1. Christianity Spreads Through the Empire
1.1. Paul's Mission
1.1.1. The apostle Paul had great influence on Christianity's developement.
1.1.2. Paul preached that Christianity was available for everyone, not just Jews
1.2. Jewish Rebellion
1.2.1. The Jews rebelled against Rome in A.D. 66
1.2.2. in A.D. 70 Rome stormed Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple complex
1.2.3. Jews were driven from their homeland into exile, this is called Diaspora
1.3. Persecution of the Christians
1.3.1. Christians were persecuted because they refused to worship the Roman Gods
1.3.2. many were used as scapegoats for political and economic troubles
2. A World Religion
2.1. Constantine Accepts Christianity
2.1.1. The Roman emperor fighting for leadership of Rome with 3 others had accepted Christianity and won an important battles
2.1.2. Constantine outlawed the persecution of Christians based on religion
2.1.3. in 380, emperor Theodosius made Christianity Rome's official religion
2.2. Early Christian Church
2.2.1. Bishops were priests who supervised several local churches
2.2.2. The apostle Peter traveled to Rome and became the first bishop there.
2.2.3. Popes are the considered the leader of the whole Christian Church, and Peter was considered to be the first of them
2.3. A Single Voice
2.3.1. The New testament was added the the Hebrew bible which Christians called the Old Testament
2.4. The Fathers of the Church
2.4.1. Augustine who was a bishop of Hippo said that people needed to belong to a church in order to receive God's grace
3. The Life and Teachings of Jesus
3.1. Jesus of Nazareth
3.1.1. Rome took control of Jewish kingdoms in A.D. 6
3.1.2. around 6-4 B.C a Jew named Jesus was born, he was baptized by a prophet named John the Baptist.
3.1.3. Jesus would preach to people about a loving god, giving a new perspective on religion.
3.2. A Growing Movement
3.2.1. Historical Records don't mention much about Jesus
3.2.2. There were 12 disciples of Jesus who wrote about him, they were called the apostles
3.2.3. Jesus had an appeal to the poor, because he ignored wealth and social statuses
3.3. Jesus' Death
3.3.1. Jewish chiefs denied Jesus as their Messiah
3.3.2. Jesus was arrested and crucified for preaching things that the Jewish leaders didn't agree with.
3.3.3. The word Christ came from the Greek word "Christos" which meant messiah or savior