Christianity

& # 8217 ; s Effect On The Roman Culture Essay, Research Paper

Christian religion came into the universe about two thousand old ages ago. It was persecuted at first, but atually became the offical faith in 381 A.D. & # 8220 ; It is the religious force that conquered the Roman Empire ; one of the decisive elements in the growing of Western civiliztion ( Bunson 9 ) . Throughout history Christianity has played a major function in altering our society into what it is today. & # 8220 ; Christianity won the professed commitment of the overpowering bulk of the population of the Roman Empire and even the support of the Roman State ( Latourette 65 ) . Not merely did Christianity thrive, but it besides succeeded in altering the face of Roman civilization. See the gladiatorial battles. & # 8220 ; The immense Coliseum at Rome seated 50 thousand people and was the scene of many bloody gladiatorial combats and even mock naval conflicts & # 8221 ; ( Schoder 108 ) . & # 8220 ; Hundreds of 1000s of slaves shed their blood in the sphere in Rome twelvemonth after twelvemonth to fulfill the kinky lecherousness of the Roman mob & # 8221 ; ( Kennedy 148 ) .

& # 8220 ; Although many Romans descried these blook-letting competitions, there persisted a run of inhuman treatment in Roman public amusements which can barely be comprehended, far less condoned, today ( 81 ) . The message of Christianity helped alter this facet of Roman life because it gave deserving and significance every life ( Kennedy 149 ) . Jesus told the battalions to & # 8220 ; love your neighbour as yourself & # 8221 ; ( Luke 10:27 ) He besides told Thursday

e story of the good summaritan to illistrate that any person he came in contact with was his good neighbor (Luke 10:30-37). Christianities message contains the golden rule “do to others as you you have them do to you” (Luke 6-3).”The child of today is loved and adored. But it was not so in pre-Christian times. The Roman father?s power of his child was absolute. “He could expose it to death; he could scourge it, mutilate it, marry it, divorce it, see it as a slave, or kill it to satisfy his own blood lust.” Quintillion, a roman writer, said that to kill a man was often held to be a crime, but to kill one?s own children was sometimes considered a beautiful action (Kennedy 149). The message of Christianity gave value to children. Jeasus said “who ever humbles himself like this child is greatest in my kingdom. If anyone causes these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone around his neck and be drowned in the Sea (Matt 18:4-6).”Half of the entire Roman Empire consisted of slaves. The city of Athens had four hundred thousand inhabitants; one hundred thousand of those were free and three hundred thousand were slaves. Slavery in the ancient world was far more brutal than anything modern slavery has demonstrated. One Roman had six hundred slaves put to death for the killing of a man. Another roman master put a slave to death simply for the pleasure of a guest who had never seen anyone die (Kennedy 150).”