CHRISTIANITY

CHRISTIANITY AND THE EARLY CHURCH

As to the importance of Jesus Christ there can be little debate. Simply put, the impact of the carpenter from Nazareth upon the course of human history, or at least the history of the Western world, cannot be exaggerated or understated. Though it became fashionable to question whether such a man as Jesus ever existed among scholarly circles in the late nineteenth century, today the hesitations regarding the particulars of his life have been, for the most part, laid to rest.

The three biographies of Christ contained in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke present a thoroughly coherent image of Christ the man, and all were written within a few decades of his ministry. Additionally, the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, also written by Luke, presents an equally coherent account of the expansion of the Christian Church from its beginnings in Jerusalem, throughout Palestine and the Eastern provinces of the Empire, until it became a disruptive force in the Imperial capital of Rome. As Winston Churchill observed, "We have far more evidence of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ than we have evidence that Caesar fought the Gallic Wars."

The gospels assert that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, a small town in Judea, around 4 BC. He was raised in the city of Nazareth, near the sea of Galilee, and was trained by his father, Joseph, to be a carpenter. We also know that he had at least three brothers and two sisters. The biographies of Christ also record that he visited the temple in Jerusalem at the age of twelve, and the rabbis were astonished at the spiritual insight the young man seemed to possess.

Awareness of his divine mission became apparent at the time of his baptism in the Jordan river by John, apparently around the age of thirty. The remainder of the gospel record focuses upon the last three years of his life.

The central theme of Christ's message was that the kingdom of God was imminent. In contrast to the expectations of many of the Jews of his day, Christ asserted that this kingdom had little to do with political transformation. Rather, he taught, the mission of the godly was to proclaim the love and mercy of God as a Father, thereby bringing all mankind into awareness of their spiritual brotherhood. God's kingdom will come, asserted Jesus, when God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

The primary device employed by Jesus as he taught was that of parables, vivid imagery, or word-pictures which illuminate a truth. The source upon which Christ drew for his illustrations was the world with which his listeners were familiar. By using the things of the world, such as fishing, agriculture, and cooking, Christ sought to make the ways of heaven known to men. He was not the first great teacher to use such methods, for teaching by parable was common practice among the rabbis of his day, but he seems to have been far more successful than most.

To implement his mission Christ initially chose twelve apostles, and these men formed the nucleus of an ever-expanding company. The most appealing characteristic of Jesus' teaching was its non-exclusive nature. Those usually excluded from the Jewish community found themselves welcomed. The most strict sect of Jews, the Pharisees, found the "common-ness" of Jesus followers offensive. He sought converts among the most undesirable elements of society; tax-gatherers, prostitutes, and political radicals were among his most intimate followers. It was his openness to the lowly and despised, as well as his ongoing attacks upon the established Jewish hierarchy that eventually led to confrontation.

Working through an intimate member of Jesus' following, Judas Iscariot, the authorities at Jerusalem were able to bring the teacher into custody. The reasoning of the Chief Priests was understandable. For centuries the Romans had followed a policy of non-interference with the Jewish religious practices. It was obvious to them that Jesus was "rocking the boat," and the Priests maintained that it would be better for the nation of Israel if they policed themselves, rather than have the Romans do it for them. Following this line of thought, the Priest asserted that Jesus must be put to death if the Jewish people were to maintain their autonomy.

The Romans, however, had denied the right to try capital crimes to all but the designated Roman authority in each province. Christ was therefore sent to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea for trial. Pilate could find no justifiable reason for execution, so he referred the case to a higher authority, in this case, King Herod Antipas, who had already put John the Baptist to death. The trial before Herod became something of a circus, with the ruler of Judea hoping that Christ would work miracles for the sake of his entertainment. Christ remained silent, and Herod, concluding that Christ was simply an charlatan, sent Jesus back to Pilate.

The priests realized that the basis of their case was weak, and brought up additional charges: Christ, they maintained, had asserted that he was the king of the Jews, and this was high treason, since there was no king but Caesar. Pilate, though unconvinced of the charges, delivered Christ over to the Jewish authorities with the power to carry out an execution. Soon thereafter Jesus was crucified. According to the New Testament, He was buried, and three days later, he was resurrected from the dead. Following several appearances to numerous followers, the gospels assert that he ascended to heaven.

The eleven apostles continued the work of proclaiming the love and forgiveness of God, and with one exception they all died a martyr's death. James was beheaded, and tradition maintains that both Peter and Andrew were crucified.

Several years following the death of Christ, a convert named Stephen was stoned to death for committing blasphemy, and this stoning was superintended by Saul, a prominent member of the Sanhedrin, or Jewish governing body. The martyrdom of Stephen resulted in the first widespread persecution of the Christian Church. It was also the catalyst that led to the dispersion of the Christian teaching, for prior to this time Christianity had been primarily a Jewish sect contained in the area between Jerusalem and Galilee. The persecution of the Christians in Jerusalem resulted in the teachings of Christ being scattered from one side of the Roman Empire to the other in a very short period of time. Shortly thereafter Saul himself was converted, and as a result of his background and training, he became the most effective messenger the Church has ever had.

