History of Christianity

==Origins to 312==
{{See also|Jesus|Chronology of Jesus|Life of Jesus in the New Testament|Historical background of the New Testament|Roman Empire}}
{{Further|Historical Jesus|Historicity of Jesus|Quest for the historical Jesus|Hellenistic Judaism|Second Temple Judaism|Second Temple Period}}
Little is fully known of Christianity in its first 150 years. Sources are few.{{sfn|Hengel|2003|pp=1, 5, 20}} This and other complications have limited scholars to probable rather than provable conclusions, based largely on the biblical book of [[Acts of the Apostles|Acts]], whose historicity is [[Historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles|debated as much as it is accepted]].{{sfn|Hengel|2003|pp=5, 10–12}}{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=385}}

According to the [[Gospel]]s, Christianity began with the itinerant [[Ministry of Jesus|preaching and teaching]] of a deeply pious young Jewish man, [[Jesus|Jesus of Nazareth]].{{sfn|Young|2006|p=1}}{{sfn|Matthews|Platt|1992|p=147}} His [[Disciple (Christianity)|followers]] came to believe Jesus was the [[Son of God]], the [[Christ (title)|Christ]], a title in Greek for the Hebrew term {{transliteration|he|meshiah}} (Messiah) meaning “the anointed one.” Jesus was [[Crucifixion of Jesus|crucified]] {{circa|AD&nbsp;30–33}} in [[Jerusalem]], and after his death and burial, his disciples proclaimed they had seen him alive and [[Resurrection of Jesus|raised from the dead]]. He was thereafter proclaimed [[Session of Christ|exalted by God]] heralding the future [[Kingdom of God]].{{sfn|Wilken|2013|pp=6–16}}{{sfn|Young|2006|p=1}}{{sfn|Wilken|2013|pp=6–16}}

Virtually all scholars of antiquity accept that [[Historicity of Jesus|Jesus was a historical figure]].{{sfn|Law|2011|p=129}}{{sfn|Köstenberger|Kellum|Quarles|2009|p=114}} However, in the twenty-first century, tensions surround the figure of Jesus and the supernatural features of the gospels, creating, for many, a distinction between the '[[Historical Jesus|Jesus of history]]' and the 'Christ of faith'.{{sfn|Young|2006|p=1; 8–9}} In early Christianity, this was not yet a question. The belief that Christ was both divine and human  provided the foundation for Christianity.{{sfn|Young|2006|p=9}}

It was amongst a small group of [[Second Temple]] Jews, looking for an "anointed" leader (messiah or king) from the [[Davidic line|ancestral line of King David]], that Christianity first formed in relative obscurity.{{sfn|Hanson|2003|pp=524–533}}{{sfn|Wilken|2013|pp=6–16}} Led by [[James, brother of Jesus|James the Just, brother of Jesus]], they described themselves as "disciples of the Lord" and followers "of the Way".{{sfn|Esler|1994|p=50}}{{sfn|Wilken|2013|p=18}} According to Acts 9<ref>{{Bibleverse||Acts|9:1–2|NRSV}}</ref> and 11,<ref>{{Bibleverse||Acts|11:26|NRSV}}</ref> a settled community of disciples at [[Early centers of Christianity#Antioch|Antioch]] were the first to be called "Christians".{{sfn|Klutz|2002|pp=178–190}}{{sfn|Thiessen|2014|pp=373–391}}{{sfn|Seifrid|1992|pp=310–211, 246–247}}

