jjares reviewed Church History: A Captivating Guide to the History of the Christian Church, Including Events of the Crusades, the Missionary Journeys of Paul, the Conversion of Constantine, and More on + 3270 more book reviews
The Christian Church is constantly evolving. However, many of the big controversies have already been fought over, including how to think about God, how to worship, and how to organize to provide interpretation to believers. The Christian Church has changed to meet the needs of the society it serves. Often, Christian congregations combined local pagan religious traditions with their belief in Christ.
Early on, it was the Christian Church that converted polytheistic pagans to believe in a single God. Christianity, like Judaism before it, began as a religion of the book. Judaism was the first trans-regional religion in the Roman Empire. The Romans and Greeks were polytheistic and dominated by local tradition. Roman emperors were often laissez-faire about religion, with the exception of Nero, Decius, and Diocletian, until Emperor Constantine proclaimed that Christians were free to practice their religion as they wished.
Illiterate the populations might be, but they understood miracles. Early Christians adapted pagan motifs for Christian uses. It is thought that angels became part of the Christian faith because the cult of Mithraism (who believed in flying humanoid spirits) was popular with Roman soldiers. In the early Church, local beliefs could be widely divergent from each other. By 325 CE, a Council of Nicea was called to standardize the Christian faith.
However, when Martin Luther (and other deeply devout people who were unhappy with the excesses they saw in the Church) moved to force change, the cat was out of the bag. There was an explosion of ways to look at scripture because more people could read the Bible on their own. Captivating History shows how the many flavors of faith have emerged. It is an interesting story.
Early on, it was the Christian Church that converted polytheistic pagans to believe in a single God. Christianity, like Judaism before it, began as a religion of the book. Judaism was the first trans-regional religion in the Roman Empire. The Romans and Greeks were polytheistic and dominated by local tradition. Roman emperors were often laissez-faire about religion, with the exception of Nero, Decius, and Diocletian, until Emperor Constantine proclaimed that Christians were free to practice their religion as they wished.
Illiterate the populations might be, but they understood miracles. Early Christians adapted pagan motifs for Christian uses. It is thought that angels became part of the Christian faith because the cult of Mithraism (who believed in flying humanoid spirits) was popular with Roman soldiers. In the early Church, local beliefs could be widely divergent from each other. By 325 CE, a Council of Nicea was called to standardize the Christian faith.
However, when Martin Luther (and other deeply devout people who were unhappy with the excesses they saw in the Church) moved to force change, the cat was out of the bag. There was an explosion of ways to look at scripture because more people could read the Bible on their own. Captivating History shows how the many flavors of faith have emerged. It is an interesting story.
