Imagine that one of your classmates said one of these things in class. Would it be an academic way to talk about religion?

Answer if each of these is an academic way to talk about religion or not

  1. "Well im a Christian so I know it's true, plus, my pastor told me that other religions are fake."
  2. "Even if it's an opinion about whether or not Jesus came back from the dead, it's a fact that Christians believe that."
  3. "Well I am Muslim and we believe this, that's different from what Christians believe."
  4. "Well Mr Hallee said that Christians think that Jesus is God, that means that he's saying my religion is wrong because we don't think that."

Write in your notes: Rules for talking about religion in class

  1. Be respectful of other people's opinions.
  2. Think about how other people might have a different opinion than you.
  3. Phrase beliefs as beliefs. IE "In my church we believe that..." not "It is true that..."

The Rise and Spread of Christianity

Write in your notes

In your notes write the steps that Christianity took to become a world religion

      1. Spread after the death of Jesus

      After the death of Jesus, his teachings began to spread among the Jewish community in the eastern Roman world.

      Major Christian leaders at the time like James, the brother of Jesus believed that Jewish christians should be the majority and that non-Jewish christians should be separate.

      2. Becoming a gentile (non-Jewish) religion

      Eventually the Greek Jew working for the Romans, Paul becomes a Christian.

      He and the disciple of Jesus, Peter work to make Christianity more appealing to non-Jews

      Peter claimed to have a vision where God told him he could eat foods that Jews couldn't eat (like Pork)

      Paul opposed requiring Christians to become circumcised

      This way Christianity was much more appealing to Greeks and Romans

      3. Becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire

      Despite persecution the Christian religion really began to spread among Romans. Especially among elite Roman women.

      Eventually Roman Emperor Constantine (who had Christian female family members) converted after the battle of Milvian Bridge.

      Then he brought together the Christian bishops at the Council of Nicea. Organizing one unified Christian church.

      4. Spread outside the Roman World

      Missionaries - people who spread a religion to outsiders

      Missionaries brought the Christian religion beyond the Roman World