Greco-Roman Influence On Christianity

Christianity, the world's largest religion, with over 2 billion followers, about a third of the world's population, was at one point almost completely wiped out, but managed to come back to dominate the ancient world. What began as Judaism in the 1st century AD, Jesus of Bethlehem, the Messiah who performed miracles including walking on water, healing, resurrection, fishing and creating thousands of fish and bread for the people from only a couple and dying for our sins. Christianity took hold of the ancient world because of eternal life, compassion and equality for people.

There are many similarities and differences between Greco- Roman and Judeo christian views of laws and faith, and duties to the individual. Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BCE and continued throughout the Hellenistic period in which Ancient Greece was part of Empire. It dealt with a wide variety of subjects including political philosophy, ethics, metaphysics ontology, logic, biology, art, rhetorics, and aesthetics. Judeo- christian is a term used by Christian and some jews since 1950s to encompass common beliefs of christianity and judaism. It became part of American Civil Religion.

The Greeks and Romans were accepting of other gods from different cultures, but had contrasting approaches for ensuring a place in their religion. The Romans took religion very seriously and performed everything precisely. They adopted different gods and made them a part of the Roman religion. This would soon change as the Christian religion began to rise in popularity. In

Henry, M. (2003). I am the truth: toward a philosophy of Christianity. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press.

Religion played a key role in the daily life and social system of Ancient Rome. Religion included the worship of many gods and more gods were often adopted from conquered areas. Because most religions were polytheist at the time, the Romans rarely disallowed a cult from a conquered region to continue. A few cults ran into controversy and opposition from citizens or government, such as the cult of Deus Sol Invictus, and that of Isis. Romans were also not keen on monotheistic religion which explains their separation from the Jews. But above all other religions, the Romans disagreed with, persecuted and were threatened most by Christianity.  The introduction of Christianity to the Roman Empire

The Old Testament was translated into Greek and, outside Israel, it was widely used in Jewish communities- it was often the Greek and not the Hebrew version of the bible which was used by Paul and other early missionaries quoted from. For the first one hundred years of the church's writings, Greek was the medium used for expansion into the Gentile world. Wand highlights the importance of a universal language, "One coinage and one language would carry the traveler all the way... Greek was a kind of universal language which one could make shift anywhere- there would always be found someone who could speak it. Growing cosmopolitism must also be considered as a factor which favored the spread of Christianity.

Romans and Christians shared a rich narrative for their followers. Romans shared stories, a mythology, for every one of their gods. These stories were shared orally and in written text, passed down generation to generation. This fermented the communal spirit of Roman state religion. To Christians, the Bible is the collection of religious writings from Hebrew Scripture. There is the Old Testament and later writings are included in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is a collection of books written prior to the arrival of their messiah Jesus. The New Testament is the life and teachings of Jesus. The majority of modern Christians use the New

The Greek Alexander Romance describes the life of Alexander the Great, focusing primarily on his great military feats as a leader of Greece and highlighting why he is remembered as a great Greco-Roman leader. Similarly, the Gospel of Matthew explains the life of Jesus Christ through his teachings and miracles, which underline why he is known as the greatest figure from Judeo-Christian culture. Alexander and Jesus easily compare because they died in their early thirties, were known as kings, and are remembered for impressive triumphs while on earth. Alexander sought to build his empire and essentially rule the world through victories on the battlefield and the conquering of neighboring countries. Jesus sought to destroy evil on earth by establishing God’s Kingdom and teachings in the hearts of all. Comparing the lives of these great Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian leaders highlight the differences in cultural opinion on the highest good in life, how one obtains that good, and what that means in connection to an afterlife. Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman perspectives on elements of a meaningful life contrast in the sense that Judeo-Christian actions to pursue these elements are motivated by the desire for everlasting life in heaven, while Greco-Roman actions are motivated by the desire for perpetual fame on earth after one dies.

Near the beginning of the fourth century, after an age of chaos and war, the Roman Empire was now seeing an age of peace and prosperity. This new age also brought around a fairly new religion: Christianity. It first became a popular religion with emperors like Constantine, who, under his reign, united Church and State, turning Rome into a highly devout christian state. Later emperors such as Charlemagne, with the help of the Church would continue this progression of church and state being unified. Christianity during this time truly would take a firm hold of the Empire. It was during this age that Europe was flourishing. Ultimately, that age would soon end, with a disintegration of an empire, and, Europe would have to struggle to find any

Dionysus is the god of wine and fertility, however also became considered a patron of the arts. Along with the variety of things Dionysus was associated with, he is associated with some important concepts. These are, being able to bring a dead person back from the underworld, rebirth after death represented through the symbol of his tending to vines to bear fruit for the making of his wine. There is also the feeling of being possessed by a greater power – which he demonstrated via the influence had from wine. This means that the greater power is the wine – that at these times a man might be greater than himself and do works he otherwise could not.

When the Romans conquered Greece, not only did they discover that the Greeks had much to offer, but the Romans eventually adopted and built upon many of the Greek traditions. In terms of religion,

The relationship between Christians and the Roman Empire is complicated to say the least. Before the summation of the primary sources begin there must be a little background information provided. Rome was in power over a big portion of the Mediterranean region. A good portion of Christians lived under Rome’s rule. Rome was a very tolerant state when it came to religious flexibility. As long as you recognized the Roman God’s then they were tolerant with any other practices you decided to have. The Christians would not recognize the Roman God’s and that caused great friction. There are many primary sources historians have found on the relationship between the Christians and the Romans. The majority of the sources being used in this summation are from the Documents of the Christian Church the fourth edition. Also three primary sources from the times of Constantine, the emperor of Rome in the fourth century. The Romans start as thinking of the Christians as criminals, to being tolerant with them, to eventually they embrace the Christian faith.

Before the birth of Jesus Christ and Christianity, there was Judaism, the religion where Christianity originated from. In the years of 65 B.C. through 63 B.C., The Roman and the Jews had several complications with each other, especially with Pompey the Great interfering with Jerusalem and its people. Pompey the Great invaded Jerusalem due to their opposition of worshipping the Roman gods and the Jews’ belief in only one God. In addition, he did it to elevate his status as a more powerful figure in Roman society, since Julius Caesar, another Roman political figure was also competing for power and attention from the people. His conquering over the Jews and the ongoing brawls set the stage on how Christianity and the Roman Empire intertwined with each other and the tense relations that were formed,

In the Roman Civilization where the prevalent worship of roman gods were impersonal and did not provide a moral base or a message of hope, in the fourth century Christianity was formed, born as a movement within Judaism Christianity emphasized the personal relationship between God and people slowly spread through the Roman Empire until ultimately dominating the western culture. Three of the several factors that aided to the growth of Christianity in the Roman Empire were; the central beliefs and value of Christianity, prominent figures, and Christianity appeal to women.

Dionysus is an important figure of Greek mythology. He is the Olympian god of wine, vegetation, festivity and pleasure. He represents humanity’s longing for pleasure and desire to celebrate. Dionysus is also the god of hallucination, theatre, reincarnation and homosexuality. He is called: “the youthful, beautiful, but effeminate god of wine. He is also called both by Greeks and Romans Bacchus (Bakchos), that is, the noisy or riotous god…” (Roman 201).