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Early Christianity
Content Goals and Objectives:
Goal 1 – Christianity
The student will trace and evaluate the impact of Christianity on medieval Europe.
1.01 Define the setting for Christianity during the period before and after the birth of Christ.
1.02 Trace the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth
1.03 Map the spread of Christianity through Roman Empire during the first three centuries after
the death of Jesus of Nazareth.
1.04 Summarize the early developments of the Christian church during the first three centuries
after its creation.
Roman Religion and Christianity
It was during the Pax Romana or the peace of the Roman Empire that a new religion would be
established. This religion would eventually conquer the empire using the roads and trading
networks that the empire established and protected with Roman legions. This new religious force
was Christianity and it changed the face of Rome and Western civilization.
The Roman State Religion
The Roman state religion focused on the worship of various gods and goddesses of the Roman
pantheon and the emperor. Romans believed that observation of rituals made them right with the
gods. In the bigger picture, this meant that it was a Roman citizen’s duty to perform the
appropriate rituals to ensure the peace and tranquility of the empire. That fact did not make
Romans intolerant of other religions. Other religions from Persia, Greece, and Africa flooded
Rome after the conquests of the empire. To be accepted by the Romans those religions needed
only to perform the prescribed rituals at the appropriate times. Belief in those rituals was not a
requirement.
The Jewish People under Rome
Within that background were the Jewish people of Israel who under Roman rule were given
certain freedoms including a degree of religious freedom and self-rule. By 6 BCE that self-rule
was revoked as the Romans sent a Roman procurator to rule the nation of Israel. This action
caused widespread unrest and three groups emerged in reaction to this unrest. The Sadducees
favored cooperation with the Romans; while the Essenes preferred to wait on a Messiah or savior
to save them from Rome. And the Zealots thought why wait; they wanted a violent overthrow of
Roman rule.
Jesus of Nazareth
It was during this period that Jesus of Nazareth was born. Although little of Jesus can be found in
the historical record, his disciples provided many details of his life and teachings in four gospels
which make up the New Testament of the Bible. Jesus, a Jewish carpenter by trade, preached for
a short period of time probably no more than three years. During that time he spread a new
message to the Jewish people. That message was one not of the importance of Jewish law, but
one of the transformation of the inner person. To Jesus the greatest commandment was to love
your neighbor as yourself. Jesus was well received by the Jewish people but not the Jewish
priests who saw him as rival to be silenced. So he was detained and denounced by a Jewish court
over some of his teachings and crucified by Roman authorities.
The Spread of a New Religion
Jesus’ death did not stop his teachings from spreading. Many of Jesus’ followers believed that he
rose from the dead and was the Messiah, the Savior of Israel. Inspired by this belief, now called
Christianity, his followers spread Jesus’ teachings across the Mediterranean rim along Roman
roads and trade routes. Two leaders emerged during this early Christian movement. Simon Peter
was one of the leaders and the first bishop of Rome who focused on teaching that Jesus was the
Son of God or Christ. Paul of Tarsus was the other leader of the early Christians who arguably
had the most impact. He cleared the way for Gentiles or non-Jews to be converted to Christianity
setting the stage for the conversion of the Roman Empire. His letters also form a major portion of
the New Testament of the Bible.
The new religion spread underground at first. The Romans did not tolerate the new religion.
They viewed Christianity as a threat to the state religion, mostly because Christians refused to
perform the Roman state religious rituals. Because of this, the Christians were persecuted and
suffered death by crucifixion or sport (Throwing Christians to the lions in the Coliseum was once
a favorite Roman pastime!). The persecutions reached their peak under the emperors Nero and
Diocletian. But the Christian church grew despite this violent opposition. As a matter of fact, the
church appeared to grow in spite of the Roman opposition. It has been said that the Christian
church grew because it was watered by the blood of Christian martyrs. Why was Christianity so
popular? It gave some Romans meaning and purpose in their lives. In addition, Christianity
fulfilled the need to belong, which was sometimes hard to find in the vastness and the
cosmopolitan nature of the empire. And finally the teachings of Jesus were attractive to the poor
and powerless.
The Conversion of Rome
By the 4th century CE, a majority of the Romans in the empire had converted to Christianity.
This was very apparent when pagan Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 CE
which granted official tolerance for the religion. Constantine later converted to Christianity
himself. Once given official tolerance, the Christian religion became an unstoppable force in the
empire and in 395 CE, Emperor Theodosius the Great adopted Christianity as the official
religion of the Roman Empire, putting an end to the pagan traditions of Rome which had endured
for 800 years. Some historians have pointed to this historical moment, the Roman conversion to
Christianity, as the beginning of the decline of the Roman Empire.