Ancient Rome and the Rise of Christianity

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Christianity -Early on in Pax Romana, a new religion, Christianity emerged in a distant corner of the Empire-Many different religions in the empire-By 63 B.C., Romans had conquered Judea where most Jewish people lived.

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-Romans allowed Jewish people to worship their one god

-Many Jews reluctantly lived under Roman rule, however, some wanted a revolt against Rome and believed a messiah would come to lead their people to freedom

Jesus

-Born in 4 B.C. in Bethlehem -worshipped God and followed Jewish law-at 30 began preaching to villagers, used parables-short stories with simple moral lessons to communicate his ideas-Recruited 12 disciples to help him spread his ideas, called apostles, in Jerusalem-Some Jews in Jerusalem welcomed Jesus, many of the priests felt he threatened their leadership-Roman authorities felt Jesus would lead the Jews in a revolt against their rule

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Death of Jesus-According to the gospels, Jesus was betrayed by one of his disciples, arrested by the Romans, and killed by crucifixion-a person was bound to a cross and left to die

-Rumors then spread that Jesus had not died but had risen from death and commanded his disciples to spread his teachings-After the disciples reported he ascended into heaven

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Christianity Spreads

-Followers called Christians-Disciples preach the messages of Christianity throughout the Roman world-Peter established Christianity in Rome itself-Paul played the most influential role in spreading Christianity

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He spread Christianity throughout the Mediterranean

-His letters became part of the New Testament in the Bible

Christians Oppressed-Romans were not tolerant towards Christians because:

-they refused to honor the emperor with sacrifices-they refused to worship Roman gods to

protect the state-Christians were used as scapegoats, blamed for social and economic problems-Many Christians became martyrs- or people who suffer or die for their beliefs-However, Christianity continued to spread due to the fact that all people were welcome

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Early Christian Church-Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in A.D. 313.

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-The Edict granted freedom of worship to all citizens of the Roman empire

-By the end of the century, Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of the Roman empire

Structure of the ChurchThe Christian Clergy

Bishop Bishop Bishop

Pope/Patriarch

DiocesePriest

+Community

DiocesePriest

+Community

DiocesePriest

+Community

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ChristianityUse the timeline from the left to answer the questions below.

27 BCE -14 CEReign of Emperor Augustus. Augustus was the first Roman ruler to be worshiped as a son of a god

4 BCE Jesus of Nazareth is born.

6 CETerritories of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea come under direct imperial control as the Roman province of Judea.

26-30 CE Ministry of John the Baptist

30 CE Death of Jesus

30 CE and laterJesus' early followers from Galilee settle in Jerusalem. They are known as "the Twelve."

60-65 CE Death of Paul

64 CE Great Fire in Rome; Nero blames and executes Christians

66-70 CEFirst Jewish Revolt against Rome. A feud between Jewish and Greek factions in the city of Ceasarea leads to fighting that quickly spreads throughout the region.

155 CEMartyrdom of Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna and younger colleague and admirer of Ignatius of Antioch.

203 CE Martyrdom of Perpetua in Carthage

249-251 CE First major persecution of Christians under emperor Decius

312 CEBattle of Milvian Bridge; Constantine adopts Christ as his patron and defeats his rival Maxentius to become sole ruler of Italy, Africa, and the entire western half of the empire.

313 CE

Edict of Milan. An agreement between Constantine, ruler of the West and Licinius, ruler of the East, that assured full restitution of all confiscated Christian property and full rights for Christian worship in both halves of the Roman empire.

324 CE

Constantine defeats Licinius in a battle near Adrianople. He now becomes ruler of the entire Roman empire. He moves the eastern capital from Nicomedia to Byzantine, henceforth known as Constantinople.

325 CECouncil of Nicea attempts to resolve theological differences among church factions. It is agreed that Christ was both fully human and fully divine.

327 CE Death of Constantine

_____1. Who blamed the Christians for the Great Fire in Rome?a.Augustus b. Nero c. Constantine

_____2. What year had more than one thing happen?a.30CE b. 64CE c. 327 CE

3.In 324 CE who became the ruler of Roman Empire?_______________________________________________

4.What was agreed in 325 CE?_______________________________________________

_____5. Who died first?a.Constantine b. Jesus c. Paul

_____6. What resulted from a feud between Jewish and Greek factions?a.Roman War b. Council of Nicea c. First Jewish Revolt

_____7. When did Constantine adopt Christ as his patron?a.312 CE b. 313CE c. 324 CE

•What year was Jesus born?______________

•What year did Paul die?______________

10. What year did John the Baptist start his ministry?__________

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Jesus – The Question of Christianity The followers of Jesus, who don't go away as they're supposed to, have to deal with a fundamental question….what does this mean that the one that we had all of these expectations about has been crucified? How do we deal with this, not merely the end of this life, but the shameful end of this life through crucifixion which is used for slaves? The amazing thing is, they said, "Hey, Pilate's right - he was the King of the Jews, and moreover, God has vindicated this claim, that he is the King of the Jews, by raising him from the dead." Now, this is where the Jesus movement (which is to become Christianity) begins with trying to explain that hard fact. The first interpretation is okay, "Pilate killed him but God raised him from the dead". That's the very beginning of it all. That is an act of interpretation, that is to say, "this wasn't final." A second bit of interpretation is to say, yes, "King of the Jews," what could this mean? It obviously does not mean, "King of the Jews," in the way that Bar Kochba would try to be King of Israel and restore the political kingdom of Israel, liberated from the Romans. It couldn't mean that, so what does it mean? The early Christians, as proper Jews, begin to search the scriptures, [looking for] what clues are hidden here which no one has noticed before. They begin to find promises in scripture of an anointed king who will come at the end of days, a notion which they share with many other Jews, at the same time. So, this is where it all begins, with this kind of interpretive process, which of course goes in many different directions.

_____1. Why was crucifixion a shameful death?a.Because it was public b.Because it was used for slavesc.Because it was painful

_____2. Trying to explain what “hard fact” is the beginning of the Jesus movement?a.God raising Jesus from the deadb.Pilate’s reason for crucifying Jesusc.That Jesus was crucified by Pilate

_____3. One interpretation of the crucifixion is “this wasn’t final”. What does this refer to?a.Pilate killed him but God raised him from the deadb.Pilate’s right – he was the King of the Jewsc.Christianity will go away

_____4. One interpretation of the crucifixion says Jesus is the “King of the Jews”. What does this mean?a.That he was an actual King of Israelb.That he was an anointed king who camec.That he would replace Pilate

_____5. Who tried to be King of Israel and restore the political kingdom of Israel?a.Bar Kochbab.Jesusc.Pilate 10

TheResurrection

The Story of theResurrectionThe Roman governor Pontius Pilate ordered Jesus to be executed by crucifixion. After Jesus died, his body was taken down from the cross and a huge stone was placed in front of the tomb where he was buried. On the 3rd day after his execution, according to the Gospels, some of the followers reported that the stone had moved and the tomb lay empty. These accounts of Jesus’ resurrection, or return to life, proved to many of his followers that he was divine (the son of God).

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