History of Christianity - Wikipedia. The history of Christianity concerns the Christian religion, Christendom, and the Church with its various denominations, from the 1st century to the present. Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity spread to all of Europe in the Middle Ages. Christianity expanded throughout the world during Europe's Age of Exploration from the Renaissance onwards, becoming the world's largest religion. The Roman persecution of Christians ended in AD 3. Constantine the Great decreed tolerance for the religion. He then called the First Council of Nicaea in AD 3. What are common concerns and FAQs about loop systems? A Baker's Dozen Frequently Asked Questions About Hearing Loops. The history of Christianity concerns the Christian religion, Christendom, and the Church with its various denominations, from the 1st century to the present. Prior to the 20th century, Baptist historians generally wrote from the perspective that Baptists had existed since the time of Christ. Proponents of the Baptist. Timeline: Faith in America How religious ideas and spiritual experiences have shaped America's public life over the last 400 years. First seven Ecumenical Councils. Apostolic Church. While the historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles is disputed by critics, the Acts of the Apostles is the major primary source of information for this period. Acts gives a history of the Church from this commission in 1: 3–1. ![]() Gentiles. In other words, Jesus preached to the Jewish people and called from them his first disciples, see for example Matthew 1. However, the Great Commission is specifically directed at . Circumcision in particular was considered repulsive by Greeks and Hellenists. The actions of Peter, at the conversion of Cornelius the Centurion. Related issues are still debated today. The doctrines of the apostles brought the Early Church into conflict with some Jewish religious authorities. This eventually led to their expulsion from the synagogues, according to one theory of the Council of Jamnia. Acts records the martyrdom of the Christian leaders, Stephen and James of Zebedee. Thus, Christianity acquired an identity distinct from Rabbinic Judaism, but this distinction was not recognised all at once by the Roman Empire, see Split of early Christianity and Judaism for details. The very earliest accounts of belief are contained in these texts, such as early creeds and hymns, as well as accounts of the Passion, the empty tomb, and Resurrection appearances; some of these are dated to the 3. CE, originating within the Jerusalem Church. This involved even death for Christians such as Stephen (Acts 7: 5. ![]() James, son of Zebedee (1. Larger- scale persecutions followed at the hands of the authorities of the Roman Empire, beginning with the year 6. Roman historian Tacitus, the Emperor Nero blamed them for that year's Great Fire of Rome. According to Church tradition, it was under Nero's persecution that Peter and Paul were each martyred in Rome. Similarly, several of the New Testament writings mention persecutions and stress endurance through them. The Manual 2016 The United Church of Canada/L’Église Unie du Canada. What is the history of Advent and the Advent wreath? What is the significance of Ash Wednesday and ashes on the forehead? How do you determine the. TITLE CREATOR CALLNO SUBJECTS; Private war : letters and diaries of Madge Preston, 1862-1867. HV6626.P73 1987: Preston, Madge, b. Early Christians suffered sporadic persecutions as the result of local pagan populations putting pressure on the imperial authorities to take action against the Christians in their midst, who were thought to bring misfortune by their refusal to honour the gods. In The Rise of Christianity, Rodney Stark argues that Christianity triumphed over paganism chiefly because it improved the lives of its adherents in various ways. But this emerged slowly and at different times for different locations. Clement, a 1st- century bishop of Rome, refers to the leaders of the Corinthian church in his epistle to Corinthians as bishops and presbyters interchangeably. The New Testament writers also use the terms overseer and elders interchangeably and as synonyms. These men reportedly knew and studied under the apostles personally and are therefore called Apostolic Fathers. Each Christian community also had presbyters, as was the case with Jewish communities, who were also ordained and assisted the bishop. As Christianity spread, especially in rural areas, the presbyters exercised more responsibilities and took distinctive shape as priests. Lastly, deacons also performed certain duties, such as tending to the poor and sick. In the 2nd century, an episcopal structure becomes more visible, and in that century this structure was supported by teaching on apostolic succession, where a bishop becomes the spiritual successor of the previous bishop in a line tracing back to the apostles themselves. The diversity of early Christianity can be documented from the New Testament record itself. The Book of Acts admits conflicts between Hebrews and Hellenists, and Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, and Aramaic speakers and Greek speakers. The letters of Paul, Peter, John, and Jude all testify to intra- Church conflicts over both leadership and theology. In a response to the Gnostic teaching, Irenaeus created the first document describing what is now called apostolic succession. They produced two sorts