To begin, Paul (the name Saul adopted following his conversion) was a member of the Jewish hierarchy, as he himself phrased it "a Hebrew of the Hebrews." He possessed a through background in Old Testament law, as well as extensive training in Greek philosophy, and was able to competently argue with the most learned scholars of his day. Perhaps most significantly, and unlike the other apostles, Paul was a Roman citizen by birth, and possessed all the privileges and protection accorded to that position.

Eventually, after establishing numerous churches and writing the greater portion of the New Testament, Paul himself came into conflict with the Roman authorities and was sentenced to death. It was then that he exercised his rights under Roman law as a citizen of the Empire, and appealed to Caesar.

The Emperor to whom Paul brought his appeal was Nero. According to tradition, Nero had been responsible for a number of fires in Rome, and was in need of a scapegoat. The trial of Paul before the emperor established two things beyond all doubt. First, Christianity and Judaism were very distinct religious practices, and Christians therefore did not possess the protections that Rome had afforded the Jews. The second thing that became clear to Nero was that Christians were not a very popular sect, and were being accused of everything from communal orgies to cannibalism. Who better to blame for the numerous occasions of arson?

Rather than being acquitted, Paul was beheaded, and an intense, empire- wide persecution of the Church began. In the end, however, and contrary to Rome's intention, the persecution served only to facilitate the growth of the new faith.

FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTED TO THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH

There are numerous elements that contributed to the rapid spread of Christianity during its first two centuries.

First, the old polytheistic religions could no longer satisfactorily meet the spiritual needs of the people. A number of religions sprang up that emphasized rites of passage and initiation as the way to salvation. Mithraism, an offshoot of the old Zoroastrianism, had made an astonishing number of converts within the Roman army, while Gnostic beliefs, apparently with Egypt as a point of origin, had taken hold among those with more mystic tendencies. Following Plato, most philosophers who dealt with the subject of divinity at all, tended to speak of a singular, undefined, absolute God, but this 'God' in no way provided the masses with a deity to which they could relate on a personal level. The Christian religion provided disenchanted thousands with the hope and sense of belonging for which they had sought.

A second contributing factor in the rapid spread of Christianity was the extensive system of roads and sea-routes provided and maintained by Rome. Cultural and religious influences could move with little hindrance from one corner of the Empire to the other.

Third, since the time of Alexander, Koine, or 'common' Greek was the accepted lingua franca of the Roman Empire. This facilitated the rapid and widespread circulation of Christian literature. It is not surprising that twenty-two of the twenty-seven "books" in the New Testament were originally letters, and were, with two possible exceptions, originally written in Greek.

A fourth, though short-lived, contributing element was the widespread acceptance of Judaism. The Jews had long been granted the right to practice their religion free from impediment throughout the Empire, and as long as Christianity was seen as just another sect of Judaism, they could expect little interference from the Roman officials.

A fifth, though frequently overlooked, factor in the spread of Christianity was the large number of Christians who were put to death for their faith. The reason that a defiant martyr is the most effective agent for the dissemination of a religion is simple: for a person to die for their beliefs is the most vivid possible affirmation that their faith has a reality that transcends life. Later defenders of Christianity would assert that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. This persecution and martyrdom would be distinguishing characteristics of the relationship between the Church and the Empire, between Christ and Caesar.

THE CHURCH AND THE EMPIRE

The first officially-sponsored persecution of the Church, as noted earlier, occurred during the reign of Nero, around 64 AD. Tradition maintains that Nero had found that burning Christians provided an excellent source of illumination for his late-night garden parties. The persecution intensified under Domitian, who reigned from 81 until 96 AD, due to a renewed emphasis upon Emperor-worship throughout the Empire. Christians, for the most part refused, and as a result were executed. In all likelihood it was during the reign of Domitian that the book of Revelation, also known as the Apocalypse, was written to encourage those being oppressed for their faith.

Under Caracalla (211-217) the persecution lessened, due primarily to his extension of citizenship to everyone within the Empire. A Roman Citizen had the automatic right to appeal, and large numbers of death sentences would impair the legal system beyond all remedy. However, the eleven years between 249 and 260 constituted virtually upon Christianity as the Emperors Decius and Valerian attempted to destroy the Church

For almost a generation, from 260 until 303, the Church ceased to be the target of Roman aggression, and historians of the Church have given this period the title "The Long Peace." Persecution was restored in 303 under Diocletion and intensified under Galerius, but Galerius was not the type of man to leave his bases uncovered, and in 311 the dying Emperor acknowledged defeat and sought the prayers of the Christians.

The Roman persecution of Christians came to an end in 313, when the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. The Emperor Constantine had led his forces to a confrontation with Maxentius, and he was alarmed by reports that the latter had mastered some sort of magical forces with which to defeat Constantine. Constantine therefore sought the aid of the unknown Supreme God in prayer, and as a result he saw a cross in the noonday sky above the sun, and heard the words In Hoc Signo Vinces, a Latin phrase meaning "In this Sign Conquer."

The ability of a religious doctrine based on peace and passivity, within three centuries, to triumph over the supreme secular power of its age is perhaps the most impressive event in human history.