Where in the world did Christianity start?

Answer 1

A:According to Philo of Alexandria, by AD 10 there were Christian communities in every large city in the Roman Empire. Of course, Philo didn't call them Christians as that name hadn't yet been invented, but Church historian Eusebius confirms that these communities were indeed Christians.

By name, they were called "Therepeutes" in AD 10, according to Suetonius, by AD 50 they were called "Chrestians" or "the kind ones" and it isn't until the middle of the second century that the word "Christian" or "anointed ones" began being used. It was first used by Marcion of Sinope and his followers.

According to Tertullian, the word "Christian" means "anointed one". There were Christian communites long before the word "Christian" began being used for them, and both Augustine and Eusebius confirm that there were Christians well before the First Century.

If the movement was scattered all over the Roman Empire by the first decade of the first century, then it appears to have originated everywhere. Jewish proselytes who began practicing what we would call Christianity existed in every major city of the Roman Empire by around 50 BC. If the movement originated in Phariseeism, then it is likely Christianity first came about shortly after Alexander Jannaeus drove them out of Judea around 85 BC.

B:Christianity began on the Day of Pentecost, in Jerusalem, with Peter's preaching to the crowds gathered there from many parts of the world. The year is not completely certain, but it is likely to have been AD 30, with a date as late as AD 33 being also sometimes suggested. C:"Day of Pentecost". The book of Acts with its mythical picture of the oh-so-orthodox Peter and Paul is contradicted right within the canon of the New Testament--by Paul's epistles. Unfortunately for the historian, that handy myth is unacceptable. Early church fathers, including St Augustine, Eusebius and Origen talk about a Christian history that goes back far before the common era. The Dead Sea Scrolls talk about an organization that can only be early Christianity which is in existence among diaspora Jews in the first or second centuries BC.

If, indeed, Christianity originated in Palestine, why then are all the Christian documents of the first century written in Greek? The common language of Palestine was Aramaic, but no Aramaic Christian documents have ever been found older than the second century.

Christianity originated in the diaspora. Proselytes to Judaism, who melded the Platonic values of Greek philosophy and Hellenic mystery religion to a Jewish mythos were practicing their religion long before the first century.