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Chapter 19 Section 3 The Spread of Christianity

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Standards S.S. 6.7.7 Describe the circumstances that led to the spread of Christianity in Europe and other Roman territories. ELA Reading 6.1.4 Monitor expository text for unknown words or words with novel meanings by using word, sentence and paragraph clues to determine meaning.

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Anticipatory Set How fast can word spread? Hours? Minutes? Seconds? From the beginning, Christianity began to spread through other lands, however, there was some persecution on the way.

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Objective Students will learn about the spread of Christianity across the Roman Empire.

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Language of the Discipline Persecute Peter Paul Gentile Conversion Martyr

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The Early Christians (Input) The early Christians faced great challenges They were often persecuted like Jesus Persecuted means to be treated unfairly for your beliefs Leaders like Peter and Paul led them through this difficult time

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Peter (Input) After the death of Jesus, Peter became the leader of the disciples Peters Hebrew name was Simon, but Jesus recognized Simons rocklike loyalty and called him Rock, which is petra in Greek Later other apostles and disciples became important leaders in the church Some of their actions were recorded in the Book of Acts of the Apostles Acts is the 5 th book of the New Testament

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Jews or Gentiles (Input) Despite their disagreements with Jewish leaders, the first Christians still considered themselves Jews They respected Jewish customs They read the Hebrew Bible They went to temple and prayed According to Acts, thousands of Jews in Jerusalem became Christians before the first Gentile, or non-Jew, was reported as joining. Some Jewish priests and leaders became Christians, but most told their followers to reject Christian beliefs

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Jews or Gentiles (Input) At first, one of the greatest Jewish teachers, Gamaliel, advised other leaders not to bring violence against the Christians Christianity continued to grow and other leaders decided to take action Apostles began leaving Jerusalem to spread the word of Christianity to people in other places This led to more Gentiles becoming Christians

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The Conversion of Saul (Input) Saul of Tarsus was one of the people persecuting Christians He was the student of Gamaliel He believed that Christians should be arrested and punished for their faith Saul even traveled outside Jerusalem to find and arrest Christians On one of his trips he had an experience that led him to convert Christianity Conversion is a heartfelt change in ones opinions or beliefs, especially in religion

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The Conversion of Saul (Input) After his conversion Paul told people he had seen the risen Jesus and spoke to him He also said that Jesus had told him to take a message of Jesus to the Gentiles Saul spent the rest of his life just doing that

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The Travels of Paul (Input) Several years after his conversion, Saul believed that God was telling him to take a trip to bring the teachings of Jesus to many other people After he began his journey to Cyprus, Saul became better known by his Greek name Paul Paul and his friends started churches in Cyprus and Asia Minor and then returned Eventually Paul traveled through Greece and many other countries Wherever Paul went he started churches and made disciples

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The Travels of Paul (Input) He was arrested for his faith several times Once he was taken in chains all the way from Jerusalem to Rome Paul used his time in prison to write epistles, usually to churches he started Some churches were having problems spreading teachings that Paul and other apostles disagreed with As a result Pauls epistles explained Christian beliefs in detail Paul also spread the belief that Gentiles did not need to follow all the Jewish customs to become Christians As more Gentiles came to the church, Jewish customs began to weaken.

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The Travels of Paul (Input)

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Reasons for Growth (Input) Christian beliefs began to spread to Europe, Mesopotamia, Persia, and North Africa Several factors assisted the spread of Christianity 1.Roman roads, which made it possible for people and ideas to move across the empire (The Pax Romana) 2.Common Language; most civilized people spoke Greek in addition to their own language The ideas of Christianity appealed to many people. People who no longer believed in polytheism were attracted to monotheism People were glad to hear that everyone was equal in Gods sight whether they were a slave or free, male or female, Jew or Gentile.

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Roman Persecution (Input) The growth of Christianity worried Roman officials The Romans tolerated most religions, as long as everyone worshiped the Roman emperor as god too Christians and Jews made Roman leaders angry because they refused to worship the emperor They then faced persecution When a great fire destroyed much of Rome, the Emperor Nero, blamed the Christians Large numbers of Christians were rounded up and killed

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Roman Persecution (Input) The Roman emperor Titus destroyed Jerusalem to put down a Jewish rebellion Jews and Christians were scattered farther throughout the Roman world Persecution caused some to bond in their faith It also produced martyrs, or people who are remembered because they were put to death for their beliefs The courage of martyrs strengthened the faith of many other Christians

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The End of Persecution (Input) After Nero, persecutions continued off and on, until the reign of the Emperor Constantine Constantine had a powerful dream just before a key battle His dream told him to fight under the sign of the cross After winning, he ended persecution of Christians Christianity was the established religion of the Roman Empire

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The End of Persecution (Input) Eventually Rome became the center of the Latin- speaking church in Western Europe Religious leaders in Athens, Greece continued to lead Greek-speaking Christians in Eastern Europe and Asia The two branches of Christianity grew apart Physical distances and disagreements about religious practices also contributed to the division In A.D. 1054, the Eastern and Western churches separated permanently

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The End of Persecution (Input) Later divisions came about because individual Christians disagreed with church leadership about specific practices and beliefs Today there are many branches of Christianity Most people who consider themselves Christians today share the basic beliefs of the earliest Christians Together, they make up about one third of the worlds population

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The End of Persecution (Input)

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Check for Understanding Please determine the BEST answer for the following question. Please write your answer on your white boards and wait for the teachers signal. On the teachers signal, hold up your white boards.

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Checking for Understanding #1 Fill in the blank _______________ are people who are remembered because they were put to death for their beliefs Martyrs

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Checking for Understanding #2 Answer the following question. Who was the leader of the apostles after the death of Jesus? The leader of the apostles after Jesus death was Peter

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Checking for Understanding #3 Answer the following question. Why did both Christians and Jews face persecution? Both Christians and Jews faced persecution because they refused to worship the Roman emperor as god too.

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Guided Practice/Independent Practice Guided Practice Complete questions 1 - 2 on the reading comprehension worksheet. Raise your hand and wait to get stamped. If you received an R go to the back table with Ms. Graham. Independent Practice Once you have been stamped moved to independent practice and complete numbers 3 and 4 on the reading comprehension worksheet. Homework Note-taking guide on the reverse side.