hum

It seems to me a lot of apologists rely very heavily on the idea that the only possible explanation for the growth of the early christian movement is that Jesus must have been resurected. This they say explains why a defeated minority (their leader executed) pulls it self together and starts to attract converts. (I am thinking of the arguments of N.T. Wright in particular).

My request is that perhaps other posters might posit other possible scenarios that could reasonably explain the rise of Christianity.

Can we, for the sake of this exercise, assume an historical Jesus who was crucified.

hum

Tubby Lardmore

The author Herbert Muller maintains that the reason Christianity spread faster and farther than Mithraism, for example, was that Paul was such a talented fanatic about witnessing.

JubalDiGriz

Chap called Constantine around 250 C.E. decided the Eastern Roman Empire should be Christian.

countjulian

See Ramsay MacMullen, Christianizing the Roman Empire 100-400AD. Christianity was spread mostly by miracles examplia gratia faith healings, speaking in toungs (Montanists), and even ressurections. Fiath healings were the big thing (which is why the cult of Asclepius was such a competitor to Christianity, and why it was one of the first cults targeted by the Christians when they got into power). This was because in the pagan world, you only "converted" to a god (concentrated on giving them honor, praise, and sacrifice, but not renouncing other gods) because they had done something for you-religion was seen as a highly contractual affair (Venus gives me great blowjobs, so I'll give her lamb and a prayer). The only other thing close to this was conversion to the philosophy schools like Epicureanism and Stoicism, which mostly only attracted intellectuals or spiritual seekers. Even though literacy may have been very high, most folk were not impressed with argument or even preaching; Jesus had to give them something before they would convert.

judge

Things tend to succeed because they work. We try them out and see what the results are. If they don't work we abandon them, if they do we continue with them.

hum

...thanks for the replies so far.

Perhaps I should be a bit more specific about my area of interest.
I am concerned primarily with the immediate period post "resurection" ie the period up until around 70ce or so.

hum

NZSkep

maybe the christianity cult was started around 70CE and lots of stories made up abotu a guy who, conveniently, existed just before practically anyone alive then was born.

FlimFlamMan

I like to point out the rapid growth and spread of Mormonism as a counter example. It has a growth curve similar to early christianity.

Clarice O'C

The end of the world was imminent. Maybe people saw in Jesus' message a way to save themselves from :devil1:

javarush

It seems to me that wildfire revolutions occur when an oppressed mass hears a message they like; the messenger naturally becomes the lightning rod. For example, Lenin appealed to the proletariat; Hitler appealed to a beaten, bankrupt Germany. Jesus' case is a bit different since it seems it was the apostles, especially Paul, who were the principal messengers, deferring to Jesus' name. They especially seem to have found an audience with the large masses in Roman-conquered lands outside of Jerusalem. The longevity of such movements is another question -- but it may have something to do with the ability for the program to organize and morph itself to survive and exploit evolving situations.