History of World Religions - Christianity
Summary
TLDRThis script delves into the origins and development of Christianity, the world's largest religion with over 2 billion followers. It traces the religion's beginnings in 1st century AD Judea, under Roman rule, and the belief in Jesus as the Messiah. Despite initial persecution, Christianity's growth was catalyzed by the evangelizing efforts of Jesus's followers and later, Roman imperial support. The script also touches on the schism that led to the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and the Protestant Reformation. It highlights Christianity's profound influence on Western art, philosophy, and society, and its deep connections with Judaism, sharing Jerusalem as a holy city.
Takeaways
- 😀 Christianity is the world's largest religion, with over 2 billion followers, making up about one-third of the global population.
- 🐟 The main symbols of Christianity include the crucifix and the ichthys fish, representing the faith's core beliefs.
- 🗺️ Christianity originated in the 1st century AD in Judea, which is present-day Israel and Palestine, during the height of the Roman Empire's power.
- 👤 Jesus Christ, the central figure of Christianity, is believed to be the Messiah prophesied in Jewish writings, and his life and teachings form the basis of the religion.
- 🕊️ Jesus' message of peace, love, and repentance contrasted with the Jewish community's expectation of a military leader to lead a rebellion against Roman rule.
- ✝️ Jesus' crucifixion and subsequent resurrection are foundational events in Christian belief, marking the transition from a small following to a widespread religion.
- 📢 The early followers of Jesus, known as disciples, evangelized and spread his teachings throughout the Roman Empire, leading to the establishment of Christian churches.
- 🛡️ Early Christians faced persecution under Roman rule, with Emperor Nero being a notable example, until Emperor Constantine's conversion and legalization of Christianity in 312 AD.
- 🔄 The Roman Empire's division led to a schism in Christianity, resulting in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, with further splits during the Protestant Reformation.
- 📜 The Holy Bible, including the Old Testament shared with Judaism, is the central scripture for Christians, guiding their beliefs and practices.
- ⛪️ Christianity has had a profound influence on Western art, philosophy, politics, and society, with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem being the holiest site for the faith.
Q & A
What are the two main symbols associated with Christianity mentioned in the script?
-The two main symbols associated with Christianity mentioned in the script are the crucifix and the ichthys fish.
How many followers does Christianity have worldwide according to the script?
-Christianity has over 2 billion followers worldwide.
In what century AD is Christianity traditionally believed to have been founded?
-Christianity is traditionally believed to have been founded in the 1st century AD.
What is the Greek origin of the word 'Christ' and what does it mean?
-The word 'Christ' comes from the Greek word 'Cristo' which means 'Messiah'.
What was the political situation in Judea during the time of Jesus according to the script?
-During the time of Jesus, Judea was under the control of the Roman Empire, and the Jewish people were seeking freedom from Roman control.
Why did the Romans persecute the early followers of Jesus?
-The Romans persecuted the early followers of Jesus because they saw the messianic movements, including that of Jesus, as politically troublesome and potentially disruptive to law and order.
How did the followers of Jesus react after his death according to Christian tradition?
-According to Christian tradition, after the death of Jesus, his followers did not disappear but instead went out in public to continue spreading his message and teachings.
What significant event in 312 AD is mentioned in the script regarding the status of Christianity in the Roman Empire?
-In 312 AD, Emperor Constantine came to power, converted to Christianity, and made it a legal religion in Rome.
What is the significance of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Christianity?
-The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is considered the holiest site in Christianity as it is believed to be the site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.
What are the three main branches of Christianity mentioned in the script?
-The three main branches of Christianity mentioned in the script are Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant.
Outlines
🌏 Introduction to Christianity
This paragraph introduces Christianity as the next major monotheistic religion following Judaism. It outlines the approach to studying Christianity, which includes examining its symbols, geographical origins, historical development, and basic beliefs. The paragraph emphasizes Christianity's status as the world's largest religion with over 2 billion followers and its widespread presence across continents. The origins of Christianity are attributed to Jesus Christ in the 1st century AD, and the paragraph sets the stage for exploring how a small religious group evolved into a global faith.
📜 The Historical Context and Growth of Christianity
This paragraph delves into the historical context of Christianity's emergence within the Roman Empire, highlighting the political and social climate of the 1st century AD. It discusses the Jewish expectation of a Messiah and how Jesus, as a preacher and healer, offered a message of peace and love, contrasting with the messianic expectations of a military leader. The paragraph also covers Jesus's crucifixion, the belief in his resurrection, and the unexpected growth of Christianity as his followers continued to spread his teachings despite persecution. The eventual acceptance and promotion of Christianity by Roman Emperors Constantine and Theodosius are noted as pivotal in its rise to dominance.
