Outline The Historical And Cultural Context In Which Christianity Began
Jkobe Peoples
The history of Christianity follows the Christian religion as it developed from its earliest beliefs and practices in the first-century, spread geographically in the Roman Empire and beyond, and became a global religion in the twenty-first century.
In the twenty-first century, traditional Christianity has declined in the West, while new forms have developed and expanded throughout the world. Today, there are more than two billion Christians worldwide and Christianity has become the world's largest, and most widespread religion.[1][2] Within the last century, the centre of growth has shifted from West to East and from the North to the Global South.[3][4][5][6]
Little is fully known of Christianity in its first 150 years; sources are few.[7] This and other complications have limited scholars to probable rather than provable conclusions, based largely on the biblical book of Acts, whose historicity is debated as much as it is accepted.[8][9]
It was amongst a small group of Second Temple Jews, looking for an "anointed" leader (messiah or king) from the ancestral line of King David, that Christianity first formed in relative obscurity.[15][13] Peter became the leader of the twelve disciples that Jesus had trained.[16] Tradition, and some evidence, supports Peter as the organizer and founder of the Church in Rome which already existed by 57 AD when Paul arrived there.[17] Paul was a persecutor of the church who later became a follower.[18] The Jerusalem church, led by James the Just, brother of Jesus, described themselves as "disciples of the Lord" and followers "of the Way".[19][20] According to Acts 9[21] and 11,[22] the disciples at Antioch were the first to be called "Christians".[23]
While there is evidence in the New Testament (Acts 10) suggesting the presence of Gentile Christians from the start, most early Christians were actively Jewish.[24] Jewish Christianity was foundational and remained influential in Palestine, Syria, and Asia Minor into the second and third centuries.[25][26] Judaism and Christianity diverged over disagreements about Jewish law, Jewish insurrections against Rome which Christians did not support, and the development of Rabbinic Judaism by the Pharisees, the sect which had rejected Jesus while he was alive.[27]
Geographically, Christianity began in Jerusalem in first-century Judea, a province of the Roman Empire. The religious, social, and political climate of the area was diverse and often characterized by turmoil.[13][28] Romans of this era feared civil disorder, giving their highest regard to peace, harmony and order.[29] Piety equalled loyalty to family, class, city and emperor. This was demonstrated through the practices and rituals of the old religious ways.[30]
Driven by a universalist logic, Christianity has been, from its beginnings, a missionary faith with global aspirations, leading it to become a part of the history of a great many civilizations.[37][38] Missionary consciousness in the early church was rooted in the belief that followers of Jesus were divinely required to "go forth" and "go tell" in order to "make disciples" of all nations.[39] This process began with the twelve Apostles, and the Apostle Paul.[40]
Beginning with less than 1000 people, by the year 100, Christianity had grown to perhaps one hundred small household churches consisting of an average of around seventy members each.[41] It achieved critical mass in the hundred years between 150 and 250 when it moved from fewer than 50,000 adherents to over a million. This provided enough adopters for its growth rate to be self-sustaining.[42][43]
Moving first into the Jewish diaspora communities beyond Jerusalem,[44][45][46] Christianity's development followed the trade routes as it was spread by merchants and soldiers.[47][48] The migration of populations played a significant part in the spread of Christianity.[49]
Egyptian Christianity probably began in the first-century in Alexandria.[51] As it spread, Coptic Christianity, which survives into the modern era, developed.[52][53] Egyptian Christians produced religious literature more abundantly than any other region during the second and third centuries making the church in Alexandria as influential as the church in Rome.[54]
Christianity in Antioch is mentioned in Paul's epistles written before AD 60, and scholars generally see Antioch as a primary centre of early Christianity.[55] It has been argued that Antioch, an early centre of apostolic authority, is the most likely location for the writing of the gospel of Matthew and the Didache in the first-century.[56]
Early Christianity was also present in Gaul, however, most of what is known comes from a letter, most likely written by Irenaeus, which theologically interprets the detailed suffering and martyrdom of Christians from Vienne and Lyons during the reign of Marcus Aurelius.[58] There is no other evidence of Christianity in Gaul, beyond one inscription on a gravestone, until the beginning of the fourth-century.[59]
The origins of Christianity in North Africa are unknown, but most scholars connect it to the Jewish communities of Carthage.[60] Christians were persecuted in Africa intermittently from 180 until 305.[61] Persecution under Emperors Decius and Valerian created long-lasting problems for the African church.[62]
