The Story Of Christianity 's Rise Of Prominence

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.

In the source “The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas,” the narrative of a few early Christians who died for their beliefs is told. The two martyred women, named Perpetua and Felicitas, along with a few other followers of the religion were imprisoned because they identified themselves as Christians and refused to offer sacrifice to the Roman Emperor. The Christians were sentenced to death by beast for this. The source illustrate the problems Christians had in navigating the cultural realities of life in the Roman empire. This can be observed along with the struggles involved in class, family, and gender.

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.

‘Christians to the lions’ as Trajan would say, an emperor in the early centuries Christianity to them have alienated the favour of their gods which has and would continue to cause disasters in the Roman Empire. The misfortune of Christians did not stop during this period, but it did come to a composed halt as Galerius, gave Christians the right to worship in some sense. Christianity during the early stages was clearly a course of persecution and forced pagan accusations. Constantine dramatically changed the recourse of religions with the battle of Milvian Bridge as Christianity became the predominant religion of the Roman Empire.

• Writes about Christ suffering extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of Pontius Pilatus. Refers to an immense multitude of Christ followers willing to die for their beliefs. Pg. 82

The Flames of Rome by Paul Maier is a documentary-fiction that has not only brought to life the evolution of Christianity in Rome but has also painted a clear picture of what it was like to live in Rome at the time. Understanding the Roman’s way of life and reasoning behind their actions plays a major role in the reasoning for Maier writing this book. The Flames of Rome is equivalent to reading a textbook but Maier makes it much more enjoyable and intriguing by adding plausible details of his own. Maier’s portrayal of the death of Claudius Caesar, in chapter nine of the novel, closely follows the primary sources of Tacitus and Suetonius but also loosely follows that of the secondary sources. It is important to compare Maier’s version to other

When Pliny was first challenged with the issue of Christianity in his region, he was extremely confused and worried. He had never dealt with the issue before and so had no prior experience to dwell upon. However, he ended up dealing with them like any other threat to the Roman Empire he had dispensed with. He viewed these individuals as a contagion and threat to the Empire that needed to be distinguished. However, he knew that he did not have the resources or manpower to adequately confront the issue as it had spread not just in the cities, but also to the towns and farms across his region. This leads to the start of multiple letters to Emperor Trajan, so that he could be informed and order what needed to occur.

The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity 203 is an account of Perpetua’s story, a story in which she rejected her Roman identity in order to further pledge her Christian faith. At the time, Romans feared the spread of Christianity due to the conflicting interest in the worship of Gods and the circulating rumors that Christians were cannibals. Not only did Romans think Christianity was odd for those factors but also that Christians feared their potential experiences in the afterlife more than their experiences in their current life. The history of the Roman Empire provides that emperors would put Christians through a test in order to confirm their devotion to Christianity. If they confessed to being Christian, then they would be persecuted. However, Christians had the opportunity of denying their faith and making a sacrifice to the empire so that they could avoid persecution. Yet, there were many Christians that remained faithful rather than opting for the denial of their faith and avoiding persecution. This paper will discuss Perpetua’s rejection of her Roman identity in passages six and twenty in order to show the differences between the devout Christians of the roman empire and the pagans of the roman empire.

Pliny makes it clear that he has no personal experience in these matters, yet acts to appease those who claim to witness these events. Trajan has no personal experience either, and still urges Pliny to stop this group before their behavior becomes a

Pliny is the Roman governor of Bithynia, in north of Asia Minor. He wrote a letter to Trajan asking what he should do with the Christians. Since he never punished the Christians he does not know what charges they should receive or how to question them. The letter explains how Pliny had trials of suspected Christians from some anonymous accusations. Pliny asks Trajan on how the Christians should be treated. Pliny reached conclusions about the Christians behavior, as well as the crimes the Christians were guilty of committing.

A collection of correspondences titled the “Letters Between Pliny the Younger and Emperor Trajan” offers a glimpse in to the Roman and Christian interactions in the second century from the perspective of the Romans. Approximated to have been written almost a century earlier than the Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicitas, the governor writing to emperor Trajan expresses uncertainty of how to deal with the Christians settled in his province. The emperor’s response is crucial in clarifying how Romans regarded Christians when he states that, “The Christians are not to be hunted out. If brought before you, and the offense is proved, they are to be punished,” (Letters 21). Throughout the Roman Empire, citizens were expected to submit to the power

Trajan’s policy regarding Christians as quoted in the Apologia follows, “People of this sort should not be hunted down, but, when brought to court, they should be punished." (2, 3)

Trajan gave Pliny specific instruction to disregard anonymous accusation because anonymous evidence credentials cannot be proven that the accusers are not prejudice against the other party. At that time, Christians were not tracked out or sought out by imperial orders and persecution could have been local only. Trajan did not establish any new rules regarding the Christians however, he permitted Pliny to try cases according to his discretion. Because there were not enough from them to

To be a Christian during the time of the fall of the Roman Empire would not be a pleasant time to live. Christians believed in a higher power and devoted their lives, souls, and minds to God. And by doing this, they inevitably sealed their fate to be persecuted. Christianity began to rise slowly, but began to rise rapidly after the death of Jesus. The Romans had many problems with the Christians and they showed their anger by pursuing the Christian’s faith, which proved to back fire because the Christian belief just grew stronger.

With Diocletian’s abdication in 305 A.D., Constantine’s troops acclaimed him as Caesar. The age of persecution began in 303 A.D. under Diocletian as an effort to rid the Roman Empire of Christians. It was known since antiquity as the “Great Persecution”. (Markus, 70) The reasons why individual Christians were persecuted varied. After six years of fighting wars, the famous battle of the Milvian bridge marked his association with Christianity.