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usalem and jewish christians after the crucifixion of jesus christianity first emerged as a sect of judaism as practiced in the roman province of judea 1 the first christians were all jews who constituted a second temple jewish sect with an apocalyptic eschatology 18 19 the jerusalem community consisted of hebrews jews speaking both aramaic and greek and hellenists jews speaking only greek possibly diaspora jews who had resettled in jerusalem 20 with the start of their missionary activity early jewish christians also started to attract proselytes gentiles who were fully or partly converted to judaism 21 note 1 according to james dunn paul s initial persecution of christians probably was directed against these greek speaking hellenists due to their anti temple attitude 22 within the early jewish christian community this also set them apart from the hebrews and their tabernacle observance 22 christian missionary activity spread the christian way and slowly created early centers of christianity with gentile adherents in the predominantly greek speaking eastern half of the roman empire and then throughout the hellenistic world and beyond the roman empire in assyria mesopotamia armenia georgia and persia 15 23 24 25 note 2 early christian beliefs were proclaimed in kerygma preaching some of which are preserved in christian testament scripture the early gospel message spread orally probably originally in aramaic 27 but almost immediately also in greek 28 the scope of the jewish christian mission expanded over time while jesus limited his message to a jewish audience in galilea and judea after his death his followers extended their outreach to all of israel and eventually the whole jewish diaspora believing that the second coming would only happen when all jews had received the gospel 29 apostles and preachers traveled to jewish communities around the mediterranean sea and initially attracted jewish converts 24 within 10 years of the death of jesus apostles had attracted enthusiasts for the christian way from jerusalem to antioch edessa ephesus corinth thessalonica cyprus crete alexandria and rome 30 15 23 31 over 40 churches were established by 100 23 31 most in asia minor and upper mesopotamia such as the seven churches of asia and some in greece and italy according to fredriksen when early christians broadened their missionary efforts they also came into contact with gentiles attracted to the jewish religion eventually the gentiles came to be included in the missionary effort of hellenised jews bringing all nations into the house of christianity s god 29 the hellenists greek speaking diaspora jews belonging to the early jerusalem jesus movement played an important role in reaching a gentile greek audience notably at antioch which had a large jewish community and significant numbers of gentile god fearers 21 from antioch the mission to the gentiles started including paul s which would fundamentally change the character of the early christian movement eventually turning it into a new gentile religion 32 according to dunn within ten years after jesus death the new messianic movement focused on jesus began to modulate into something different it was at antioch that we can begin to speak of the new movement as christianity 33 paul and the inclusion of gentiles edit main articles paul the apostle and pauline epistles further information new perspective on paul paul the apostle and judaism and pauline christianity saint paul by el greco mediterranean basin geography relevant to paul s life stretching from jerusalem in the lower right to rome in the upper left paul was responsible for bringing christianity to ephesus corinth philippi and thessalonica 34 better source needed according to larry hurtado paul saw jesus resurrection as ushering in the eschatological time foretold by biblical prophets in which the pagan gentile nations would turn from their idols and embrace the one true god of israel e g zechariah 8 20 23 and paul saw himself as specially called by god to declare god s eschatological acceptance of the gentiles and summon them to turn to god web 2 according to krister stendahl the main concern of paul s writings on jesus role and salvation by faith is not the individual conscience of human sinners and their doubts about being chosen by god or not but the main concern is the problem of the inclusion of gentile greek torah observers into god s covenant 35 36 37 web 3 hebrew jewish christians opposed paul s interpretations 38 as exemplified by the ebionites the relaxing of requirements in pauline christianity opened the way for a much larger christian church extending far beyond the jewish community the inclusion of gentiles is reflected in luke acts which is an attempt to answer a theological problem namely how the messiah of the jews came to have an overwhelmingly non jewish church the answer it provides and its central theme is that the message of christ was sent to the gentiles because a number of jews rejected it 39 split with judaism edit main article split of early christianity and judaism see also schisms among the jews and list of events in early christianity there was a slowly growing chasm between gentile christians and jews and jewish christians rather than a sudden split even though it is commonly thought that paul established a gentile church it took centuries for a complete break to manifest growing tensions led to a starker separation that was virtually complete by the time jewish christians refused to join in the bar kokhba jewish revolt of 132 40 certain events are perceived as pivotal in the growing rift between christianity and judaism ante nicene period 2nd 3rd century edit roman empire edit spread of christianity to ad 325 spread of christianity to ad 600 spread edit see also early centers of christianity constantine the great and christianity historiography of the christianization of the roman empire and decline of greco roman polytheism christianity spread to aramaic speaking peoples along the mediterranean coast and also to the inland parts of the roman empire 41 and beyond that into the parthian empire and the later sasanian empire including assyria and mesopotamia which was dominated at different times and to varying extents by these empires in ad 301 the kingdom of armenia became the first state to declare christianity as its state religion following the conversion of the royal house of the arsacids in armenia although the neo assyrian kingdom of osroene became christian earlier with christianity the dominant faith in some urban centers christians accounted for approximately 10 of the roman population by 300 according to some estimates 42 christianity then rapidly grew in the 4th century accounting for 56 5 of the roman population by 350 43 by the latter half of the second century christianity had spread east throughout media persia parthia and bactria the twenty bishops and a number of presbyters were more of the order of itinerant missionaries passing from place to place as paul did and supplying their needs with such occupations as merchant or craftsman various theories attempt to explain how christianity managed to spread so successfully prior to the edict of milan 313 in the rise of christianity rodney stark argues that christianity replaced paganism chiefly because it improved the lives of its adherents in various ways 44 dag øistein endsjø argues that christianity was helped by its promise of a general resurrection