Roman Influence On Christianity

One of the influences of Roman religion on Christianity included the Roman Road Network. The Road Network followed by that funny saying: “All roads lead to Rome”, was a huge contribution to the spread and expansion of Christianity, because it was a major pathway for people to get from one place to another, which in result led to multiple groups of people from different regions coming all together in Rome. With the road system in place it allowed for missionaries’ tasks to be completed with little to no issues as well as the preaching of the gospel to be spread on a daily basis. This was a huge step, considering that Christianity went from being barely spoken about and if you were caught doing so you were punished; to being discussed about in …show more content…
Christianity was seen as a minority in the Roman Empire, meaning if you were a Christian and disobeyed the Empire laws you would be persecuted. The purpose for these persecutions was to destroy Christianity. However rather than destroying it and drawing people’s attention away from Christianity, it just made them more curious about the religion as the persecutions displayed significant loyalty to Christianity and their leader. During this time period, a man by the name of Constantine who witnessed the Christian persecutions found them to be very consequential and unpleasant. In fact, he showed an “admiration for the organization and values of the Christians and later became the first emperor to convert to Christianity. He believed that their love, charity and mercy would bring about unity and harmony to the Roman Empire. Due to the power and influence of paganism, Constantine proceeded with caution to Christianize the empire”. …show more content…
Roman Peace or also referred to as ‘Pax Romana’ was a time period in which Christianity thrived. ‘The Roman Empire protected and governed individual provinces permitted each nation, group of people, and individuals to make to make and administer its own laws while accepting Roman taxation and military occupation’. (Wellman,2016) The Roman protection was able to save people such as Paul the Apostles from death. If it wasn’t for the protection provided the spread of Christianity may have never gone as far as it did. The Roman Empire was very powerful; however, they did allow certain freedoms. Especially during the Pax Romana period, the people were able to worship in their own ways. Legal Contribution, the Road Network Contribution, and Roman Peace and Protection were all were all part of the Roman religion that had a part in influencing the growth and expansion of Christianity. ‘The empire didn’t intentionally spread Christianity, but it did allow it to spread by giving the church certain privileges, rights, and freedoms that others in the empire had as well. Even though the empire was evil, God has a way of using evil for His own good purposes (Gen 50:20; John 3:16). How interesting that God can use a pagan or evil empire such as the Roman Empire to His glory’.