Trace the origins of Christianity

Answer 1

Christianity began as an outgrowth of Judaism. Paul, who was a Jewish rabbi from the city of Tarsus (in what is now modern Turkey) wrote much of the New Testament - in the form of Epistles (or letters). Jesus was a Jewish rabbi from the province of Galilee, and his disciples were all Jewish, as well. After the fall of Judea, to the Roman Empire, in 70 A.D. some Jews sought a way to preserve their religious tradition by spreading their religious views to non-Jews (or Gentiles), and Paul was a central figure in this effort. Over the course of the next hundred to two hundred years, the practices of non-Jews diverged, increasingly, from that of Orthodox Jews, culminating in the establishment of the Christian religion, most notably at the Council of Nicea (arranged at the behest of the Emperor Constantine) in 325 A.D. It was at the Council of Nicea (and subsequent councils) that doctrine was more solidified in order to define Christianity for the entire Roman Empire - as it had been practiced in a fragmented manner, up to that point, with diverse Christian groups following many different charismatic Christian leaders.