Christianity A cult like others?

Why was Christianity able to come from an obscure beginning to a world religion? In the 1st century C.E. the followers of Jesus were just another group from Judah talking about a Messiah By the end of the 5th century C.E. the “cult” had been confirmed as the state religion for the largest empire of the time. How in the interim 400 years did this happen? Part of the answer lay in the message offered Mostly it was timing By the end of the 1st century C.E. Rome ruled the “world” Western Europe, Mediterranean, Middle and Near East All of these provinces and territories were unified under one political and economic structure

Division of the Empire The Emperor Diocletion (284 – 305 C.E.) divided the empire between East and West with more power for the Eastern half a. His successors fought for control leading to a period of instability b. The internal struggles led to the people of Rome to question their traditional ways In this context the message coming from a cult originating from Judah held a lot of appeal to average Romans The message and rituals offered stability, comfort and reassurance to the poor and the marginalised

Growth outside Judea After the death of Jesus the Apostles travelled out from Judea As they travelled they anointed some of their followers to stay behind and continue to develop a church  These people developed into Bishops As they travelled they began to attract followers The spread of Jesus’ message created problems from the start The original conveyors of the message could retain purity of Jesus’ teachings but subsequent generations questioned the original doctrine Paul emerged as the leader of the “cult” between 36 – 64 C.E. He believed that they “Christians” were now unique and separate from Jews He argued that the Covenant between God and the Jews had been transferred to “Christians” Because of this shift in identities, these “Christians” gradually began to regard the Jews as the killers of Jesus

By the 5 th century there arose a debate over who should be in charge of the religion It was not until Pope Leo I (440 – 461 C.E) that the Bishop of Rome claimed that they were the leaders  Before that all of the Bishops had to meet and decide on issues In 325 C.E. it was decided to establish a clear set of principles of beliefs 318 bishops out of a possible 1800 met as the Council of Nicene  Issue arose of who was Jesus A. Was Jesus just man (deity) which makes Christianity a Pagan Cult B. Jesus was divine as He was the saviour  This issue was debated and option B was accepted by a close margin  Jesus was “of one substance with the Father”

The New Order By 341 C.E. the Christian was on rise as a state religion After the division of the Roman Empire  The emperors accepted Christianity as a religion  They then used their position suppress all other religions accept Judaism and Christianity  Pagan Churches were handed over to the Christians and the bishops began to exert a lot of influence on Roman society  As the Emperor’s power waned due to the Germanic invasions, the Bishop of Rome became the spiritual leader of what remained.