Outline the Roman Empire’s attitude to Christianity Essay

Q Outline the ro worldly concern letters Empires attitude to Christianity until the check of the first century.The Christian church building from its issue crop has faced many challenges as a result of external influences one of the most key of these influences was the persecution of the Christian people by the Roman Empire. From the twelvemonth 64AD onwards the church was persecuted by the Roman authorities in an intermittent and sporadic manner, not on account of their beliefs, but was a result of chance and circumstance. Christianity was born come on of Judaism and appeared as an entity after the death of Christ. Of course Jews of the time felt exist by the emergence of Christianity as a faith, and so the earliest persecutions of Christians occurred at the hands of Judaic Sadducees, who branded Christians blasphemous.Indeed it is clear that the Jews compete a part in persecution of Christians as late on as AD156 in the persecution of Polycarp. The persecution of Christians in the first century by Jews however were token(prenominal) in comparison to the frequently more widespread and systematic persecutions by the Roman authorities from the year AD64 onwards. Before this date Christians were accepted as a national sect of Judaism, and therefrom they enjoyed the status of religio licita- a lawful or tolerated faith. The Roman Empire even protected many Christians against Jewish attack in the early years. This all changed however in the year 64AD, during the reign of the emperor Nero.See more 5 paragraph shew format 64AD was by general concurrence of early Christians, the beginning of empurpled repression of Christianity. This accompaniment was supported by early Christian writers such as Tertullian, Eusebius and Sulpicus Severus. This date coincides with the fire of Rome, a devastating blaze which destroyed well-nigh half of the city.The pagan writer Tacitus reports to us in 115 of the fact that Despite Neros efforts the accusation that the fire was ordered could not be quashed. The mounting suspicion had a disastrous effect on Neros popularity (which had been very high before then), so Nero set ab break through probing for a scapegoat. Christians were perfect candidates for a number of reasons they were a relatively unfermented group that were small in number and there was already an business of suspicion surrounding allegations of anti social behaviour. However the actual mess may have been more complex than will never be understood by ourselves, as banks points outThe reasons behind the persecution of Christians included religious,political and social factors which were so inter-related and inter-dependantthat it would be historically misleading to separate them out as isolatedissues. at that place are however some other(a) opposing views on the exact circumstances of the fire of Rome. Critics such as Frend have argued that it is possible that Nero originally put blame on the Jewish society, who in turn blamed Chr istianity. Yet other critics have as well as suggested that the fire may well have been started by Christian extremists, nauseous to fulfil apocalyptic prophecies.The first persecuted Christians were charged with arson and as Tacitus tells us, huge in number, this charge apparently changed to a charge of hatred for the military man race. This in itself indicates the immense suspicion of the Roman population towards Christianity and the readiness of Roman authorities to exploit this. Wand indicates to us the defer of Roman perceptions of Christianity after Neros reignBy the end of the reign of Nero the state had settled down to an attitude ofsuspicion towards the church.The persecutions themselves were reported to be forbidding and perverse in nature by Tacitus among others. They were deliberately devised to create frolic for the public as well as humiliate the incumbent. Accounts included victims cosmos covered with the hides of dogs and beasts and set upon by dogs, being c rucified and being used as streetlights to illuminate the darkness. Even Tacitus the most ardent of anti Christian writers, could not help but feel pity for them.There is much dispute over the impact that Neros persecution had on the Christian church. slightly feel that it represents the beginning of Christianitys status as an illegal religion, and that it set the motive for a further 2 centuries of imperial persecution. What is certain is that the church lost many of its influential early leaders during Neros reign, including St diaphysis and St Paul as reported by Eusebius. Some commentators believe that without the books of early evangelists, the Christian faith may have disappeared altogether. After Neros removal from office there was a period of considerable civic unrest within the Roman Empire, and therefore Christians were not seen as an important priority.It was not until the reign of Domitian that persecution of Christians began in earnest. This time though the persecut ions were different in nature in that he did not search out the Christian community as a group but sought out individuals by stealth. Domitian is described by Bernard asA jealous man who went in fear of his life. He kept power(like Stalin in Russia) by a series of sudden blows againstthose who he felt were plotting against him.There is render to suggest during the end of his reign Domitian began to fervently persecute the Christian community as a whole. Showing the mans deep paranoia and distorted frame of mind. The ancient writer Suetonius writes of the Gladiator Glabrio who was executed by Domitian on Christian charges, although the rattling reason was the Emperors apparent jealousy of his abilities, underlining the unstable nature of Domitians personality.It is widely regarded by many critics such as Banks that a possible start of conflict between Domitian and the Christian church was his enthusiasm for the imperial cult, and therefore he persecuted them because of their refu sal to accord him divine honours. However it still remains in dispute whether Domitian persecuted Christians at all. The early church writer Dio Cassius, wrote from Bythinia, a toilsome Christian province and yet he never mentions any of Domitians victims as Christians. Furthermore, Pliny, a lawyer working in Rome at the time of Domitians reign tells Trajan many years later that he had never been involved in a Christian trial. This indicates at least(prenominal) that Domitians persecution was not exactly widespread or for reaching, if it existed at all.There is little doubt of the immense impact the early persecutions had on the gain of the Christian church. While some argue that it has helped the church in its growth, others affirm that it has actually hindered the churches growth. Tertullian observes the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. I believe that because of the bound nature of early persecutions they did not seriously slow down the refinement of Christian ity. What is certain though is that the persecutions at the hands of Nero and Domitian set a precedent for future Christian persecution.