Ch. 10 The Worlds of Christendom

In Chapter 10, we learn about the Worlds of Christendom. Christendom first began in the year 0 when Christ was born. We read about how once the son of God is older, he begins to teach the word of God and gain a following. The more support that he gained, the more opposition he gained from the Roman Empire. They felt threatened by him and eventually decided to have him executed. After Christ had been killed, his teachings still continued to have a major impact in the lives of many. His followers even faced persecution but they still kept the faith no matter what. Christ’s followers began to meet secretly so that they could observe and worship in peace without prosecution or persecution. The Roman Empire made several desperate attempts to take down the religion that is now globally known as Christianity however, they were unsuccessful. They soon made Christianity the official religion. In the Roman Empire; there was no separation of church and state; when a decision was made it was final. Sort of like how they determined what Christianity to be. They tried to dictate what would be read and observed as a Christian.

Another drastic change around 400 a.d. made by the Roman Empire was carried out by Constantine during his relocation of the capitol to a new city named after him. This relocation made it much easier for the Roman Empire to defend against the North. This new relocation later became Byzantine which also picked up a new ideology, Eastern Orthodox. Rome adopted Roman Catholicism.

I liked reading this chapter because it explains how something so sacred such as Christianity came from something so ugly, Christ’s death. I also like reading about how Christianity was the stepping stone for many other religions; while the Roman Empire tried to discredit and speak down on Christ, it still was not enough.