While there is evidence in the New Testament (Acts 10) suggesting the presence of [[Gentile Christians]] from the beginning, most early Christians were actively Jewish.{{sfn|Ehrman|2005|pp=95–112}} [[Jewish Christian]]ity was influential in the beginning, and it remained so in Palestine, Syria, and Asia Minor into the second and third centuries.{{sfn|Wylen|1995|pp=190–193}}{{sfn|Marcus|2006|pp=96–99, 101}} Judaism and Christianity eventually diverged over disagreements about Jewish law, Jewish insurrections against Rome which Christians did not support, and the development of [[Rabbinic Judaism]] by the Pharisees, the sect which had rejected Jesus from the start.{{sfn|Marcus|2006|pp=87–88; 99–100}}
[[File:Lawrence-before-Valerianus.jpg|thumb|right|[[Lawrence of Rome|St. Lawrence]] (martyred 258) standing before [[Valerian (emperor)|Emperor Valerianus]]|alt=a painting by Fra Angelico with Emperor Valerian seated on throne and St. Lawrence who was martyred in 258 standing under arrest before him]]
Geographically, Christianity began in [[Early centers of Christianity#Jerusalem|Jerusalem]] in first-century [[Judea (Roman province)|Judea]], a province of the Roman Empire. The religious, social, and political climate of the area was diverse and often characterized by turmoil.{{sfn|Wilken|2013|pp=6–16}}{{sfn|Schwartz|2009|p=49}} The Roman Empire had only recently emerged from a long series of civil wars.{{sfn|Rankin|2016|pp=1–2}} Romans of this era feared civil disorder, giving their highest regard to peace, harmony and order.{{sfn|Rankin|2016|p=2}} Piety equaled loyalty to family, class, city and emperor, and it was demonstrated by loyalty to the practices and rituals of the old religious ways.{{sfn|Rankin|2016|p=3}}

Christianity was largely tolerated, but some also saw it as a threat to "[[Romanitas|Romanness]]" which produced localized persecution by mobs and governors.{{sfn|Schott|2008|p=2}}{{sfn|Moss|2012|p=129}} The first reference to persecution by a Roman Emperor is under Nero, probably in 64 AD, in the city of Rome. Scholars conjecture that [[Saint Peter|Peter]] and [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] were killed then.{{sfn|Cropp|2007|p=21}} In 250, the emperor [[Decius]] made it a capital offence to refuse to make sacrifices to [[Roman gods]], resulting in widespread persecution of Christians.{{sfn|Rives|1999|p=141}}{{sfn|Croix|2006|pp=139–140}} [[Valerian (emperor)|Valerian]] pursued similar policies later that decade. The last and most severe official persecution, the [[Diocletianic Persecution]], took place in 303–311.{{sfn|Gaddis|2005|pp=30–31}} During these early centuries, Christianity spread into the [[Jewish diaspora]] communities, establishing itself beyond the Empire's borders as well as within it.{{sfn|Hopkins|1998|p=192}}{{sfn|Trombley|1985|pp=327–331}}{{sfn|Humfress|2013|pp=3, 76, 83–88, 91}}{{sfn|Bokenkotter|2007|p=18}}

===Mission in primitive Christianity===
{{Main|Christian mission}}
[[File:The Oxford and Cambridge Acts of the Apostles - with ontrod. and notes for the use of students preparing for examinations (1894) (14769867871).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|The Oxford and Cambridge Acts of the Apostles {{Endash}} [[Paul the Apostle]]'s missionary journeys|alt=map of Paul's missionary journeys]]
From its beginnings, the Christian church has seen itself as having a double mission: first, to fully live out its faith, and second, to pass it on, making Christianity a 'missionary' religion from its inception.{{sfn|de Pressensé|1870|p=21}} Driven by a universalist logic, missions are a multi-cultural, often complex, historical process.{{sfn|Robert|2009|p=1}}

Evangelism began immediately through the [[Apostles in the New Testament|twelve Apostles]], and [[Paul the Apostle|the Apostle Paul]] making multiple trips to found new churches.{{sfn|Neely|2020|page=4}} Christianity quickly spread geographically and numerically, with interaction sometimes producing conflict, and other times producing converts and accommodation.{{sfn|Hengel|2003|pp=38, 125–128}}{{sfn|Kolp|1982|p=223}}

