Describe and explain the transformation of Christianity from a Jewish sect into an important religion of the Roman Empire before 312 BC.
One of the most important religions of our new world is Christianity, major countries in the world have mostly Christian citizens. For a clear understanding of Christianity, we should begin with the medium in which it was born. Before the coming of Jesus, Jews were also divided into some groups. The cause of this division is the relationship with the outer world. The most important ones of this groups were the Saducees, Hasidim and the Zealots. Saducees were somewhat more liberal and supported the idea of forming relationships with the outer world, i.e. the Roman Empire and the Hellenistic culture. But Hasidim rejected all compromise with Hellenistic culture and collaboration with foreign powers, especially the Romans. A division of Hasidim included the Pharisees . Pharisees did not support violence. Hillel was the most prominent figure among them. His teachings were about peace and law. Pharisees were concentrated on preserving the Jewish law and looking forward to the coming of a political Messiah who would rescue the Jews from Rome. The most radical group in the Jewish community were the Zealots. They wished to overthrow the Romans by means of armed forces. Yet there was another group called Essenes which were not interested in politics at all. They hoped spiritual deliverance through ascetism and mystical union with God.
Jesus was born in Judea, sometime about the historical origin "O". He was of the lineage of David, his father was Joseph and his mother was Mary .The family lived in Nazareth . His childhood was spent in the midst of poverty. His first triumph was the debate with the so called rabbis (Jewish priests) in the Temple of Jerusalem. In his thirteenth year he was baptized by his cousin John-later he was called John "the Baptist"- in the River Jordan. John believed and treated him as the Messiah of Jews. For about three years thereafter Jesus’ career was a continuous course of preaching, healing the sick, "casting out devils", and teaching humility by parables and by his own very example. According to Luke, since numerous masses began to believe in his teachings, the dominant groups of Jewish community accused him of blasphemy. They arrested him, tried him in the Temple of Jerusalem and sentenced him to death. They gave him to Pontius Pilate, -the Roman governor of that region- to do the execution. Probably this event was not told exactly true, since Roman governors also wanted him dead because the huge populations coming after him would have a large political and military power whether his teachings did not include politics and militarism by any means. Whether the Romans or the Jews tried to get rid of him, the truth is: He died in agony by crucifixion.
Believing he had a mission of saving humankind from sins, Jesus tried to teach the people to love God ,and to be peaceful. In this fashion he seems to agree the ideas of Hillel of Pharisees and the ideas of Essenes. His teachings and preaching mainly consisted of the following points:
There is not any text about him and his teachings from Jesus’ time. The first records about him and his first few followers are written by Greeks in the period between 50 and 150 A.D These writings are mainly composed of : Gospels, i.e., accounts of Jesus’ life, the letters (Epistles) ,and historical narratives and visionary writings by his early disciples and their successors. Many versions of these texts were found. In time Christian leaders gathered a consul and accepted four Gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, 21 Epistles ,The Acts of Apostles, and one book of revelations. Later, now known as Bible was formed according to these texts.
After his death his followers became hopeless, but his closest friends did not stop. They announced that Jesus was resurrected and ascended to the sky. Soon a small group of his followers , led by Peter formed another Jewish sect, preaching and praying daily in the temple. New members were welcomed to this sect and they were accepted after the baptism ritual. Christianity spread beyond its origin as a Jewish sect because of the work of one man, Paul of Tarsus. In the beginning he was against Christianity but later he was converted to Christianity. He convinced Peter and other leaders that non-Jewish converts did not have to become Jews. Everywhere Paul and other disciples tried to enlarge the circle of Christianity by telling people their religion. In his preaching and in some of his letters, Paul elaborated the first coherent system of theology of this new religion. His ideas were radically new. After Paul ceremonies were developed to bring the believer close to Christ, and an organization of priests was formed to conduct these ceremonies. As time went on , a hierarchy was developed within the various communities established by Paul and other apostles. The leader of each community was called bishop (these were equal to rabbis in the Jewish community). Bishops, assisted by priests, deacons, and deaconesses, assumed growing responsibilities and power. In the later years more sophisticated hierarchies were developed by these bishops of various Christian sects.
In the first and second centuries A.D Christianity gained lots of supporters, but its power felt itself in the third century. The main causes of the triumph of Christianity are the offerings of afterlife-heaven for the believers, hell for nonbelievers -, and the social needs of Roman people at that age. It also gained supporters from the people in poverty to the elites with the universalism slogan. Although Romans persecuted Christians throughout the development of Christianity , these persecutions were never as brutally as used to be thought. During his reign, Constantine was converted to Christianity, not only for the truth in it but also for the hope of political and social fortunes brought by Christianity . He probably expected that Christianity would bring a spiritual unity to the empire that had been severely demoralized and religiously divided. In the time of Theodosius the Great(about 380 A.D) Christianity became the official religion of Roman Empire. From that time up to now Christianity became a dominant factor in the history of humanity.