of works: theological and . These authors are known as the Church Fathers, and study of them is called patristics. Notable early Fathers include Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyons, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen of Alexandria. Early art. The oldest known Christian paintings are from the Roman Catacombs, dated to about AD 2. Christian sculptures are from sarcophagi, dating to the beginning of the 3rd century. This early rejection of images, and the necessity to hide Christian practise from persecution, leaves us with few archaeological records regarding early Christianity and its evolution. Indeed, one of the main roles of the bishops in the early Church was to determine and retain important correct beliefs, and refute contrarian opinions, known as heresies. As there were sometimes differing opinions among the bishops on new questions, defining orthodoxy would occupy the Church for some time. The earliest controversies were often Christological in nature; that is, they were related to Jesus' divinity or humanity. Docetism held that Jesus' humanity was merely an illusion, thus denying the Incarnation (God becoming human). Arianism held that Jesus, while not merely mortal, was not eternally divine and was, therefore, of lesser status than the Father. Many groups held dualistic beliefs, maintaining that reality was composed into two radically opposing parts: matter, seen as evil, and spirit, seen as good. Such views gave rise to some theology of the . Most scholars agree that the Bible teaches that both the material and the spiritual worlds were created by God and were therefore both good. Since most Christians today subscribe to the doctrines established by the Nicene Creed, modern Christian theologians tend to regard the early debates as a unified orthodox position against a minority of heretics. Other scholars, drawing upon distinctions between Jewish Christians, Pauline Christianity, and other groups such as Marcionites, argue that early Christianity was always fragmented, with contemporaneous competing beliefs. Though the Early Church used the Old Testament according to the canon of the Septuagint (LXX), the apostles did not otherwise leave a defined set of new scriptures; instead the New Testament developed over time. The writings attributed to the apostles circulated amongst the earliest Christian communities. The Pauline epistles were circulating in collected form by the end of the 1st century AD. Justin Martyr, in the early 2nd century, mentions the . In contrast, the major writings and most of what is now the New Testament were Homologoumena, or universally acknowledged for a long time, since the middle of the 2nd century or before. Augustine, who regarded the canon as already closed. West. He was then succeeded by an emperor with distinctively pro Christian leanings, Constantine the Great. The Emperor Constantine I was exposed to Christianity by his mother, Helena. After winning the battle, Constantine was able to claim the emperorship in the West. The Roman coins minted up to eight years subsequent to the battle still bore the images of Roman gods. After his victory, Constantine supported the Church financially, built various basilicas, granted privileges (e. Christians to some high- ranking offices, and returned property confiscated during the Great Persecution of Diocletian. It had overtly Christian architecture, contained churches within the city walls, and had no pagan temples. In 3. 16, he acted as a judge in a North African dispute concerning the Donatist controversy. More significantly, in 3. Council of Nicaea, the first Ecumenical Council. Constantine thus established a precedent for the emperor as responsible to God for the spiritual health of their subjects, and thus with a duty to maintain orthodoxy. The emperor was to enforce doctrine, root out heresy, and uphold ecclesiastical unity. He began reopening pagan temples and, intent on re- establishing the prestige of the old pagan beliefs, he modified them to resemble Christian traditions such as the episcopal structure and public charity (previously unknown in Roman paganism). Julian's short reign ended when he died while campaigning in the East. Later Church Fathers wrote volumes of theological texts, including Augustine, Gregory Nazianzus, Cyril of Jerusalem, Ambrose of Milan, Jerome, and others. Some of these fathers, such as John Chrysostom and Athanasius, suffered exile, persecution, or martyrdom from Arian Byzantine Emperors. Many of their writings are translated into English in the compilations of Nicene and Post- Nicene Fathers. Arianism and the first Ecumenical Councils. Though this doctrine was condemned as heresy and eventually eliminated by the Roman Church it remained popular underground for some time. In the late 4th century Ulfilas, a Roman bishop and an Arian, was appointed as the first bishop to the Goths, the Germanic peoples in much of Europe at the borders of and within the Empire. Ulfilas spread Arian Christianity among the Goths firmly establishing the faith among many of the Germanic tribes, thus helping to keep them culturally distinct. They were mostly concerned with Christological disputes. The First Council of Nicaea (3. First Council of Constantinople (3. Arian teachings as heresy and producing the Nicene Creed. Christianity as Roman state religion (3. AD). Prior to this date, Constantius II (3. Valens (3. 64- 3.
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