===Early geographical spread===
{{See also|Christianization of the Roman Empire as diffusion of innovation|Christianity in Asia|Christianity in Egypt|Christianity in Gaul|Christianity in the Roman Africa province|Christianity in Syria}}
{{further|Chronicle of Arbela|Religion in Rome|Christianity in Africa}}
[[File:Distribution of the documented presence of Christian congregations in the first three centuries.tif|upright=1.5|thumb|Map of the Roman empire with distribution of Christian congregations of the first three centuries displayed for each century{{sfn|Fousek|2018}}|alt=a digital map showing where congregations were in the first three centuries]]
Beginning with less than 1000 people, by the year 100, Christianity had grown to perhaps one hundred [[Early centers of Christianity|small household churches]] consisting of an average of around seventy (12–200) members each.{{sfn|Hopkins|1998|p=202}} It achieved [[Critical mass (sociodynamics)|critical mass]] in the hundred years between 150 and 250 when it moved from fewer than 50,000 adherents to over a million.{{sfn|Harnett|2017|pp=200, 217}} This provided enough adopters for its growth rate to be [[Self-sustainability|self-sustaining]].{{sfn|Harnett|2017|pp=200, 217}}{{sfn|Hopkins|1998|p=193}}

In [[Asia Minor]], ([[Athens]], [[Corinth]], [[Ephesus]], and [[Pergamum]]), conflicts over the nature of Christ's divinity first emerged in the second century, and were resolved by referencing apostolic teaching.{{sfn|Trevett|2006|pp=314; 320, 324–327}}

Egyptian Christianity probably began in the first century in Alexandria.{{sfn|Pearson|2006|pp=331; 334–335}} As it spread, [[Copts|Coptic Christianity]] developed.{{sfn|Pearson|2006|p=336}} Both [[Gnosticism]] and [[Marcionism|Marcionite Christianity]] appeared in the second century.{{sfn|Pearson|2006|pp=337, 338}} Egyptian Christians produced religious literature more abundantly than any other region during the second and third centuries. The church in Alexandria became as influential as the church in Rome.{{sfn|Pearson|2006|pp=332, 345; 349}}

[[Church of Antioch|Christianity in Antioch]] is mentioned in [[Pauline epistles|Paul's epistles]] written before AD&nbsp;60, and scholars generally see Antioch as a primary center of early Christianity.{{sfn|Harvey|2006|pp=351; 353}}

Early Christianity was also present in [[Gaul]], however, most of what is known comes from a letter, most likely written by [[Irenaeus]], which theologically interprets the detailed suffering and martyrdom of Christians from Vienne and Lyons during the reign of [[Marcus Aurelius]].{{sfn|Behr|2006|pp=369–371; 372–374}} There is no other evidence of Christianity in Gaul, beyond one inscription on a gravestone, until the beginning of the fourth century.{{sfn|Behr|2006|p=378}}

The origins of Christianity in North Africa are unknown, but most scholars connect it to the [[History of the Jews in Carthage|Jewish communities of Carthage]].{{sfn|Tilley|2006|p=386}} Christians were persecuted in Africa intermittently from 180 until 305.{{sfn|Tilley|2006|pp=387–388: 391}} Persecution under Emperors Decius and Valerian created long-lasting problems for the African church when those who had recanted tried to rejoin the Church.{{sfn|Tilley|2006|p=389}}

It is likely the Christian message arrived in the city of Rome very early, though it is unknown how or by whom.{{sfn|Edmundson|2008|pp=8–9}} Tradition, and some evidence, supports [[Saint Peter|Peter]] as the organizer and founder of the Church in Rome which already existed by 57 AD when Paul arrived there.{{sfn|Edmundson|2008|pp=14; 44, 47}} The city was a melting pot of ideas, and according to [[Markus Vinzent]], the Church in Rome was "fragmented and subject to repeated internal upheavals ... [from] controversies imported by immigrants from around the empire".{{sfn|Vinzent|2006|p=397}} [[Walter Bauer]]'s thesis that heretical forms of Christianity were brought into line by a powerful, united, Roman church forcing its will on others is not supportable, writes Vinzent, since such unity and power did not exist in Rome before the eighth century.{{sfn|Hartog|2015|p=242}}{{sfn|Robinson|1988|p=36}}{{sfn|Sanmark|2004|p=15}}

