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In our society today we seem to have a hard enough time remembering what happened last week, let alone last year. But imagine a society that existed over thousands of years ago whose legacy still lives on, it must have taken a great deal to bring this society down. What affect did Christianity have on this mighty empire and what factor did it play in the decline and fall of the Roman Empire?Rome was not always an empire; it started out as a republic, but with the many reforms of Augustus it rose to a mighty empire. Rome began expanding and developing its culture and its love of life. Augustus had to play a hard political game He had to be vitally aware of what men were thinking, and if possible pre-empt their actions or meet them half way. (Southern) By doing so he also reformed the government into an extremely balanced government with checks and balances. Christianity was at first considered to be a sect or different version of Judaism but through the Disciples, Apostles and the enthusiasm of John the Baptizet, it spread throughout the empire rapidly. Christianity, an equally distributed mystery cult… eventually replaced all other cults (Infogettable) the unique appeal of this monotheistic religion was His [Jesus] message of love, humility, and compassion seemed incompatible with violence and killing. (Holmes) This was quite a contrast when compared to the polytheistic religion of Rome. In Rome the woman were considered subordinate and were excluded from political and other decisions. Many Roman women would experiment with pagan religions. Like a hobby, they would try many untill they found one that suited them. For this reason many women found the teachings of Christ ideally suites for there situation. Critics of Christianity called Christianity a religion of women and slaves (Historiography). It proposed a link between class, race, and gender. The idea of a community is described in Galatians 8, There is no longer Jew or gentile, slave or free, male or female. For you are all Christians (new living translation) the promise of equality through Christ was what drew the women and slaves to Christianity.
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Though Christianity spread quickly through the empire, so did the hatred and persecution of Christians. The government felt threatened and the pagans felt a superior indifference towards them. It was decided that something had to be done to put a stop to this religion and its spread throughout the society. Many pagans did not understand the new religion of Christianity. How could it be considered part of Judaism when most Jews didnt believe Jesus was the Son of God . How could, in the eyes of God, a child be just as important as a wealthy man? So instead of trying to understand, they merely mocked Christians and spread rumors about them and their religion. Popular roman rumors depicted Christians as cannibals, incestuous, devils and murders(Bunson). In reality these acts go against Christian teaching. To the pagans it was easier to antagonize Christians than to become one of them. Though Rome accepted all religion that did not require human sacrifice, the citizens were still expected to participate in the emperors cult. It was considered treachery if this was not done (Infogettable). Since murder is a sin, many roman soldiers who converted to Christianity felt like they could no longer serve in the armies. With the drop of soldiers in the armies, the legions were weaker than they were during the expansion of the Roman Empire. In one account, the governor of Bithynia wrote to the emperor and said, …saw in the religion dangerous creeds capable of destroying Rome. The repercussions of this letter were the execution of many unrepentant Christians.During the reign of emperor Severus, a legal restriction on the spread of Judaism and Christianity was instituted. Caracalla granted, Constitutio Antoniniana, the edict by which all residents of the empire were granted citizenship(Bunson) Citizens were expected to pay homage to the emperor, so all Christians living in the empire were considered disloyal, thus being grounds for execution. In the magazine Christian History, there was an article on Constantine by Bruce Shelley. It retells the story of Constantine and his contributions to the growth of Christianity. Shelleys story went something like this; Constantines father was Augustus of the west and when he died Constantine ascended the throne; he let the east work out its internal problems and focused on his own empire. But conflict again with the east was inevitable, when Maxentius was in Rome claming to be the legitimate emperor of the west; he was also growing very anxious of Constantines power. Constantine marched his army against Maxentius, who was waiting in Rome. Assured that the city was impenetrable from the outside, he waited. Constantines victories as he marched toward Rome were making the roman crowds turn against Maxentius. This made him doubt himself so he turned to pagan oracles, who told him that the enemy of the Romans would fall on October