History of Christianity

This article outlines the history of Christianity and provides links to relevant topics.

The earliest emergence of Christianity

Christianity began among a small number of Jews and Jewish Proselytes. Acts of the Apostles 1:15 says about 120. By the third century AD, Christianity had grown to become the dominant religion of the northern Mediterranean world. It also gained important extensions to the east and south of the Mediterranean. The core History of the Roman Catholic Church is said to extend in an unbroken timeline from this period. This section will examine those first 300 years.

Related Topics:
Jews - Proselytes - Acts of the Apostles - Third century - Mediterranean - History of the Roman Catholic Church

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The Earliest Church

The term "Early Jewish Christians" is often used in discussing the early History of Christianity. Jesus, his twelve Apostles, the Elders, and all or essentially all of his early followers were Jewish or Jewish Proselytes. Hence the 3,000 converts on the Pentecost following the Crucifixion described in Acts of the Apostles 2 were all Jews and Proselytes and all converts to Christianity were non-Gentile prior to the conversion of the Roman officer Cornelius by Simon Peter(Kephas) in Acts 10 who is traditionally considered the first Gentile convert to Christianity. The major division in Christianity prior to that time was between Hellenistic and non-Hellenistic Jews or Greek (Acts 6) and Aramaic (Acts 1:19) speakers. However, after the conversion of Cornelius and his acceptance as a Christian, there was now another group — Gentile Christians. As an eschatological movement, they anticipated that the Gentiles would turn to the God of Israel as for example prophesied by Isaiah in verse 56:6-8. The New Testament does not use the terms "Gentile-Christians" or "Jewish-Christians", rather Paul of Tarsus wrote against those who were circumcised, who separated themselves from the uncircumcised:

Related Topics:
Jewish Christians - Jesus - Apostles - Elders - Followers - Jewish - Proselytes - Pentecost - Crucifixion - Acts of the Apostles - Gentile - Roman - Cornelius - Simon Peter - Kephas - Hellenistic - Greek - Aramaic - Eschatological - Isaiah - New Testament - Paul of Tarsus - Circumcised

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:"Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all." Epistle to the Colossians 3:11

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Circumcised and uncircumcised are generally interpreted to mean Jews and Greeks, who were predominate, however it is an oversimplification as 1st century Iudaea Province also had some Jews who no longer circumcised, and some Greeks (called Proselytes or Judaizers) and others such as Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Arabs who did.

Related Topics:
Jews - Greeks - Iudaea Province - Proselytes - Judaizers

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His Epistle to the Galatians is a vigorous tract against those who would "force the Gentiles to follow Jewish customs" (2:14). He writes in strong terms that if the Gentiles keep these customs as an obligation, and are circumcised, then "Christ will be of no value to you at all" (5:2) and if that were not so, and these ordinances were a requirement, then "Christ died for nothing" (2:21).

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Paul claims in the letter, and elsewhere, that this message of his was not a contradiction of the 12 Apostles. Rather, it was entrusted to him for the sake of those who were not circumcised, just as much as Peter was sent to those circumcised, as he writes in Galatians 2:7-9:

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:"On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter making him an apostle to the circumcised also worked through me in sending me to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised." (NRSV)

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In support of the view that Paul was not acting independently, the Council of Jerusalem, according to Acts of the Apostles 15, determined that circumcision was not required of new converts, but counsels them to avoid "pollution of idols, fornication, things strangled, and blood" (KJV, Acts15:20). The basis for these prohibitions is expressly clear, Acts 15:21 states: "For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath" (NIV); meaning that, these measures are based on the Law of Moses. The Gentiles are instructed to comply in these matters, not as a principle of law, but rather in order not to give offense to those among whom they live who are under the ancient instruction of the synagogues. Some scholars argue that the small set of requirements imposed on the Gentile Christians by the Council was not arbitrarily chosen but corresponds to teachings of Pharisaic Judaism concerning God's covenant with all nations, in their common father Noah, and are therefore called Noahide Laws.

Related Topics:
Council of Jerusalem - Acts of the Apostles - Law of Moses - Pharisaic Judaism - Noah - Noahide Laws

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But Paul did frequently clash with a group of "Judaizing" Christians. He wrote to the Galatians describing how he rebuked Peter in public for lending credence by his actions to the view that adherence to Christ included food laws. Nevertheless, the requirements of the Law in ethical, as opposed to cultural terms, are clearly upheld by Paul, as he is understood by the mainstream of Christian interpretation. Paul upholds the Law as mediated through Christ rather than through the ordinances of God which before Christ's coming set the Jews apart from the Gentiles. In contrast to these ordinances, which divided Jew from Gentile, Christ makes them into one people, according to Paul (Ephesians 2:14-15):

Related Topics:
Judaizing - Food laws

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:For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

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The New Testament depicts Paul as Law-observant, for the sake of the Jews. In Acts 16 he "personally" circumcised Timothy, a Greek, whose father was Greek, because his mother was of the Jewish faith; and in Acts 21, James challenged Paul about the rumor that he was teaching rebellion against the Law. Paul followed James' recommendation to go to Herod's Temple with four Nazarite pledges to show that he "kept and walked in the ways of the Law"; however, when some people from Asia Minor (Paul's home area) saw him, it started a major riot.

