3.4 Christianity in the Roman Empire

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• Leerjaar 1

Het Romeinse Rijk

3.4 Het Christendom in het Romeinse Rijk

Welkom!

At the end of this lesson...

• You can explain with examples what the difference is between monotheistic and polytheistic religions.
  
• You can explain how Christianity started and give the key features of Christian belief.
• You can explain how Christianity developed in late Antiquity

Today

Feniks, Geschiedenis Werkplaats, Memo, Saga

What do you know
about Christianity?

Koninkrijk?

De stadstaat Rome is ooit een koninkrijk geweest,

hoewel daar erg weinig over bekend is.

En of het verhaal van Romulus en Remus waar is....?

In 117 AD, the Roman Empire was at its greatest

In 63 BC, the Romans conquered the region of Palestine. It was mainly inhabited by Jews. They believe in one god. This is called monotheism (monos = one, theos = god). The Jews believed that a savior would free them from all evil, possibly even from the Romans.

"Romans believe in multiple gods. This is called polytheism (poly = more, theos = god). Conquered peoples are allowed to keep their own gods, as long as they also worship the most important Roman gods. In turn, the Romans also adopt gods from other peoples.

Monotheïsm

Believing in one God

Polytheïsme

Believing in multiple gods

Jezus of Nazareth

• Jesus is a Jewish man who travels around the region of Palestine and tells that God rewards good people and punishes bad people. 
• Jesus gains many followers. 
• The Romans consider him dangerous because of this. They arrest him and crucify him, the punishment for a rebellious slave

Christians

• De volgelingen van Jezus noemen zichzelf christenen. 
• Deze naam komt van Christus, dat 'gezalfde' betekent.  
• Jezus wordt door zijn volgelingen zo genoemd. 
• Zij geloven in de woorden die Jezus (via zijn leerlingen) aan hen heeft gegeven: 'Iedereen is gelijk voor God en voor ieder goed mens is er een plek in de hemel'.

Christians in the Roman Empire

• Christianity spreads quickly throughout the Roman Empire.
• The good deeds and the appeal of the faith (equality in heaven, mysterious and interesting) make many people become Christians.

Christians rarely used the cross as a symbol. They preferred to use the Chi Rho sign: the first two letters of the name Christ in Greek. The two letters next to the sign are alpha (α) and omega (Ω): the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. With this, they indicated that Jesus was the beginning and the end.

Christenen in het Romeinse Rijk

Het Christendom verspreidt zich snel in het Romeinse Rijk. 

De goede wegen en de aantrekkingskracht van het geloof 

zorgen ervoor dat veel mensen christen worden.

The spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire.

Spread around the year 75.

Spread around the year 200

Spread around the year 300

Spread around the year 400.

How did the Romans react to this do you think?

Christenvervolging

• But being christian in the Roman Empire is dangerous!
• Like Judaism, Christians believe in only one God, and that is not the Roman emperor!

• The Roman emperors therefore have Christians persecuted and killed...

Under some Roman cities, there were catacombs where Christians (as well as Jews) buried their dead.

Many of these catacombs are beautifully decorated with Christian murals.

The catacombs were sometimes also used for church services because it was too dangerous to openly profess one's faith above ground.

Christenvervolging

Maar christen zijn in het Romeinse Rijk is levensgevaarlijk! 

Net als het Jodendom geloven de christenen maar in één god, 

en dat is niet de Romeinse keizer!

De Romeinse keizers laten daarom de christenen vervolgen en doden...

To be recognizable to each other (but not to the Romans), Christians used symbols. For example, they would draw an ichthus (fish) in the sand to make their faith known to other Christians. If a Roman was nearby, they could easily erase the symbol.

Although the name ichthus means fish, it is also an acronym for the first letters of: Jesus Christ, Son of God, (and) Savior, in Greek.

Christenvervolging

Maar christen zijn in het Romeinse Rijk is levensgevaarlijk! 

Net als het Jodendom geloven de christenen maar in één god, 

en dat is niet de Romeinse keizer!

De Romeinse keizers laten daarom de christenen vervolgen en doden...

Being thrown to the lions was a common form of execution for Christians during their persecutions in the Roman Empire.

It must have been a gruesome spectacle, but what especially impressed the spectators was that sometimes the Christians didn’t fight the lions, but instead prayed to their God.

The spectators were astonished, but also curious: if you have so much faith in your God, He must be a very good God.

Around the year 100, the Roman historian Tacitus wrote:

"In 64, there was a great fire: half of Rome burned down. It was soon told that Emperor Nero had set the fire himself, as he needed space for a new palace. Therefore, Nero blamed the Christians. He had them severely punished. They were dressed in animal skins to be torn apart by wild dogs, or they were crucified, or they were killed by fire: at the end of the day, they were set on fire to serve as street lighting."

Why did especially poor people become Christians?

Why did especially poor people become Christians?

Why did especially poor people become Christians?

Why did especially poor people become christians?

1. The Christians ensured that poor people were bribed. If they became Christians, they would receive a large sum of money.
2. Wealthy people had received a better education. Therefore, they didn't easily believe the things the Christians told them.
3. Christians helped each other. If someone became ill or got into trouble, the others would help them. .
4. Christians believe that you go to heaven if you have lived a good life. Poor people had a hard life. They found comfort in the idea that a better life would come after death.

From the year 312, Christians were no longer persecuted. But even before that, Christianity grew rapidly: more and more people became Christians. Give three reasons for this.

What is the difference between polytheïsm and monotheïsm

Geef een voorbeeld van polytheïstisch geloof en van een monotheïstisch geloof.

How did Christianity start?