Christianity and the Roman Empire from Nero to Theodosius PDF Download
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Author: Paul Allard
Publisher: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press
ISBN: 9780881415629
Category : Christianity and culture
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Several emperors persecuted the Christians: Nero, Domitian, Marcus Aurelius, Sulpicius, Decius, Valerian, and especially Diocletian, who unleashed "the great prosecution" from 303 to 312. Diocletian's Persecution Edict stated that all churches throughout the empire were to be destroyed and all sacred books burned. Many Christians lost their social rank and privileges, while Christian slaves could not be freed. In some places, the Christians were tortured, beheaded, exiled, or sent to the beasts. But the Church found defenders in the second-century apologists, such as Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Theophilus of Antioch, and Tertullian, who argued that the persecutions were illegal and unjust. Tertulllian's statement became axiomatic: "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christians." When Constantine converted from "sun worship" to Christianity in 310, he prepared the ground for the Byzantine state. Christianity was recognized as a lawful religion in 313. But much more lay in store for the early Church, including the tumultuous years of Emperor Julian, who sought to return the empire to the worship of the old gods, and initiated repressive measures against Christians. Only in 380 did Theodosius I make Christianity the official religion of the Roman empire. The history of the persecutions reminds us that the spread of Christianity took place against considerable opposition. In our own day, Christians face another kind of test in a world that is increasingly seclarized. Allard's book offers timely reminders of how early Christians maintained their identity as a minority in the midst of official suspicion. -- from back cover.
Author: Paul Allard
Publisher: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press
ISBN: 9780881415629
Category : Christianity and culture
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Get Book Here
Book Description
Several emperors persecuted the Christians: Nero, Domitian, Marcus Aurelius, Sulpicius, Decius, Valerian, and especially Diocletian, who unleashed "the great prosecution" from 303 to 312. Diocletian's Persecution Edict stated that all churches throughout the empire were to be destroyed and all sacred books burned. Many Christians lost their social rank and privileges, while Christian slaves could not be freed. In some places, the Christians were tortured, beheaded, exiled, or sent to the beasts. But the Church found defenders in the second-century apologists, such as Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Theophilus of Antioch, and Tertullian, who argued that the persecutions were illegal and unjust. Tertulllian's statement became axiomatic: "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christians." When Constantine converted from "sun worship" to Christianity in 310, he prepared the ground for the Byzantine state. Christianity was recognized as a lawful religion in 313. But much more lay in store for the early Church, including the tumultuous years of Emperor Julian, who sought to return the empire to the worship of the old gods, and initiated repressive measures against Christians. Only in 380 did Theodosius I make Christianity the official religion of the Roman empire. The history of the persecutions reminds us that the spread of Christianity took place against considerable opposition. In our own day, Christians face another kind of test in a world that is increasingly seclarized. Allard's book offers timely reminders of how early Christians maintained their identity as a minority in the midst of official suspicion. -- from back cover.
Author: Ramsay MacMullen
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300036426
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 196
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Book Description
Offers a secular perspective on the growth of the Christian Church in ancient Rome, identifies nonreligious factors in conversion, and examines the influence of Constantine
Author: Richard F. Devoe
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1462800475
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 172
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Book Description
"Christians to the lions!" The image of early Christian victims of pagan blood - lust in the Roman arenas are as familiar as a catechism to Christians of all ages. Dr. Richard DeVoe parallels the development of these two great social forces of the Roman Empire: Christianity; the Roman games which included not only the arena, but also the circus and the theatre. He questions why Christianity did not have more effect on the Roman games, as both institutions grew apace for four centuries. He concludes, contrary to traditional church history, that Christianity did not limit, but, in fact absorbed and perpetuated the games. Why? With regard not only to the games, but also education, the military and the imperial cult, Rome was not Christianized: Christianity was paganized! Christianity and the Roman Games traces this process of paganization from the first through the fifth centuries, discovering surprising consequences both for Christianity and subsequent history.
Author: Ted Byfield
Publisher: CHRISTIAN HISTORY PROJECT
ISBN: 9780968987339
Category : Church history
Languages : en
Pages : 296
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Book Description
Author: Ralph Martin Novak
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0567018407
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 351
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Book Description
The rise of Christianity during the first four centuries of the common era was the pivotal development in Western history and profoundly influenced the later direction of all world history. Yet, for all that has been written on early Christian history, the primary sources for this history are widely scattered, difficult to find, and generally unknown to lay persons and to historians not specially trained in the field. In Christianity and the Roman Empire Ralph Novak interweaves these primary sources with a narrative text and constructs a single continuous account of these crucial centuries. The primary sources are selected to emphasize the manner in which the government and the people of the Roman Empire perceived Christians socially and politically; the ways in which these perceptions influenced the treatment of Christians within the Roman Empire; and the manner in which Christians established their political and religious dominance of the Roman Empire after Constantine the Great came to power in the early fourth century CE. Ralph Martin Novak holds a Masters Degree in Roman History from the University of Chicago. For: Undergraduates; seminarians; general audiences
Author: Ernest Llewellyn Woodward
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Byzantine Empire
Languages : en
Pages : 192
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Book Description
Author: William Cooke Taylor
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Church history
Languages : en
Pages : 380
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Book Description
Author: Sir William Mitchell Ramsay
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Christianity
Languages : en
Pages : 562
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Book Description
Author: Douglas Ryan Boin
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1620403188
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 225
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Book Description
The supposed collapse of Roman civilization is still lamented more than 1,500 years later-and intertwined with this idea is the notion that a fledgling religion, Christianity, went from a persecuted fringe movement to an irresistible force that toppled the empire. The “intolerant zeal” of Christians, wrote Edward Gibbon, swept Rome's old gods away, and with them the structures that sustained Roman society. Not so, argues Douglas Boin. Such tales are simply untrue to history, and ignore the most important fact of all: life in Rome never came to a dramatic stop. Instead, as Boin shows, a small minority movement rose to transform society-politically, religiously, and culturally-but it was a gradual process, one that happened in fits and starts over centuries. Drawing upon a decade of recent studies in history and archaeology, and on his own research, Boin opens up a wholly new window onto a period we thought we knew. His work is the first to describe how Christians navigated the complex world of social identity in terms of “passing” and “coming out.” Many Christians lived in a dynamic middle ground. Their quiet success, as much as the clamor of martyrdom, was a powerful agent for change. With this insightful approach to the story of Christians in the Roman world, Douglas Boin rewrites, and rediscovers, the fascinating early history of a world faith.
Author: Jakob Engberg
Publisher: Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 356
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Book Description
Impulsore Chresto reassesses opposition to Christianity AD 50-250. The Roman authorities' persecutions have caught the attention of both the public, intrigued by martyrs, and scholars, arguing that executions were relatively rare. This is not challenged, but the executions are placed in context as the most dramatic aspect of a spectrum of opposition including rumors, polemic, harassment and accusations. Such opposition was taken for granted and rarely described. When studying the preserved texts on trials against Christians, however, it appears that even here relatives, plaintiffs, spectators or local officials played crucial roles. There were as many reasons for opposition as opponents, but some motives reappear in clusters: Christians were perceived as superstitious and ungodly, as endangering peace with the gods and social order.
