Impact Of Christianity On The Roman Empire

In the Roman Civilization where the prevalent worship of Roman gods were impersonal and did not provide a moral base or a message of hope, in the fourth century Christianity was formed, born as a movement within Judaism. Christianity emphasized the personal relationship between God and people, slowly spread through the Roman Empire until ultimately dominating the western culture. Three of the several factors that aided to the growth of Christianity in the Roman Empire were: the central beliefs and value of Christianity, prominent figures, and Christianity appeal to women. Christianity offered hope to many, for it was the time of grace and freedom, the time to rebuild the future and

Several factors contributing to the rapid spread of Christianity from the period ca. 50 to 500 CE but, among the more influential were political and social conflict, missionary work, word of mouth, and women in leadership. Starting as a Jewish sect, Christianity gradually began to attract those outside of the Jewish heritage. Though the first few centuries of this movement were anything but glamorous, both Jewish and Gentile Christians remained steadfast. The ecclesiastical works of the early Church Fathers offer solace to such who were continually persecuted, a people of lower society status or even slaves. During this era, the dissimilation of subversive ministries advanced the appeal of Christianity by challenging previously established social order and its structures of power, authority, and hierarchy. By late 300 CE, Christianity had revolutionized and was adopted as the universal religion of the Roman Empire as a result of the conversion of its emperor. Thus the strength behind Christian communities lead to the discovery and conversion of indigenous cultures around the world using force, wealth, missionary work, and the gospel.

The positive influence of Christianity is far reaching especially in the rich history and culture of Western Civilization despite a long standing ignorance or adamant denial of its contributions. The Bible itself is responsible for much of the language, literature, and fine arts we enjoy today as its artists and composers were heavily influenced by its writings. Paul Maier, in writing the forward to the book How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin J. Schmidt, says this about the profound impact Christianity has had on the development of Western Civilization:

‘Christians to the lions’ as Trajan would say, an emperor in the early centuries Christianity to them have alienated the favour of their gods which has and would continue to cause disasters in the Roman Empire. The misfortune of Christians did not stop during this period, but it did come to a composed halt as Galerius, gave Christians the right to worship in some sense. Christianity during the early stages was clearly a course of persecution and forced pagan accusations. Constantine dramatically changed the recourse of religions with the battle of Milvian Bridge as Christianity became the predominant religion of the Roman Empire.

Did you know that Christianity became the official religion of Rome in 380 BC? But, christianity didn’t really work out in Rome, and is one of the main problems that caused the fall of Rome. Also, Rome grew so much that it was almost impossible to control anymore. To conclude Christianity and the growth of the Roman Empire were the main causes of the fall of Rome. Christianity was one of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire.

When we look back at Christianity over the years, there are several people who are remembered for their impact on the religion. The first most important figure was Jesus Christ. However, if we travel forward a bit, into the 4th Century we come across Constantine. Historians agree that Constantine served as an important component in the spread of Christianity. Although he spread the religion in a massive way, others wonder if his methods were more harmful then anything. In this paper I will be discussing Constantine in his rise to power and his impact on Christianity. Constantine provided a mean for the word of God to be spread, which is a major benefit. However, He also used violence and hate as

Factors Which Led to the Spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire Christianity was not born in a vacumn. There were many social, geographical, historical and religious issues prevailing at the time of Christ and all of which were favorable to the spread of Christianity. Geograpicly, Christianity came into being in the Meditation world, the largest of the various centers of civilization at that time. Israel stands almost central to the five continents, dividing the east and west.

Christians went from being persecuted to dominating Rome rather quickly. In a world where separation between church and state does not exist, a Christian becoming the sole emperor of Rome symbolized a huge turning point in history. The power switched and the Pagans in turn became persecuted. Christians rose up and took control of all aspects of Roman society. The Pagan past was destroyed, banned, or forgotten about. Those Christians that did not agree with how things were being run either left the empire and became monks or formed their own sect. All of Rome changed.

The Byzantine Empire was a part of the Roman Empire and when Constantine decreed that Christianity would be the official religion of the Roman Empire, both sides benefited. Christianity would reach districts across the Silk Road and convert many peoples. The Byzantine Empire benefited by having a means to prevent conflicts with other Christian regions. Though they both promoted each other, when the Ottoman’s took Constantinople the Byzantine Empire lost access to Asia. Due to this dramatic blow, the Byzantine Empire wouldn’t be able to expand and in turn wouldn’t be able to promote Christianity.

Roman religion and was a contributing factor to the resulting fall of the Roman Empire.

The Jewish community started Christianity, but Christianity later spread and convert from all over the Greco-Roman world were attracted by this religion during the progress of the first century CE. Ideas, traditions, ways of worship and traditions were brought along by the new convert of Christianity and it was adopted by their faith. This is through art because Christians who were once pagans of the Roman Empire stick to their artistic heritage when they became followers of Jesus Christ. Roman artistic forms and motifs and also Roman architecture were being used by this new convert to express their new faith. In further explanation, we’ll see how Roman art influenced the developing art of early Christians.

The relationship between Christianity and the Roman Empire is interconnected with each other in different ways. Heaps of commotion and perspectives were constructed, and it caused several disputes to form all over Europe. In addition to this, there was also a large amount of seclusion, death and persecution during the time. Events such as the Fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD, the rise of Christianity, and its expansion throughout the Europe were a result of the political conflict. Due to the actions of many individuals and groups that influenced the course of major events, the relationship between the Roman Empire and Christianity was quite tense, problematic and confrontational.

In addition, there were prominent figure during this time that also aided in the growth of Christianity. One person who aided to the growth of Christianity was Constantine. Constantine was a Emperor of the Western Roman Empire and was the first emperor to publicly convert to Christianity in 312 AD. Constantine conversion was prompted before going into war he was Alerted by a vision that the Christian God is on his side, Constantine

In my Theatre of History class, we briefly discussed Rome and the fall of the Western Roman Empire as it related to theatre but I was intrigued to learn more. It didn’t seem sensible that the fall of the Western Empire would be placed, even a little, on the rise of Christianity during that time. It didn’t seem sensible for two reasons. The first reason is that Jesus Christ, in whom the Christians believed, had been born, lived, and crucified over 400 years before the Empire fell. His lifetime spanned only until the second emperor of the Roman Empire, before Rome’s crooked ways became noticeable and uncontrollable. The second reason is because the Western Roman Empire that fell was officially, as declared by an emperor, a Christian Rome. In this paper I will present and argue the many contributing factors of Rome’s demise, and answer the question was Christianity responsible for the decline of theatre as a practice in the Western Roman Empire and ultimately its fall?

Although the implementation of Christianity in the Roman Empire seemed to be a good thing, it lead to many pagan deaths and a great loss of Greek knowledge. As Alexandria fell into dark times consisting of invasions and turmoil during the 2nd and 3rd centuries, Christians were blamed for these acts because of their unwillingness to adhere to pagan practices, which were common and accepted beliefs at the time. Christians were victims of the “Great Persecution” lasting 8 years! Come the 4th century, Emperor Galerius converted to Christian right before his death and Christianity became the legal religion for Alexandria. Greek scholars ditched mathematics and became more interested in theology, thus Greek learning became identified with paganism.