🏛 The Development and Divisions within Christianity
The final paragraph discusses the evolution of Christianity from a small following to a major world religion. It addresses the schism between the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity, leading to the formation of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. The paragraph also touches on the Protestant Reformation and the resulting divisions within Christianity. It summarizes the basic beliefs of Christianity, such as the promise of eternal life through faith in Jesus, and its significant impact on Western art, philosophy, politics, and society. The paragraph concludes with a brief overview of Christian practices, including worship in churches, the significance of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and the Holy Bible as the central scripture.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Monotheistic
💡Crucifix
💡Ichthys
💡Geography
💡Roman Empire
💡Messiah
💡Evangelizing
💡Constantine
💡Theodosius
💡Schism
💡Pope
Highlights
Christianity is the world's largest religion with over 2 billion followers.
The main symbols of Christianity are the crucifix and the ichthys fish.
Christianity originated in the 1st century AD in Judea, present-day Israel and Palestine.
Jesus of Nazareth is traditionally regarded as the founder of Christianity.
Christians believe Jesus was the Messiah prophesied in Jewish writings.
The Roman Empire's control over Judea influenced the rise of messianic movements.
Jesus's teachings emphasized peace, love, and repentance, contrasting with the expected militant messiah.
After Jesus's crucifixion, his followers believed he rose from the dead and ascended to heaven.
Unlike other messianic movements, Jesus's followers continued to spread his teachings after his death.
Christianity's growth was significantly influenced by the Roman Empire's eventual acceptance and promotion of the faith.
The Roman Emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in 312 AD was a pivotal moment for the religion's legitimacy.
The Great Schism led to the division of Christianity into the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.
The Protestant Reformation in the 1500s further diversified Christianity into Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant branches.
Christianity has had a profound impact on art, philosophy, politics, and society in the Western world.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is considered the holiest site in Christianity.
The Holy Bible is the scripture followed by Christians, with strong connections to the Jewish Torah.
Christianity is deeply connected to Judaism, sharing common roots, holy sites, and holy cities like Jerusalem.
Transcripts
greetings and salutations ladies and
gentlemen so we finished up with Judaism
the first of our major monotheistic
world religions and now in chronological
order we move on to the next one and
that one is Christianity and so will
approach Christianity in the same way
that we did Judaism so here on the
screen as a lot of you probably already
know the main symbols associated with
Christianity are the crucifix and
something called the ik this fish and
we'll go into greater detail on what the
ik this fish is in class but just know
the crucifix and the ictus fish are two
very very common symbols that are
associated with Christianity
so as we delve into the history of the
development of this religion we'll start
with geography in what part of the world
that Christianity originated and then of
course today where do most Christians
live we'll get into the history of the
foundation of the religion by looking at
the founder of Christianity and then the
traditional historical beliefs behind
this religions foundation and finally
we'll wrap up with just the basics what
are some of the basic beliefs and basic
facts regarding Christianity thus
without further ado let's go ahead and
begin
so Christianity is the world's largest
religion encompassing over 2 billion
followers around the world I mean in a
world of about 7 billion people over 2
billion of them are Christian so you
know somewhere in the avenue of
one-third of the world's population as
Christians clear the world's largest
religion its adherents can be found on
every populated continent of the world
so Christianity is very very widespread
and a big question worth addressing here
is how did a religion that started out
relatively small in all honesty
essentially a what we might call a Jesus
cult or a small devoted group of
followers that followed the teachings of
this guy Jesus how does it go from that
to becoming this massive worldwide
religion that's something that we'll
explore as we look at the history of the
development of Christianity so according
to tradition Christianity was founded in
the 1st century AD by a man named Jesus
and Christians are the followers of
Jesus
Christ the word Christ from which the
word Christian derives comes from Greek
origin the Greek word Cristo which means
Messiah because Christians believe that
Jesus was the Messiah who was foretold
in the writings of the Jewish prophets
so Christianity founded in traditional
belief by this guy Jesus the word
Christianity comes from the Greek word
Cristo meaning Messiah now to really
understand why Christianity develops the
way that it does where it does we have
to look at what's going on in that part
of the world during this time period so
let's go to the 1st century AD right
it's the first century the Roman Empire
controls pretty much all of Western
Europe all of North Africa the Middle
East this is the height of the power of
the Roman world and so in the early 1st
century AD the Roman Empire controls the
land of Judea this is the present-day
country of Israel land of Palestine this
is where the Jewish people live and we
know that their story is one of
independence and then bondage and
independence and bondage it's now here
they are getting controlled by the
Romans well the Romans allowed the
Jewish people to freely practice their
religion and remember that the Romans as
long as you behaved and paid your taxes
and followed Roman law that's really all
they cared about but the Jewish people
in that region would given their history
of you know being ruled by others and
then rising up gaining independence they
still desire freedom from Roman control
the Romans didn't exactly treat them
horribly but you can also see why they
would want their own independence and so
remember as we learned in Judaism the
coming of a messiah had long been
foretold by the Torah and by the
prophets and so given that this was
another time in which they felt they
were being ruled under an oppressive
regime many Jews believed that now would
be the time for this Messiah to come
they believe that this Messiah would
come during this time and deliver them
to freedom from Roman control so they
thought that this was the time for the
Messiah and so there you know people are
actively seeking out looking for this
Messiah to come during this time and the
person that they're looking for is
someone like Judah Maccabee like the
Maccabee brothers who
going to lead an armed rebellion and
help gain their freedom from Rome that's
what Jews in the region are looking for
in the form of a messiah and so it is
into this world during this time that a
man named Jesus is born into the Jewish
community in Judea so Jesus was born and
raised a Jewish person and historically
speaking you know we look at the
founders of these religions and you go
back to Abraham with Judaism and there
isn't a much historical evidence really
anything to prove his existence it's all
a matter of faith the evidence for the
existence of Jesus is scant but it is
there we have some of our most trusted
historians from the time period
particularly Josephus a Roman historian
of the region who mentions that a guy
named Jesus existed and his followers
thought he was the Messiah so we're very
certain that a guy named Jesus who does
a become the founder of Christianity is
living during this time and if
traditional Christian beliefs are
believed to be true then probably around
the age of 30
this guy Jesus has become a traveling
preacher and a travelling healer whose
message preaches a doctrine of peace and
love and repentance which given you know
a Jewish community that wants
independence from Rome this message of
peace and love is is vastly different
from what you might be expecting and so
from 30 ad to 33 ad roughly only about
three years Jesus this Jesus character
travels throughout the land of Judea
spreading his message gaining followers
gaining disciples Jesus's followers came
to believe that he was the Messiah who
would deliver them to freedom from Roman
control and you know let's be clear
about this too this is a world in which
people in the Jewish community are
seeking out this Messiah and Jesus was
not the only messianic movement in Judea
during this time there were at least a
handful of others maybe as many as a
dozen other people during the first
century whose followers all believed
that their man was the Messiah which
again leads this question how is it that
the Jesus Movement is the one that gave
rise to Christianity versus any of these
others Jesus's followers believed that
he was the Messiah but so did the
followers of some of these other folks
as well now most of the Jews in this
region
they didn't believe that Jesus was the
Messiah they did not share the point of
view remember what they're looking for
in a messiah is a military leader
someone who's going to lead an uprising
and deliver them to freedom from Roman
control and the Romans for their part
having dealt with a number of these
messianic movements see them as being
politically troublesome if you're the
Romans all you want is law and order and
you want things to be peaceful and
people to follow the law and pay their
taxes and and live like little girls
like good little girls and boys but for
the Romans with these messianic
movements what they see is trouble and
the way they typically tended to handle
it was they arrested and imprisoned or
arrested and executed the leaders of
these movements and then their followers
would just sort of disappear into the
shadows and then you wouldn't see him
anymore and so for the Romans their part
they see the Jesus movement as another
one of these potential potentially
problematic movements and they handle it
the same way they handled all the others
they arrest Jesus as a political rebel
they put him on trial and he's executed
by crucifixion now according to
Christian tradition at this point three
days after he was executed Jesus as the
Son of God rises from the dead and
ascends into heaven okay that's the
Christian traditional belief and in most
cases what the Romans were expecting
after the death of Jesus was that
Jesus's followers would just go away
that's what they expected them to do
disappear into the woodwork and not be a
problem anymore
however unlike these other messianic
movements the followers of Jesus do just
the opposite rather than disappearing
and going into hiding after the death of
their leader instead they go out in
public and they continue to spread the
message and spread the teachings of
their leader Jesus after the death of
Jesus the disciples travel throughout
the eastern Mediterranean Sea region and
parts other parts of the Roman world and
they begin preaching the religious
message that Jesus had taught they began
spreading his message and teachings this
is what's called evangelizing going out
and spreading the message so the
followers of Jesus rather than going
into hiding begin to evangelize and
spread the message and eventually
because of their practice
is their actions of spreading them
spreading the words reading the messages
