Why did Christianity succeed in the Roman empire? Why didn't it just disappear? Does persecution make a group stronger?

WHY DID CHRISTIANITY SUCCEED IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE?

anyone could become a Christian

it was easy to move around Rome

common languages, the ideas spread quickly

persecution makes a group stronger

impossible to destroy an idea

THESIS

Even though Christians were persecuted, the religion spread along the Roman Empire at a glance. This was due to the road system in Rome, the common languages spoken by the people and to the fact that anyone could convert to Christianity.

ROAD SYSTEM

Romans had an amazing road system whose all the roads led to Rome

this aloud to the news to travel quickly

many people found out about the religion and just joined it

Roman roads transported information very quick

LANGUAGE

the empire had bonds such as language that kept it strong

due to the language everyone was united and they could understand each other with ease

language help spread the religion

if there was no common language the ideas would travel too slow

because there was a common language everyone could understand each other

and the religion ideas spread quickly

RELIGION RULES

one o the things Jesus wanted to change in Judaism was the idea of converting

Jews had to many laws about converting and people did not want ot bother with them

the religion was new and it allowed anyone who wanted to join

no class distinctions

CONCLUSION

anyone could become a Christian

it was easy to move around Rome

common languages, the ideas spread quickly

persecution makes a group stronger

impossible to destroy an idea

NEW IDEA

Christianity spread because it gave people hope, it was the only way to forget about the terrible things that were going on in the Empire

SABINA ABAYEVA

28TH MAY 2007

BLOCK G

WHY DID CHRISTIANITY SPREAD AND SUCCEED?

The Ancient Romans were polytheistic, thus believed in pagan gods and worshipped idols. After some time, a new religion called Christianity rose among the people of Judea. However, as soon as it appeared the Romans started to persecute Christians for not worshipping the emperor and for refusing to go to the army. Even though Christians were persecuted, the religion spread around the Roman Empire at a glance. This was due to the road system in Rome, the common languages spoken by the people, to the fact that anyone could convert to Christianity and finally that it was impossible to destroy an idea.

The Roman Empire had an amazing road system which bonded the gigantic empire. When Christianity appeared, the idea of the religion traveled quickly due to the roads that led to Rome. In a few days Romans knew what and where was everything happening. If it wasn't for the roads Christianity wouldn't have spread so quickly. However due to the Roman road system it did. The roads not only unified the whole empire but also contributed into spreading the new religion around it. However if it wasn't for the Latin language, the Christian ideas wouldn't spread that fast. The Latin language was one the major bonds of the Roman Empire. In addition it played a huge role in spreading of Christianity. Everyone in Rome spoke one official language. So the success of Christianity was also due to the common language Latin. Finally, the road system helped a lot with the spreading of Christianity, however without the common language, Latin; it would never spread as fast.

One of the things Jesus wanted to change in Judaism was the conversion rules. He didn't like the fact that people had to do a lot of things in order to become Jewish. Jews didn't want people to convert to their religion that is why they made the rules harsh. Jesus on the other hand tried to simplify Judaism and later it became known as a separate religion Christianity. What was interesting in Christianity is that fact that anyone could become a Christian, no matter what they did, where they lived or who they were. Christianity spread because of its appeal to those who led hard lives. It gave a sense of community and fellowship to the people. There were no class distinctions or sex differences in the religion. Christians believed that in G-ds eyes everyone was the same. When people all around the empire heard about these ideas they were interested, because they were new and unique, and that is why thousands of them converted to Christianity. However when there were too many people joining Christians, The Romans became very angry because now they couldn't unite every one in the empire by worshipping the emperor. And now Christians come along and they ruined all of their plans of bonding the empire. The Romans started to persecute Christians all over the empire. By persecuting Christians they made the religion stronger because people saw others who were willing to die for a religion. Even though Christian's persecutions were sporadic and evil they couldn't wipe out all the Christians, that is why the idea continued to grow. The religion spread mainly due to the fact that Christians were martyrs, the idea that people were killed for their beliefs made the religion more attractive for others; it must have been something special to die for, so people followed it and Christianity spread.

An idea is a seed that was buried deep inside the ground by someone. No one is able to see it; it doesn't stand on someone's way because it is deep inside the ground and impossible to see. The seed is strong because it is unified. However time makes it grow and develop, and break through ground to show up outside the earth to see the sun. The sun gives it energy and it continues to grow it becomes strong, powerful and big.

But as soon as it starts to develop new ideas attend the people on that plant and new branches develop, making the plant bigger and bigger, until it starts to annoy someone. That someone sees lots of people following the idea and they start to persecute in order to destroy everything on their way, everything they can see! They cut off the new ideas, torture the plant but they can not destroy the roots, the concept, the idea because it continues to live deep inside the ground. The Romans saw a beautiful plant, Christianity that was blooming and growing and developing. They wanted to unite all the Romans by worshipping the emperor. However Christianity started to grow their own plant and refused to worship the emperor or go to the army. This made Romans angry and they started to persecute Christians, they wanted to destroy their plant.

By persecuting one Christian, others that shared the same beliefs and views on the world, tried to help him, maybe they did not succeed but more and more people joined to help Christians, who were tortured by the Romans, people that were tired and knew that were going to die anyway joined Christians to pay off to the Romans, they wanted to revenge. In addition Christianity gave hopes for the people that were tired of the Roman control. Thousand people joined, thus it united people and made them stronger. Even though millions were killed there were others that joined and the idea was never destroyed.

For the Romans and for everyone it seemed that Christianity was already dead, but no, the roots were still alive. Christianity was like an iceberg, the Romans destroyed everything they saw but not the idea, not the roots! The roots continued to grow inside and they became strong and united deep inside the ground where no one could see them.

Finally, Christianity survived and dominated the Roman Empire because everyone could easily become a Christian, the news traveled really fast in the Roman Empire and it was impossible to destroy a unique idea. To conclude Christianity succeeded because it gave the people of Rome who were tired of the instability, hope. Moreover Romans didn't really care what Christians believed in, Roman government was instable and they needed scapegoats, who were extreme with their opinions and were ruining the stability of the Roman Empire, such as Christians.