1. The Byzantine Empire and Emerging Europe – 50-800 A.D.

2. The First Christians Priests –
Sadducees - favored cooperation with Rome
Pharisees – close observance of religious law would protect them from Roman Influences
Essenes – lived apart from society – sharing goods in common
People were the center
Inner peace
Zealots – Violent overthrow of the Roman government
Revolt began in 66 AD – crushed by Rome 4 years later
Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed
Teachings of Jesus led to a new movement in Judaism

3. Teachings of Jesus
Complete the salvation that God had promised to Israel throughout its history
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.“
Jesus adhered to the entire Law and emphasized elements that transformed the inner persons
"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."
What sect did Jesus sound like he belonged to?
Essenes

4. Teachings of Jesus
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself.“
Concepts – Humility, charity, love towards others
Stirred controversy
Some saw him as the leader of the revolt against Rome
Pontius Pilate ordered Jesus’s crucifixion
Jesus’s followers proclaimed that he rose from the dead and appeared to them
Messiah (anointed one) – that would bring an age of peace, prosperity and monotheism to Israel

5. Christianity Spreads though the Empire
Major Apostles
Simon Peter – Fisherman who followed Jesus during his lifetime
Paul – Later joined and took the movement to Gentiles (non-jews)
Paul’s message – Jesus was the Savior (Son of God who came to Earth to save humanity)
Jesus’s death made up for all sins of all humans
By accepting Jesus as Christ (Greek term for Messiah) and Savior, people could be saved from sin and reconciled to God
Oral teaching – some wrote letters knows as epistles
AD they were put together to form the Gospels

6. Roman Persecution
Roman’s regarded Christians as another sect of Judaism
Rome tolerated other religions as long as they didn’t threaten public order or morals
Christians refused to worship the state gods and emperors – act of treason (punishable by death)
Jews did not worship the emperors – but they were given an exemption to follow the “laws of their fathers”
Nero (54-68 AD)started persecuting Christians
Nero blamed Christians for the fire in 64 AD

7. Roman Empire Adopts Christianity
Roman persecution strengthened Christianity – only the most committed would follow the faith
More structure – bishops (clergy) had new and distinct role over the laity
Why was Christianity attractive to people?
Personal – salvation and eternal life
Gave life a meaning and purpose
Familiar – offering immortality as a result of the sacrificial death of a savior-god
No painful or expensive initiation
Baptism (purification by water to enter the community)

8. Roman Empire Adopts Christianity
Roman persecution strengthened Christianity – only the most committed would follow the faith
More structure – bishops (clergy) had new and distinct role over the laity
Why was Christianity attractive to people?
Fulfilled the human need to belong
Social element of coming together and helping one another
Help the poor and sick
Anyone can join no matter if you are rich, poor, aristocrat, slave, man or woman

9. Roman Empire Adopts Christianity
As the Christian church became more organized other emperors tried to wipe them out. They failed
Diocletian was the last to try and he admitted that “Christianity and its followers were too strong to be blotted out by force”
Constantine in 312 saw a vision of the Christian cross with the words, “in this sign you shall conquer”
313 AD – Edict of Milan – Tolerance of Christianity
Theodosius the Great ( ) – Adopted Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire