The Rise of Christianity - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

1 / 25
About This Presentation
Title:

The Rise of Christianity

Description:

The Rise of Christianity – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:51
Avg rating:3.0/5.0
Slides: 26
Provided by: Kevin750
Category:

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: The Rise of Christianity


1
The Rise of Christianity
2
Setting the Stage
  • 1. Christianity differed from the Roman religion
    in that it emphasized a personal relationship
    between God and people while the Roman religion
    was practiced without emotion.

3
Jews Come Under Roman Rule
  • 2. Jewish kings kept their independence by
    working as representatives of the Roman Empire.
  • They allied with the Romans and accepted the
    Roman plans to Romanize Jerusalem.

4
  • 3. After King Herod died, the Jewish people
    began to revolt against the Roman occupation.
    This revolt lasted ten years.
  • 4. The Romans gained control by giving control
    of religious matters and local affairs to the
    Jewish court called the Sanhedrin.
  • 5. Zealots wanted to rid their homeland of the
    Romans and believed that the Messiah (promised
    savior) would restore the kingdom of the Jews.

5
The Life and Teaching of Jesus
  • Jesus was a Jew born in a land under Roman rule.
    He grew up in Nazareth in northern Palestine.
    At age 30, he began his public ministry.
  • 6. For the next three years, Jesus emphasized
    Gods personal relationship to each human being
    and the importance not only loving God, but
    loving ones self, ones neighbors and ones
    enemies.
  • He also taught that God had established an
    eternal kingdom for people after their death if
    they repented their worldly sins.

6
Jesus Message
  • 7. We know about the life of Jesus because of
    the four Gospels, the first four books of the New
    Testament of the Bible.
  • 8. The 12 men who followed Jesus most closely
    are now known as the apostles.

7
  • 9. Jesus appealed to the poor because he ignored
    wealth and status. He told the people blessed
    are the poor as they shall inherit the earth.
  • Many began to believe that he was the long
    awaited Messiah.

8
Jesus Death
  • 10. Jesus popularity concerned the Roman and
    Jewish leaders because the Romans saw him as a
    threat to their authority and the Jewish leaders
    believed his message to be blasphemous (as well
    as a threat to their authority in religious
    matters).

9
Jesus Death
  • 11. After Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, he was
    arrested by the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.
    The charge against Jesus is that he challenged
    the authority of Rome. Jesus was sentenced to
    death by crucifixion ( a popular form of Roman
    execution).

10
Christianity
  • 12. According to the Gospels, three days after
    Jesus died, his body was gone from the tomb.
    This fulfilled his promise that he would rise
    from the dead on the third day.
  • 13. The Apostles believed that Jesus had
    ascended into heaven, thus fulfilling the
    prophecy. It is from that belief that the name
    Christ was given to him by the Greeks.

11
  • 14. Peter led the apostles after Jesus death.
  • The apostles spread the teachings of Jesus
    throughout Syria and Palestine. The cross on
    which Jesus was crucified became a symbol for
    their beliefs.

12
Christianity Spreads Through the Empire
  • 15. Paul, an enemy of Christians, reports seeing
    a vision on Jesus on his journey to Damascus,
    Syria. After this incident, he spent the rest of
    his life spreading Jesus teachings.

13
  • 16. Christianity spread easily and safely
    throughout the Roman empire because of Pax
    Romana, the excellent system of Roman roads, and
    the common languages of Greek and Roman spoken
    throughout the empire.

14
  • 17. Paul wrote letters, called epistles, to
    groups of believers.

15
Jewish Rebellion
  • 18. In 70 A.D., Romans stormed Jerusalem to put
    down a rebellion. The Temple of Solomon was
    destroyed once again.
  • In 73 A.D.,Masada, a Jewish fortress,
    high on a mountaintop, was stormed by the Romans.
    When the Romans entered the fortress, they found
    that all of the Jews had killed themselves
  • In 132 A.D., the Jews rebelled again. This
    time, the Romans put an end to the Jewish
    political state and most of the Jews were driven
    from their homeland into exile. This is known as
    a diaspora.

16
Persecution of the Christians
  • 19. Christians posed a problem for the Roman
    rulers because they refused to worship the Roman
    gods. Their refusal was interpreted as
    opposition to Roman rule.
  • 20. Roman rulers used Christians as scapegoats,
    blaming the Christians for Romes political and
    economic troubles. Peter and Paul were both put
    to death by the Romans in this state sponsored
    persecution.

17
  • 21. As the Pax Romana, began to crumble, Roman
    exiled, imprisoned , or executed Christians for
    refusing to worship Roman gods. Thousands were
    crucified, burned or fed to wild animals in the
    circus arenas.

18
A World Religion
  • 22. Christianity appealed to so many people for
    the following reasons
  • Christianity embraced all people.
  • Gave hope to the powerless
  • Appealed to those repelled by the extravagances
    of imperial Rome.
  • Offered a personal relationship with God.
  • Promised eternal life after death.

19
Early Christian Church
  • 23. The early church was structured much like
    the Roman hierarchy.
  • a. Priests served at the local level- who led a
    small
  • group of Christians.
  • b. A Bishop supervised several local churches.
  • c. The pope supervised all of the bishops.
  • 24. The apostle Peter was the 1st pope.

20
Constantine Accepts Christianity
  • 25. In 312 A.D. (300 years after the death of
    Jesus), the Emperor Constantine prayed for divine
    help in his battle against his two rivals. At
    stake was the Roman throne. He reported having
    seen a cross of light with the inscription In
    this sign, conquer. At that moment, Constantine
    converted to Christianity. He won the battle,
    gained the throne of Rome and upon his return to
    Rome announced the end of the persecution of the
    Christians. He then recognized Christianity as
    one of the religions approved by the emperor.
  • Eventually (in 380 A.D.), Christianity became
    the official religion of the Roman Empire

21
Discord and Harmony
  • 26. In an attempt to end conflicts within the
    Church, leaders sought to set a single official
    standard of belief. These beliefs are contained
    in the New Testament.

22
Conference of Nicaea
  • 27. In 325 A.D., the emperor Constantine
    attempted to end the disputes and disorder within
    the Church by calling Church leader to a
    conference in Nicaea, Anatolia.
  • 28. It is at Nicaea where the Church leaders
    wrote the Nicaea Creed, which defined the beliefs
    of the Church.

23
Critical Thinking
  • 29. The people of the Roman Empire were
    receptive to the Christian religion because it
  • 1. embraced all people, gave hope to the
    powerless,
  • 2. appealed to those who were repelled by the
  • extravagances of imperial Rome,
  • 3. offered a personal relationship with God,
    and
  • 4. promised a life after death.
  • For Roman citizens, this was a much better deal
    than the one they had as a citizen of Rome.

24
  • 30. The Spread of Christianity was made easier by
    the network of roads throughout Rome and the
    peace and prosperity of the empire during pax
    romana.
  • Scoring Each question is worth 3 points apiece!

25
The End
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com