Rise Of Christianity Research Paper

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.

Constantine issued the Edict of Milan to proclaimed and promoted religious tolerance in the Roman Empire. The edict of Milan allowed people to live together as one and have heart of toleration of Christianity religion within the Empire. It was the historic agreement between Emperor Constantine the great and the brave and wise Licinius in Milan. The agreement also brought peace and stabilities among people of west and eastern of Roman Empire governed by two different emperors. Constantine the great was the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity and he did so for many reasons. Constantine I converted to Christianity because he wanted to become a true believer of God and united the Roman Empire. Constantine also converted to Christianity

It was this refusal that caused its practice to be illegal and those who chose to stick with the faith were prosecuted. Although people were being killed for practicing, Christianity started to become even more popular. After seeing Christian martyrs risk their lives for the sake of Christianity, many Romans were compelled and attracted to the faith. Also, there were Apostles who traveled around the empire spreading the message of Christianity. Then in 312 CE, Emperor Constantine proposed the Edict of Milan that banned all laws against Christianity. That allowed people to freely worship, without the fear of harsh punishment. He eventually converted on his deathbed. Then in 392 CE, Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of Rome. Christianity went from being an illegal religion to the official religion of the Roman Empire.

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.

The hope offered by Christianity came in the God who loved and extended mercy and grace. Before the rise of Christianity, the Roman people had lived in a society of fear.

Constantine the ruler of the Roman Empire had been surrounded by many controversies during his reign (Cameron, 14). He was the son of a great warrior and he defeated Manutius a great ruler at Milia Bridge. He had gained much respect and admiration among the Romans as a fair ruler. He emerged as a ruler who supported Christianity and then became popular as a Christian ruler himself. His reign and victory over the Roman Empire is a significant event in the history of Christian religion. With the Edict of Milan in 313 Christianity was recognized as a religion, and the followers were free to practice Christianity without fear. It has been argued that Constantine failed to treat different religions equally as paganism (Cameron, 57). Constantine also sponsored churches, promoted Christians to high government ranks, exempted taxes for the clergy. In the latter days of his rule Constantine had a stricter approach towards Christianity and professed that there is one God, the Christian God. He rewarded building temples into churches. He played a key role in framing important church policies namely The Council of Arles, A.D. 314 and The Council of Nicaea, A.D. 325.

Under the rule of Constantine, he implemented a series of reforms such as the edict of Milan, Nicene Creed and changes in the culture of Rome, which shifted the empire paganism ideology toward a Christian one. Christianity during the reigns of Diocletian, Galerius, etc were not allowed to worship freely. Christianity was a young religion and there ideology was distinctive compared to the older religions. Romans saw this monotheistic ideology of the Christian religion as a threat to the principle of

Constantine the Great was a Roman Emperor from 306-337 AD. He was a soldier who arduously worked to climb through the ranks, working through a civil war to become emperor. He is most famous for establishing a new capital where Byzantium once was, and named the new establishment “Constantinople.” However, Constantine is most famous for becoming Roman Emperor who converted to Christianity in his forties. His mother, Helen, was a Christian and ultimately decided to convert after believing that the Christian god had helped him in his success though the war. He enacted the Edict of Milan in the third century with his co-emperor Licinius, and officially declared Christianity legal. This document was one of the most significant and important writings of the time because it declares that Christians could freely practice religion.

Through out history, there have been numerous executions of religious groups. One being the Christians. In the Roman Empire, they refused to acknowledge this new rising and developing religion, Christianity. The followers of this new group did not succumb, but were determined to spread the message of this new profound religion. Using nonviolent ways to receive peace, The Christians were able to uphold through the teachings of Jesus, the evangelism of apostles, such as Paul, and through their belief that everyone is treated equally.

The Edict of Milan in 313 was declared by Emperor Constantine and Licinius. This declaration called for toleration of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire and freedom of worship to all Rome’s citizens.  It was issued shortly after the end of Christian persecution under the reign of Emperor Diocletian. Previous to the declaration of this edict, Emperor Constantine decided to march on Italy. Before advancing, Constantine saw a vision of a symbol of Christianity. He heard a voice that said “In this sign, you will conquer”; and truly he did. As a way of saying ‘thank you’ to Christians all around the empire, Constantine passed the Edict of Milan. It gave Christianity a legal status, however, it did not make it the official religion of the land.

‘The early Christian church made no distinction between sin and suffering, and repentance and healing.” (p. 34) The Scripture equates sickness with unclean spirits and demonic activity. Early Christians understood the relationship between sin and sickness and acted accordingly (see James 5:14,15). Jesus taught the disciples the relationship between sin and sickness. In the early church repentance and healing went hand-in-hand. Unfortunately, in today’s church the first call of a sick Christian is to their doctor or hospital. We have turned to the secular world for a healing, which they cannot offer. Satan’s footprint is everywhere in the medical field. I am reminded of a Scripture, which says that man is always searching for knowledge but never

Christianity and its relationship with political authority has changed over the course of the period we have studied this semester. There has been a lot of back and forth about the main religion in the countries we have studied, and predominantly in Rome. The main religion of a country is traced back to the religion of the political authority. Citizens looked up to their rulers, therefore convert to the religion of the authority. Initially, Romans viewed Christianity as a new sect of Judaism. Roman rulers did not like the religion of Christianity. By the end of the first century, the political authority viewed the religion as a dangerous superstition that was a threat to their civic order. Romans didn’t like the fact that Christians

Religion has existed for countless centuries. Christianity is one of the major religions in this world, which had people be criticized, battle in wars, and killed for, but it still survived to this day. The purpose of this paper is to study the source of the religion, recognize the teachings, observe its spread throughout the world, and to identify how it stands among people today. Approaching this paper by a factual report I will explain these major points and why we need to know about this religion and other religions that existed before our generation.

The single most important aspect of European empires, beginning just prior to the fall of Rome, is the spread of Christianity to all areas of the continent in as little as a few hundred years. Many theologians state that Christianities spread is the indirect influence of God and the adoration of people to one true faith. Though it is true that Christianity has brought about people that even atheists could call saints, it is unquestionable that Christianity was so monumental because it united larger groups of people and its spread is contributed to adherence to local customs and its lack of new ideas in comparison to other religions of the day.

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.