Malachi151

I think that a major and mostly overlooked key was the fact that the writers of the NT Gospels build their stories off of the "OT" scritpures using literary allusion, paraphrasing, and quotation in ways that led Greek and Roman onlookers to view the "actions" of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels as true and real examples of "prophecy fulfillment". Since the Romans were obsessed with prophesy, they viewed this as a sign that this was the one true religion and they also believe that they would be able to further "decode" other elements of the Hebrew scritpures to be able to foretell the future.

This wasn't necessarily a part of the popular appeal of the religion, but it defiantly played a role in its adoption by "intellectuals" and authority figures, which in turn had a top down effect on the spread of the religion.

aa5874

So, where did you find the information that Christianity was too big to be suppressed by the Romans?

I cannot find such information in the histories of antiquity.

What you imagine to be true, may really be false.

Cesc

Ah yes, I've heard about that with the social networks and helping the weak and poor and such. Sounds logical.

Definately, the bishop's setup in Rome must have been quite useful for Constantine in a number of ways, I could imagine, and vice-versa. The powers of the bishop and Constantine would have formed a winning combination at that time? Eventually producing the despotic god-king concept of the Papacy that we all know and love.


Malachi151, good point. I never realised that.

Cesc

I dont know, isn't it correct?
I just assumed that Christianity didn't overnight go from being hunted down in basements by the emperor's secret police to becoming his favorite religion.

Indeed.

aa5874

Perhaps you should read "Church History" by Eusebius. You may come to realise that the history of Christianity is not what you assumed.

It would appear that the history of the Church is bogus, but you can check for yourself by the words of the Church writers themselves. See www.earlychristianwritings.com.

spamandham

Although there are 2nd century records of sporadic regional persecutions of Christians, I am unaware of any evidence that supports the idea that Christian persecution was widespread or that Christians were hiding in basements, as is often imagined in modern times.

aa5874

But if Christians or believers in the Jesus stories were not widespread, then not much believers would be persecuted.

Anyhow, if one reads Justin Martyr, it would seem that the persecution or hatred of Christians was indeed widespread.

Justin Martyr "First Apology" And in "Second Apology", Justin Martyr mentioned that a person was executed for just admitting that he was a Christian.

Huon

Here is a list of persons who were killed for just admitting that they were emperors :
Avidius Cassius (175) killed
Commodus (176-192) strangled in his bath
Pertinax (192-193) a group of soldiers mutinied and killed him
Didius Julianus (193) Didius Julianus was executed
Septimius Severus (193-211) died York
Pescennius Niger (193-194) (Syria, Byzantium), killed
Clodius Albinus (196-197) (Britain, Gaul), suicide
Geta (211) killed by order of Caracalla
Caracalla (198-217) killed
Macrinus (217-218) defeated, captured, killed (Artabanus V)
Diadumenianus (218) captured, killed (Parthian ruler Artabanus V)
Elagabalus (218-222) killed by order of Severus Alexander
Severus Alexander (222-235) a group of soldiers mutinied and killed him
Maximinus Thrax (235-238) a group of soldiers mutinied and killed him
Pupienus (238) killed
Balbinus (238) killed
Gordian I (238) beaten at Carthage by Capelianus, suicide
Gordian II (238) killed at Carthage by Capelianus
Gordian III (238-244) died of illness near Circesium, Euphrates
Philip the Arab (244-249) died in the battle of Verona or was assassinated by his troops
Decius (249-251) defeated, killed (Cniva king of the Goths)
Trebonianus Gallus (251-253) Gallus' troops mutinied and murdered the two co-emperors
Volusianus (251-253) Gallus' troops mutinied and murdered the two co-emperors
Emilianus (253) ancient sources agree with Zonaras that he was killed by his troops
Valerian (253-260) defeated, killed (Persian king Sapor)
Gallienus (253-268) a plot involving Claudius and Aurelian assassinated him.
Claudius II Gothicus (268-270) caught the plague and died at Sirmium
Aurelian (270-275) the troops murdered Aurelian
Tacitus (275-276)
Florianus (276) assassinated by his own troops near Tarsus.
Probus (276-282) Probus' remaining troops killed the emperor
Carus (282-283) died naturally of illness
Numerianus (283-284) bizarre manner of his death
Carinus (283-285) battle against Diocletian at the Margus River

The death of some (perhaps 3000, according to Gibbon) Christians is peanuts in front of these statistics.

mg01

This goes way beyond just the Gospels. The DSS, Paul, Gnostics, Philo, Clement, Marcion, etc... all seem to have been fond of quoting from and re-interpreting not only scripture, but even previous commentators. The whole process dates at least to 150 BCE. (The same process produced the Talmud.) The synoptic authors’ use of scripture as "source material" seems to fall right in line with the trends of the day.

The development of Christianity out of Judaism seems to be not much more that taking the traditional "Jewish" re-interpretations and gradually removing the aspects that were inherently "Jewish", a process that occurred over several hundred years by which various ideas were selected and others rejected do different degrees within different groups. When you do that you have a future kingdom of god and a token messiah offering salvation at the end of the age where the wicked will be destroyed and the righteous will be redeemed.

spamandham

The fact that Justin was not immediately arrested and killed for writing his first apology is proof that such persecutions were overblown - unless he wrote a letter to the emperor that was never actually sent.