humanties

For years , Christians had been a minority in Rome . Yet , due to political instability , the backing of the Emperor Constantine , the strength and loyalty of Christians in the face of diversity and the ability of Christian thinkers to answer the questions philosophers had been unable to answer for years , Christianity became the dominant religion of the Roman empire

Rome had once been a strong , unified city . Yet due to treacherous assassinations , incompetent rule , and barbarous treatment of subjects in the cases of emperors like Nero and Caligula , the loyalty of Roman

citizens became divided . This instability became evident when the empire was split amongst four factions . Four would-be-rulers battled each other for authority . One of the emperors , Constantine , who was favored by the Roman army , proved victorious in the battle of the four emperors . He credited his win over Maxentius 's forces to newfound favor of the Christian God and established Christianity as the major religion of his empire . One of the reasons , then , that Christianity grew , was that it was backed by the ruler of Rome

Meanwhile , many Romans were impressed by the loyalty Christians had to their God . Men like Polycarp , and the Apostle Peter , who could have saved their lives by denouncing Christianity , refused and died . Other Christians were buried alive by anti-Christian rulers . Others were torn apart , as cruel rulers tied their legs to opposing tree branches , then released the bent branches . If the Christians of the day had been guilty of crimes against other citizens or if they had gone to death unwillingly , this may not have meant so much . But instead , Christians did their best to live moral lives , so that they could be a witness to the rest of the world

Finally , Christianity spread because it satisfied the minds of those who had questions about what life was for and how they should live Philosophers like Socrates would ask many questions in an attempt to uncover truth , but Socrates only came to conclusions about what things were not . He never came to a complete answer about what things were Therefore , a scholar interested in knowing how he should behave could not find the answer in philosophy . Christian thinkers , however , offered answers to the questions of what life was for and how to live . For a Christian , the purpose of life is to love and serve God . He is meant to love his neighbor and to be obedient to the commandments of God and to abide by the law of the land

It is for these reasons that Christianity became the dominant religion in Rome...