It is likely the Christian message arrived in the city of Rome very early, though it is unknown how or by whom.[63] The city was a melting pot of ideas, and the Church in Rome was "subject to repeated internal upheavals ..."[64][65]
Christianity spread in its Arian form in the Germanic world during the latter part of the third-century, beginning among the Goths. It did not originate with the ruling classes.[66] They mixed aspects of their native culture into their Christianity.[67]
Christianity probably reached Roman Britain by the third-century at the latest.[66] From the earliest days of Christianity, there was a Christian presence in Edessa (modern Turkey). It developed in Adiabene, Armenia, Georgia, Persia (modern Iran), Ethiopia, India, Nubia, South Arabia, Soqotra, Central Asia and China. By the sixth-century, there is evidence of Christian communities in Sri Lanka and Tibet.[47][68]
Early Christianity's teachings on morality have been cited as a major factor in its growth. In contrast to traditional Roman social stratification, early Christian communities were highly inclusive being open to men and women, rich and poor, slave and free.[69][70] In groups formed by Paul the Apostle, the role of women was greater than in other religious movements.[71][72]
Intellectual egalitarianism made philosophy and ethics available to ordinary people whom Roman culture deemed incapable of ethical reflection.[73][74] Christian conceptions of free will and personal responsibility impacted Roman understanding of sexual morality as determined by social and political status, power, and social reproduction.[75][76][77]
Christians distributed bread to the hungry, nurtured the sick, and showed the poor great generosity.[78][79] They approached death and burial differently, redefining family by gathering those not blood-related into a common burial space, using the same memorials, and expanding the audience to include the Christian community.[80][81]
Christians had no sacrificial cult, and this set them apart from Judaism and the rest of the pagan world.[82] Christianity in its first 300 years was highly exclusive.[83] Believing was the crucial and defining characteristic that set a "high boundary" that strongly excluded non-believers.[83] This has been cited as a crucial factor in maintaining Christian independence in the syncretizing Roman religious culture.[84]
For Christianity's first five centuries, there was no canon law to govern the church.[85] Early Christian texts derived their authority from their apostolic origins and not from church institutions.[86] On this basis, the teachers, leaders and philosophers of early Christianity wrote from the first-century to the close of the eighth using the term "heresy" to define theological error, ensure correct belief and establish Christian identity.[87][88] [note 1]
Walter Bauer has put forth a thesis that heretical forms of Christianity were brought into line by a powerful, united, Roman church forcing its will on others. However, William Vinzent has written that unity and universal power did not yet exist in the church in the city of Rome in these early centuries.[64][65]
The Church as an institution began its formation quickly and with some flexibility in these early centuries before Constantine and the Council of Nicaea in 325.[91] Christian writings from the first-century mention bishops (or episkopoi), as overseers and presbyters as elders or priests, with deacons as 'servants', sometimes using the terms interchangeably.[92] Gerd Theissen puts forth the view that institutionalization began very early when itinerant preaching first transformed into resident leadership.[93]
First-century Christian writings in Koine Greek, including Gospels containing accounts of Jesus' ministry, letters of Paul, and letters attributed to other early Christian leaders, had considerable authority even in the formative period.[94][95] When discussion began about creating a Biblical canon to separate books seen as authoritative from those that were not, there were disputes over whether or not to include some of them.[96][97] A list of accepted books was established by the Council of Rome in 382, followed by those of Hippo in 393 and Carthage in 397.[98] For Christians, these became the "New Testament", and the Hebrew Scriptures became the "Old Testament".[99]
In Late Antiquity, Christianity's "systems of authority, patterns of belief, and control of funds and property" turned the existing network of diverse Christian communities into an organization that mirrored the structure of the Roman Empire.[102][103][82] Often referred to as the "golden age" of patristic Christianity, Christians of this era compiled many of Christianity's greatest works as they transformed and defined its art, culture, literature, philosophy and politics, its internal and external relationships, and its theology; at the same time, competing orthodoxies were formed, and Western aristocracies were Christianized. The biblical canon and its interpretation, the creeds, and the roles of bishops, councils, and monasticism became standard aspects of Christianity after this age.[104]
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