History of Christianity: Difference between revisions

Historical development of Christianity

The history of Christianity follows the Christian religion from the first century to the twenty-first as it developed from its earliest beliefs and practices, spread geographically, and changed into its contemporary global forms.

Christianity originated with the ministry of Jesus, a Jewish teacher and healer who proclaimed the imminent Kingdom of God and was crucified c. AD 30–33 in Jerusalem in the Roman province of Judea. The earliest followers of Jesus were apocalyptic Jewish Christians. Christianity remained a Jewish sect, for centuries in some locations, diverging gradually from Judaism over doctrinal, social and historical differences.

In spite of occasional persecution in the Roman Empire, the religious movement spread as a grassroots movement that became established by the third century. The Roman Emperor Constantine I became the first Christian emperor and in 313, he issued the Edict of Milan expressing tolerance for all religions thereby legalizing Christian worship. Various Christological debates about the human and divine nature of Jesus occupied the Christian Church for three centuries, and seven ecumenical councils were called to resolve them.

Christianity played a prominent role in the development of Western civilization in Europe after the Fall of Rome.^{[9][10][11][12][13]} In the Early Middle Ages, missionary activities spread Christianity towards the west and the north. During the High Middle Ages, Eastern and Western Christianity grew apart, leading to the East–West Schism of 1054. Growing criticism of the Roman Catholic church and its corruption in the Late Middle Ages led to the Protestant Reformation and its related reform movements, which concluded with the European wars of religion, the development of tolerance as policy, and the Age of Enlightenment.

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.^[19] Within the last century, the center of growth has shifted from West to East and from North to the global South.

Origins to 312[edit]

Jesus[edit]

Christianity began in Judea with the itinerant preaching and teaching of a young Jewish man, Jesus of Nazareth. Theologian and minister Frances M. Young has written, it is “The death of Jesus by crucifixion, together with his resurrection from the dead, [that] lies at the heart of Christianity.” According to the Gospels, Jesus is the Son of God, who was crucified c. AD 30–33 in Jerusalem. His followers believed that he was raised from the dead and exalted by God, heralding the coming Kingdom of God.

Virtually all scholars of antiquity accept that Jesus was a historical figure.^{[note 1]} However, in the twenty-first century, tensions surround the figure of Jesus and the supernatural features of the gospels, creating, for many, a distinction between the ‘Jesus of history‘ and the ‘Christ of faith’.^{[note 2]} Yet, as Young has observed, “it is precisely Christology, the dogmas concerning the divinity and humanity of Christ, which have made Christianity what it is”.

Political, social and religious setting[edit]

Christianity began in Jerusalem, in first-century Judea of the Roman Empire, amongst a small group of Jews who looked for a future “anointed” leader (messiah or king) from the ancestral line of King David. The religious, social, and political climate of the area was diverse and often characterized by turmoil.

Roman Empire[edit]

The Christian gospel came into a Roman Empire which had only recently emerged from a long series of civil wars, and which would experience two more major periods of civil war over the next centuries. Romans of this era feared civil disorder, giving their highest regard to peace, harmony and order. Piety equaled loyalty to family, class, city and emperor, and it was demonstrated by loyalty to the practices and rituals of the old religious ways, not by the individual faith of Christianity.

While Christianity was largely tolerated, some also saw it as a threat to “Romanness” which produced localized persecution by mobs and governors. In 250, Decius made it a capital offence to refuse to make sacrifices to Roman gods resulting in widespread persecution of Christians. Valerian pursued similar policies later that decade. The last and most severe official persecution, the Diocletianic Persecution, took place in 303–311.

Jews and Gentiles[edit]