twenty eighth the scheduled accession day of Maxentius. With Constantine still miles away Maxentius marched his army to meet him. It is said that Constantine saw a cross in the sky that said, By this sign conquer The next morning he instructed all his soldiers put a Chi-Rho on their shields, the Greek letters X and P, which was an abbreviation for Christ. Constantines troops were victorious. He entered Rome being the undeniable ruler of the west. Constantine met with Licinius and together they produced the edict of Milan. This edict allowed Christians freedom to worship and it also ordered the governors to restore the property that was taken during the persecutions. This made Christians full citizens once again, showing that Constantine was pro-Christian. With this, paganism collapsed. It apparently had been practiced only as a civic duty (Gooch). After Constantine had defeated Emperor Licinius, he became sole ruler over the Roman Empire. Constantine decided to relocate the capital from Rome to Constantinople. He believed that it could no longer serve as the center of defense of the widely spread frontiers.(Bunson) Rome also stood for paganism and Constantine wanted a new capital were Christianity could prosper. He decided to build his new capital in the city of Byzantium on the Bosporus strait which connects the eastern and western empires. It is said that Rome wasnt built in a day, but Constantinople was built in six years. Constantine announced the completion of construction on May eleventh, three hundred and thirty BC. With the citys completion monuments to the new found faith began to displace their pagan counterparts (Schuster)Moving the capital was not beneficial to the spread of the empire as Constantine had hoped. Constantine saw the toleration and eventual adoption of christianity as key to the reunification of the empire(Schuster) which also didnt happened either. Constantine had to face Lucinius in battle for he had different ambitions than Constantine. The army of Constantine put its faith in God while the army of Lucinius put its faith in Jupiter and Constantine was the victor. This was devastating to the empire that had long been on a decline and though Constantine meant well, and earnestly tried to restore the empire it was the way to dying out entirely. As Constantine grew older he enjoyed the long titles the people had given him and grew fat with the attention and flattery they gave the mighty Emperor. He restored the Empire so it was no longer divided into the East and West. But the decline had been set in motion and was unstoppable. Much later in his life, after he had fathered three sons and a capital city, it is accounted that his nephew Julian said he look ridiculous with his appearance and his elaborate clothes. It seems that royalty had gotten a hold of this once young, athletic emperor. He died in 77 BC, and he waited until he felt death upon him before being baptized, as most men did, they believed that once you were baptized you could not be forgiven, of course this was a huge misconception, considering God in forgiving. Christianity was made the official religion during the reign of Emperor Theodosius.Christianity was widespread during the decline and fall of the mighty Roman Empire. It was as highly controversial topic in those days as it still is today. Politicians could not agree, and the government was no longer unified. This causing the split of the mighty Roman Empire into the two parts, East and West; which some historians believe marks the beginning of the decline of the once expanding flourishing Roman Empire. Christianity was the only thing aside, from monuments that survived the fall of the Roman Empire. The religion was on the rise during the reign of Augustus the first, and was then persecuted for they saw the threat it was to the foundation of the empire, the views and beliefs of Christianity that were founded off of love forgiveness and truth were not those of the Roman Empire and as it spread throughout the empire it weakened those values that it was based on. Thus weakening the empire it self. Constantine helped Christianity more then he could ever understand, he hoped for it to unit the Easter and Western parts of the Roman Empire, however he did just the opposite. With the legalization of Christianity, it spread and grew to be the official religion after his death. With the views of Christianity and the Roman Empire being such a contrast to its self you could say the empire died the day it made Christianity the official religion. Please note that this sample paper on Christianity in the Roman Empire is for your review only. In order to eliminate any of the plagiarism issues, it is highly recommended that you do not use it for you own writing purposes. In case you experience difficulties with writing a well structured and accurately composed paper on Christianity in the Roman Empire, we are here to assist you. Your persuasive essay on Christianity in the Roman Empire will be written from scratch, so you do not have to worry about its originality.
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