The Rise of Christianity

In the early Roman Empire, many religions coexisted. Some of these were mythology, the main religion, the Cult of Isis, which originated in Egypt and promised women equal rights with men, Mithraism, which originated in Persia and promised life after death, and two new religions which would change the empire forever, Judaism and Christianity. The Romans tolerated other religions in the empire if those religions honored the Roman gods and acknowledged the emperor as a divine spirit or god.

The Romans conquered Judea, ancient Jerusalem in 63 BC. Judea was basically home of the Jews. Since Jews were monotheistic, they would not worship the emperor as a god which led to the persecution of the Jews by the Romans. Jewish zealots revolted against Romans rule because they wanted an independent state. The Jews believed that a Messiah (Anointed King or Anointed One) would be sent by God to lead them to their freedom (a liberator).

The Great Revolt took place from AD 66- AD 70. In this period of time, the Jews revolted against the oppression of the Romans. The Romans sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the holy Second Temple. Only the “Wailing Wall”, the most sacred site of Judaism, remained. In year 135 AD all the Jews were banned from Jerusalem. Christianity arises in these difficult times.

Christianity is the religion founded by the Jewish teacher known as Jesus of Nazareth. Very little is known about Jesus and the early Christians in Roman history. Knowledge of the story of Jesus was found in the first four books of the New Testament of the Bible, named Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Jesus was a very holy man. He worshipped God and followed Jewish law. He began preaching at age 30 and he gathered twelve apostles to help him preach. Apostles were Greek for “a person sent forth”. The chief apostle was Peter. Jesus traveled as a wandering rabbi. He performed miracles of healing and defended the poor.

Jesus’ message was that there was one God, that the Ten Commandments should be accepted, and he preached obedience to the laws of Moses. Some new beliefs were that Jesus was the messiah and that he called himself the Son of God. Jesus summarized his teachings in three great commandments (People must love God above all else, People must love others as they love themselves, and People must love their enemy and show forgiveness). Some other teachings were that God cares more for people than their laws and that God will forgive people their sins if they will admit they are wrong and ask to be forgiven.