Christianity
Introduction
This wall painting from a third-century Roman catacomb shows Jesus as the Good Shepherd, a very common way in which he was portrayed. Catacombs were burial passageways dug in the soft rock where Christians placed the dead and held memorial services. Public domain.
More than 2,000 years ago, Christianity appeared in the early Roman Empire, a time and place in which there was a great mixing of cultures and traditions. It developed initially in the Roman province of Judaea in the Middle East. There, movements opposing Roman occupation were spreading among Jews. Many of them came to believe that a final struggle was near and that it would lead to the coming of a savior, or Messiah. This figure would destroy the Roman army and introduce a period of happiness and plenty for the Jewish people.
Into this setting Jesus of Nazareth (ca. 3 BCE–29 CE) was born. According to Christian scripture, or text, Jesus was raised by deeply religious Jewish parents. By the time he was thirty, Jesus was preaching and telling stories that circulated orally among his followers. Beginning in the late first century, accounts of his life and teachings were collected and written down to help build a community of faith, in books later called the gospels.
Jesus’ followers agreed that Jesus preached of life after death and of the importance of devotion to God and love of others. His teachings were based on Hebrew Scripture, reflecting ideas on God and moral beliefs from Jewish tradition. He said that he was the Son of God and the Messiah (Christus in Greek, the origin of the English word Christ). However, he also asserted that he had come to establish a spiritual kingdom, not an earthly one based on wealth and power. Worried about maintaining order in Jerusalem, the Roman official Pontius Pilate had Jesus arrested and killed. On the third day after Jesus’ death by crucifixion, some of his followers declared that he had risen from the dead. His resurrection became a central belief of the Christian faith.
Religious ideas and practices
After his death, Jesus’s memory and his teachings survived and spread. Believers met in small groups, often in private. They held a ritual (later called the Eucharist or Lord’s Supper) to celebrate his last meal Jesus shared with his disciples and spoke of Jesus’ imminent return. Most people in the ancient world could not read. Therefore, rituals were more important than texts in the communication of Christian teachings.
Paul of Tarsus was a well-educated Jew who converted to Christianity. Paul traveled the Roman Empire promoting Jesus’ ideas. His writings on Jesus’ ideas later became part of Christian scripture. The earliest Christian converts included men and women from all social classes. They were attracted to Christian teachings for a variety of reasons. The stories urged concern for the poor as well as promised a blissful life after death for all who believed. Christian converts also found a sense of identity, community, and spiritual kinship that was welcome in an uncertain world.
As the number of converts increased, permanent institutions were established. They included large buildings for worship and a hierarchy of officials—priests, bishops, archbishops—often modeled on those of the Roman Empire. As a result, Christianity became more formal and centralized.
Educated men who became Christians developed interpretations of issues that were unclear in early texts. These interpretations became official belief based on decisions made at church councils, however not everyone agreed with these interpretations. Disagreements led to the formation of different branches of Christianity.
Christianity had sacred books, but most people at this time could not read. As a result, rituals became more important than texts as the faith spread. Saints were people who had lived (or died) in a way that was spiritually significant. Objects connected with saints, such as their bones or clothing, became relics with special power. Churches that housed saints’ relics became places of pilgrimage for those seeking help or blessing.
Society and family life
Because they expected Jesus to return soon, many early Christians regarded earthly life and institutions as unimportant. Instead, followers of Jesus should depend on their new spiritual family of co-believers. Some women and men decided to give up life in the world. They devoted their lives to worship and prayer.
In his teachings about salvation, Jesus considered women the equal of men. By the late first century, however, male church leaders were placing restrictions on female believers. Women were forbidden to preach or hold official positions outside of women’s convents.
According to Scripture, Jesus also had harsh words to say about wealth. As an institution, though, the Christian Church became very wealthy. As it grew, it acquired land and buildings, and ran large estates and commercial enterprises.
Political developments and the spread of Christianity
In the early centuries, Christians were sometimes mistreated by governors of Roman provinces and the emperor. The third century brought civil war, invasions, and chaos to the Roman Empire. Hoping that Christianity could be a unifying force in an empire plagued by growing problems, Emperor Constantine (r. 306–337 CE) supported the Christian Church financially and legally. In return, he expected the support of church officials in maintaining order. Helped in part by its favored position, Christianity eventually became the leading religion in the empire. In 380 CE the emperor Theodosius made it the official religion of the Roman Empire.
As Christianity gained political power, it also spread to new people. Missionaries and Christian travelers carried the religion beyond the borders of the Roman Empire. Often, existing local religious customs mixed with Christian teachings. By 400 CE, there may have been 10 million Christians in the world. Today, there are more than 2 billion.
This mosaic from the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople shows the Virgin Mary with the Christ child on her lap, flanked by two Roman emperors, Constantine and Justinian. Built by Justinian in the sixth century, the Hagia Sophia was the world’s largest building at the time. Public domain.
Primary source: The Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew is the first book in the Christian New Testament. It contains a long collection of Jesus’ teachings, usually called the Sermon on the Mount. Among these are the following:
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also… (Matthew 6:19–21)
Sources
Clark, Gillian. Christianity and Roman Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Freeman, Charles. A New History of Early Christianity. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010.
Lynch, Joseph H. Early Christianity: A Brief History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks is Distinguished Professor of History emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and currently the president of the World History Association. She is the author or editor of thirty books that have appeared in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Chinese, Turkish, and Korean.
Image credits
This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0 except for the following:
Cover: Room of Constantine, one of the four Stanze di Raffaello (Raphael Rooms), Vatican Palace, Rome. Fresco. 1508/9-1520. © Photo by VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images.
This wall painting from a third-century Roman catacomb shows Jesus as the Good Shepherd, a very common way in which he was portrayed. Catacombs were burial passageways dug in the soft rock where Christians placed the dead and held memorial services. Public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Good_shepherd_01.jpg
This mosaic from the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople shows the Virgin Mary with the Christ child on her lap, flanked by two Roman emperors, Constantine and Justinian. Built by Justinian in the sixth century, the Hagia Sophia was the world’s largest building at the time. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hagia_Sophia_Southwestern_entrance_mosaics.jpg
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