Birth of Christianity
Institution of Learning
Course Code / Title
The inception of Christianity and its dominance in the west resulted from various actors within the Roman Empire that helped attain its imperial position. The Constantinian Dynasty for instance is one prime moment that Christianity was born and nurtured within the Roman Empire. When Constantine became the Emperor in 4th century he worked tirelessly to ensure that Christianity becomes a dominant religion. For instance, it is said that Christ appeared to Constantine and commanded him to place Christian signs on all weapons of his army (McKay et al., 2011). Accordingly, when his army used these weapons, he managed to defeat his enemies; he believed that he was armed with holy power. He eventually became the sole western Emperor.
Constantine was baptized and wholly supported Christianity with zeal. Furthermore he decreed that victories in the subsequent wars were owed to the god of Christianity thereby assumed a grand policy to support and advance its cause (McKay et al., 2011). The emperor's devotion to the church helped a great deal. In the same line of argument, during Constantine's reign Christian Bishops, priests and other Christian leaders functioned...
Church buildings were built throughout the Roman Empire. Constantine died in 337 AD; nevertheless his sons advanced his Christianity policies that eventually allowed Christianity to become deeply ingrained in the society. Paganism was virtually abolished.
Consequently, the reign of Theodosius an ardent Christian together with Gratian; his western counterpart, declared Christianity to be an official religion of the Roman Empire in 380 AD. Additionally, Theodosius changed from being the head priest; a position that was then bestowed on the Catholic Pope in Rome. The Emperor ordered massacre of 390 AD resulted into the death of 7,000 people in Thessalonica after which he took 8 months of penance (McKay et al., 2011). The church and Christianity religion by start of the 5th century had grown into an equal capacity with the Roman Emperor.
The fact that Christianity had a strong backing by the Roman Emperor and the entire west it emerged as a leading religion particularly in the Roman age (McKay et al., 2011). Christian ideologies together with the teachings of Christ that comprised of equality in the afterlife offered hope. Christianity had vast similarities with other cults and with regard to this it…