Christianity spread in the Germanic world during the latter part of the third century, beginning among the Goths. It did not originate with the ruling classes.{{sfn|Schäferdiek|2007|p=abstract}} Christianity probably reached Roman Britain by the third century at the latest.{{sfn|Schäferdiek|2007|p=abstract}}

From the earliest days of Christianity, there was a Christian presence in [[Edessa]] (ancient and modern [[Urfa]]). It developed in [[Adiabene]], [[Armenia]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], [[Persia]] (modern Iran), [[Ethiopia]], [[Central Asia]], [[India]], [[Nubia]], [[South Arabia]], [[Soqotra]], [[Central Asia]] and [[China]]. Christianity's development followed the trade routes as it was spread east of Antioch and south of Alexandria by merchants and soldiers moving into eastern [[Turkey]], [[Azerbaijan]], [[Syria]], [[Afghanistan]], [[Pakistan]], the [[Arabian peninsula]], and the [[Persian Gulf]] in the fourth century.{{sfn|Bundy|2007|p=118}}{{sfn|Wilken|2013|p=4; 235; 238}} By the sixth century, there is evidence for Christian communities in [[Sri Lanka]] and [[Tibet]].{{sfn|Wilken|2013|pp=4, 235, 238}}

===Early beliefs and practices===
{{Further|History of Christian theology}}
[[File:Good shepherd 02b close.jpg|thumb|One of the oldest representation of Jesus as the Good Shepherd from the [[catacombs of Rome]], made around 300 AD|alt=photo of very old and slightly damaged representation of Jesus as the Good Shepherd from the catacombs, made around 300 AD]]
Early Christianity's system of beliefs and morality have been cited as a major factor in its growth.{{sfn|Matthews|Platt|1992|p=147}} In contrast to traditional Roman social stratification, early Christian communities were highly inclusive being open to men and women, rich and poor, slave and free.{{sfn|Meeks|2003|p=79}}{{sfn|Judge|2010|p=214}} In groups formed by Paul the Apostle, the role of [[women]] was greater than in other religious movements.{{sfn|Meeks|2003|p=81}}{{sfn|Lieu|1999|pp=20–21}} Intellectual [[egalitarianism]] made [[philosophy]] and [[ethics]] available to ordinary people that Roman culture deemed incapable of ethical reflection.{{sfn|Praet|1992|p=45–48}}{{sfn|Harper|2013|p=7}} Christian conceptions of sexual morality and free will produced dramatic change from the Roman understanding of sexual morality as determined by social and political status, power, and [[social reproduction|class]].{{sfn|Dunning|2015|p=397}}{{sfn|Harper|2013|pp=4, 7, 14–18, 88–92}}{{sfn|Harper|2013|pp=abstract; 14–18}} 

Christians distributed bread to the hungry, nurtured the sick, and showed the poor great generosity.{{sfn|Vaage|2006|p=220}}{{sfn|Muir|2006|p=218}} Family had previously determined where and how the dead could be buried, but Christians gathered those not related by blood into a common burial space, used the same memorials, and expanded the audience to include others of their community, thereby redefining the meaning of family.{{sfn|Yasin|2005|p=433}}{{sfn|Hellerman|2009|p=6}} 

Christianity in its first 300 years was also highly exclusive.{{sfn|Trebilco|2017|pp=85, 218}} Believing was the crucial and defining characteristic that set a "high boundary" that strongly excluded non-believers.{{sfn|Trebilco|2017|pp=85, 218}} The exclusivity of Christian [[monotheism]] has been cited as a crucial factor in maintaining Christian independence in the [[Syncretism|syncretizing]] Roman religious culture.{{sfn|Praet|1992|p=68;108}} Many scholars interpreted this exclusivity as an intolerance inherent in Christian belief, though this view has been challenged by modern scholarship.{{sfn|Drake|1996|p=4}}

