Christianity In The 2nd And 3rd Century

‘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.

For many years, Christianity was illegal. Often, it was essentially ignored, but there were time periods where the Christians in all the conquered areas were persecuted for not making sacrifices to the ancient gods. Finally, when Theodosius made Christianity the favored religion of the state and decided the orthodoxy of the New Testament, the era of European Christianity began. The idea of a fully human and yet fully divine messiah began at this time and also the idea of a Bishop in Rome presiding over the entirety of Christianity. All of this set the stage for the Christian beliefs still held today.

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.

Although Christianity was initially practiced within Semitic populations of the Roman Empire, by the 4th century A.D the Christian religion had a huge impact to the Greeks and also the early Byzantine Empire. But by this time Christian communities had been established in all the important cities in the Roman Empire. In 313 the next emperor Constantine legalized Christianity throughout the empire. He also

Christianity was frowned upon by the Romans. The Roman Emperor wanted the people to worship him and the Roman Gods. Christians were blamed for many of the misfortunes that happened in Rome. Due to the belief that Christians were to blame they were ostracized, tortured and even killed.

Throughout the first three centuries, Christianity faced persecution from the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was one of the most powerful and influential empires in history. Nations under the control of the Rome, associated themselves with Roman traditions. Even during the split of the Roman Empire under, persecution remained and old traditions still dominated the areas of the Roman Empire. Constantine, one of the Caesar’s sons from the Tetrarchy, would go on to become emperor of Rome and challenge old beliefs.

In the middle ages, Christianity was at the heart of politics and thus acceptance of the Christian faith was indeed a political matter in many respects. For many political leaders in the early period, acceptance of the Christian faith was used as a means to shape political image, as was clearly shown most famously by Clovis I. Further, acceptance of Christianity was also political in that it created ties with Rome which helped set the precedent of an incredibly influential papacy throughout the medieval period. It also notable that the conversion of ‘barbarian nations’ such as Denmark, signified cultural development and advancement for many people in Europe at the time and helped form the early form of a unified Europe by the early Middle Ages.

Near the beginning of the fourth century, after an age of chaos and war, the Roman Empire was now seeing an age of peace and prosperity. This new age also brought around a fairly new religion: Christianity. It first became a popular religion with emperors like Constantine, who, under his reign, united Church and State, turning Rome into a highly devout christian state. Later emperors such as Charlemagne, with the help of the Church would continue this progression of church and state being unified. Christianity during this time truly would take a firm hold of the Empire. It was during this age that Europe was flourishing. Ultimately, that age would soon end, with a disintegration of an empire, and, Europe would have to struggle to find any

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.

Christianity spread greatly during the third century B.C.E. for many various reasons. First of all, Christianity promised many suffering people the hope of salvation and immortality. It also gave life a moral purpose and meaning. Christianity’s savior-god (Jesus) was a human and therefore relatable to others. Christianity had also taken on an organized structure, including bishops as well as a clergy, due to Christian persecutions. A few Roman emperors during the third century attempted to stop Christianity’s growth by more frequent persecutions, but the religion was already too strong by that time. Christianity was officially tolerated when Constantine, a Christian himself, passed the Edict of Milan. Later

From being a persecuted religion, Christianity rose up to be an official religion of Rome with the support of the Emperor Constantine and Theodosius I in the fourth century. By the early Middle Ages, the Church had become extremely powerful and was one of the two dominant forces that controlled the entire Europe, with the other being the State. Although the popes and the kings were ought to be supportive of each other, there usually existed between them a constant struggle for ultimate authority over the kingdoms. More than often, these conflicts created tension between the State and the Church eventually resulted in the people's sufferings.

Eventually the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, proclaimed himself a Christian and issued an edict promising the Christians his favor and protection. Attitudes in the Roman Empire changed from being antagonistic to becoming pacifistic(‘causes for the Fall of the Roman Empire’).” “The Christian religion, which was monotheistic ran counter to the traditional Roman religion, which was polytheistic (many gods). At different times, the Romans persecuted the Christians because of their beliefs, which were popular among the poor(The Fall of the Roman Empire).

Since its beginnings, Christianity has been guided by the concepts of humbleness and good morals. However, there exists evidence that in the Middle Ages, Church officials in western Europe used Christianity as a cover for corrupt acts, such as war and torture, as well as financial extortion and bribery. The medieval Roman Catholic church began with the fall of Rome in 476 CE. With Roman emperor Constantine’s moving of Rome’s capital to the ancient city Byzantium in eastern Europe, which he renamed to Constantinople, Rome’s ability to enforce its rule in the west declined greatly, allowing Germanic invaders to successfully take rule.

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. Christianity offered hope to many, for it was the time of grace and freedom, the time to rebuild the future and

It was this refusal that caused its practice to be illegal and those who chose to stick with the faith were prosecuted. Although people were being killed for practicing, Christianity started to become even more popular. After seeing Christian martyrs risk their lives for the sake of Christianity, many Romans were compelled and attracted to the faith. Also, there were Apostles who traveled around the empire spreading the message of Christianity. Then in 312 CE, Emperor Constantine proposed the Edict of Milan that banned all laws against Christianity. That allowed people to freely worship, without the fear of harsh punishment. He eventually converted on his deathbed. Then in 392 CE, Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of Rome. Christianity went from being an illegal religion to the official religion of the Roman Empire.