Download Basics of Christianity

4 April 2017
 Bellringer – Use your notes to answer these questions

1.What is Monotheism?
 2.What is the name of the Hebrew’s religion?
 3.Who was Abraham? What is Canaan?
 4.What is the Exodus?
 5.Why were the Romans so upset with the Jews?
 6.Why is the Resurrection so important?
 7.The birth of Jesus marks the shift from ____ to _____.
 8.How are Christianity & Judaism alike/different?
 Basic Beliefs of Christianity
 HW : You have a quiz tomorrow over Christianity & the Early Hebrews –
look over your notes & make sure your summaries are done!!!
The Beliefs of Christianity
PowerPoint Notes
Section 11.2


You are a Roman soldier stationed in one of
the empire’s provinces. You are proud that
you’ve helped bring Roman culture to this
place far from the city of Rome. But one
group of local people refuses to take part in
official Roman holidays and rituals, saying it
is against their religious beliefs. Other than
that, they seem peaceful. Even so, some
soldiers think this group is dangerous.
What will you do about this group?
If you were there…

As the Roman Empire expanded, it came
to include many people who spoke many
different languages and followed many
different religions. While Roman officials
were generally tolerant of local religions
and cultures, they did not allow
anything—like the religion mentioned
before—that might threaten their
authority
Building Background
The Romans did not insist on imposing their
beliefs on others.
 Roman would often adopt the gods of other
cultures they conquered.
 In order to avoid offending any god, the
Romans prayed to a wide variety of gods
and goddesses.
 The Romans would only ban a religion when
they thought that it would become a political
problem.

Religious Tolerance and Conflict
Clashes with the Jews

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Clashes with Judaism◦ Since the Jews refused to worship any god but their own, some Romans
thought the Jews insulted Rome’s gods by not praying to them.
◦ Also did not believe that the emperor was “part god”
◦ Still, the Romans did not attempt to ban Judaism.
The Jews caused “trouble” by rebelling against Roman rule. The Jews were
never successful.
Early 100s Romans were hostile towards the Jews: treated harshly and
taxed heavily-Hadrian banned certain Jewish rituals hoping to cause them
to give up Judaism…didn’t work
Rebellion in Judea AD 66-70
Emperor Hadrian banned Judaism from being practiced in the Empire. Jews
revolted, lost, and were forced out of the city of Jerusalem.
Christianity- The religion based on the life and
teachings of Jesus Christ.
 Jesus was considered to be the Messiah or
“God’s Anointed One” by the Christians.
 Note – Later the Birth of Jesus will mark the
switch from BC (Before Christ) to AD (anno
Domini)
 By the age of 30 Jesus had started to travel and
teach about religion.
A
New Religion
 He emphasized – love God and other people.
And the teaching of salvation (recuse from sin)

The stories of his actions are written in the
New Testament in the Christian Bible.
 Jesus’ teaching challenged the authority of
political and religious leaders.
 According to the Bible, Jesus was arrested
around the year AD 30.
 Shortly after his arrest, Jesus was executed
by crucifixion. It is the type of execution
which a person was nailed to a cross.

Jesus of Nazareth
Resurrection
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According to Christian beliefs, Jesus rose from
the dead three days after he was crucified. This
rise from the dead is known as the Resurrection
in Christianity. (According to the History
Textbook)
After the Resurrection, Jesus’ Apostles (12
disciples whom Jesus chose to receive special
training) traveled widely telling about Jesus and
his teachings.
They also wrote about his life and teachings –
which can be found in the New Testament (The
Gospels – Mathew, Mark , Luke & John)
At first Christianity was spread only among
Jews.
Messiah
 According
to the World History
Textbook, Early Christians believe that
the Resurrection was a sign that Jesus
was the messiah and son of God
 Some people began to call him Jesus
Christ, from the Greek words for
Messiah, christos
◦ It is from this word that the words
Christian and Christianity later
developed
 Prophet
vs. Messiah?
Christianity
Within a hundred years of Jesus’ death, there
were thousands of Christians in the Roman
Empire.
 Some officials arrested and killed Christians
who refused to worship Rome’s gods – some
feared Christians would cause unrest, so they
banned Christianity.
 Christianity became a “problem” and was
persecuted until Emperor Constantine became
Christian himself….in the early 300s CE.
 A later Emperor declared Christianity Rome’s
official religion.

Symbolism
We do not know whether the story is true but we do know that
the fish's first known use as a Christian religious symbol was
sometime within the first three centuries AD. Possibly around the
16th century Christians began using the Greek word ichthys for
"fish". Ichthys is the most commonly used word in the New
Testament for fish. Ichthys consists of five letters from the Greek
alphabet: I-ch-th-y-s. When these five letters are used as initials
for five words, we obtain this Christian Declaration: Iesous
Christos Theou Yios Soter. This is an acrostic for 'Jesus Christ,
God's Son, Savior.'
I
Iota
the first letter in the Greek word Iesous Jesus
.
the first letter in the Greek word
X
Chi IXQUS ----- Ichthys ----- Jesus Christ,
Christ
..----Christos
God's Son, Savior
Q
Theta
the first letter in the Greek word Theos Of God
Upsilon
the first letter in the Greek word Yios
(Huois)
Greek
S
meaning
Sigma
Iesous
the
first letterTheos
in the GreekYios
word Soter
Savior
Christos
Soter
English
transliter
ation ...
Jesus
U
Christ
Of God
Son
Son
Savior
 1.
A reason why
Christianity became
popular
 2. Viewed as a threat to
the Roman Empire
 3. Both
1, 2, or 3?