Spread Of Christianity Research Paper

Christianity is a vast umbrella; a faith that shelters many souls. Believers of the Christian faith, if adhering to the scripture of the bible are governed to practice acts of empathy, compassion, kindness, selflessness, etc..Christians are supposed to reject judgment on one another, even though that is a trying task because mankind does it without effort. However, Christians believe that God created all in his image and we are all children of him. With that premise, it would be blasphemous to use such a faith to ones advantage. Political leaders tend to play on peoples emotions by using the power that Christianity holds against them by strong arming them to believe that if they do not follow them they are bad and in a sense rebelling against

The earliest Christians did not have church building. They typically met in homes. (The first actual church building so far found is at Dura Europos on the Euphrates , dating about 231.). They did not have public ceremonies that would introduce them to the public, and they had no access to the mass media of their day. So, to understand the steady and diverse expansion, we can have a conversation, about the Apostle Paul, we don't run across many "big names" as missionaries in the first few hundred years of Christians history. Instead, the faith spread through a multitude of humble, ordinary believers whose names have been long forgotten.

Early Christianity had a lot to do with the transformation of Rome and posed a challenge to the Roman Empire. Christians were known as the enemy of Rome, primarily because they refused to worship the emperors as the embodiment of Rome’s Gods meaning they were denying his divinity and authority. The one whom the Christians worshiped had been declared a criminal, was tried and put to death the roman state.

Between 1000- 1750, Christianity maintained authority over the people due to religious and political power, thereby greatly influencing art and education, however exposure to new knowledge from the Islamic world led to changes in the way the church was perceived and depicted in Western Europe.

In this day and age, Christianity is the most popular religion in the world boasting a following of about 2.4 billion people, or 32% of the world’s population. But this was not always so, it originally came from a small sect of the Jewish religion. Over time it gained mass amounts of followers and became its own faith, but this was not the original intent of Jesus. His intention was purely to spread the word of the Lord and try and save humanity from their sins.

Thesis: The two main causes that led to the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire were Constantine’s conversion and the morals of Christianity.

During the medieval period, religion was something that took great precedence over many other things. Christianity had a strong presence in Britain during the medieval period, but there were times when other groups tried to push christianity along with the Britons out of their land. "The Angles and Saxons were pagan, worshiping a pantheon of northern gods such as Woden and Thor, and as they came to dominate Britain the influence of Christianity moved to the margins" (7). As much as the Angles and Saxons wanted Christianity to disappear, that was not possible because of the strong influence it had already had on most of Britain. As Britain became England, the presence of christianity had a bigger effect then one could imagine. Christianity had

I rather to be in the middle of the road to decide that American nation is a Christian nation, because neither the US Constitution nor the Declaration of Independence indicate any of Christianity in it, even when the founding fathers mentioned the word God specifically, they used an extended metaphor the “Creator”, which it has broader meaning than the word God. Of course, there were other religions beside Christianity which had been practiced. But, it is an obvious that the foundation of the American nation established on a Christian foundation.

The spread of Christianity began in a rural part of Rome. Bishops and popes of Rome began to gain authority, and dealt in politics as well as religion. Since there was no separation of church and state, those in power at the time had a great influence over peoples “decision” in faith. Although there was an obvious bias in religion, people took to Christianity, they were attracted to the idea that there was a real person, with teachings, as opposed to other religious which had more obvious fiction and mythical stories. Rapid spread of Christianity in Europe was also partly due to advance Roman road system, helping the missionaries travel fast. During the Middle Ages missionaries established outpost far from cities, providing refuge for people.

‘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

“People tell me I am brave. People tell me I am strong, and I am not doing anything spectacular. I am just doing what god has called me to do as a follower of him, Feed his sheep, do unto the least of his people.” Katie Davis was only 18 years old when she decided to make the life-changing step of going to Uganda, to spread the love of god by teaching discipleship and offering food to kids (Amazima Ministries) As simplistic as it may seem, Davis was igniting hope in these children’s hearts. From feeding them to spreading the word of god, Katie Davis is an echo from the sound created centuries before, when a plethora of people decided to become vessels of god and become missionaries in many parts of the world.

The rise of Christianity started out in a constant battle between the traditional Romans and those who practiced Christianity. The traditional Romans were extremely hostile towards those who were not taking the usual religions and beliefs. In return, many Christians were killed due to their indifferences. Although Christianity had a rough start during the rise, it began to spread rapidly across Europe.

Before the rise of Christianity as a major religion in the European area, Paganism was a belief that was common among all people across Europe. Paganism involved polytheistic beliefs with ritualistic tradition and animal sacrifice. This belief was common in the Anglo-Saxon tradition, which is from where the epic poem Beowulf is thought to have originated circa 550 AD. Due to the origins of Beowulf being surrounded by Pagan tradition and culture and reliance on the method of oral recitation of the story, the poem holds Pagan influences. Examples of these influences include the monsters that Beowulf faces in the story, idol worship, and burning the dead among many other elements. Also around the time of Beowulf, the rise of the Jesus Movement, which eventually became Christianity, was spreading rapidly around Europe. This also served an influence, as populations in Europe were quick to convert from Paganism to Christianity. Consequently, the story would have Christian ideals inserted within during more recounts of the story orally, where Christian monks would transcribe the originally Anglo-Saxon text into language that upheld Christian values more than it did the Pagan values. The rise of Christianity was effective in bringing the epic story of Beowulf into the spotlight, but at the cost of some historic traditions that were associated with the text. Even though this is the case, Beowulf still retains some of its Pagan elements, in conjunction with its Christian elements.

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.

As Christians today, we have a tendency not to think about how it is that Christianity came to be our known and widely accepted religion. We’re born and raised most often in the Christian faith while being surrounded by of our friends, family, and other acquaintances, the majority of whom are also Christian or at least professing to be. We’re brought to church on Sunday mornings, many times Sunday and Wednesday evenings, we sing, praise, pray and we listen to a sermon. All the while never questioning how it is that this became the norm of our society; never questioning the influences of Christianity. What becoming a Christian in that time period would have meant, or why people chose to convert, if, that is, they had a choice at all.