6-3

Key Words: Apostle: A student of Jesus (One of the 12) Diasporta: The disperal of Jews from their homeland into exile. Bishop: A priest who supervised several local churches Pope: The head of the church

Key People: Paul: A follower of Jesus who's letters had a great influence on Christianity. Constantine: An emperor of Rome who stopped the persecution of Christians. Augustine:A bishop of Hippo.

Summary:

The Life and Teachings of Jesus
 * Rome eventually took control of Judea, where the Jews believed the would be set free by a Messiah, and two decades before the Romans took over, they believed the Messiah had come.

Jesus Of Nazareth
 * Around 4-6 BC, Jesus was born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth in north Palistine.
 * When he was 30, Jesus began his public ministry and perfromed miracles and emphasized monotheism, the ten commandments, and other teachings of God.

A Growing Movement
 * The main source of information about Jesus is from the gospels which are believed to have been written by some of Jesus's students, called apostles. (There were 12 apostles in all.)
 * Jesus attracted large crowds, and many people were touched by his message.

Jesus' Death
 * Jesus was put to death on a cross because the chief priests thought he was defying the authorities.
 * After his death, his body was placed in a tomb, and he was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven, which is how he became known as Jesus Christ.

Christianity Spreads Through the Empire
 * Jesus' followers continued to spread his teachings and creating a new religion, and despite the fact that there was much political and religious disagreemen, it slowly began to spread.

Paul's Mission
 * Paul, who at first hated Christians, had a vision of Christ and spent the rest of his life intrepting Jesus' teachings. This had a huge influence on Christianity.
 * The Pax Romana made the religion very easy to spread, and Paul wrote letters to the believers called Epistles, which stressed how Jesus died for our sins.

Jewish Rebellion
 * In AD 66, a group a Jews rebelled, and the Romans destroyed their cities and temples, so all that's left is the western point of the city wall.
 * The Jews rebelled again in AD 132, and ended up being exiled from their homeland and dispersed.

Persecution of Christians
 * Christians refused to worship Roman gods, which was seen as an opposition to the government, so they were often scapegoats for economic troubles.
 * The Pax Romana began to cease, and many Christians, known as martyrs, ended up being killed.

A World Religion -It embraced all people (men, women, slaves, nobles etc.) -It gave hope to the powerless -It appealled to those who were repelled by the extravagance of imperial Rome. -It offered a personal relationshp with a loving God -It promised life after death.
 * Despite the fact that many Christians were persecuted, it still became a worldwide relgion for these reasons:

Constantine Accepts Christianity
 * A Roman emperor named Constatine was fighting three rivals for control of Rome, prayed to God for help, saw a vision, and won the battle.
 * In AD 313, Constantine ended the persecution of Christians and declared it to be a religion aprroved by the emperor.

Early Christian Church
 * Priests led small groups of Christians and the bishops supervised a group of churches. Peter was believed to be the first bishop, so all priests and bishops trace their authority back to him.
 * Many bishops said Peter was the first pope, or head of the church, and it was decided that whoever was bishop of Rome should lead the whole church.

A Single Voice
 * As Christainity grew, there were more disagreements about beliefs in it's followers, and Constantine got the Church leaders together in Nicaea and wrote the Nicene creed, which outlined the basic beliefs of the christian church.

The Fathers of The Church
 * Augustine, who became bishop of Hippo in AD 395, taught that humans needed the grace of God to be saved.
 * Augustine wrote a book called the City of God, after Rome was destroyed, and stated that Rome was a city of God, so it could never be destroyed.
 * While Christianity was strengthening, the Roman empire was weakening.