Lesson 8: The Rise and Spread of Christianity

The Rise of Christianity

In the 1st century, Christianity emerged in the area of Palestine under the Roman Empire. The ancient Jews living here rebelled against the brutal rule of the Roman Empire many times, and the revolts were bloodily suppressed. The people turned to religion for spiritual relief, and Christianity was born.

Early Christianity was the religion of the poor. The believers put their hope in the kingdom of heaven and did not want to worship the emperor as their god, so they were accused of betraying the state and were persecuted for a long time, which is known as the "Three Hundred Years' Tribulation". As the Roman Empire fell into crisis, many people in positions of power, including provincial governors and royalty, converted to Christianity. In 313, the Roman Emperor issued the Edict of Milan, recognizing Christianity as a legitimate religion, and at the end of the 4th century, Christianity was made the state religion of Rome.

The Basic Propositions of Christianity

The core doctrines of Christianity are the concept of original sin and the doctrine of salvation. According to the Bible, God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden after creating them as the first human beings. However, they could not resist Satan's temptation and stole the "forbidden fruit" from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thus disobeying God's will and committing original sin. This kind of sin is hereditary, so people are born with sins, both the original sins inherited from their ancestors and the original sins committed by individuals in this life. Since man has sinned, he cannot save himself. In order to save the world, God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to be the Savior of mankind, and willingly was crucified to make atonement for the sins of the world with His own blood. Anyone who believes in Christianity can be saved by Christ, be reconciled to God, and enter the kingdom of heaven after death.

Church Power and Kingship

Christianity has a unique understanding of politics. It believes that man has original sin and will continue to sin, and needs to be restrained and disciplined by the state, so the existence of kingship is necessary; but the king who holds kingship is still a sinful man, not divine, and needs to be supervised by the church, which represents the will of God. As Christians, we are subject to the Church, which represents the authority of God, on the one hand, and to the authority of the secular state on the other. In the words of the Bible, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's". These concepts were deeply rooted in people's minds and had an important influence on the construction of the European legal and political system.

The juxtaposition of ecclesiastical power and royal power gradually formed in the process of conflict, focusing on the "ordination struggle". At the end of the 11th century, Pope Gregory VII launched the "Papal Revolution", demanding to regain the right to appoint and dismiss clergy and to exclude laymen from interfering in church affairs, which was opposed by various monarchs, especially the Holy Roman Emperor. After a long struggle, the two sides reached a compromise and signed the Peace of Worms in 1122, which gave the pope the right to appoint senior clergy. At the same time, the respective jurisdictions of the ecclesiastical and royal powers were delineated. The juxtaposition of the two systems of power, their mutual checks and supervision, effectively prevented the emergence of extreme theocracy or absolute monarchy.（607words）