A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years

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In 416, the Germanic Visigoths had crossed into Hispania as Roman allies. [206] They converted to Arian Christianity shortly before 429. [202] An important shift took place in 612 when the Visigothic King Sisebut declared the obligatory conversion of all Jews in Spain, contradicting Pope Gregory who had reiterated the traditional ban against forced conversion of the Jews in 591. [207] Scholars refer to this shift as a "seismic moment" in Christian history. [208] Justinian I and Eastern influence [ edit ] According to the text, Jesus was born to a young Jewish virgin named Mary in the town of Bethlehem in the West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Christians believe the conception was a supernatural event, with God impregnating Mary via the Holy Spirit. Irenaeus describes how, in his early youth, he had known Polycarp, the bishop of the church in Smyrna. This connection with Polycarp was important for Irenaeus: he emphasises that Polycarp had been appointed bishop of Smyrna by the apostles themselves and spoke often about his discussion with John and others who had seen the Lord. Irenaeus thus brought with him to Gaul a living connection with the age of the apostles... [119] Christians are monotheistic, i.e., they believe there’s only one God, and he created the heavens and the earth. This divine Godhead consists of three parts: the father (God himself), the son ( Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit. After Valerian’s death, there were four decades of relative peace. Then, according to Tilley, "in the 290s, the military began to execute soldiers, such as Maximilian of Theveste and Marcellus of Tingis, for refusal to serve after conversion". [129]

Part 3. Mitred Lords and Crowned Ikons (450 AD to 1054 AD) – Fall of the Western Roman Empire, Dark Age Christianity, monasticism, Christian relics, rise of Papacy, Carolingian age, Eastern Orthodox Church. Beginning with less than 1000 people, by the year 100, Christianity had grown to perhaps one hundred small household churches consisting of an average of around seventy (12–200) members each. [62] It achieved critical mass in the hundred years between 150 and 250 when it moved from fewer than 50,000 adherents to over a million. [63] This provided enough adopters for its growth rate to be self-sustaining. [63] [64] Rodney Stark estimates that Christians made up around 1.9% of the Roman population in 250. [65] Scholars generally agree there was a significant rise in the absolute number of Christians in the third century. [66] Stark, building on earlier estimates by theologian Robert M. Grant and historian Ramsay MacMullen, estimates that Christians made up around ten percent of the Roman population by 300. [65]The Epilogue focuses on the papacy of John Paul II, his role in the fall of Communism, the Post-Soviet recovery of the Russian Orthodox Church; and describes the history of Christianity as a matrix for "a constant process of struggle and rebirth – a succession of crises, often accompanied by horror, bloodshed, bigotry and unreason but [with] evidence too of growth, vitality and increased understanding." The book "has necessarily stressed [Christianity's] failures and shortcomings, and its institutional distortions" [5] but in the context of "its stupendous claims and its unprecedented idealism."(p.515–16) Jon Meacham in his New York Times review writes that it "is difficult to imagine a more comprehensive and surprisingly accessible volume on the subject than MacCulloch's." He characterizes as mutually-corrupting the "accommodations with the princes of the world [that] drove the rise of the faith," which the book relates. Thus, for "'most of its existence, Christianity has been the most intolerant of world faiths,' MacCulloch says, 'doing its best to eliminate all competitors, with Judaism a qualified exception.'" MacCulloch describes the Christian faith as "a perpetual argument about meaning and reality." Meacham makes the related point that "questions of meaning– who are we, how shall we live, where are we going?– tend to be framed in theological and philosophical terms." Still, "history matters, too, and historians, MacCulloch says, have a moral task: 'They should seek to promote sanity and to curb the rhetoric which breeds fanaticism'." [5] Heresy was the first version of Christianity to arrive in some regions, however, there is also unambiguous evidence in other regions (such as Ephesus and western Asia Minor) that heresy was neither early nor strong, that it was preceded by orthodoxy, and that orthodoxy was numerically larger. [174] [90] Early Beliefs and practices [ edit ] One of the oldest representations of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, made around 300 AD Egyptian Christianity began in Alexandria probably very early. [91] According to Pearson, "Writings that would eventually become part of the New Testament canon were brought to Egypt ... probably in the first century". [85] [note 7] From the first century on, countless Christian writings flowed into Alexandria from all over the Empire, and Alexandrian Christians were prolific in response. [94] [note 8] The Nile boat or, glimpses of the land of Egypt - by W.H. Bartlett (1849) (14775178261)

Paul’s conversion to Christianity after he had a supernatural encounter with Jesus is described in Acts of the Apostles. Paul preached the gospel and established churches throughout the Roman Empire, Europe and Africa. Martyrs reinforced Christian identity as something that included resistance to state authority when necessary. [129] Rome [ edit ] The early Christian community in Jerusalem, led by James the Just, brother of Jesus, was singularly influential. [160] [161] According to Acts 9, [162] they described themselves as "disciples of the Lord" and [followers] "of the Way", and according to Acts 11, [163] a settled community of disciples at Antioch were the first to be called "Christians". [note 12] The Church of Saint Peter near Antioch (modern-day Antakya), the city where the disciples were called "Christians". [167] Gentile Christianity [ edit ] In Eusebius' church history, he claims Constantine campaigned against the temples as well as sacrifice, however, there are discrepancies in the evidence. [244] Temple destruction is attested to in 43 cases in the written sources, but only four have been confirmed by archaeological evidence. [245]The earliest orthodox writers of the first and second centuries, outside the writers of the New Testament itself, were first called the Apostolic Fathers in the sixth century. [146] The title "Church Father" is used by the church to describe those who were the intellectual and spiritual teachers, leaders and philosophers of early Christianity. [147] Writing from the first century to the close of the eighth, they defended their faith, wrote commentaries and sermons, recorded the Creeds and church history, and lived exemplary lives. [148] [note 11] Variety, orthodoxy and identity [ edit ] Jewish Christianity [ edit ] The Eastern Roman Empire, with its heartland in Greece and Asia Minor, became the Byzantine Empire after the fall of the Roman West. [209] With its autocratic government, stable farm economy, Greek heritage and Orthodox Christianity, the Byzantine Empire lasted until 1453 and the Fall of Constantinople. [210] The extent of the Byzantine Empire under Justinian's uncle Justin I is shown in the darker color. The lighter color shows the conquests of his successor, Justinian I also known as Justinian the Great A mosaic of Justinian I in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy In 253, a new persecution began under Valerian (r. 253–9) aimed at high-ranking clergy. Christian leaders were required to sacrifice and stop all Christian assemblies, while all Christians were forbidden to have their own cemeteries. [128] Maureen Tilley in the Cambridge History of Christianity writes that "Some clergy were sentenced to the imperial mines (Cypr. Ep. 76–9). During the summer of 256, the higher clergy became subject to the death penalty; upper-class men lost their status and property and, if they persisted in the faith, were also executed. Upper-class women were exiled and their property seized (Cypr. Ep. 80)." [128] Cyprian was arrested, tried and executed in 258. [128]