CHRISTIANTY

For thousands of years, the Jewish people were subject to foreign rule. The Christian religion had evolved in Palestine, on the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The Jews considered and praised Palestine as their Promised Land, Thinking that it was a benefit and gift from God to provide for and protect them. But because of its desirable location it had been ruled by a succession of foreign powers for most of its history.

Egypt and Assyria fought over it for centuries, in a bloody so called “holy war”, however Babylon conquered Assyria and Palestine with it. The Greeks, reclaimed the city from the Persians under Alexander the Great. Rome took Jerusalem in 63 BC, and Palestine was still under Roman rule at the time of Jesus' birth.

Despite the centuries of conflict and war in the region, Christianity developed in an atmosphere very conducive to the spread of religion. The Pax Romana was the long period of relative peace and minimal expansion by military force experienced by the Roman Empire. This was initiated by Caesar Augustus which allowed for the development of roads throughout the Empire, and gave citizens the leisure to think about religious matters.

First-century Roman Palestine offered the ancient religion of Judaism; the political religion of the Roman state, the personal religion of the mystery cults, and the intellectual and ethical schools of Greek philosophy. This therefore expanded and gave wind beneath Christianity to grow into a full blown religion.

Cults of the Roman State The Roman state cults were adopted from the Eastern pattern of deifying emperors and honouring the gods of individual cities. The cult of the emperor, which began with Augustus, was organized by the state and used primarily to reinforce and test political loyalty. Statues of Augustus were erected and rituals were developed to honour him, but the cult generated little religious feeling or personal belief. The primary significance of the state cult for early Christianity was in its political uses, for many Christians (and Jews) refused to offer a sacrifice in honour Caesar and were persecuted heavily for it. Although actual personal belief in the divinity of Caesar was of little to no importance to Roman authorities, the unwillingness of monotheists to go through the ritual motions was taken as evidence of disloyalty to the Roman Empire.

Mystery Religions The pagan mystery religions, named for their focus on secret knowledge and rituals available only to initiates, met the need for personal religious devotion that the state cult could not. Mystery religions had become quite widespread by the time of Christ, but their characteristics are not entirely known due to their secretive nature and the lack of writings associated with them. What is known of the mystery religions has primarily been deduced from artwork, remains of temples and other archaeological discoveries.

Greek Philosophy Especially as Christianity expanded beyond Palestine, it also came into contact with Greek philosophy. Hellenistic thinking would become a significant influence on Christian thought, for most of the early church fathers were Greek-speaking Gentiles who had been trained in classical philosophy. Like the Hellenistic Jews before them, they believed classical philosophy to be compatible with the ancient teachings of Semitic monotheism, and even more with the teachings of Christianity.

Hey guys you should go on to talk about how it impacted the political settings throughout time and relate it to the common age. While ur talking about the previous years explain the rise in political power was the church and how that affected the politcal settings of rising cultures and laws. When your talking about todays point of view on religion and politics; For example use the fact that religious beliefs and christians restrict gay marriage today and their opposition to IVF, abortion and a lot of other matters that have been restricted or abolished.. Good luck hopefully I’m there to help present