How Christianity Changed Between The First Century And Its Legalization

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. Christianity offered hope to many, for it was the time of grace and freedom, the time to rebuild the future and

Christianity is one of the most influential religions on both ancient and modern Western society, with the religion based on the teachings of the prophet Jesus Christ who lived approximately between the years of 5 BC and 33 AD. It is claimed that Christ was the son of God whose spirit was embodied and sent to Earth as a human being to bring peace and prosperity to the less fortunate, and absolve the world of its sin. Jesus preached a doctrine of a supreme monotheistic god who ruled over the universe, as well as ethics and morals especially centred on the concept of faith and forgiveness. If one was to live their life in accordance to the Will of God and the teachings of Christ found in the written word of the Holy Bible, one would be absolved of their sin and ascend to the spiritual realm of God, known as Heaven, after their physical death.

The positive influence of Christianity is far reaching especially in the rich history and culture of Western Civilization despite a long standing ignorance or adamant denial of its contributions. The Bible itself is responsible for much of the language, literature, and fine arts we enjoy today as its artists and composers were heavily influenced by its writings. Paul Maier, in writing the forward to the book How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin J. Schmidt, says this about the profound impact Christianity has had on the development of Western Civilization:

Throughout time, Christianity has changed constantly. In order to survive, Christianity has had to evolve and split. It has split into many denominations, some of which have become extinct over the centuries. The religion has changed and divided due to influential people and events in time.

Christianity was born and flourished in an empire where the common language was Latin and Greek. Two important people like Paul and Constantine further influenced and were a major part of the development of Christianity. The history of the Jews leading up to the time of Jesus had a major impact on the development of Christianity. “When Christianity was clearly identified as a distant religion, the new religion was considered by its members to be the fulfillment of Judaism rather than a new religion.” “Since Jesus was a Jew and preached to the Jews, Christianity was closely linked to Judaism.” The development of Christianity was due to several historical, political, and social circumstances.

One of the reasons this was a very significant period was because during this time the first Bible was compiled in Nicaea in 325 CE. Later, around 400 CE the Roman people fully accepted Christianity as their religion, which gave the religion a home. Christianity was accepted by a splitting Roman Empire to give a sense of unity to the falling empire.This is a significant step in the development and change of Christianity because it gave Christianity room to develop. Meanwhile, a Latin version of the Bible was created. Shortly afterward, philosophical and religious ideas are debated within Christianity more complex ideas about faith are formed. Near the end of the First Seven Ecumenical Councils period Vikings began raids on Christendom, and caused new conflict. Christians were still constantly trying to convert pagans and foreigners to Christianity with various degrees of success. One tactic used to help convert pagans was that the Christians used the Winter Solstice as the date of Christmas. The Christians recognized the outside celebrations of the pagans and used it to their advantage. This is a step in towards religious tolerance. Yet another instance of continuity was the persecution of Christians. Before 400 A.D. Christians were still being slaughtered in Rome, and the persecution carried on outside of Rome for many years to come.

Jesus Christ is believed to be the son of God and is considered the human version of God. Christianity also believes in the Holy Spirit, which is with us always in everything we do. The Christian faith is based on the belief that Jesus was born in a manger of the virgin Mary. It is believed that he lived a perfect life where he made no mistakes or sins. Jesus was believed to have died on a cross for our sins while being spat upon and cursed with a crown of thorns upon his head. Next, Jesus was buried in a tomb and rose from the dead three days later. Finally, Jesus descended into heaven to be with his father once again. Christians believe that in order to achieve eternal life you must accept Jesus into your life by believing that all this information is true and you must ask for forgiveness of your sins. Christians believe that Jesus will return one day to earth and will judge everyone and will take all Christians back to heaven with him to be with his father God. Christianity began to take off in Ancient Rome because of St. Paul. Paul began by creating churches in Asia Minor and Greece. He later began to take his teachings to ancient Rome. The poor people in ancient Rome began to believe in Christianity first. Christianity was illegal in Ancient Rome. If followers were caught by Rome they faced death for their actions. Therefore, Christians had to meet in secret so they were not killed for their beliefs. In 313 AD the Emperor Constantine, finally

Christianity centers on a teacher and preacher named Jesus of Nazareth, who was said to be the Son of God. Jesus began ministering to the public at age 30 which consisted of him doing things like:

Christianity and the Roman Empire shared an important bond. Christianity offered the Roman Empire joy, hope, a shift in their world view, and a monotheistic God. Rome offered Christianity a more efficient way of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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.

In the book “The Unexpected Christian Century,” the author Scott Sunquist believes that the twentieth century is the most recent one in the Christian history. During the time of the geometric era, it was believed that the importance of gravity moved from the Christian nations of Europe and North America to the “Global South,” where Christians were done wrong minority. Simply in the third and the sixteenth centuries was when Christianity had experienced a change of comparable greatness.

For many years, Christianity was illegal. Often, it was essentially ignored, but there were time periods where the Christians in all the conquered areas were persecuted for not making sacrifices to the ancient gods. Finally, when Theodosius made Christianity the favored religion of the state and decided the orthodoxy of the New Testament, the era of European Christianity began. The idea of a fully human and yet fully divine messiah began at this time and also the idea of a Bishop in Rome presiding over the entirety of Christianity. All of this set the stage for the Christian beliefs still held today.

Throughout history, Christianity always had a reputation, or a “name” following it. Different perspectives approached the reputation that was attached to Christianity in different manners. Justin Martyr and Porphyry had objectives when defining whether this “name” really defined Christianity and the past. They wondered whether the past really represented Christianity. Additionally they honed in on the question of was the past that people represented as Christianity really the roots of Christianity? All around Porphyry and Justin was perceptions of what Christianity rooted from and stood for.

Christianity was unlike other religions of the time in that it was a monotheistic worship though transcendentalism. The religions of Northern and Central Europe focused on gods in nature that explained the world around them. Christianity does not allow an explanation of this life, only that of existence in itself and the afterlife. The religions of these people at the time was also not as much a worship and commitment as that of the Christian religion. It is actually a great surprise to anyone that studies these religions as to how it could be that a religion that focused on piety, abstinence outside of marriage, and loving one’s enemy would be more fruitful a religion than the religions of Europe at that time that promoted feasts and festivals with excessive food, drink, and even orgies. The most compelling answer is that

One influential cult was based upon a mystical interpretation of Plato. Neo-Platonism was like a rational science that attempted to break down and describe every aspect of the divine essence and its relationship with the human soul. An Alexandrian Jew named Philo tried using Greek philosophy to interpret the Jewish scriptures. He wanted to unite the two traditions by suggesting that the Greek philosophers had been inspired by the same God who had revealed himself to the Jews.