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as Lord Early Christian preachers saw the cosmopolitan cities of the empire as offering exceptional opportunities to spread the gospel “to every nation and tribe and language and people” (Rev 14:7) Christianity had an unexplainable power to appeal to displaced people who were experiencing insecurity and distress in the major cities of the empire Christianity quickly established itself in North Africa in Alexandria and Carthage, where the great apologists Tertullian (c 185 c.e.), Origen (c 185– 254 c.e.), and Clement of Alexandria (c 200 c.e.) worked, all of whom played a critical role in shaping the church’s Trinitarian doctrine The city of Rome became home to Clement (c 96 c.e.), Justin Martyr (150 c.e.), and Pope Callistus (217–222 c.e.) The churches in these Italian and North African cities became centers from which Christianity spread and took root in the Western Roman Empire Lyon of Gaul (France) became home to Bishop Irenaeus (160–220 c.e.), one of the greatest apologists of early Christianity, whose writings provided a rich source of information about Christian Dualism before the Nag Hammadi codices were discovered Christianity also took root in the cities of the East The powerful Christian centers Ephesus, Smyrna, and Laodicea were all important cities of Asia Minor The Antioch of Syria on the Orontes became an ancient center of Syrian Christianity going back to the very beginning of Christianity Antioch gave birth to the great bishop Ignatius (c 98–117 c.e.), whose letters are a valuable source of information about Christianity in Greece and Asia at the end of the era of the Twelve Apostles The third factor aiding Christianity’s growth was its high ethical tone and moral purpose The Roman moral sensibilities were somewhat schizophrenic On the one hand, Rome extolled morality and law On the other hand, it encouraged debauchery and savage entertainments, such as gladiator fights and the circus In the midst of the moral confusion Christianity became a clarion call of protest, particularly on behalf of women and lower-class people Also, in contrast to the highbrow Roman intelligentsia, Christians actually tried to live a moral life rather than simply pass judgment on society Many ordinary believers lived an exemplary moral life This became perhaps most evident in the martyrdom of the early Christians If apostasy represents dissatisfied customers, martyrdom represents brand loyalty The early Christian martyrs showcased their unflinching loyalty to the Christian ideals of nonviolence and moral purity before the eyes of the crowds that had come looking for a violent entertainment Christianity, early 81 Finally, the most important factor aiding Christianity’s growth was its phenomenal efficiency Owing mostly to Roman persecutions, the church did not possess significant assets or real estate, so no extensive and centralized administrative oversight was necessary Also it did not take many to start a church It took only a handful of the disciples of Jesus to form the initial bands of believers in Palestine It took only one person, Paul, to found churches throughout Asia Minor and Greece In cities such as Rome and Alexandria it did not even take an apostle to plant Christianity Maintaining the newly planted churches also required little manpower The chief reason was the simplicity of the liturgy Many of the original congregations were “house churches” that met in private homes and were of no more than 30 or 40 individuals each Even in the second and third centuries, when many churches grew in size, house church continued to be the way new churches got started In these house churches the worship consisted basically of the Eucharist, singing of hymns, reading of scripture, mutual sharing of insights, and a fellowship (agape) meal Rarely did a virtuoso preacher stand in front with a polished sermon, and there were no elaborate initiation rites, as in the mystery religions Nor was there a painful rite, like Jewish circumcision The converts were simply baptized by water in a baptistery or a shallow river The main “service” that Christianity provided to its adherents was koinonia, or “spirit-filled fellowship.” There were deacons, presbyters, bishops, synods, and even councils that looked after the growing church The presbyters oversaw communities, and the deacons looked after the affairs of the local churches The most important ecclesiastical office was that of the bishop, who oversaw large territories in the empire The bishops of major cities were rather powerful The bishops of Rome in particular, later called the pope, exercised great power, both spiritually and politically From the middle of the first century c.e until Constantine the Great converted to Christianity and made it Rome’s official religion in 322, Christianity proliferated more or less spontaneously, where it was least controlled Christianity became the spawning ground of exotic ideas, later termed heresies Gnosticism, Monarchialism, Montanism, and Manichaeanism are some of the names given to these exotic ideas For a religion growing without close supervision in urban centers of the Roman Empire, mostly among Gentile converts, this was to be expected Most of the Gentile converts to Christianity did not know the Jewish traditions that stood behind much of the NT Their intellectual context was
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