Roman Influence On Christianity

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:

Christian art and iconography began, about two hundred years after the birth of Christ. Western Christian art and religious iconography was based on the classical art styles and imagery by the Ancient Romans. Medieval art iconography began to relate more to text of the Bible. Religious Christian art was created in the form of illuminated manuscripts, mosaics, and fresco paintings adorned churches. The colors of art were generally muted except those used in manuscripts and stained glass windows. Figures varied in sizes in relation their importance. Unlike artists in the Byzantine period who avoided making sculptures at all costs, Romanesque artists made sculptures which were often large, made of stone, and

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.

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.

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

Then and now religions shared common dimensions that provide society with a doctrine, narrative, ethics, ritual, experience and a social institution. These six dimensions that Ninian Smart derived spell out the framework for comparative study of religions1. The six dimensions hold true when comparing the daily routine Roman religious thought to modern Christianity. Interwoven into the core of both cultures is a strong unifying spirit that built a strong communal bond for its people.

There are many differences between Christianity and Roman religion. There are also similarities between the two of how they both worshipped in a place even if the place was different. Big difference is that they believed in gods and also they had different ways of religious. Roman did not like people turning away from Roman religion, and that caused harsh punishment to Christian to occur. Christianity became popular in Rome is after “the Jesus movement” occurred in Judea. Another key point that needs to be discussed is what the Roman did to deal with the people who turned away from Roman religion to Christianity.

Christians went from being persecuted to dominating Rome rather quickly. In a world where separation between church and state does not exist, a Christian becoming the sole emperor of Rome symbolized a huge turning point in history. The power switched and the Pagans in turn became persecuted. Christians rose up and took control of all aspects of Roman society. The Pagan past was destroyed, banned, or forgotten about. Those Christians that did not agree with how things were being run either left the empire and became monks or formed their own sect. All of Rome changed.

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.

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.

There are many similarities and differences between Classical Roman and Early Christian Art. What particularly stands out to me is how much these two cultures have in common when it comes to their art and architecture. Romans were geniuses when it came to engineering and we can see that in the monuments they left behind. Many early Christian architectural styles and ideas were adopted straight from the Romans. Their communities became organized geographically much like those of the Roman provincial governments. Christian cultural styles derived straight from Roman visual traditions. Early Christian art features the adoption of Roman art forms for Christian purposes. Their art also featured

When Christianity was introduced as a successor to Judaism, Roman Empire’s official religion was still Paganism. As a result Christianity was a mystery religion in Roman Empire before it became an official Religion. In this period we do not see any churches, and people used to gather in a secret place in order to pray. These places were like ordinary homes, but they changed inside, so it could be used for religion purposes. A really good example of it is Dura Europos house church. It has a simple architecture, as we can see they even broke the wall inside the house to make it bigger as to serve gatherings. After Constantine declared Christianity as an official religion, everything changed. In this essay I aim to discuss how Roman art became Christian Art. In other words, I will explain how Romans used their art and style as a formula to create art based on Christianity principals.

The Bible, the book that Christianity is based on, “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” (“Influence of Christianity on Western Civilization 1). In today’s society there are Christian roots in famous artwork. For example, the Pieta sculpture created by Michaelangelo which is housed in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome has roots in Christian teachings("Christian Art (c.150-2000) History and Characteristics"