The Spread Of Christianity And Western Europe

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.

Islam was influenced by Christianity and began with the teachings of Mohammad. Islam was spreading expeditiously. In that event Mohammad

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 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.

In 610 CE, Muhammad ibn Abdallah had been spoken to by an angel named Gabriel who had told him of God, who is Allah, the one true God. Muhammad went on, and started speaking the words of Allah to the people of Mecca, but many declined his speeches. Muhammad decided to leave Mecca and go to Medina, where he studied his new religion. Later, Islamic belief was born, and many had started following it. Many different ways Islam spread was through conquest, it was easy to follow, and trade.

Factors Which Led to the Spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire Christianity was not born in a vacumn. There were many social, geographical, historical and religious issues prevailing at the time of Christ and all of which were favorable to the spread of Christianity. Geograpicly, Christianity came into being in the Meditation world, the largest of the various centers of civilization at that time. Israel stands almost central to the five continents, dividing the east and west.

Although the Crusades resulted in defeat for Europeans, many believe that they successfully extended the spread the Christianity and Western Civilization. The Roman Catholic Church experienced an increase in wealth and the power of the Pope rose after the Crusades ended. Trade and transportation also improved throughout Europe due to the Crusades. The wars created a constant demand for supplies and transportation which created ship-building and the manufacturing of many supplies. Most importantly was the impact on commerce. They created a constant demand for the transportation of men and supplies, encourage ship building, and extended market in Europe. The expansion of agricultural production made growth of towns, an increase in trade and a

Christianity was brought to Egypt by Europeans in the early part of the 1st century. The Roman Empire would force their religion upon everyone as it was the official religion of their army.

Religion is often a driving force behind civilizations, and Christianity is no different. During the Middle Ages in Europe when chaos and instability ruled, Christianity was a guiding light in the darkness. Shaping the European continent, Christianity affected it in ways that paved the road to the modern-day Western civilizations. After the fall of Rome in 476 CE, anarchy erupted in Western Europe. Christianity rose to power as the single dominating and unifying central authority, acting as a government in many aspects, helping preserve history and progressing Western Europe into a more developed age. On the other side of the continent, the Byzantine Empire was continuing on in relative peace. Yet during the reign of Justinian, a deadly plague, known as the bubonic plague swept through the empire. The plague killed half of the empire’s population and without the manpower to run the empire, left the infrastructure in ruins. Politically and economically weakened, the Byzantine Empire was on its knees. Christianity helped support the Byzantine Empire forward in many regards, but because of the hierarchy of the Eastern Orthodox Church compared to the singular Pope in the Roman Catholic Church, Christianity left a more lasting effect in the West than in the Byzantine Empire. Especially in the West, having combined the forces of emperors and the church working together, which benefited politically and economically, influencing art and culture, and increased the domain of the

Christianity and Islam have always primarily been recognized as two distinct, divided religions. This division began with the arrival of prophets subsequent to Abraham. Christianity branched off of Judaism, forming under the belief in Jesus as God’s son. Islam was the last to emerge, forming under the belief of Mohammed as the last prophet for God’s revelation. Although Christianity and Islam emerged during different eras, both religions portray Abraham as unifying patriarch amongst the monotheistic religions, in regards to extending the Abrahamic lineage through faith.

Islam is a major world religion. Its origin can be traced back to 610 CE in Arabia. The basis of this religion is the revelations to the prophet Mohammad. Dissatisfied with his life, he traveled to deserts, hills, and the wilderness surrounding Mecca, where he lived, to meditate and reflect. He became a new man through his revelations, which many of his followers believe Allah transmitted to him through his angel Gabriel. Islam was originally an Arab religion, but many different beliefs and practices were added to it, making it extremely popular and aiding in its rapid spread. This new religion spread to many different areas surrounding Arabia, both under Mohammad and after his death. The Muslim Empire grew to encompass Spain and

Sir Thomas More composed this story exactly at the time when Europe was religiously being torn apart by conflicts and revolutions such as the reformation, that caused “the separation of the Christians of western Europe into Catholics and Protestant” (khanacademy). Religion for this reason, was as a consequence, an important and hot topic to argue at the time considering all that is occurring. It could be a reason why Hythloday spent so much time and effort discussing that matter with the narrator. It was rather life threatening to talk too controversially about religion during that stage. The Author, by expressing himself through a fictional monotheist but laic polity in which the entire citizens fully believe in a single Power, God and

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.

Origin of Lent relates to the old testament's Passover. However, nowadays, since we forget the importance of concept in Christianity, we do not teach our children about it. So it become meaningless and senseless in our lives. One Biblical scholar says, the two reasons of Europe's collapse of Christianity are: first, a result of lack of understanding of grace from freedom, which gives a power in God's words to defeat the world. Second, a result of not spreading the right words of truth to children.

Christianity was the first ancient religion to become recognized as the one officially state religions.The historic role of Christianity in its first seven centuries was to absorb many of the best elements of ancient civilization and for it to move them to the Middle Ages.Christianity first arise as a reform movement within Judaism. The apostle Paul open it to non-Jews and gave it the Greek flavor that allowed it to spread across the eastern Mediterranean.