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Christianity
The followers of Jesus called him Christ. Christ is a Greek word that means “chosen one,” because they believed he was chosen by God to be his messenger. In time the followers of Jesus became known as Christians. The Christians taught that people’s sins would be forgiven if they became Christian. This message was not successful with many Jews, but many pagans responded to the idea of Christian salvation. Many fervent believers carried the message of Jesus throughout the Roman Empire. One of the most successful was a Greek-speaking Jew named Paul of Tarsus, known to Christians as Saint Paul. As a young man, he helped to persecute Christians, but one day he had a vision in which he believed Jesus spoke to him from heaven. Paul spent the rest of his life thinking and writing about Christianity and winning new converts to the faith. Through the persistence of Paul and other Christian missionaries, small Christian communities developed throughout the Roman Empire. The first Christians believed that Jesus would quickly return to earth, so there was no need to create any written records of his life. After about thirty years, Christians began to see a need to write down an account of the life and wisdom of Jesus. About fifty years after Jesus died, Christians combined the stories of the life and wisdom of Jesus into four books known as Gospels. Gospel means “good news.” The holy book of Christianity is known as the Bible and has two parts. The Old Testament consists of the sacred writings of the Jewish people and was written long before the time of Jesus. The New Testament of the Bible includes the Gospels, along with letters written by Paul and other Christian writers. The Bible has been translated into more than 1,500 languages and has been read by more people than any other book. At first the Romans did not mind that Christians did not worship their gods. The Empire was prosperous and there were not many Christians. Within the next two hundred years, barbarian warriors attacked the empire. Many Romans suggested that bad times were coming to the empire because a growing group of Christians did not worship the Roman gods. Roman emperors became increasingly intolerant of Christianity. In AD202, emperor Septimius Severus banned any Roman citizen from converting to Christianity or Judaism. Those who disobeyed the emperor were often tortured by soldiers or wild animals at sporting events. Despite the persecutions, Christianity continued to grow. Constantine ended persecution of Christians when he seized power in AD306. Four years later, he made Christianity legal. A legend says that on the eve of a battle, Constantine saw a Christian symbol in the sky with words that translate to “By this sign you shall conquer.” Constantine never established Christianity as the official religion of the empire, but he did encourage its growth. He ordered that Christianity be a legal and tolerated religion. Constantine supported the church, but he continued to worship Roman gods. In AD337 Constantine was dying. Only then did he call for a bishop so that he could be baptized into the church. Fifty years after Constantine’s death, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.
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To cite this page: |
Most
of the people who lived near Jerusalem were Jewish. The Romans were pagans,
but they allowed the Jews to practice their faith and did not force them
worship Roman gods. About AD30, a holy man named Jesus began to attract
a following in the Roman province of Judea. Judea is part of the modern
nation of Israel. His followers came to believe that Jesus was the son
of the God of the Jews and that he performed miracles. The followers of
Jesus angered Roman authorities because they refused to follow either
Jewish or Roman laws. The authorities arrested and crucified Jesus. Three
days after his execution, Jesus’ followers said they saw him risen
from the dead.