Christianity
- Background Info
- religion has always played a large role in Roman society
- however, the polytheistic system was very impersonal
- so.....as the empire grew so did the new religion called Christianity
- Jesus of Nazareth
- viewed as the messiah or savior by Christians
- born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea
- baptized by John the Baptist
- he took up carpentry
- at the age of 30, he then took up ministry
- for the next 3 years, he preached, taught, did good works, and reported performed miracles
- History of Jesus
- historical records of the time mention very little about Jesus
- main source of information about his main teachings are the Gospels
- these gospels were written by his disciples or pupils, called apostles
- Jesus' Death
- Jesus was growing in popularity and this concerned Roman and Jewish leaders
- a governor of Rome named Pontius Pilate accused Jesus of defying the authority of Rome
- he then was crucified on a wooden cross
- Spreading Christianity
- after Jesus' death, the followers of Jesus continued to spread his ideas
- despite the large amount of political and religious opposition, the new religion of Christianity began to spread.
- Paul
- a man who really influenced the spreading of Christianity
- was once a Jew, and against Christianity
- he was able to do many of his speeches, and travel throughout the Roman Empire because it was during Pax Romana
- Charts
- Christian
- belief that Jesus is the Messiah
- acceptance of Gentiles and Jews alike
- Jewish
- belief that Jews are the chosen people
- adherence to Jewish law
- both
- belief in one God
- belief in the Ten Commandments
- Christian
- Organization
Pope
Bishops Bishops Bishops
Priest Priest Priest Priest Priest
the People
- Persecution of Christians
- the main reason was that they refused to worship Roman gods
- as Pax Romana began to crumble, persecution of the Christians increased
- thousands were crucified, burned, or killed by wild animals in the circus arenas
- other Christians and even some non-Christians regarded persecuted Christians as martyrs
- Martyrs - were people willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of a belief or cause
- Popularity
- Became a world religion for multiple reasons:
- embraces all people
- gave hope to the powerless
- appealed to those who were repelled by the extravagances of imperial Rome
- offered personal relationship with a loving God
- promised eternal life after death
- Became a world religion for multiple reasons:
- Constantine accepting Christianity
- Constantine was fighting over the leadership of Rome
- he then prayed to the Christian God, and saw a cross
- he then ordered the artisans to paint the Christian symbol on the shields
- he was successful in battle so began to accept Christianity
- Research
- Attila the Hun
- one paragraph on basic information about him
- then state if you would rather have Attila or Alexander the great as a leader. one paragraph
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