Christian religion Essay

Many aspects of our Christian religion today have developed because of these early religious beliefs and culture of the Romans. At the beginning, the Roman Empire was able to develop more than any other country because of its acceptance of some areas of culture and religion of its conquered enemies and allowing them to keep their religion and culture, blending the old ways with the new. How little was known, that the paganism belief system of the Roman Empire would eventually lead the way to the new Christianity religion of the world. Paganism, with its gods and goddesses, answered humanity’s problems and provided answers at the whim of these supernatural beings. In the early stages of Greek and Roman culture, mythology answered all questions regarding the origin of the world and of man. (Case, 1929, p. 12) In the early days of Greece and Rome, everything under the sun was explained by the gods and goddesses — humanity was at their whim along depending on their whims, just as today everything we do is explained through the Christian belief of God and Jesus, instead of the Roman gods and goddesses. In Rome, mythology answered all questions while today Christianity answers all of ours in regard to the world and mankind’s problems, all being subject to superhuman beings who have a lot to do with the affairs of mankind. Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire under the Emperor Constantine in AD 324 (the Emperor Julian, known to Christians as the Apostate, failed to bring about a pagan revival a few years later), and pagan forms of worship were finally made illegal in 390 by Theodosius. The myths of the pagan gods were particularly vulnerable to Christian attack, as can be seen in Lactantius’ Divine Institutes I 9-22 and Augustine’s City of God. (Rivers, 1994, p. 22) According to Barry Banning’s article entitled, â€Å"The Irony of Faith†, which is part of the research done for his book The Unspoken Power of Rome, he refers to the fact most world religions expect people to believe in something that cannot be detected, seen, felt, heard, tasted, or smelled. Researching the fact that Rome had a serious influence on early Christian’s beginning and formation, he also says that people are expected to believe in something that doesn’t exist physically and can’t be proved in normal human experiences. In most of the world religions, people are asked to believe in something that can not be detected, seen, felt, heard, tasted, or smelled. They are asked to believe in something that doesn’t exist physically and can’t be proven in normal human experience. And when confronted with numerous, obvious discrepancies, the normal response is â€Å"faith†. Faith is the key to understanding. Faith is the key to believing in concepts that cannot be explained. (Banning, 2001, 1) Over the last several years, most Christians have accepted blindly this philosophy of faith, not realizing how much influence that Rome had on Christianity and how we perceive it today, in its early beginnings. Very little credit was ever historically given to Rome for having any influence on Christianity and how we look at it presently – many Christians refusing to believe that many aspects of Christianity had its origins in the pagan arena of Rome, and in the development of our present social orders. However, most of this credit was because of the way Christians hid inside the Roman Empire, to avoid persecution or death by the Romans. The hardest thing possible was to believe in one God instead of many gods and goddesses, remaining anonymous, while still living as Christians in brutal Rome. Early Christians, facing scorn at best and persecution at worst, depending on Emperor and the era, were forced to blend in with their Pagan counterparts. In order to celebrate the ‘holidays’ of their religion, the Christians used pre-existing holidays and festivals to blend in. Christmas, for example, was originally part of the great festival of the Winter Solstice, or the Saturnalia. By adopting this grand event as the celebration of Christ’s birth, Christian revelry was allowed to take place, largely unnoticed. The Church too manipulated customs and traditions of the Pagan Empire to make their faith more adaptable. (Kousoulas, 2006,1) Christianity had been the official religion of Rome since 392, before Rome’s official fall in 476 when its last ruler, Romulus Augustus, fell under Alaric and the Visigoths in 410 and later destroyed by the Vandals in 455. According to Professor Richard Baldwin at the Gulf Coast Community College in Florida, this fall of Rome would later influence the Middle Ages and its civilizations in classical Greek and Roman cultures, Christianity, and the Germanic culture. With modern science and intellectual knowledge today slowly replacing the word of God and Christian beliefs, public and society religious dedication has become a thing of the past — unwelcome in schools and sports, government buildings, and bringing down the morals of society. We need to look at Rome’s influence on the world accompanied with many other civilizations that were also influential on the world that led to Christianity. The development of human societies was not continuous. It was started several times anew–in India, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, Scandinavia, and in Western Europe, beginning each time with the primitive tribe and then the village community. But if we consider each of these lines separately, we certainly find in each of them, and especially in the development of Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire, a continual widening of the conception of mutual support and mutual protection, from the clan to the tribe, the nation, and finally to the international union of nations. (Kropotkin, 1934, p. 17) Christianity today is going through another revival such as in Rome, with many Christians now looking deeply inside – philosophizing and asking inner questions concerning what they have always been told – such as, is Christianity a pure religion in itself, or is it a combination of other religions. As Barry Banning said, previous Christian philosophies and hierarchical leaders told us to never question anything about our churches or what we have been taught. Christians are individuals who have unique mindsets, they are going to grow and change in their perception of the world around them, and this is a time when humanity is asking questions, seeking to find out truths. We are beginning to observe what Christianity is really about, not blindly accepting what we have been told by our superiors. The Roman imprints left from the early Christian development have simply extended an age-old religious philosophy that has long been past due for a change and maybe a needed updated version. Over the centuries, Christianity has not only changed in an intellectual theory but also with the philosophy regarding its impact by Rome. People change and learn in different ways, with continuously changing perceptions that cross many barriers – age, education, beliefs, or culture. Nevertheless, the bottom line is, without Rome we would never have had Christianity. Moreover, today Christianity as a single religion is ranked as the world’s largest religion, with sub-groups being included in this statistic. For the purpose of statistics, Christians refer to varying degrees of religious activity within Christianity – including Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, Pentecostals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Latter-day Saints, African Indigenous Churches, and others. All of this is very different from the early days of Rome, with terrified Christians being persecuted for speaking and attempting to practice their religion. Yet, no matter where we look regarding Christianity, we find ourself looking also at the Roman Empire and its early heritage and culture, still breathing today inside our churches and religious cultures. BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS: Banning, B. (2001). The Unspoken Power of Rome. 1st Edition. Albuquerque, New Mexico: Wellspring Books. Case, S. C. (1929). Experience with the Supernatural in Early Christian Times. New York: The Century Company. Laistner, M. L. (1951). Christianity and Pagan Culture in the Later Roman Empire. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Kropotkin, P. P. A. (1934). The Present Need of Determining the Bases of Morality. New York: Dial Press. Potter, D. S. (2004). The Roman Empire at Bay: AD 180-395. New York: Routledge. Rivers, I. (1994). Classical and Christian Ideas in English Renaissance Poetry: A Student’s Guide. New York: Routledge.