Rise Of Christianity

Christianity began its succession into the most dominant worldwide religion after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days build another made without hands.” Upon Jesus’ death and resurrection, he completed this task setting forth the development of Christianity. Since Jesus left no formal authoritative power, organization, or agreed upon scriptures, a wide variety of sects gained popularity in the development of Christianity. Most of these sects were later deemed as heretic, one of the most notable being Gnosticism. Gnosticism was a dualist religion believing the material world evil and the invisible spirit realm good. This belief obligated Gnosticism to follow Docetic interpretations. Docetism is the belief that Jesus was never truly man but rather a divine from the spirit world. All forms of Christianity, however, believe Jesus is son of God sent as humanity’s savior from damnation. Docetism, along with other aspects of Gnosticism, drove other Christians condemn Gnosticism as heresy. Gnosticism, however, is more comparable to Canonical Christians than realized. Specifically, the distinction between Docetism and strict Canonical belief is not only insignificant but also justifiable due to Canonical contradictions surrounding Jesus’ existence.

Several factors contributing to the rapid spread of Christianity from the period ca. 50 to 500 CE but, among the more influential were political and social conflict, missionary work, word of mouth, and women in leadership. Starting as a Jewish sect, Christianity gradually began to attract those outside of the Jewish heritage. Though the first few centuries of this movement were anything but glamorous, both Jewish and Gentile Christians remained steadfast. The ecclesiastical works of the early Church Fathers offer solace to such who were continually persecuted, a people of lower society status or even slaves. During this era, the dissimilation of subversive ministries advanced the appeal of Christianity by challenging previously established social order and its structures of power, authority, and hierarchy. By late 300 CE, Christianity had revolutionized and was adopted as the universal religion of the Roman Empire as a result of the conversion of its emperor. Thus the strength behind Christian communities lead to the discovery and conversion of indigenous cultures around the world using force, wealth, missionary work, and the gospel.

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:

Christianity is a widespread and powerful religion because of its beginning in the Roman Empire. Factors contributing to this included spreading ideas without difficulty throughout the entire empire, the appeal of Christianity to the people, and the rule of Emperor Constantine.

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.

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

When thinking about the history of the world, one must always consider that merchants as well as trade have played an immerse role in shaping the world as it is today. They are responsible for many of the cross-cultural interactions that we have had in the past. Christianity and Islam, the two predominant religions of the world today, have both grown and spread through merchants and trade also. These two chief religions both have attitudes towards merchants and trade that have either developed or decreased overtime. According to these documents, from up to the year 1500, Christianity went from a negative view of merchants and trade to a positive view while Islam went from a positive view to a negative view, but both sides

In the year 30, Christianity mainly consisted of Jews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah. The belief that Jesus was a savoir was the break from Judaism. Jesus was appealing to people because he was real; lived on Earth. His teachings were appealing to people and the main ideas was that Christ was a savior. Jesus taught using parables, he talked to people who had been shunned, and welcomed the poor into society. The four Apostles are the telling of Jesus with different emphasis. They traveled spreading the teachings of Christ throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. John started to preach good news and John the Baptist told the people that the kingdom of god was near. The teachings included that sins could be forgiven through Gods orders. God was a loving and forgiving father, and believed in life after death. Jesus could perform miracles, raise the dead, and cure blindness. Christianity was seen at first as a part of Judaism, and the early believers were comprised of an apocalyptic Jewish sect. It was thought that the Lord may return at any time and the end must be close.

Most people don't look at Christianity in the same way as people apart of it do, some people think its very strict, or most people apart of it believe certain things. There's many things apart of Christianity like categories, and ways to practice it. Christianity is a religion that started around the 1st century A.D, and was originated in Rome.

The transition from paganism to Christianity was not an easy one as explained by Rodoifo Lanciani and we know this through the many writings, tombstones, building, and documentations of events occurring at the time. However, there is one group that could document this transition better than any other, the prostitutes.

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

Christianity was founded in the early first century. It is centered around the belief of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the largest religion in the world with around 2 billion followers. Christianity is a monotheistic religion. This means that Christians believe in only one

Christianity is the religion based on the life, death and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, also known as the Christ or Messiah. Jesus was a Jewish teacher and prophet who lived in Palestine in the first century CE. He revealed himself to be the Son of God in fulfillment of Hebrew scripture, and taught that the Kingdom of God was imminent, bringing with it forgiveness and new life for all who believed. His claim to be the Messiah roused opposition from religious and political authorities and he was imprisoned and crucified. His followers believe that after his death, Jesus was resurrected before being taken up to heaven.