Section 5: The Rise of Christianity

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Section 5 The Rise of Christianity

• Although the Pax Romana was marked by a lack of
  military conflicts, the Romans still faced
  challenges. Unifying a vast empire that included
  many different peoples with varying cultures and
  beliefs was often difficult. Most Roman officials
  considered their culture and beliefs superior to
  all others. One of their greatest challenges
  would come from a group of people whose ideals
  and values soon threatened those of the empire.

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I. The Beginning of Christianity

• Most Jews were led by rabbis and lived in
• Judea, which became a Roman province in
• A.D. 6

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I. The Beginning of Christianity

• The Zealots supported rebellion while other
• Jews believed God would send a Messiah to
• free them

After Jerusalems destruction in 70 AD, survivors
fled to Masada, a fortress near the Dead Sea.
Here 900 Zealots held out until the year 73
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I. The Beginning of Christianity

• In A.D. 66 the Jews revolted and in A.D. 70
• the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and all but
• the western wall of the Second Temple

The Western Wall is the most holy place
accessible to the Jewish people because of Muslim
control of the Temple Mount.  Known in recent
centuries as the "Wailing Wall," this was built
by Herod the Great as the retaining wall of the
Temple Mount complex.
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I. The Beginning of Christianity

• In A.D. 135 Hadrians Roman army crushed
• the last Jewish revolt and banned all Jews
• from Jerusalem

This relief from the Arch of Titus in the Roman
Forum depicts Roman soldiers removing treasures
from the Second Temple, which was razed along
with the rest of Jerusalem at the end of the
revolt.
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I. The Beginning of Christianity

• In this setting Christianity, a new religion
• founded by the followers of Jesus of Nazareth,
• arose

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I. The Beginning of Christianity

• Around A.D. 27 Jesus began wandering the
• countryside with his disciples, teaching and
• performing miracles

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I. The Beginning of Christianity

• Jesus teachings were based on Jewish
• traditions and recorded in the Gospels of
• the disciples Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

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I. The Beginning of Christianity

• Jesus taught there is one true God that people
• must love above all else, who cares more for
• people than for laws or rituals

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I. The Beginning of Christianity

• His teachings were for all people and
• promised eternal life for those who accepted
• God

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I. The Beginning of Christianity

• The Romans feared that Jesus would lead an
• uprising, so he was arrested, put on trial, and
• crucified

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I. The Beginning of Christianity

• The Gospels teach that Jesus was resurrected
• and remained on Earth for 40 days before
• ascending into heaven

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I. The Beginning of Christianity

• His followers called him Christ (from the Greek
• word for Messiah, Christos) and the Christian
• religion was born

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II. The Spread of Christianity

• At first Christianity spread slowly but it grew
• as life in the empire became more difficult

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II. The Spread of Christianity

• The Romans outlawed the Christian religion,
• seized Christian property, and executed
• Christian (martyrs)

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II. The Spread of Christianity

• By A.D. 300, the Romans had accepted
• Christianity as a religion

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III. The Romans Adopt Christianity

• In A.D. 312, the emperor Constantine declared
• his support for Christianity

The Roman emperor Constantine created a new
military standard to be carried before his army
which displayed the first two Greek letters of
the word Christ - Chi (?) and Rho, (?) which came
to be known as the labarum
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III. The Romans Adopt Christianity

• In A.D. 391 Theodosius made Christianity the
• empires official religion

Emperor Theodosius (347 395)
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III. The Romans Adopt Christianity

• Rome, Constantinople, Jerusalem and other
• major cities became centers of the church, and
• bishops of these cities were called patriarchs

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III. The Romans Adopt Christianity

• The patriarch of Rome took the title of pope
• and was supreme over the other patriarchs

St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City
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III. The Romans Adopt Christianity

• The pope and bishops traced their authority to
• Jesus disciples, whose authority came
• straight from Jesus

Saint Peter, the 1st Pope The Papacy began in
30 A. D. upon the declaration by Jesus Christ
that Simon Bar-Jona would be called Peter (rock)
upon which the Catholic Church was to be built.
Saint Peter was the longest-serving pope at 37
years.
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III. The Romans Adopt Christianity

• In A.D. 325 the council at Nicaea wrote down
• the main beliefs of the church

Bishop Nicholas, defender of the faith,
forcefully argued for the doctrine of the Holy
Trinity at the Council of Nicaea. The council's
statement forms part of the Nicaean Creed, still
said in churches today.