The Rise of Christianity - Essay Example

?The Rise of Christianity Different societies are characterized by different religious affiliations. However, the different religions have diverse historical perspectives. Christianity enjoys large followings of people across the nations. Actually, it is the dominant religion in the world with millions of people being affiliated to various denominations that profess Jesus Christ as their ultimate savior. Events in the bible occur in a certain timeline and mostly reflect on growth and development of Christians. Roman, Orthodox, and Protestants churches are the major groups of Christianity. The growth of Christianity has led to major divisions in these groups. Consequently, major rivalry occurred and still occurs due to division of various groups within the Christian religion. First century marked the beginning of Christianity mainly practiced by Jews. Christianity then spread to other areas of east and west. In Africa, Christianity spread due to missionary work and culminated to substitution of various African cultures and beliefs. During the transition age majority of Europe was under Christianity. Those who believe in Jesus are said to have internal peace and inheritor of another immortal life. Jesus performed various miracles before death and documentation exists in the bible. Additionally, following the commandments guarantees one access to eternal life (King James Bible Web). Consequently, reflection in the history of Christianity plays significant role in understanding development and growth of Christianity. This paper seeks to describe the rise of Christianity. Firstly, several stages and events characterize the rise of Christianity. The most important thing that happened for the rise of Christianity to take place was the fall of Roman Empire (Caesars) that had established authoritarian regime in ancient period. Secondly, Jews played a central and important in the meaning of early Christianity. Thirdly, the coming of Christ for humankind was also significant followed by results of various teaching of the time. These teachings have the same effects to today’s society. Ancient Rome was characterized by authoritative rule of Caesar Augustus (Nardo 42-51). At the same time, transformations were taking place in Judea province. Additionally, Alexander the great was a great ruler who managed to overthrow Roman rule in Great Palestine and placed it under the watch of Ptolemy followed by Seleucids. Moreover, Jews returned from Babylon in 538 B.C with Moses rules and teaching as part of their belief systems. Torah was important in their religious practices based on the commands given to Moses by God. During this reign the Temple was a holy place that was accorded due respect. High priests were accorded maximum respect, as they had a special place in society assisted by Sanhedrin. Sanhedrin was important in implementation of Torah as laid down by Moses. Later, synagogue replaced the temple and was dominant as practiced by Judaism. However, temple was also a place of worship for Jews who were far away from Palestine. Moreover, Hebrews was translated into Greek to take care of Jews outside Palestine who practiced Greek as their language. Greek contributed to serious division in Judea but Greek prevailed due to support from pro-Greek Sadducees. King Seleucid declaration that temple be devoted to Zeus led to uprising by Jews who saw this as disrespect of temple. In 142 BC, Jews won this battle and were granted freedom (Nardo 45-59). The next rule after Judah was corrupt and this led to civil strife and war. However, Romans intervened and Palestine fell under stewardship of Roman. Herod was appointed as Judea King and transformed the infrastructure. Pontius Pilate took over after Herod’s death. Most Jews hinged their hope on Jesus as a political messiah while others gave up and thought of Jesus as a spiritual leader. A section of Jews was impatient and advocated for revolution to get rid of foreigners and this resulted in a protracted battle with the Romans. Zealots killed large group of Romans in AD 66. At the same time, the wall of Jerusalem was destroyed. This was the end of Hebrew sate but not Jewish people religion (Devillier Donegan Enterprises Web; Nardo 45-59). Moreover, the birth of Jesus was an important step in rise of Christianity. Birth of Jesus took place between 6 and 4 B.C. Jesus birthplace was known as Bethlehem in the province of Judea. Before Jesus baptism, Judas had prophesied of his coming and people were urged to repent their sins in preparation for the coming of messiah. Jesus trained as a carpenter in his father workplace and later began teaching gospels at the age of thirty. His works began by enlisting disciples to the ministry and were twelve. Jesus work took various values of Jews tradition such as beliefs in one deity and teachings of the Ten Commandments (Devillier Donegan Enterprises Web). Jesus stressed strict adherence to Gods teachings, love for God, neighbors and of more important the enemies. Those who opted to go against these values and teachings would finally perish in hell. The word of God as taught by Jesus was documented by the twelve disciples who were referred to as apostles