Rise and Spread of Christianity on the Classical World

It's often assumed that the religion of Christianity perhaps greatly and generously impacted the classical age; after all, it was in this period that its foundations were established and it ultimately became the formal religion of the classical age. But corroborating this understandable supposition isn't easy. One might realize the fact that Jesus's religion was a considerable progress from the paganism followed since ancient times. The eventual success of Christianity proved to be a blessing for humanity. Nevertheless, revealing the precise level and nature of its benefit to humanity is tricky[footnoteRef:1]. One can easily indicate individual lives in Christianity which were aided and purified. However, proving that it improved the overall society, political principles, economic standards and civil customs, the level of overall living, and overall moral standards is an entirely different matter. [1: McGiffert, Arthur Cushman. "The Influence of Christianity upon the Roman Empire." Harvard Theological Review 2, no. 01 (1909): 28-49]

Christ is the personality to whom the foremost teachings of Christianity are traditionally ascribed. His nomadic ministry was witnessed between the late 20 and early 30 CE[footnoteRef:2]. Proofs may be found regarding a number of associations the Prophet might have possessed. He is considered a member of the Zealot resistance warriors. He is also dichotomously portrayed as a conformist Pharisee and an Essene sage.[footnoteRef:3] Clearly, from the above information, the historical personality known as Christ had questionable connections within the swiftly evolving society of that era. He preached principles like liberation of captives and liberation of tyrannized innocents from the clutches of their oppressors; his definition of tyrannized innocents included women who were subjugated by the patriarchal society of that era. Restoration of blind people's eye-sight is a miracle attributed to him. Christ's preaching also ranged wide enough to cover non-Jews or Gentiles.[footnoteRef:4] All the above teachings caused great alarm in the Sadducee community, which could ultimately exert its influence on a far stronger group. Christ as a potential political danger to Sadducees' conformist Judaism and the Palestinian Roman rule may be demonstrated by the trial he faced in the Jewish Sanhedrin (or temple court) as well as before the Jerusalem-based Roman procurator (Pontius Pilate). Luke 23 records both the above trials including... [2: Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation. Vol. 1. Zondervan, 2010.] [3: Merkel, Helmut. "The Opposition between Jesus and Judaism." Jesus and the Politics of His Day. Ed. Ernst Bammel and C. F. D. Moule. New York, NY: Cambridge UP, 1984. p. 129] [4: McGrath, Alister E. An Introduction to Christianity. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1997. p. XV]
The words neither "male nor female" concentrate one's attention to a possibility seldom considered by ancient communities: equality of opportunities for females. A few researchers claim that the Early Christian Church encompassed a male-controlled foundation which continued from ancient times until the end of the Roman age. But this starkly diverges from the opportunities females were accorded by the early Christian Church.[footnoteRef:5] Their relative liberty proved to be a key factor that attracted the Mediterranean communities towards Christianity. A number of regions witnessed women assuming the roles of church leaders. For instance, Lydia converted her home (located in Philippi) into a church as well as a European missionary staging station,[footnoteRef:6] Phoebe served as the Cenchrea Roman Church's leader, and Priscilla preached alongside her husband. Paul and Luke have recorded all of the above examples. A trend of adopting celibacy was witnessed, particularly among females. Choosing such a life ensured women could be liberated from male domination which marked the key aspect of their routine life. [5: Witherington III, Ben. Women in the Earliest Churches. New York, NY: Cambridge UP, 1988. p. 15] [6: Ibid, at 238-9]

Ancient communities regarded married women as their husbands' "property". According to Aristotle, women's status lay somewhere between that of slaves and free men. Tim Keller[footnoteRef:7] reports that Greco-Roman societies very often literally threw out newborn girls to perish from exposure to nature's elements, owing to females' inferior social status. But such a heinous act was forbidden by Christianity. Greco-Roman communities considered spinsters and widows as having no value. Thus, they deemed it forbidden for widows to remain so for over a couple of years. Christianity, on the other hand, became the foremost of the world's religions to accord widows a choice as to whether to remarry or not. They were provided financial aid and the community treated them with respect. Thus, they were…