Christianity In The Roman Empire Essay

621 Words3 Pages

The conditions in the Roman Empire that allowed Christianity to grow while the empire declined were deplorable. Morally speaking, there was no sense of right and wrong in an aspect due to the attacks on Rome, the leaders being polytheistic, any Christian beliefs being persecuted, and the separation of the empire into the east and west. In 313 A.D., the emperor at the time, Constantine, put an end to the violent persecution of people of the Christian faith and declared an act of tolerance toward them. However, the Roman state believed the emperor to be a god, but the Christian belief in one god, who was not the emperor, weakened the authority and credibility of the emperor, causing issues with his influence and ability to lead well. Also, the …show more content…

These problems collectively caused a need for a new way of life that would bring more hope and progress in their lives and people found that Christianity was the answer for this problem. The morals and clean living that came along with the religion brought a new found success to the people because they learned to work for what they wanted and to live a more honest life that they could be rewarded for in the right way. Living this way also brought a sense of pride to the people for changing into well rounded individuals. The message of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ appealed to and inspired the most ordinary of people to do extraordinary things. Wayne A Meeks said, "we can say it offers a kind of community, which is rare in any society and certainly rare in antiquity. It offers a closeness, it offers a powerful ideology which explains the evil in the world, or at least it provides powerful symbols for understanding that evil, it offers you a sense of the moral structure of the universe.... It has an ideology of justice, which will be guaranteed by God,