Introduction
The history of Christianity dates back to thousands of years ago. It is connected with divisions, debate and conflicts. Though these issues are common with all major world religions, Christianity to a certain extend has endeavored to address them openly. Besides these challenges, Christianity has exploited the beauty that comes with the religion.
This is illustrated in the form of painting, worship, literature, architecture and music. The beauty has continued to carry on with the mission Jesus Christ entrusted them. The basis of Christianity is tied to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Through this belief, Christianity has attractedmore than a billion adherents globally.Though the twentieth centuryhas seen Christianity split into various denominations, the largest being the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and countless protestant churches respectively.
This essay gives a brief summary of Christianity. It begins by tracing the periods of Christianity establishment from the early periods of its growth to present. It also illustrates the factors such as; early Christian beliefs, the assembly of believers and separation from Israel among other factors that contributed to its spread.The paper also discusses Paul’s mission among the Gentiles was an element to the rapid spread of Christianity in places such as; Thessalonica Alexandria, Antioch and Ephesusamong other places.
Guisepi notes the early period of Christianity growth contributed to Christianity taking rootin some parts of the Middle East and Roman Empire (Guisepi). The period was a starting point that increased people interest in Christianity, asit expanded to new lands. However, the expansion was viewed by the Romans as a source of threat to their authority.
They reasoned that, if more people joined Christianity, they would challenge theRoman Leadership. This made Roman Emperors such as; Marcus Aurelius, Domitian, Decius and Valerian to devise strategies of halting further spread and expansion in the Roman Empire. The strategy in place was persecuting those who were perceived to be Christians.
The rulers did this on a wider scale. Emperor Diolectian who ruled between 284 and 260 was among the leading rulers who strengthened the persecution in the Empire. However, after Constantine the Great assumed the throne, he issued a decree of tolerance in 313 in favor of all religions present in the Empire (Guisepi). It is in 380 that Theodosius 1 officiallyrecognized Christianity as religion in the Roman Empire.
The middle age saw Constantine and Rome gaining more influence aboutChristian’s affairs.However,their active influence on Christianity matters created theological challenges,centuries after the Emperor Constantine. Hence, this led to the fixing of a council to solve these theological issues.
The Roman church under the stewardship of the bishops and popes gradually diverged in beliefs and practices of the church of Constantinople, under the patriarch (Warren, 300). The Romans had an extensive presence in Western Europe whereas the Christians in Constantinople occupied the Eastern part.
The Roman Church underwent severalsplits during the sixteenth century. The split created two distinct Christian groups, the Roman Catholic and the protestant. Protestant, referred to any denomination that had a link to Eastern Orthodox beliefs or one of the Roman Catholic branches.
Christians believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the messiah. This believes was strengthened by what he had accomplished. Christians believed that Jesusperformedvarious important task aimed at benefiting the entire world. He did this without favor or interest of any individual nation in mind.
His work was unique, that no any person wouldhave dared to accomplish. From what Jesus said and did, his adherents came to acknowledge that God was using Him in a unique way (Duckett, 16). Perhaps, he was the Messiah anticipatedtostart Gods kingdom on the earth. These assertions of Jesus Christ made the early followers of Christian faithbelieve in Him, hence spreading of Christianity to other lands.
According to Christianity website, the term “Christian” was a derogatory word used by “outsiders” (Christianity). In writing the New Testament, the term initially used to refer to believers was the “assembly”. Assembly was a Greek wordEcclesia; it meantan assembly or a group of people.
The term had a political undertone in Greek. Much later, in the third and fourth century, the term “church” came into use. It meant a definite assembly that believers were composed of. The “church “was also a Greek term,Kuriakon. It designated “belonging to the Lord” (Guisepi).
Throughout the first decades of church history, four major importantaccomplishments were noted. The accomplishments were important for Christianity expansion.
New adherentswerefound in severalplaces of the Roman Empire. There was also the assembly of believers who had alienated themselves from the Israel religion. This group fixedbroad evaluations about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and what it meant (Christianity). Also, the community of believers improvised measures and forms of adoration that remained prominent in their lives.
The Jews were the early Christians. They remained in the confines of Jerusalem and practicedreligious rites in the shrine. They differed from their associate, because they had faith that the true Messiah, Jesus had come. They insisted onpassing the good news to all people. They asserted that Jesus, by whom the Jewish authority had persecuted, was the one the Israel was eagerly expecting and was presently with them.
Their preaching broughtbitternessamong spiritual leaders and some early Christians too. Though their preaching’s wereconfined to the walls of Israel, it is Saul of Tarsus who made the assembly of believers enlarge to new horizons(Christianity). Saul, a strict Jew, was known as a persecutor of the church, but after conversion and assuming the name Paul, he began a noble mission of evangelization.
Paul strengthened the growth and expansion of Christianity by pulling the church from the synagogue and the temple. He alsoseparated the church and made it a distinct institution. The separation was purelyPaul’s interest rather than a physical separation to benefit other Christians. The separation had some doctrinal value.
He asserted that Christians were no under any favor to become Jews, and; were not subject to all rituals, laws of Israel religions and rites (Guisepi). Perhaps, this might be the reason that intensified hostility of the Jews, and eventual disconnection of the two camps. The writings of Paul in the New Testament describe the early church revelationof the life of Jesus and what it meant. The New Testament explains that Jesus was the final revelation of God for all civilization.
Paul and his friends spreadthe message of conversion to parts of the Mediterranean world. According to Hannabuss (16) their conversion message contributed to the growth of active Christian’s congregations in Thessalonica Alexandria, Antioch, Ephesus and Corinth among other parts.
It is improbable to note the early believersanticipated to framesystems that would last for centuries. But for any establishment, to functioneffectively, organized plans were essential.The first priority for the early church was to have enoughapostles (Warren, 286). The apostles who had met Jesus in His life were preferred. Paul was one of the apostles considered. The early church preferred these apostlesbecause they had commanding voices that appealed to all questions of faith (Hannabuss, 17).
The early church lacked enough clergy. However, had people who carried out specific functions such as preaching, feeding the hungry, preaching among other roles. As centuries passed, the roles of priests, bishops and deacons became hierarchical.
In worship, Christianity borrowed some practices from the Jews. Christians widely embraced psalms, prayers, and used the Old Testament for scriptures. Also, the Christians practiced the rite that Jesus had commanded (Duckett, 13). These rites included TheLords Supper and baptism (Christianity).
Baptism represented the cleansing or washing away of sins. It was a rite performed to welcome a new member in a Christian community. The LordsSupper was a communal meal which was preceded by a person receiving bread and wine. The Lords supper was a sign of remembering Jesus last meal with His disciples. In present churches, the rights are defined by many faiths using different interpretations.
Christianity began in the mid of first century as a Jewish sect. From its origin in Eastern Mediterranean coast, it rapidly spread to Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt and Asia Minor. It increased in size and became a popular religion in the Roman Empire. The rapid growth and expansion of Christianity is attributed to factors such as; the Christian believes the growth of the assembly of believers and Paul’s mission to the Gentiles among other factors.
Works Cited
Christianity. A One Page Overview of Christian History.2011. Web.
Duckett, Bob. World Religions. Reference Reviews (1998): 8 – 18. Print.
Guisepi, Roberts A. A History of Christianity. 2011. Web.
Hannabuss, Stuart. Introduction to the World’s Major Religions. Reference Reviews (2006): 16 – 17.Print.
Warren, Matthews.World Religions. Connecticut: Cengage Learning, 2008.Print.