The Rise of Christianity
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Under the rule of Augustus, a variety of reforms tranformed the republic into the Empire.Rome entered a period of expansion, prosperity, cultural vigor, and relative political stability that would last until the end of the second century.During the same period Christianity arose.Initially, it was one of the many religius sects and was perceived as a version of Judaisism.But trhough missionary work of Paul and internal organization of the church, Christianity spread and became institutionalized.During the fourth century it was recognize as an state religion within the Roman Empire.

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When the Roman power spread to Judea, the home of the Jews, and made it a province of the empire, a number of Jews, however, believed they would once again be freed. According to biblical tradition, God had promised them a messiah, roughly two decades passed and many believed that such day had arrived. This messiah was a man named Jesus, his teachings contained many ideas from jewish tradition, such as monotheism, and the principles of the Ten Commandments. Jesus would preach from town to town increasing his fame, however, this growing fame concerned both Roman and Jewish leaders. They said his teachings were blasphemy and sentenced him to be crucified. Although Jesus hd perished, his followers continuedto spread his ideas. Despite political and religous opposition, the new religion of Christianity spread slowly but steadily throughout the Roman Empire.

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Jesus Christ

The central tenet of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God and the Messiah (Christ). The title "Messiah" comes from the Hebrew word מָשִׁיחַ (māšiáħ) meaning anointed one. The Greek translation Χριστός (Christos) is the source of the English word "Christ".

Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was anointed by God as savior of humanity, and hold that Jesus' coming was the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian concept of the Messiah differs significantly from the contemporary Jewish concept. The core Christian belief is that through belief in and acceptance of the death and resurrection of Jesus, sinful humans can be reconciled to God and thereby are offered salvation and the promise of eternal life.

While there have been many theological disputes over the nature of Jesus over the first centuries of Christian history, Christians generally believe that Jesus is God incarnate and "true God and true man" (or both fully divine and fully human). Jesus, having become fully human, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, but did not sin. As fully God, he rose to life again. According to the Bible, "God raised him from the dead," the ascended to heaven, is "seated at the right hand of the Father" and will ultimately return [Acts 1:9-11] to fulfill the rest of Messianic prophecy such as the Resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment and final establishment of the Kingdom of God.

According to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born from the Virgin Mary. Little of Jesus' childhood is recorded in the canonical Gospels, however infancy Gospels were popular in antiquity. In comparison, his adulthood, especially the week before his death, are well documented in the Gospels contained within the New Testament. The Biblical accounts of Jesus' ministry include: his baptism, miracles, preaching, teaching, and deeds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity

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At the time, Rome was divided into two social class groups. They were the rich and powerful patricians and the poor, hardworking plebeians. The patricians were the only ones allowed to hold office and made up laws to cheat the plebeians of their hard earned money. This was changed by consuls who wrote down all the laws on twelve tablets, so no one could cheat the poor plebeians.

Plebeians were farmers or storekeepers. They lived in tiny apartments in small square five story apartment buildings called insulae. They spent most of their time working and their children did not go to school. Patricians had large beautiful houses with skylights to collect rainwater. Patrician girls and boys went to school, but boys went on with more schooling called a rhetoric education. They needed this education to get successful careers such becoming a as politicians.
At the time, Rome was divided into two social class groups. They were the rich and powerful patricians and the poor, hardworking plebeians. The patricians were the only ones allowed to hold office and made up laws to cheat the plebeians of their hard earned money. This was changed by consuls who wrote down all the laws on twelve tablets, so no one could cheat the poor plebeians.

Plebeians were farmers or storekeepers. They lived in tiny apartments in small square five story apartment buildings called insulae. They spent most of their time working and their children did not go to school. Patricians had large beautiful houses with skylights to collect rainwater. Patrician girls and boys went to school, but boys went on with more schooling called a rhetoric education. They needed this education to get successful careers such becoming a as politicians.
http://alexandria-es10.lausd.k12.ca.us/showcase/Rome.html

Christianity is today the world’s largest religion, representing at least a quarter of the world’s population. It is also the primary inspiration behind the second largest religion of the world, Islam.
Christianity began as a tiny sect of Judaism during the life of Jesus, but in just 3 centuries it had become the dominant religion of the entire Mediterranean World. How did Christianity achieve this tremendous feat?http://explorethemed.com/Christian.asp?c=1

In the first few centuries of Christianity, the Roman establishment was threatened by the Christian reverence of a single God and Christians were severely persecuted under Roman rule. However, the spread of Christianity was only possible because of the stability and unification of the Mediterranean achieved by the Romans. The Romans had successfully unified the entire Mediterranean into a relatively peaceful and prosperous trading system. Communications between the various peoples of the Mediterranean had become streamlined into two major languages: Latin in the Western Mediterranean, and Greek in the Eastern Mediterranean. This prosperity and unification assisted early missionaries such as St. Paul in getting the word out about the new faith. The early centers of Christianity were the largest cities and the most urbanized provinces on the major trade networks of the Mediterranean.http://explorethemed.com/Christian.asp?c=1

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