The Rise Of Christianity And Christianity

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:

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.

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.

During the Roman Empire, Jesus of Nazareth began preaching messages about love and forgiveness. His life and teachings led to the rise of Christianity. The Romans at first persecuted Christians. Later, Christianity became the Roman Empire’s official religion. Early Christians organized the churches and collected the books that became the Christian Bible. The churches and governments worked closely together in the Byzantine Empire.1

Christianity has many branches and forms, with each of these having developed their own beliefs and practices based on the Bible. The primary component of Christianity is faith in Christ, thus allowing for such diversity within the religion. Most of Christianity’s followers were in the west until the latter half of the 1900s, but the religion has spread massively and is now the largest religion in the world.

Despite the fact Christianity was a sect of Judaism the majority of Jesus’ followers were marginalized by the Jewish community. Instead of directing his message to Temple elders Jesus focused on groups such as the laboring poor, prostitutes, women, and Gentiles (all non-Jews). Jesus preached that everyone was equal in God’s eyes and is deserve of love and kindness. This ideal that everyone was equal made the religion appealing to everyone in all walks of life. Another appealing element of Christianity is that it doesn’t ask a lot from its follower unlike other religions during this time. The Romans worshiped multiple gods most were adopted and adapted from the Greek gods and goddesses. The Roman religion had very strict rituals were formulas

Christianity during the middle ages had to overcome many people and to need to evolve in order to grow as fast as its leading religion which was islamic faith. When the religion was in its prime of evolving it need to become a stable and function community which during war it felt very unlike to. So as Christianity began to grow many followers and believers had to lose their lives because others didn’t agree with them. Since Christianity is one of the most dominant religion containing more than 2.03 million followers which is the most practiced religion in the world. The Middle Ages is where it began to grow from 500 to 1500 AD. Started when the western roman empire fell thus getting its name of middle ages. This was also when the middle ages split into 3 periods.During the first period practicing any form of christianity was illegal and punishable. Christianity contain many branches in which were Catholicism, Eastern orthodoxy, Oriental orthodoxy, Church of the East, Protestantism. Although Christianity could be describe as the main religion, ‘’Christianity as religion emerged from Judaism’’. From these branches the most practice are Christianity and Catholicism which contained little differences. “Since Christianity was dominant, they hosted Campaigns to protest against other religions”. These protests were held by Bishops,Scholars, and Warriors. Soon later the Church became very large to the point in which Europe 's Law was governed by the church. The Churches many

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.

According to (Harris, 2014), John wrote his visions to strengthen the faith of those who were suffering at the time. Christians at the time needed all the encouraging they could get, as the cost to remain a Christian were extremely difficult. They faced hostility from the Jews, public suspicion, and even faced government persecution which could result in imprisonment, torture, and execution (Harris, 2014). John’s visions were to let those suffering for their faith know that they did not suffer in vain, and death was but a victory in the grand scheme of things. Victims would gain life everlasting, and the power to judge those that had caused them pain and death (Harris, 2014). 13

Christianity did not spread very quickly initially, but in the 2nd century it spread like a wildfire. The spread of the religion was rapid and was due to many factors. Christianity spread due to its universality, its familiarity to the Roman people, and the fact that it gave people hope. Christianity gave something to the people of the Roman Empire that they had never experienced before. Although Jesus was dead, his teachings were still very much alive and thriving within his followers. This is evident in Christianity’s expansion throughout the Roman Empire.

Christianity is one of the largest religions in the world. With 2.2 billion adherents, it ranks above Islam, Atheists, and Hinduism. So why is this religion so well known? How did it get where it is today? Where did it start? It started with Jesus of Nazareth who was born in Bethlehem, the Messiah to the Jewish people, and crucified by the Romans. His life, works, death, and resurrection is what started Christianity. But that wasn’t the end of it. Christians would face numerous trials and persecution before Christianity would become the official religion of the Roman Empire, courtesy of Theodosius I. Wait, didn’t the Romans first persecute the Christians? What happened? The factors that happened within the Roman Empire that eventually led to Christianity becoming the official religion were the Roman problems and Christian ideals, the ideal setting of the Roman Empire, the Christian martyrs, and the emperors of Gallienus and Constantine.

One may argue that all religions are the same at the core, however different religions advances very different teachings of the most important subject. That subject is how to achieve the goal of where you will remain in the afterlife. Islam is one of the oldest religions practiced today. Zoroya (2015), “Islam is projected to grow more than twice as fast as any other major religion over the next half century because of a higher fertility rate, While Christianity will remain a dominant global religion” (para. 2). Although there are many religions we will compare Islam with the common characteristics of other major religions.

Everything has a beginning, and in the beginning there was the word and the word was with God. The Bible is the religious scripture for Christianity which is followed worldwide by 2,000 million people. Each religion has its roots but Christianity claims it is different. With over 2,000 million followers we will explore how Christianity came to be and the spread of such a widely followed religion today. In my paper I will be exploring the important roles in the spread of Christianity along with important figures and events in the religion as well.

The expansion of Christianity and the spread of Hinduism and Buddhism in the area of Asia were similar in their commonality of both being spread by missionaries’ travels and they both had codes and laws, which governed the way different social classes acted, wherever they were spread. They were different in warfare. Christianity had violent crusades, whereas Buddhism and Hinduism were generally peaceful religions. Another contrast for Christianity was that although groups with different beliefs branched off they remained constant in their core beliefs, however, Buddhism and Hinduism changed greatly when they spread to different areas.