of the dead at the end of the world which was compatible with the traditional greek belief that true immortality depended on the survival of the body 45 according to will durant the christian church prevailed over paganism because it offered a much more attractive doctrine and because the church leaders addressed human needs better than their rivals 46 bart d ehrman attributes the rapid spread of christianity to five factors 1 the promise of salvation and eternal life for everyone was an attractive alternative to roman religions 2 stories of miracles and healings purportedly showed that the one christian god was more powerful than the many roman gods 3 christianity began as a grassroots movement providing hope of a better future in the next life for the lower classes 4 christianity took worshipers away from other religions since converts were expected to give up the worship of other gods unusual in antiquity where worship of many gods was common 5 in the roman world converting one person often meant converting the whole household if the head of the household was converted he decided the religion of his wife children and slaves 47 persecutions and legalisation edit see also anti christian policies in the roman empire and persecution of christians in the roman empire there was no empire wide persecution of christians until the reign of decius in the third century web 4 as the roman empire experienced the crisis of the third century the emperor decius enacted measures intended to restore stability and unity including a requirement that roman citizens affirm their loyalty through religious ceremonies pertaining to imperial cult in 212 universal citizenship had been granted to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire and with the edict of decius enforcing religious conformity in 250 christian citizens faced an intractable conflict any citizen who refused to participate in the empire wide supplicatio was subject to the death penalty 48 although lasting only a year 49 the decian persecution was a severe departure from previous imperial policy that christians were not to be sought out and prosecuted as inherently disloyal 50 even under decius orthodox christians were subject to arrest only for their refusal to participate in roman civic religion and were not prohibited from assembling for worship gnostics seem not to have been persecuted 51 christianity flourished during the four decades known as the little peace of the church beginning with the reign of gallienus 253 268 who issued the first official edict of tolerance regarding christianity 52 the era of coexistence ended when diocletian launched the final and great persecution in 303 the edict of serdica was issued in 311 by the roman emperor galerius officially ending the diocletianic persecution of christianity in the east with the passage in ad 313 of the edict of milan in which the roman emperors constantine the great and licinius legalised the christian religion persecution of christians by the roman state ceased web 5 india edit see also christianity in india and saint thomas christians according to indian christian traditional legends following previous migration by jews 53 christianity arrived along the southern indian malabar coast via thomas the apostle in 52 ad 54 and from this came thomasine christianity but there is no contemporary evidence for this according to the third century acts of thomas thomas visited only the realm of gondophares in northwest india which is now pakistan although little is known of the immediate growth of the church bar daisan ad 154 223 reports that in his time there were christian tribes in northwest india which claimed to have been converted by thomas and to have books and relics to prove it 55 certainly by the time of the establishment of the sassanid empire ad 226 there were bishops of the assyrian church of the east in northwest india afghanistan and baluchistan with laymen and clergy alike engaging in missionary activity 54 late antiquity 313 476 edit main article christianity in late antiquity legalisation and roman state religion edit head of constantine s colossal statue at musei capitolini in 313 constantine and licinius issued the edict of milan officially legalizing christian worship in 316 constantine acted as a judge in a north african dispute concerning the donatist controversy more significantly in 325 he summoned the council of nicaea effectively the first ecumenical council unless the council of jerusalem is so classified to deal mostly with the arian controversy but which also issued the nicene creed which among other things professed a belief in one holy catholic apostolic church the start of christendom on february 27 380 the roman empire officially adopted trinitarian nicene christianity as its state religion 56 prior to this date constantius ii 337 361 and valens 364 378 had personally favored arian or semi arianism forms of christianity but valens successor theodosius i supported the trinitarian doctrine as expounded in the nicene creed in the several centuries of state sponsored christianity that followed pagans and heretical christians were routinely persecuted by the empire and the many kingdoms and countries that later occupied the place of the empire 57 but some germanic tribes remained arian well into the middle ages 58 church of the east edit historically the most widespread christian church in asia was the church of the east now the assyrian church of the east the christian church of sasanian this church is often known as the nestorian church due to its later adoption of the doctrine of nestorianism which emphasized the disunity of the divine and human natures of christ it has also been known as the persia church the east syrian church the assyrian church and in china as the luminous religion the church of the east developed almost wholly apart from the greek and roman churches in the 5th century it endorsed the doctrine of nestorius patriarch of constantinople from 428 to 431 especially following the nestorian schism after the condemnation of nestorius for heresy at the first council of ephesus for at least 1 200 years the church of the east was noted for its missionary zeal its high degree of lay participation its superior educational standards and cultural contributions in less developed countries and its fortitude in the face of persecution persian empires edit main article christianity in iran the church of the east had its inception at a very early date in the buffer zone between the parthian and roman empires in assyria and edessa now şanlıurfa in northwestern mesopotamia was from apostolic times the principal center of syriac speaking christianity when early christians were scattered abroad because of persecution some found refuge at edessa the missionary movement in the east began which gradually spread throughout mesopotamia and persia and by ad 280 while the rulers of the second persian empire 227 640 also followed a policy of religious toleration to begin with they later gave the largely assyrian christians the same status as a subject race these rulers encouraged the revival of the ancient persian dualistic faith of zoroastrianism and established it as the state religion with the result that the christians were increasingly subjected to repressive measures nevertheless it was not until christianity became the state religion in the west that enmity toward rome was focused on the eastern christians the metropolis of seleucia assumed the title of ...