in the gospels of Jesus. Jesus teachings attracted a number of followers and the message had great impact over their life. Jesus teachings appealed to both poor and the weak in society as it offered a form of redemption (King James Bible Web). The Roman and Jewish leaders became discontented with Jesus rising popularity. Jesus entry to Jerusalem in A.D. 29 where the cheering crowd viewed him as a political leader who was about to emancipate them from authoritative Roman rule was the cause of the major friction with ruling elite (Caesar and Duncan 14-36). Various accusations and counteraccusations were made against Jesus. Spiritual leader viewed his teachings as going against God while others claimed he was against ruling authority. This culminated to his crucifixion and finally death (King James Bible Web). Jesus resurrected after three days and rose to heaven leaving the responsibility of spreading the gospel to the apostles. Through resurrection of Jesus, there was a belief among people that truly, he was the messiah. Jesus followers embarked on continuous spread of his teachings. The message was spread throughout the Roman world. important to note is the fact that Jesus teachings were not against Jewish law. Moreover, Jesus devotees were Jews. Consequently, Christianity began to build steadily based on this message. However, this was not smooth as various resistance emerged that had political and religious faction. This spread was sluggish but stable in the Roman Empire (King James Bible Web). Initially, Paul was a persecutor of Christians but later underwent transformation. However, Paul played the most influential role in spreading Christianity. His letter is important part in the New Testament bible. Greek and Latin ensured ease in understanding of the Gods message. Paul work also saw the incorporation of non-Jews into Christianity. This was significant in spread of Christianity to other regions. This spread did not augur well with Romans. Romans became intolerant towards Christians as they denied emperor sacrifices and abandoned Romans God for state protection (Caesar and Duncan 4-16). Various problems that occurred on this era were blamed on Christianity. Christians were killed due to their beliefs while others were oppressed in prisons. However, Christianity continued to spread as people of all livelihoods could join Christianity. In addition, Christianity offered refuge to those oppressed by imperial Roman Empire. Moreover, a personal relationship with god was established and there was guarantee for eternal life (Nardo 100-110). Early Christian churches were instrumental in growth and spread of Christianity. Emperor Constantine was significant in this progress. A decree was issued in Milan 313 A.D. In this decree, there was freedom of worship for all in the Roman territory (Nardo 65-71). Additionally, Theodosius made Christianity as only religion of the Roman territory. Roman church was hierarchical in nature whereby a priest led local church. Bishops played supervisory role of local churches (Caesar and Duncan 4-16). Peter was the first bishop and later reigned over bishops as a first pope. Rome became the epicenter of the religion and administrative duties. Later Christianity was faced by challenges most important being disagreement over certain beliefs. To counter this challenge, church leaders adopted common approach to belief. Resolutions passed were documented as New Testament. Later this was compiled together with Old Testaments. The Nicene Creed was written under influence of Constantine in A.D. 325 (Nardo 65-71). Others important in history of church is Augustine, known as the father of the church. Augustine enlisted people to church based on teaching that people could not accept god without being member of the church (Augustine 39-45). Consequently, Christianity progressed slowly but constantly. However, Roman progress was diminishing. Various challenges both domestic and foreign led to weakening and final collapse of Roman Empire. In conclusion, the rise and spread of Christianity was not a simple process. Christianity revolution took long and even it is taking place today. Initially, the Romans were determined in ensuring this progress was not achieved but eventually the complete opposite took place. Consequently, Christianity triumphed while Roman rule and empire crumbled to a standstill. Additionally, Christianity was also appealing to the poor, elite and those undergoing various forms of torture. The number of Christian in the world is more likely to increase as population continues to rise. Moreover, Christian missionaries played a crucial role in seeing the spread of Christianity in Africa. This was also essential in laying foundation for colonialism. Works Cited Augustine, Saint. “The City of God.” New York: Image Books, 1958. Print. Caesar, Julius and Duncan, William. “The commentaries of Caesar.” New York: Edwards & Bushnell, 1856. Print. Devillier Donegan Enterprises. “Early Christians.” Pbs. Web 7 April 2012. King James Bible. “Gospel of Luke.” Bibleonline. Web 7 April 2012. http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/ Nardo, Don. “The Rise of Christianity.” New York: Lucent Books, 2000. Print. Read More