The History of American Art
Christianity is very practical. It is not a dead, dry, formal, human religion of rituals, outward form, and show, but a divine, living, vital, dynamic, liberating religion. The word Christian means, "Christ like", or "One follows Christ". Jesus Christ, who laid the foundation of Christian Church, was born in BC 4 in Judea. He is the foundation of the Church (1 Cori. 3:10,11). He started preaching about the Kingdom of God when he was thirty. His activities roused the opposition of the Jewish high priests who accused him of blasphemy. He was crucified under the orders of Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor. After three days, Christ was resurrected from the dead. With the Resurrection of Christ, his disciples took heart and went about preaching the Kingdom of God to all the people of the world. Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire where it was made the state religion in the 4th century AD. Later, the Church split into two broad groups - the Western Church under the Pope in Rome and the Eastern Churches under the Patriarchies of Antioch, Alexandria and Constantinople. Still later, further disruptions took place. The Roman Catholic Church was broken up by Protestantism, while in the Eastern Churches, many communities like
Constantine, made Sunday as the Day of Assembly, a Rest Day, forbidding ordinary work and permitting the Christian soldiers to attend Church services. The first Church building was erected in the reign of Alexander Severus (AD 222-235). After the Edict of Constantine, they began to be built everywhere. Though the conversion of Constantine relaxed the persecution to a greater extent, it led to a spiritual declension of the Church, and deviation from the apostolic teachings. As Christianity became a royal religion, the Church ministers began to be clad in royal robes. When the laity (ordinary members) were busy in the worldly affairs, the ministers were entrusted with the duty of praying and evangelizing. Eventually, they became priests acting on behalf of people before God. However, these persecutions tightened the bond of unity of the believers. The blood of the martyred saints became the seed of the Church. In AD 313 with the conversion of the Roman emperor Constantine, the persecutions ended and the Church grew rapidly but in deviation. The persecution could not destroy the Church. Tertullian (AD 160-220), one of the Church Father's wrote "We are of yesterday. Yet we have filled your Empire, your Cities, your Towns, your Island, your Tribes, your Camps, Castles, Palaces, Assemblies and Senate." By the end of the Imperial Persecutions (AD 313), Christians were numbered about One-Half of the population of the entire Roman Empire. 7. From AD 235 to AD 237, during the reign of the Roman emperor, Maximin. Many Christians were tortured and killed during this period. Origen escaped by hiding. Saul was a Jew born in Tarsus of Cilicia and a Roman citizen by birth. He was thoroughly trained in the Law of Moses, from Gamaliel - the most honored rabbi of the first century. He was just zealous for his religion, and persecuted the Christians, with the permission of the Roman government. But the mighty power of God has changed him to a mighty warrior of Jesus and he became the apostle Paul. The motto of life was, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain". He is known as The Apostle of Gentiles. The disciples were devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles (Acts 2:42,43). And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:47). Thus the Church (the Lord's body) was established. In Acts 4: 4, we see that the number of men grew to about five thousand, and in Acts 6:7 we see that, the disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. This shows the rapid growth of the early Christian Church. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch (Acts 11:26). David L. Edwards, Christianity: The First Two Thousand Years (New York, Orbis Books, 1997) 1. From AD 64 to AD 68. Nero the Roman emperor wanted to rebuild the city of Rome. The people protested against that. Then the emperor secretly set the city on fire and put the blame on Christians. Thus the public hatred turned towards the Christians. Following this, innumerable Christians were put to death in many ways. Apostle Peter and Paul were martyred at this time. Many were made torches wrapped up in cloth, soaked in oil, lit, and they kept them burning for hours together.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Christian Church, Jesus Christ, Roman Empire, Holy Spirit, Empire Church, Sexeres Rome, Virgin Mary, Christ Worship, Apostle John, Justin Martyr, roman emperor, roman empire, reign roman emperor, reign roman, christian church, jesus christ, ad 313, holy spirit, ad 431, 1 cori, killed period, preaching kingdom god, deity jesus christ, christian church disciples, roman empire church,
Approximate Word count = 3429
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
