Christianity Spreads

• After Jesus’s death,

his apostles carry on
his mission.

• apostles = each of

the twelve chief
disciples of Jesus
Christ.

• Primary spreader of

the faith was Saul of
Tarsus, aka the
Apostle Paul.

Paul visited a number of locations, starting churches in

different cities.

• Paul would also write letters to many of these churches

supporting them and giving advice.

• FYI: Many of these letters are now books of the New

Testament. They have the names of the cities or
people to which/whom they were address, e.g.
Galatians was to the church in Galatia, Ephesians
was to the church in Ephesus, 1 and 2 Timothy are
to a disciple named Timothy, etc.

• Paul eventually executed in Rome, beheaded around

64-67 by the Emperor Nero.

• Christianity slowly started spreading around the

empire.

• Aided by the Pax Romana and the fact that Romans

tended to be tolerant and accepting of other
religions.

• They wanted to make sure they weren’t missing

any gods after all.

• The Roman tolerance,

• you could worship your own gods, but you had to

recognize Roman ones too,

• including worshiping Caesar.

• For the monotheistic Christians, it was a

unacceptable

• Viewed as undermining Roman authority and

dangerous

• Feared the gods could turn their backs on Rome.

• Roman society started frowning on Christians,

• the Christians started meeting in secret:

• i.e. catacombs, sewers, caves, etc.

• increased the misconceptions of Christians: rumors

swirled

• The first big persecution

• the great fire in Rome in AD 64.

• Emperor Nero blames it on the Christians (they were

good scapegoats).

• Nero proceeds to round up and execute Christians

• The Roman Empire starts

its decline,

• persecution steps up as

Romans blame the
Christians for their woes

• Despite the Roman

attempts to use brute force
to stamp out the
Christians, the religion
continued to spread.

Spread due to 5 main factors:

1. Embraced all people – men, women, slaves, poor,

nobles.

2. Gave hope to the powerless

3. Appealed to those who were repelled by Roman

extravagance.

4. Offered personal relationship with a loving God.

5. Promised eternal life after death.

As the faith spreads, it takes on an organizational

hierarchy.

• There are local priests and then regional bishops.

• Eventually, the bishop of Rome becomes the pope.