1. Paul of Tarsus and the spread of Christianity
Students will use a map to cite evidence as to how Christianity spread

2. Warm Up:
Recall: What are the holy books of Judaism and Christianity?

3. Homework
Page 174 use the map to complete the 2 map skills questions.

4. Early years after Jesus’ death
As we learned from analyzing the chart the other day Jesus’ followers dropped at first because many people felt they were lied to since he didn’t save himself and/or they were afraid to admit they followed his teachings.

5. Along comes Paul of Tarsus
Paul of Tarsus never met Jesus, but heard about him.
Originally fought to stop the word of Jesus from spreading.
Born Jewish, but became Christian.

6. Turn and Talk
If Paul worked trying to stop the spread of Christianity why do you think he later became a Christian?

7. Then something happened
One day while walking in Damascus Paul was confronted with a blinding light.
This light was said to be Jesus calling to him and teaching him about his ways.
That led to Paul’s conversion.

8. A change of heart
Paul quickly became one of the biggest supporters of Jesus and traveled throughout Asia to spread Jesus’ message

9. Paul’s Journeys

10. Rome and Christianity
For hundreds of years despite the travels of Paul it was a crime to be a Christian in Rome.
People who chose to be Christian had to do so in hiding.
Even though it was illegal there was a slow, but there was an increase in the number of Christians in Rome.

11. Turn and Talk:
Why do you think a religion was outlawed?

12. Constantine
Emperor of Rome who spent many years making sure Christians were punished one day had a change of heart
As he prepared for fight a battle he sees a cross in the sky.
He took this as a sign that if he converted to Christianity he would win.
So he converted and he won the battle

13. A huge difference
After Constantine converted to Christianity he decided to call together Christian leaders from all over the empire to help in the spread of Christianity
60 years after the death of Constantine all non- Christian religions are outlawed in the Roman Empire.

14. Work Time:
Using the provided graph and map answer the assigned tasks for your group.