Related Topics:
Timothy - Herod's Temple - Nazarite - Asia Minor

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Paul is a complex person, in 1st Corinthians 9:20-22, he wrote:

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:"To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God?s law but am under Christ?s law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some." (NRSV)

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Also, 2nd Peter 3:16 on the Letters of Paul states:

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"... There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures." (NRSV)

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The use of Paul (or abuse, as traditionalists hold) to invent a radical separation between Christianity and all things Jewish has frequently flared up, beginning in earliest times and throughout the history of the Christian Church. Marcionism a 2nd century sect, still called the "most dangerous" heresy ever confronted by the Catholic Church, rejected the Apostles, and interpreted a Jesus who rejected the Law of Moses using 10 Pauline Epistles and the Gospel of Luke. Modern tendencies to claim that the Old Testament doesn't contain valid Christian instruction for today or to claim that Paul's "freedom in Christ" meant antinomianism as the rumor cited in Acts 21:21, though common, are still condemned under the name of Marcionism. Irenaeus in turn rejected Marcion and praised the Apostles in his Against Heresies 3.12.12:http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-60.htm#P7525_2024213

Related Topics:
Marcionism - Heresy - Catholic Church - Jesus - Law of Moses - Pauline Epistles - Gospel of Luke - Old Testament - Antinomianism - Irenaeus

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:"...being brought over to the doctrine of Simon Magus, they have apostatized in their opinions from Him who is God, and imagined that they have themselves discovered more than the apostles, by finding out another god; and that the apostles preached the Gospel still somewhat under the influence of Jewish opinions, but that they themselves are purer , and more intelligent, than the apostles."

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Many modern scholars wonder what happened to those who required circumcision for Gentile converts. Referring to the "non-Pauline" apostles as Nazarenes (James,Peter and John), these scholars have pieced together evidence that Jewish sects of Christianity grew and thrived for a while in Judea and the surrounding areas, which they speculate were more closely followers of the Nazarenes in contrast to the Pauline Christians. They attempt to trace these early Nazarene Christians through later groups, such as the Ebionites and Elkasites, who are derogatively called re-Judaizers and who rejected the Christian movement as it was developing among the Gentiles. In other words, they believe that contrary to the writer of the Galatians, a rift between Paul and the other apostles was radical and permanent. These controversial views have strong endorsement from modern academia, and the theories are advanced as a significant correction of the Church's account of its own history, which tradition has lost.

Related Topics:
Apostles - Nazarenes - James - Peter - John - Jewish sects of Christianity - Pauline Christians - Ebionites - Elkasites

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The Didache and other writings in the Apostolic Fathers collection further document early church practice.

Related Topics:
Didache - Apostolic Fathers

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Observance of the Sabbath and Quartodeciman were also early issues.

Related Topics:
Sabbath - Quartodeciman

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The Martyrs

• Stephen the protomartyr (first martyr)
• James the son of Zebedee
• Saint Paul
• Saint Peter
• Ignatius of Antioch, disciple of Saint Peter and first bishop of Antioch after him
• Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna and disciple of John the Evangelist

The Apologists

• Justin Martyr, convert from Greek philosophy
• Irenaeus of Lyons, bishop of Lyons, categorized heresies in order to refute them
• Clement of Rome, 3rd/4th bishop of Rome (Pope)

House Churches

• Dura-Europos, Syria is the site of the earliest discovered identifiable Christian house church.

The writings of the New Testament apocrypha

The early Christians produced many historically significant canons and other literature described church organization. One of the earliest of these is the Didache, which is usually dated to the late first or early second century.

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Early Heresies

Disputes of doctrine began early on. The newly-organized church organized councils to sort matters out. Councils representing the entire church were called ecumenical councils. Some groups were rejected as heretics.

Related Topics:
Ecumenical council - Heretics

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• Simonianism
• Nicolaitanism
• Judaizers
• Gnosticism (based on "secret wisdom" from Paul in Romans 16:25)
• Marcionism (called the most dangerous threat ever faced)
• Montanism (Tertullian,"Father of the Latin Church", was a convert)
• Alogi
• Mandaeanism
• Monarchianism
• Nestorianism (advanced by Nestorius, a patriarch of Constantinople)
• Apollinarianism
• Arianism (fourth century, advanced by Arius, a priest)

Although most writings of Arius were destroyed by the early Catholic Church and the Roman Emperor Constantine, we can infer from Athanasius' arguments against Arius some idea of the movement. Basically Arius was a leader of Christians that took opposition to the early trinitarianism movement, reflecting the divine nature of Christ. Arius' hypothesis, to our knowledge, was that Jesus was created by God, and hence, was secondary to God. His primary proof text was John 17:3. Athanasius' position was that Jesus was and always had been divine, and had a divine nature along with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Related Topics:
Roman Emperor - Constantine - Athanasius - Trinitarianism

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Gnosticism

A Greek philosophical/religious movement known as Gnosticism had developed at roughly the same time as Christianity. Many followers of this movement (Valentinius being one of the most well-known) were also Christians, and taught a synthesis of the two belief systems. This produced a major controversy in the early church.

