Section 4 3/8/ John 3:16

Jesus of Nazareth’s teachings and early Christianity influenced the later Roman empire 3/8/ John 3:16

Sect Messiah Disciple Martyr Bishop Patriarch Pope 3/8/2016John 3:16 3

Jesus Paul Peter Constantine Theodosius Augustine 3/8/2016John 3:16 4

Early Romans worshipped natural spirits, turned dieties Later, Romans adopted Greek religion/gods Empire allowed to worship freely, fostering numerous religions 3/8/2016John 3:16 5

Christianity began to emerge in eastern Mediterranean Practice by Jews Thought to be sect of Judaism at first Numbers of non-Jews grew and Christianity became a separate religion 3/8/2016John 3:16 6

Trained as Rabbi, believing Christianity was dangerous to Judaism, Paul participated in early Christian persecution. Later, Paul converted to Christianity and became its leading apostle 3/8/2016John 3:16 7

In A.D. 6, Emperor Augustus turned the kingdom of Judah into the Roman province of Judea Jews treated cruelly Held out hope for messiah Long foretold by Jewish prophets 3/8/2016John 3:16 8

In A.D. 66 some Jews rebelled against the Romans and overpowered the small Roman army in Jerusalem; four years later, the Romans retook the city killing thousands of Jews and destroying the Temple 3/8/2016John 3:16 9

A.D. 132, after another unsuccessful rebellion, the Romans banned the Jews from living in Jerusalem In their scattered communities, the Jews continued to study their religion by reading the Torah, the body of Jewish religious law and learning 3/8/ John 3:16

Continued to study the Torah—entire Jewish law and learning Set up academies called yeshivas Rabbis studied in yeshivas and wrote the Talmud, an interpretation of the Torah and an important book of Jewish law 3/8/ John 3:16

A few decades after the Jewish revolts, Jesus, a Jew, grew up in the town of Nazareth; Jesus traveled through Galilee and Judea A.D. 30 to A.D. 33, preaching a new message to his fellow Jews and winning disciples 3/8/2016John 3:16 12

He urged deeds of kindness Said that God loving and forgiving of all repenters Often used parables (symbolic stories) to make his point 3/8/2016John 3:16 13

While Jesus’ disciples’ believed he was the Messiah, other Jews disputed his claim; Roman officials believed that Roman rule was threatened by the growing controversy and ordered that Jesus be arrested and crucified as a political rebel in A.D. 33 3/8/2016John 3:16 14

After Jesus death, his disciples proclaimed that he had risen from the dead and appeared to them; Jews and non-Jews who accepted Jesus as the way of salvation became known as Christians “Christos”—Greek for “messiah” 3/8/2016John 3:16 15

Small groups of the Hellenistic cities of the eastern Mediterranean accepted Jesus’ message Christians formed churches 3/8/2016John 3:16 16

A convert named Paul aided Christianity’s spread, especially among non-Jews Paul’s letters, along with other writings of early Christian leaders, form the New Testament of the Bible 3/8/2016John 3:16 17

His writings, the Gospels and those of other earlier Christian leaders formed the New Testament of the Bible 3/8/2016John 3:16 18

Christian missionary Leader of the Christians Came to Rome and founded a church Other churches set up in Greece, Asia minor, Egypt, Gaul, and spain 3/8/2016John 3:16 19

The Romans feared that Christian rejection of their deities would bring divine punishment When local officials thought Christians were causing trouble, they sometimes had them killed 3/8/2016John 3:16 20

Christians would not honor the emperor as a god and would not serve in the military Some Christian “martyrs”—people who chose to die rather than give up their beliefs—were brought to stadiums and thrown in with wild beasts to die 3/8/2016John 3:16 21

Such persecutions kept many from Christianity Christians had to compete with other religions —Judaism and polytheistic religions Christianity flourished in the cities—this gave Christianity influence far beyond its size 3/8/2016John 3:16 22

A.D. Roman General Constantine and the flaming cross, A.D. 312 “In hoc signo vinces”— with this as your standard you will have victory Appeared across the sky Constantine ordered the Christian symbol placed on shields 3/8/2016John 3:16 23

Named emperor of Rome, A.D. 312 Became a protector of Christianity and issued the Edict of Milan, which decreed that all religious groups in the empire were free to worship as they pleased 3/8/ John 3:16

Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, banning the old Hellenistic and Roman religions 3/8/ John 3:16

Christians believed that people needed to understand Christianity Christians turned to various scholars known as the Church Fathers to explain Christian teachings 3/8/ John 3:16

Wrote one of the world’s first great autobiographies— ”Confessions” Became a leading church official in North Africa Wrote “City of God”—the first history of humanity from the Christian viewpoint 3/8/ John 3:16

Christian leaders organized the Church into a hierarchy of priest and “bishops” (interpreted Christian beliefs); the bishops of the five leading cities were called “patriarchs” (bishop of a leading city). Eventually the bishop of Rome began to claim authority over the other patriarchs and became known as the pope; Greek-speaking Christians in the east did not accept the authority of the pope 3/8/ John 3:16

In time, the Latin churches of the west became known as the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek churches as the Eastern Orthodox Church 3/8/ John 3:16