One of the most important developments during the Roman Empire was the rise of Christianity. The appearance of Christianity, a religion that grew out of Judaism, and was based on the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is the traditional founder, prophet, and redeemer of Christianity. Little is known about him in general.
So again, like we did with Judaism, most of what I'll be discussing is the Christian tradition. As the historical record is virtually non-existent, there are several pieces of concrete evidence on the historicity of Jesus, primarily pointing to his baptism by John the Baptist and his crucifixion by Pontius Pilate. Anything beyond that is historically questionable. Again, history class, so that's why we're talking about that. So, again, this is the, we're going following like we did with Judaism, following the Hebrew tradition.
So little is known about him in general or about his childhood, and it's generally considered around 30 years old. He was 30 years old when he began his ministry. He taught that the kingdom of God was coming quickly and that people needed to prepare themselves for it. He also taught that the kingdom of God was open to all equally, including people who were customarily looked down upon. such as prostitutes and tax collectors.
He was Jewish, so his teachings are considered an offshoot of Judaism. We'll circle back to his relationship with Judaism shortly. His execution by crucifixion was due to his refusal to follow the imperial cult and the belief that he was causing dissent in the empire.
After Jesus'death, his stories and teachings were continued by his disciples. What about that relationship with Judaism? Well, again, he was Jewish, so his teachings were considered an offshoot of Judaism. For Jews, Jesus and his teachings were like Joseph Smith and the Mormons now.
Unless you follow that faith, the modern Christians consider the Mormons just to be crazy or following a false... you know, religion, that Joseph Smith didn't really talk to God and all that, or do all the stuff that he was purported to have done. And Jesus was preaching a new gospel saying not that just that God had spoken to him, but that he was the son of God.
So you can understand why his fellow Jews treated him and his followers skeptically. They also considered him and his sect as a threat to their safety. Look, this is a period of, of, of the Messiah, of there were lots of people claiming to be a Messiah. There were lots of people claiming to have spoken to God or to be the Son of God.
It was also a big period for apocalypse proclamations and the idea that the world was going to end or in a religious context that everyone would be saved or that judgment was coming and all that kind of stuff. There was a lot of people claiming very similar things to Jesus himself, even within the Jewish faith. So we could boil down the mistrust of Christianity by their fellow Jews, because again, Christianity starts as an offshoot of Judaism, down into three basic things.
The missionary aspects of Christianity, particularly amongst non-Jews, by the insistence of, in general, of Jesus's status as a Messiah. And the conflict with Roman law and the exceptions made for Jews. We'll start with the spread of Christianity or the missionary aspects. After Jesus'death, his followers became known as Christians or the followers of Jesus the Christ at the city of Antioch. That's actually where they gathered after his crucifixion.
And they continued to proselytize and seek converts. The inclusivity. of Jesus's teachings that all were equal on the side of God regardless of wealth or social rank made the faith popular amongst slaves, women, and the poor. The spread of Christianity itself was helped by three factors.
A. The fact that it appealed to the poor in society. B.
The ease of dissemination. It was easy to spread ideas in the developed Roman Empire. And C. It attracted gifted adherents, the apostles. Okay, um...
The earliest leaders within Christianity were all Jewish disciples of Jesus. As the faith grew and the leadership of the church were being killed off, Christianity began to change. And then the initiation of this change was led by a former prosecutor named Saul of Tarsus.
Or, after his baptism, his Christian name will become known as Paul the Apostle. He was among the first to try to create a single, unified version of Christian beliefs. More importantly, he led the movement to allow Gentiles to become Christians without first becoming Jews.
Now remember, Christianity started as an offshoot of Judaism. Jesus himself was Jewish. So naturally, a key part of the early belief system was converting to the Jewish faith.
So if you wanted to follow Jesus'teachings, you converted to Judaism. And then, within Judaism, you became a Christian Jew. You were following Jesus'teachings, which were a sect. of Judaism.
Saul, or Paul, will remove this requirement. So one only had to join Christianity, and this will start to remove it as a separate, as a sect of Judaism, and began establishing it as a separate faith. I hope that makes sense.
So by removing the requirement to convert to Judaism, and just by converting to Christianity, you are no longer an offshoot. of Christianity, of Judaism. You are now your own faith. Which brings us to the, back to the relationship with Judaism, but also dealing with Christianity in the Roman state.
At first, the Romans took little notice of Christians and had difficulty distinguishing between Christians and Jews. They both used the Hebrew Bible as their scripture. I mean, the new...
Testament wasn't written yet. They both worshipped in the temple in Jerusalem, where the faith was originally centered. And like Jews, Christians refused to worship other gods. But remember, the imperial government saw participation in the cult of Rome and Augustus as a test for loyalty to the state. Jews were exempt from this participation, and so were Christians at first.
Once Christians began to separate themselves from their fellow Jews, they were no longer protected by the safeguards of Judaism, and they will face persecution. This increased the rate of separation between the two groups. Christians were being persecuted, and Jews sought to distinguish themselves and avoid becoming targets themselves.
When the Romans deified Augustus, they made the emperors into gods. Christian converts, because they had no exemption, were therefore committing treason with their refusal to worship, which will lead to persecution. So naturally, of course, the Jewish populations are going to push the Christians away because that threatened their safety.
Also because, you know, they didn't believe that Jesus was a Messiah and Jews are not a... proselytizing people. They don't go out and try to convert people. They keep to themselves and better their own faith. And that's part of why Judaism is such a smaller religion.
Also, the massive amounts of persecution they have faced throughout the years. But they don't have the big, they don't have the missionary quality. They don't go out to non-Jewish groups and try to convert them.
That's not the way that Judaism works, or most sects of Judaism works. But for the Christians, Obviously, this separation and this refusal to follow the imperial cult is going to lead to persecutions. Christians aroused hostility and persecution in the empire that was normally tolerant of religious variations. Those who were executed became martyrs, which is spelled M-A-R-T-Y-R-S, and were revered for having died for their faith. Many martyrs also became saints.
who lived model Christian lives and were believed to have the power to intercede with God. Between 64 and 330 BCE, Christians went through several periods of persecution. In 64 CE, a great fire incinerated a section of Rome where the Emperor Nero had wanted to build a new palace.
The Christians were blamed and many were killed as a result. Persecution increased over the first century as Christianity continued to separate from Judaism. This is a long process of the separation.
Widespread systemic persecutions began around 96 CE under the Emperor Domitian. As a result of persecution, the early Christians began to write down their earliest teachings since many of them were being killed. This is when the gospel's New Testament, and also known as the New Testament, were written, about 100 years after Jesus Christ's death. Naturally, Christians met in secret to carry out their faith.
Because of this, they were accused of performing evil rituals that included eating human flesh and drinking human blood. Well, what is this actually? Well, that's communion.
That's the Eucharist. You know, the Catholic and Episcopalian faiths and a few other Christian Western Christian groups or sects, you know, you drink the wine and eat the communion wafer as a representation, or in Christianity, the literal representation, I'm sorry, in Catholicism, the literal representation, or literally being Jesus's body and blood. Well, of course, when they're doing this stuff in secret, uh, and the Romans hear about this, they just hear consuming a few, you know, they're eating some guy named Jesus's body and they're drinking his blood. Well, they're going to think cannibalism, vampirism, or whatever else you want to throw in there. Now persecutions will start to slow around 200 and the two hundreds, at least due to the political crises that dominated the third century.
You don't have much time due to persecute the Christians when you're in the middle of something called the third century crisis. Well, this all leads up. and continues on until Constantine.