Western Civilization

God’s kingdom on earth, Jesus spoke of a heavenly

kingdom, not an earthly one: “My kingdom is not of

this world.”^16 In this he disappointed the radicals. At

the same time, conservative religious leaders believed

that Jesus was another false Messiah who was under-

mining respect for traditional Jewish religion. To the

Roman authorities of Palestine and their local allies,

the Nazarene was a potential revolutionary who might

transform Jewish expectations of a messianic kingdom

into a revolt against Rome. Jesus thus found himself

denounced on many sides and was given over to the

Roman authorities. The procurator Pontius Pilate or-

dered his crucifixion. But that did not solve the prob-

lem. A few loyal disciples spread the story that Jesus

had overcome death, had been resurrected, and had

then ascended into heaven. The belief in Jesus’s resur-

rection became an important tenet of Christian doctrine.

Jesus was now hailed by his followers as the “anointed

one” (Christin Greek), the Messiah who would return

and usher in the kingdom of God on earth.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PAUL Christianity began, then, as

a religious movement within Judaism and was viewed

that way by Roman authorities for many decades.

Although tradition holds that one of Jesus’s disciples,

Peter, founded the Christian church at Rome, the most

important figure in early Christianity after Jesus was

Paul of Tarsus (ca. 5–ca. 67). Paul reached out to non-

Jews and transformed Christianity from a Jewish sect

into a broader religious movement.

Called the “second founder of Christianity,” Paul

was a Jewish Roman citizen who had been strongly

influenced by Hellenistic Greek culture. He believed

that the message of Jesus should be preached not only

to Jews but to Gentiles (non-Jews) as well. Paul was

responsible for founding Christian communities through-

out Asia Minor and along the shores of the Aegean.

It was Paul who provided a universal foundation for

the spread of Jesus’s ideas. He taught that Jesus was,

in effect, a savior-God, the son of God, who had come

to earth to save all humans, who were basically sinners

as a result of Adam’s original sin of disobedience

against God as recorded in the Old Testament. By his

death, Jesus had atoned for the sins of all humans and

made it possible for all men and women to experience

a new beginning with the potential for individual salva-

tion. By accepting Jesus Christ as their savior, they too

could be saved.

THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY At first, Christianity spread

slowly. Although the teachings of early Christianity

were disseminated primarily by the preaching of con-

vinced Christians, written materials also appeared. Paul

had written a series of epistles (letters) outlining Chris-

tian beliefs for different Christian communities. Some

of Jesus’s disciples may also have preserved some of

the sayings of the master in writing and would have

passed on personal memories that became the basis of

the written gospels—the “good news” concerning Jesus

as recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—which

of so many unless it had overcome and risen above the

opposition by divine power, so that it has conquered

the whole world that was conspiring against it....

He [also] ridicules our teachers of the gospel who

try to elevate the soul in every way to the Creator of

the universe.... He compares them [Christians] to

wool-workers in houses, cobblers, laundry-workers, and

the most obtuse yokels, as if they called children quite

in infancy and women to evil practices, telling them to

leave their father and teachers and to follow them. But

let Celsus... tell us how we make women and children

leave noble and sound teaching, and call them to

wicked practices. But he will not be able to prove

anything of any kind against us. On the contrary, we

deliver women from licentiousness and from perver-

sion caused by their associates, and from all mania for

theaters and dancing, and from superstition.

Q What were Pliny’s personal opinions of Christians?

Why was he willing to execute them? What was

Trajan’s response, and what were its consequences

for the Christians? What major points did Origen

make about the benefits of the Christian religion?

Why did the Roman authorities consider these ideas

dangerous to the Roman state?

Sources: An Exchange Between Pliny and Trajan. FromThe Letters of the Younger Pliny, translated with an introduction by Betty Radice (Penguin Classics 1963, Reprinted 1969). Copyrightª

Betty Radice, 1963, 1969. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd. Origen,Against Celsus. From Origen,Contra Celsum. Trans Henry Chadwick. Copyrightª1953. Reprinted with the

permission of Cambridge University Press.

Transformation of the Roman World: The Rise of Christianity 141

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