In the mid-second century, Christian writers such as [[Justin Martyr]] (100–165&nbsp;CE), began using the term "[[heresy]]."{{sfn|Royalty|2013|p=3}}{{sfn|Lyman|2007|p=297}} The concept developed as a means of defining theological error, ensuring correct belief and establishing identity.{{sfn|Lyman|2007|p=297}} Tension from universality and diversity made the establishment of boundaries necessary.{{sfn|Lyman|2007|p=309}} In the early centuries, doctrinal variations were gradually regulated by literature that established a consensus of common beliefs thereby creating "unified diversity".{{sfn|Lyman|2007|pp=298–299}}

The modern understanding of freedom of conscience has been cited by some as beginning with Christianity's understanding of freedom to choose one's own religion. Starting with Justin Martyr, freedom of religious conscience is affirmed in the Milan edict of 313.{{sfn|Babii|2020|p=abstract}} Early Christians were told to love others, even enemies, and Christians of all classes and sorts called each other "[[Brother (Christian)|brother]]" and "[[Religious sister (Catholic)|sister]]". These concepts and practices were foundational to early Christian thought, have remained central, and can be seen as early precursors to later modern concepts of tolerance.{{sfn|Meeks|2003|pp=88–90}}

====Church hierarchy====
{{See also|Christianity in the ante-Nicene period}}
The Church as an institution began its formation quickly and with some flexibility. The New Testament mentions ''[[bishop]]s'' (or {{Lang|el|[[episkopoi]]}}), as overseers and ''[[presbyter]]s'' as [[Elder (Christianity)|elders]] or [[Priest#Christianity|priests]], with ''[[deacons]]'' as 'servants', sometimes using the terms interchangeably.{{sfn|Carrington|1957|pp=375–376}} According to [[Gerd Theissen]], institutionalization began when itinerant preaching transformed into resident leadership (those living in a particular community over which they exercised leadership).{{sfn|Horrell|1997|p=324}} A fully organized church system had evolved prior to Constantine and the Council of Nicaea in 325.{{sfn|Judge|2010|p=4}}

====New Testament====
{{Main|Bible}}{{Further|Development of the Christian biblical canon|Development of the New Testament canon}}
[[File:P46.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|A folio from [[Papyrus 46]], an early-3rd-century collection of [[Pauline epistles]]|alt=photo of an old page of writing from Papyrus 46 in a third century collection of Paul's Epistles]]
In the first century, new scriptures were written in [[Koine Greek]]. For Christians, these became the "New Testament", and the Hebrew Scriptures became the "Old Testament".{{sfn|Brown |2010 |loc=Intro. and ch. 1 }} Even in the formative period, these texts had considerable authority, and those seen as "scriptural" were generally agreed upon.{{sfn|Barton|1998a|p=14}}{{sfn|Porter|2011|p=198}}

When discussion of canonization began, there were disputes over whether or not to include some books.{{sfn|Noll|1997|pp=36–37}}{{sfn|De Jonge|2003|p=315}} A list of accepted books was established by the [[Council of Rome]] in 382, followed by those of [[Council of Hippo|Hippo]] in 393 and [[Council of Carthage#Synod of 397|Carthage]] in 397.{{sfn|Brown|2010|loc=Intro.}} Spanning two millennia, the Bible has become one of the most influential works ever written, having contributed to the formation of [[Western law]], [[Western art|art]], [[Western literature|literature]], literacy and education.{{sfn|Koenig|2009|p=31}}{{sfn|Burnside|2011|p=XXVI}}

===Church fathers===
{{Main|Church Fathers}}{{See also|Apostolic Fathers}}
The earliest orthodox writers of the first and second centuries, outside the writers of the New Testament itself, were first called the [[Apostolic Fathers]] in the sixth century.{{sfn|Grant|2020|p=v}} The title is used by the Church to describe the intellectual and spiritual teachers, leaders and philosophers of early Christianity.{{sfn|Duncan|2008|p=669}} Writing from the first century to the close of the eighth, they defended their faith, wrote commentaries and sermons, recorded the Creeds and church history, and lived lives that were exemplars of their faith.{{sfn|Haykin|2011|p=16}}
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