Related Topics:
Gnostic - Valentinius

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Gnostic interpretations differed from Mainstream Christianity because orthodox Christians took the literal interpretation of the Gospels as the correct one, whereas Gnostics tended to read them as allegory; thus the orthodox branch attracted greater numbers of adherents. This was observed quite early, for example, the second century Celsus (whose words are preserved in Origen's Contra Celsum, a text designed against Celsus) states that Christianity

Related Topics:
Gospels - Allegory - Celsus - Origen

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:continues to spread amongst the vulgar, nay one can even say it spreads because of its vulgarity, and the illiteracy of its adherents. And while there are a few moderate, reasonable, and intelligent people who are inclined to interpret its beliefs allegorically, yet it thrives in its purer form amongst the ignorant

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Competing religions

Christianity was not the only religion seeking and finding converts in the 1st century. Modern historians of the Roman world often discern interest in what they tend to call mystery religions or mystery cults beginning in the last century of the Roman Republic and increasing during the centuries of the Roman Empire. Roman authors themselves, such as Livy, tell of the importation of "foreign gods" during times of stress in the Roman state. Judaism, too, was receiving converts and in some cases actively evangelizing. The New Testament reflects a class of people referred to as 'believers in God' who are thought to be Gentile converts, perhaps those who had not submitted to circumcision; Philo of Alexandria makes explicit the duty of Jews to welcome converts.

Related Topics:
1st century - Mystery religions - Roman Republic - Roman Empire - Livy - Judaism - Philo

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Mithraism

Worship of Mithras (known as Mithraism) developed in the Roman army during the first century BC, though it is currently unknown how this particular mystery religion originated, as it appears to have little to do with the Zoroastrian Mithra. Since it developed amongst a group of highly mobile people (professional soldiers), it quickly spread to the outer regions of the empire. It soon proved to be amongst the most popular of the mystery religions, and at Rome, by the start of the third century emperors were openly encouraging it, as the religion favored their rule.

Related Topics:
Mithras - Mithraism - First century BC - Zoroastrian - Mithra - Third century

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The Mithras religion is sometimes thought to have its ultimate origin in the cult of Mithra, a deity connected to popular forms of Zoroastrianism (though it is important to note that strictly, early Zoroastrianism is dualist, and modern Zoroastrianism is monotheist, and neither includes Mithra).

Related Topics:
Deity - Zoroastrianism

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By the end of the 3rd century, the popular cults of Apollo and Mithras had started to merge into the syncretism known as Mithras Sol Invictus or simply Sol Invictus (the unconquerable sun—a term also used by other cults), and in 274 the emperor Aurelian made worship of this form official.

Related Topics:
Apollo - Mithras Sol Invictus - Sol Invictus - 274 - Aurelian

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After the decree of Theodosius in 391, and subsequent suppression, many Mithraeums were converted into Christian churches (such as Notre-Dame du Taur, and the Church of San Clemente); these were often dedicated to the archangel Michael.

Related Topics:
Theodosius - 391 - Church of San Clemente - Archangel Michael

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Mandaeanism

The Mandaeans were a Gnostic religion which revered John the Baptist instead of Jesus. According to legend, Mani was a Mandaean. Mandaeanism still exists.

Related Topics:
John the Baptist - Mani

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Manichaeism

Manichaeism was one of the major ancient religions. Though its organized form is mostly extinct today, a revival has been attempted under the name of Neo-Manichaeism. However, most of the writings of the founding prophet Mani have been lost. Some scholars and anti-Roman Catholic polemicists argue that its influence subtly continues in Christian thought via Augustine of Hippo, who converted to Christianity from Manichaeism and whose writing continues to be enormously influential among Catholic theologians.

Related Topics:
Prophet - Mani - Augustine of Hippo

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The religion was founded by Mani, who reportedly was born in western Persia and lived approximately 210-275 AD. The name Mani is mainly a title and term of respect rather than a personal name. This title was assumed by the founder himself and so completely replaced his personal name that the precise form of the latter is not known. Mani was likely influenced by Mandaeanism and began preaching at an early age. He claimed to be the Paraclete, as promised in the New Testament: the Last Prophet and Seal of the Prophets that finalized a succession of men guided by God and included figures such as Zoroaster, Hermes, Plato, Buddha, and Jesus.

Related Topics:
Persia - Paraclete - Last Prophet - Seal of the Prophets - Zoroaster - Hermes - Plato - Buddha

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The Manichees made every effort to include all known religious traditions in their faith. As a result, they preserved many apocryphal Christian works, such as the Acts of Thomas, that otherwise would have been lost. Mani was eager to describe himself as a "disciple of Jesus Christ", but the orthodox church rejected him as a heretic.

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