gesture taken in opposition to Christians was by the command of emperor Nero, which occurred half a century under his ruling, after the Great Fire of Rome during 64 AD.

Happening the time of the year112, Pliny was in a crossroad wondering actions to take after Christians were summoned to his court of law whereby by that time he was acting as a governor in the ancient state. He dint know the measures to take since Christians usually looked harmless to him but he later decided to execute them despite being uncertain about original custodies.

In addition to your post, I think that the initial respond to the Christians from the Romans was reprimand. Later, cruelty and punishment came along with this reprimand. As I wrote in Deionna’s first post, there was an understanding in Romans that it was called piety. Piety was about being united and loyal to their emperors that the Romans were not able to see these virtues in Christians because they were believing differently and had different perception on the world, politics, military and economic issues. Why Pliny was punishing them might be lack of piety in Christians that the Romans thought that Christians had no piety related to the Roman religion.