eventually we see Christian churches
start to pop up all over the Roman
Empire in Greece in Asia Minor in Egypt
Gaul Spain even the city of Rome itself
and the big difference here in why
Christianity rises out of the teachings
of Jesus that his followers did not
disappear they went out and they spread
the message and they spread the
teachings and that's why we start to see
Christianity grow out of those teachings
were rather than one of these other
messianic movements now originally
Christians were severely persecuted by
the Romans beginning with the Emperor
Nero who of course blamed the Christians
for the great fire that burned half of
Rome Roman emperors would persecute the
Christians some more than others some
were more tolerant and some severely
persecuted them and this persecution
continues until the year 312 ad when the
Emperor Constantine comes to power and
he himself converts to Christianity and
makes Christianity a legal religion in
Rome as of 312 ad 80 years later the
Emperor Theodosius makes Christianity
the official religion of the Roman
Empire and this really allows
Christianity to take off and it spreads
and becomes a widespread the dominant
main religion in the Roman world and
this is what really catapults
Christianity from being the original
sort of you know cult surrounding the
teachings of Jesus - now this incredibly
widespread and important and influential
religion that it becomes in the world
States because of Roman acceptance of
Christianity and the spreading of those
teachings that Christianity really
becomes the global religion that it is
today now eventually we know the Roman
Empire is going to split into an East
and West following the split of the
Roman Empire into an East and a West we
begin to see strain arise between the
Christian Church in the east and the
West particularly it's kind of a
political power struggle between Rome
and Constantinople political and
religious doctrinal differences are
going to lead to the split what it
ultimately comes down to is the bishop
in Rome thinks that he should be the
leader of the Christian Church and the
bishop in Constantinople thinks that he
should be
leader of the Christian Church this
leads to a schism or a split between the
church in the West the Roman Church and
the church in the east the Church in
Constantinople and so Western
Christianity would be known as the Roman
Catholic Church while Eastern
Christianity would be known as the
Eastern Orthodox Church the Roman
Catholic Church would splinter even
further during the 1500s when the
Protestant Reformation took place based
largely on the teachings of a man by the
name of Martin Luther that's something
that we'll hit later on in this semester
but just know that Christianity split
again and so as a result today most
christians belong to one of three
general groups Roman Catholic Eastern
Orthodox and Protestant all right so
let's zip through now sort of the basics
Christianity just the basics basic
beliefs basic facts so according to
Christian tradition people can receive
eternal life by following the teachings
of Jesus and believing in in Jesus and
again they don't mean that you literally
become immortal and you'll never die but
you receive eternal life meaning that
after you die you go on and you'll live
forever in heaven in the afterlife
Christianity has a major impact on art
philosophy politics society in the
Western world after the fall of Rome
the Catholic Church the Christian Church
is the one constant that still remains
in Western Europe and as a result it
becomes very politically and socially
powerful more to come on that later in
the semester Christianity as we know is
the world's largest religion with over
two billion followers worldwide and
Christianity has a very very deep
connection with Judaism they share
common roots they share holy sites they
share holy cities for example Jerusalem
is the holiest city for Christians just
as it's the holiest city for Jews and
the holiest site for all of the
Christian faith is a place in Jerusalem
a place called the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre is a church that was built
over the site that Christians believed
to have been the crucifixion and
resurrection of Jesus if you go into the
church
the holy sepulcher you'll find a shrine
that looks just like this one it's
actually this shrine right here and this
is the spot on which Christians believe
that Jesus was crucified if you go to
the other side of the church you'll find
this shrine and inside this shrine is a
first century tomb this is the tomb that
Christians believe Jesus was originally
buried in and they believe it was from
this tomb that Jesus then rose from the
dead so this is the holiest site in all
of Christianity the scripture that
Christians follow is of course the Holy
Bible the connection between Judaism
Christianity here is very strong the
first five books of the Bible the Old
Testament of the Bible is basically the
writings of the Jewish Torah so there's
that connection once again Christians as
you probably know worship in churches
and the leader of the Christian Church
is a guy called the Pope who lives in
the Vatican in Rome all right well there
we have it guys we took a look at the
history behind the foundation of
Christianity we saw that Christianity is
something that is worldwide today where
most of them live we also saw where
Christianity originated in Judea the
land that is today Israel and Palestine
we looked at the basic historical
background of Christianity looked at the
founder people believed the founder to
be Jesus and then of course we ran
through some of the basic facts and
beliefs regarding Christianity so pay
attention to these essential questions
be ready to talk about them and other
things the next time that we meet but as
always until that time I bid you
farewell
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