Posted: September 16th, 2017

poles. Preaching a gospel of love and good works, Christians were the least likely to create an opposition government. Early Christians

poles. Preaching a gospel of love and good works, Christians were the least likely to create an opposition government. Early Christians didn’t even meet in large

buildi ngs: instead, preferring to meet in small house-groups. There was a lack of motivation to do anything but wait for Christ’s return:

something that was promised

by Jesus just before he was “taken up into heaven.” After Saul’s conversion experience on the road leading to Damascus, Syria, he became a Christian zealot. Appointed,

as it were, directly by God to preach the gospel of peace, Paul (Saul’s new name) set out to spread “the good news” to everyone who would listen, from Jerusalem, to

Turkey, to Greece, to Italy, and even to Spain and back again. There was one behavior among Christians that Paul did not agree with, and that was the belief that since

Christ would return soon, there was no reason to work. But Paul responded with “if you don’t work, you don’t eat.” And he made sure that everyone he met, and everyone

who would read his letters, understood what God’s desires were for Christians. If you wish to see Paul, the attorney, in action, you need to read Romans 1-8. In this

extended passage, Paul lays out man’s need for Jesus as forgiver of sins, because man was sinful and from man there would be no hope of reversing the curse of being

utterly separate from God.

Jesus being the sacrificial substitute for sin, Paul encouraged others to accept Jesus’ forgiveness and then to turn from evil to good. Paul

continues to teach those who would read his letter to the Romans, by claiming that even Caesar was appointed by God to sit in power: something that was difficult to

understand, given how aggressively Rome hunted Christians. The pivotal verse, in Paul’s description of sin and the remedy thereof, comes in Romans 8:1, where Paul

writes, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” All could be forgiven by a simple act of faith. This drove the Jews crazy.

Having

been given “the law” by Moses, Jews were to practice it with great devotion. Christ, apparently, was the fulfillment of “the law,” making the Jewish practice

unnecessary. As the British would put it, the Jewish law was declared redundant.

So why are we talking about Christianity if Christians were not motivated to set up an earthly kingdom?

Enter, Constantine the Great. Jesus had warned His followers of

becoming an earthly institution. In one of Jesus’ parables (stories with a moral point), He warns of a mustard seed growing into a large tree and the birds gathering

on its limbs. Some scholars think that Jesus was warning His followers to focus on their faith, not on gaining power over another person, to lord that power over him.

But when Constantine made Christianity an equal competitor with other religions, he gave Christianity a boost toward becoming a much larger institution.

For years I’ve

showed the 2009 film Agora, in my ethics course. The film is set in Alexandria, Egypt, at the time when Alexandria housed one of the largest libraries of ancient

literature. Directed by Alejandro Amenábar, the film seeks to tap into historical fiction, bringing out themes of religious and societal disturbances, as Christianity

gained ground, amongst fighting between pagans and Christians, and Jews and Christians.

By the end of the film, Christians have utterly destroyed the opposition and

rendered Roman law impotent in Alexandria. Hypatia, a female mathematician, is shown to be the protector of antiquity, even though ultimately being killed by zealous

Christians. We see in the film the destruction of the library at Alexandria, resembling the beginning of a long, dark period in academic thinking, which made the

Christians very happy, because they had destroyed—in the name God—false and competing teachings by the pagans.

It seems that only Hypatia fully understood what was at

stake. Personally, I find that the film exposes the abuses caused by persons working out of zeal and not reason, no matter who they are, or which faith system they

embrace. It is apparent that Rome is still the legal authority as the film ends, even though that rule of law is contested in the outlying regions in the 4 th century

A.C.E. and even eclipsed by local rebellion:

in this case that of the Christians. By the end of the 4th century A.C.E. Christians had demonstrated their resilience to

pain and suffering, seemingly undaunted in their desire to serve Christ their King. The more pressure the Caesars applied, the stronger the Christians became. And by

the time Constantine takes power, Christians are a growing force.