Why did Romans become Christians?

Answer 1

Another answer from our community:

There was no real concept of an afterlife. Hades was like a piece of blotting paper. However mystery religions involved a personal contact with a god who gave keys to an afterlife to initiates. The earlier cults were anchored to a cult centre such as Samothrace - costly to get there, and costly to join. However some of them became mobile, and went to the customers.

Christianity was a mystery religion, and it became popular, along with the other mystery religions such as Isis and Mithraism, because its missionaries travelled rather than vice versa. And Christianity was available to all - rich or poor, free or slave. Of course it became popular - an afterlife for free in your own town just down the road.

Answer 2

AnswerFor the first three hundred years, Christianity grew slowly among the Romans. This was aided by the slow decay in paganism. It has been suggested that if Christianity had not come along at the right time, some other new religion must have gradually replaced paganism.

Then Constantine became Emperor of Rome and began to encourage Christianity, while discouraging paganism. Constantine offerred financial inducements to individuals who converted and to cities that destroyed the pagan temples. Because the army would not co-operate, he authorised Christians to plunder the treasures of the pagan temples for the state treasury. The religious centres of polytheism were humiliated by the crimes of the Christians, but found themselves powerless. It was obvious that, under Constantine and his sons and successors, it was not wise to openly profess polytheistic beliefs.

As early as the middle of the fourth century, pagans were being persecuted, and by the close of the century public worship of the pagan gods was banned. The change from polytheism to Christianity took place, not so much because Christianity was seen as closer to the truth, but because there was no real choice.

Answer 3

They were forced to switch to Christianity by order of emperor Theodosius I.

They were forced to switch to Christianity by order of emperor Theodosius I.

They were forced to switch to Christianity by order of emperor Theodosius I.

They were forced to switch to Christianity by order of emperor Theodosius I.

They were forced to switch to Christianity by order of emperor Theodosius I.

They were forced to switch to Christianity by order of emperor Theodosius I.

They were forced to switch to Christianity by order of emperor Theodosius I.

They were forced to switch to Christianity by order of emperor Theodosius I.

They were forced to switch to Christianity by order of emperor Theodosius I.

Answer 4

Unlike ancient religions, Christianity had a proselytising spirit. Christan missionaries and priests set about converting the gentiles (non-jews). Paul the Apostle created a theology which distinguished Christianity from Judaism and made it accessible to gentiles.

Paul created a theology based on Christ, rather than on the Mosaic Law and established the fundamental beliefs of Christianity: that God sent his Son who was crucified for the benefit of humanity and that his resurrection brought the promise of salvation to believers. He also distinguished Christianity from Judaism by saying that humans are saved from sin by faith and not by following rituals or a law as the Jews believed. The Torah was not necessary for salvation, Jesus alone was decisive. Thus, gentiles could convert to Christianity and did not need to become Jews and follow their laws. They just needed faith in Jesus. Up to then Christians had been Jewish Christians who saw Jesus as the promised messiah of the Jews, spread the word only to other Jews and still adhered to Jewish laws, customs and rituals and went to the synagogue.

Christianity became focused on the conversion of the gentiles and became the religion of the gentiles. The early Christian churches became churches of converted gentiles and its priests and theologians were former gentiles. The vision of an afterlife and the promise of salvation were very appealing all that in pagan religions had to say was that the dead went to the underworld. Moreover, Jesus was a compassionate figure and Christians advocated love, compassion and charity for the poor. Pagan religions were focused on sacrifices for the goods to appease them and prevent their ire. They did not appear to care about humans. Christianity also offered ethical guidance, which polytheistic religions did not provide.

Besides the offer of salvation, compassion and ethics, there was another factor which was equally crucial to the spread of Christianity. This was imperial endorsement. Constantine I (or the great) was the first Roman emperor who supported Christianity. The rest of the Constantinian dynast (apart from Julian's brief reign) also supported Christianity. So did the subsequent Valentinian and Theodosian dynasties.

Co-emperors Theodosius I and Gratian issued the Edict of Thessalonica in 380. This made the Nicene Creed, which was endorsed by mainstream Christianity (Latin or Western Christianity and Greek or Eastern Christianity) the sole legitimate religion of the Roman Empire. The purpose of the edict was to ban dissident Christian doctrines which disputed the Nicene Creed. These were branded as heretic. Theodosius I started persecuting them soon afterwards. The main target was Arian Christianity, which the main dissident Christian doctrine and was popular around the empire. Theodosius I immediately started to persecute the dissident Christian doctrines, especially Arianism) in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. He also expelled Demophilus of Constantinople, the most important Arian Bishop. In 389 he issued a law which removed non-Nicene Christians from church office.

The Nicene Creed was a doctrine of co-equal Trinitarianism in which God the Father and Son (Jesus) were "of one essence" (consubstantial).

At the time the Latin/Western Church and the Greek/Eastern Church were the main church of the western and eastern parts of the empire respectively. They defined themselves as two branches of one church which was called Catholic Church (the word catholic means all embracing, universal). They considered themselves as two branches of the Nicene Creed, which they wanted to be the universal creed of Christianity, in opposition to the dissident Christian creeds. Later there was a schism between these two churches and they came to be called Catholic Church and Orthodox Church.

Theodosius I also persecuted Roman religion and other pagan religions from 381. He reiterated Constantine's ban on former customs of Roman religion, established capital punishment for divination (which was a centrepiece of Roman religion) pioneered the criminalization of officials who did not enforce laws against polytheism and tolerated the destruction of Roman temples. Between 389 and 392 issued the Theodosian Decrees. These eliminated the remnants of Roman religion by tuning its holidays into working days, banning blood sacrifices (another centrepiece of Roman religion) and disbanding the very important priesthood of the Vestal Virgins and closed Roman temples. When he became sole emperor of the whole of the Roman Empire in 392 he continued to ignore pleas of toleration by pagans. In 393 he persecuted all pagan religions. He promulgated a set of laws which forbade any public pagan customs and were particularly harsh against the Manicheans.

Answer 5

In spite of its best efforts, relatively few Romans became Christians before the time of Emperor Constantine, early in the fourth century.

Constantine ensured Christianity appealed to those with ambition by letting it be known that their prospects would improve by adopting Christianity, or at least appearing to do so. The example of the wealthy and powerful no doubt had an influence on the poor, as did Constantine's decision to allow the Church to distribute food aid provided by the state. Constantine promised every Roman convert a white garment, with twenty pieces of gold: it was claimed that in one year, twelve thousand men were baptised at Rome, along with a proportionate number of women and children.

One of Christianity's most important appeals in the later Roman world was a negative one. As the persecution of paganism intensified under successive Christian rulers, it became desirable to convert in order to be allowed to live in peace and without fear of harrassment.

Answer 6

They were forced to switch to Christianity by order of emperor Theodosius I.

Answer 7

They were forced to switch to Christianity by order of emperor Theodosius I.