Somewhat short account of history of early Christianity based on Wikipedia

Last updated on October 28th 2014

This short account of history of early Christianity is a mix of wikipedia links (including some small extracts), and comments of mine. The main wiki page for this topic is Wikipedia's History of early Christianity, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_early_Christianity (as of Sept. 2014).

1) Prior to and during the advent of Jesus Christ, Jerusalem, the centre of the Jewish faith, was under foreign (Roman) rule. The Jews (at least some of them) expected a 'messiah' who would eject the foreigners and resurrect a Jewish state (centred in Jerusalem). Judaism (religion of the Jews) was divided into sects like the Pharisees and Saducees. Those who sought to incite the people to rebel against the Roman empire and expel it from the Jewish lands by force were referred to as Zealots, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zealots_(Judea).

2) Judea (containing Jerusalem), Samaria and Galilee are three important regions of Palestine/Israel at the time of Jesus, http://www.bible-history.com/maps/Map-Palestine-New-Testament-Times.gif

3) Ministry of Jesus: "According to the Gospel writers, Jesus preached for a period of one to three years when he was in his early 30s, in the early 1st century AD.", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_early_Christianity#Ministry_of_Jesus. What is striking is that Jesus' ministry was a maximum of only three years (according to scholars of early Christianity)! Yet, what an impact he made on the world!

"His ministry of teaching, healing the sick and disabled and performing various miracles culminated in his execution at the hands of the Roman authorities in Jerusalem (but see also Responsibility for the death of Jesus). Shortly thereafter, a strong belief in Jesus' bodily resurrection spread rapidly through Jerusalem, beginning with his closest disciples, which led up to the traditional Day of Pentecost. This event provoked the Apostles to embark on a number of missionary campaigns to spread the "Good News", following the Great Commission handed down by Jesus.", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_early_Christianity#Ministry_of_Jesus

[Ravi: When Jesus was crucified the apostles and other followers would have been utterly devastated. Peter, the foremost apostle of Jesus, himself denied Jesus thrice before the rooster crowed on the day & night of the crucifixion (as foretold by Jesus), http://biblehub.com/matthew/26-34.htm & http://biblehub.com/matthew/26-75.htm. In the days following the crucifixion, who would have expected the apostles and followers of Jesus to go forth and spread Jesus' teachings, and create a great world religion that is very much alive two thousand years after the crucifixion of Jesus! IMHO, unless there were some great events like the resurrection and the day of the Pentecost (given below), the apostles and followers would not have had the spiritual force and motivation to spread the faith.]

3a - The day of Pentecost is when the Holy spirit descended on the Apostles and other followers of Jesus (after crucifixion of Jesus). For more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentecost and the Acts extract below.

From Acts 2:1–6:
“ And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. ”

3b - Great Commission: From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Commission: "The Great Commission of Christianity is the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciples that they spread his teachings to all the nations of the world. It has become a tenet in Christian theology emphasizing ministry, missionary work, evangelism, and baptism. The Apostles are said to have dispersed from Jerusalem and founded the Apostolic Sees."

From https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2028:16-28:20&version=ESV:

Matthew 28:16-20 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Great Commission
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

----

4) Apostolic Age: "This period, roughly dated between the years 30 and 100 AD, produced writings traditionally attributed to the direct followers of Jesus Christ (the New Testament and Apostolic Fathers collections) and is thus associated with the apostles and their contemporaries.", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_early_Christianity#Apostolic_Age. The following comments relates to additional material of the Apostolic Age section in the wiki link just mentioned.

[Ravi: So initially the teachings of Jesus/Christianity was limited to Jewish converts, and Jewish traditions continued to be followed. Paul, who was not one of the apostles who had been with the bodily-living Jesus (but is still viewed as an apostle in the sense that he was one of the most important preachers of Christianity), reached out to Gentiles (non Jews). The Gentile converts were not willing to follow some Jewish traditions and that resulted in some big issues. The year 50 mentioned in the link above in the context of the circumcision controversy would have been around 20 years after the crucifixion of Jesus.]
...
[Ravi: The important thing to note is that there were Jewish communities in Rome at the time of Jesus Christ. The provinces of Palestine (Judea (including Jerusalem), Samaria and Galilee) at the time of Jesus Christ were under Roman rule. (Jerusalem was connected to Rome via a Mediterranean Sea route as shown by this map of Paul's journey to Rome, http://burmesebible.com/document/paul/paulrome.gif).

So some Christian preachers would have gone to Jewish communities in Rome, the centre of the Roman empire, within a few decades, if not years, of Jesus' crucifixion. (The wiki page states that Christianity had been spread by the apostles to Rome within 10 years of Jesus' (crucifixion)). That would have been the beginning of the Christian following in Rome. According to the above, the emperor Nerva around the year 98 officially differentiated between Jews (Rabbinic Judaism) and Christians. Till that time perhaps there was limited persecution of Christians in Rome. Of course, both Peter, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Peter#Martyrdom, and Paul, who was a Roman citizen, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_the_Apostle#His_final_days_spent_in_Rome, are said to have been martyred in Rome around year 60 (in the reign of Emperor Nero). That is around three decades after crucifixion of Jesus Christ. But perhaps only the leaders were persecuted prior to the official differentiation between Jews and Christians in Rome around the year 98.]

5) Post-apostolic period: "Christianity throughout the 2nd and 3rd centuries have generally been less studied than the periods that came before and after it. This is reflected in that it is usually referred to in terms of the adjacent periods with names as such "post-apostolic" (after the period of 1st century formative Christianity) and "ante-Nicene" (before the First Council of Nicaea). However, the 2nd and 3rd centuries are quite important in the development of Christianity. ", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_early_Christianity#Post-apostolic_period. The following comments relates to additional material of the Apostolic Age section in the wiki link just mentioned.

[Ravi: In the apostolic age (till year 100) the apostles and other preachers spread the faith and created a sizeable set of Christian communities. Then came a sort-of consolidation phase where these Christian communities agreed on a "basic list of writings that would serve as their canon". The development of an organizational structure of these communities with a bishop heading a city community is also fascinating. A good part of this work was done by the year 160, which is a hundred years after the (reported) martyrdom of Peter and Paul, the two major apostles of the apostolic age. And by 160 there was the first documented synod to discuss doctrinal issues! I really enjoyed reading and understanding this flowering of the Christian church in its early days.]
...
[Ravi: Could it have been a combination of faith in Jesus Christ/Divinity which responds to earnest prayer (interventionist God), along with improved quality of life of adherents of Christianity due to following teachings like loving neighbours and generally being helpful to others, that led Christianity to attract people from other faiths like paganism? Anyway, the Christian faith spread far and wide in the Roman empire when it was not the official religion of the Roman empire (and was even persecuted at times and in some places). That is a great and wonderful achievement of the Christian faith.]

6) From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_early_Christianity: "The history of early Christianity covers Christianity from its origins to the First Council of Nicaea in 325."

[Ravi: It seems that the first council of Nicaea strongly established Christianity as a recognised & accepted, if not favoured, religion, in the Roman empire, with full support from Roman emperor Constantine. Further growth in Christianity after this strong support from the Roman emperor himself would have been easier perhaps. So Jesus Christ who was crucified on orders of the Roman governor of Jerusalem (even if the governor was reluctant but was forced to do so by some Jewish leaders of Jerusalem) around the year 30, spiritually conquered the Roman empire around 3 centuries later with the Roman empire embracing Christianity as a state religion! What an awesome spiritual conquest!]

As the early history of Christianity is considered to end at the first council of Nicaea, readers may want to read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea.