Movements that change the world

Here’s just three of the reasons for the expansion of the early church.

1. The Legacy of Judaism
The Judaism of the Hellenistic world was an evangelising faith. At the dawn of the Christian era there were significant Jewish communities to the east of the Roman Empire in Armenia, Iraq, Iran and Arabia and throughout the Mediterranean world in Egypt, Asia Minor, Italy and Spain. These communities were thriving and growing by evangelistic effort. As a Jewish sect, early Christianity followed in its parent’s geographical footsteps. It was characterised from the outset by its mobility. Judaism provided Christianity with an important springboard throughout the empire and beyond.

2. Religious intolerance. . . Religious tolerance
At times Christianity faced dreadful persecutions but intense persecution was sporadic and never consistent across the whole empire. There was a stigma and a price attached to being a Christian but there was no sustained, consistent attempt to wipe out the Christian faith. From the earliest days archeologists can identify Christian houses and individuals who took on Christian names publicly. A secret faith could not have grown as rapidly as Christianity did. For rapid expansion a movement must maintain open ties to non-members. Early Christianity proved Nietzsche’s dictum: “What does not destroy us makes us stronger.”

3. Pagan weakness
It is very difficult and extremely rare for a new religion to displace an existing one if the existing faith is strong. There were signs that paganism was in a declining and weakened state. There was a rapid reduction in the number of new sacred buildings being dedicated. The religious environment was volatile with a confusing array of old and new pagan alternatives. The costs required to maintain elaborate temples, professional priests and lavish feasts were a burden. Blasphemous graffiti on the walls of Pompeii reveal a growing lack of public reverence. Paganism was in a weak position.

The inherent weakness of paganism is that it cannot generate exclusive commitment. Paganism is nonexclusive and takes multiple religious involvements for granted. Nonexclusive religions are individualistic allowing people to choose from among a variety of alternatives rather like consumers. They struggle to produce a communal faith. A modern example of this is the New Age movement. There is no New Age church, only a loose network of individuals who consume New Age religious products, often as fee-paying clients. Pagan cults were not able to get people to do much of anything. They had limited social strength.

As an exclusive faith, Christianity was able to build a communal faith, rather than an individualist one. It demanded exclusive commitment. It was able to channel people’s commitment into mutual support and collective action.

Paganism was sustained by a professional religious elite and would have been susceptible to “top-down” persecution. The Roman authorities assumed Christianity could be destroyed by targeting its leadership. They did not understand that Christianity was a mass movement with a highly committed rank and file that spread through networks of relationships.

That’s enough for now. Love to hear what others think.