1、 4.4 The Victory of ChristianityHi, this is the fourth part of the fourth chapter, The Victory of Christianity.1.Theodosius，also known as Theodosius the Great was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. He was the last emperor to rule over both theeastern and the western Empire. After his death, his two sons
2、 inherited the east and west parts respectively. The Roman Empire was never re-united until the fall of the western Empire in 476. During Theodosiuss reign, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Geekand Roman temples were converted into Christian churches; the Temple of Apol
3、lo in Delphi was shut down. The last Ancient Olympic Games washeld in 393, after that it was banned.From the early first century, Christians had been persecuted for nearly 300 years, but now they started to persecute others. Theodosius banned allpaganism, paganism is a term used by the early Christi
4、ans for the Romans who practiced polytheism, the worship of more than one god.Christianity is monotheism, believing there is only one God, Greek and Roman religions are polytheism.2. In 390 some rioters murdered the Roman governor in the Greek city of Thessalonica. Theodosius ordered the killing of
5、7,000 people there.This massacre angered the bishop of Milan Ambrose who excommunicated the emperor from his church. Excommunicate is to officially announcea person is no longer a member of the church. After several months，finally the emperor was forgiven until he did public penance for his brutal a
6、ct.Penance is a form of apology for sin or wrong doing. From this incident，we can see the church sometime was even more powerful than theemperor. Lets look at this picture; the bishop is stop the emperor going into the church.3. Basic knowledge of ChristianityJesus and the early Christians were Jewi
7、sh people, Christianity grew out of Judaism and finally Split from it. When Christianity became the officialreligion of the Roman Empire, most of Jewish people still believe Judaism like today. Christianity emerged in the mid-1st century in the RomanEmpire province of Judea. By the end of the 4th ce
8、ntury it became the official state religion of the Roman Empire. Today it is the worlds largestreligion, with over 2.4 billion Christians, 1/3 of the global population. Christianity played a very important role in the development of the Westerncivilization, thus it is necessary to learn the basic kn
9、owledge of Christianity.The Bible is the holy book of Christianity. The first part is the Old Testament, based on the Hebrew Bible. The second is the New Testament,written in the common Greek language, deals with the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as well as events in the first-century Christian
10、ity.4. The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Old Testament. Genesis is about the beginning of the world. God creates the world in six daysand rested in the seventh day. He creates the first human Adam out of the dust of the ground and the first woman Eve form Adams rib. Adamand Eve and all th
11、e animals lived peacefully in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were tempted by a talking serpent to eat the forbidden fruitfrom the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They became ashamed of their nakedness and God expelled them from the Garden. This is the fall ofman. Adam and Eves disobedience to
12、God is the original sin of human being. God punished Adam to getting what he needs only by sweat andwork, and Eve to giving birth in pain.5. This is the painting, the fall in the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo.6. Adam and Eves descendants lived on the earth for ten generations. Seeing the earth was
13、filled with violence, God decided to destroy hiscreation, he told Noah to build an ark in which Noah family together with a male and a female of all living creatures would be saved. The floodlasted for one year and 11 days. On the last day, the dove sent by Noah returned with an olive leaf. So，Noah
14、knew the flood is over. Noah died350 years after the flood, at the age of 950.7. AbrahamAt Gods command Noahs descendant Abraham led his people migrated from his home in Mesopotamia into the land of Canaan. Canaan was anancient region between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, corresponding rou
15、ghly to todays Palestine and Israel. Christians believed Canaanis the Promised Land given by God to the Israelites. Abrahams grandson Jacobs name was changed to Israel, thus his decedents were calledIsraelites, also called Hebrews or Jews.8. This is the map of Abrahams journey.9. Moses and ExodusIsr
16、aelites migrated to Egypt and there they were enslaved. The Egyptian Pharaoh was worried that they might be a threat and ordered all newbornHebrew boys to be killed. Pharaoh is king of Egypt. Moses was successfully hidden by his mother. God made Moses a prophet and ordered himto lead Jewish people o
17、ut of Egypt. This journey back to Canaan is called Exodus. They crossed the Red Sea and reached Mount Sinai, whereMoses received the Ten Commandments from the God, also called Yahweh. Ten Commandments are orders of God: to worship only God, tohonor ones parents, and to keep the Sabbath, to prohibit
18、murder, adultery, theft and dishonesty. The Sabbath is the day of not working. TheJewish Sabbath is on Saturday and the Christian Sabbath is on Sunday. This is the Statue of Moses by Michelangelo.10. Kingdom of Israel 1050-930BCAccording to the Old Testament, Saul was the first king of the Kingdom o
19、f Israel. Sauls son David and grandson Solomon brought the Kingdomto its peak of power. When Solomon died, the country split into two kingdoms: the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judahcontaining Jerusalem in the south. This is the statue of David by Michelangelo.111. When David wa
20、s a young boy, he defeated a large Philistine warrior named Goliath using his weapon of sling. David hurls a stone from hissling and hits Goliath in the center of his forehead, Goliath falls on his face to the ground, and David cuts off his head, like in this painting.12. Jesus Christ c.4 BC c.AD 30
21、 / 33The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah had been conquered by Babylonian, Persian and finally in the first century became the Roman province ofJudea. Jewish revolts against Romans had been put down. The Jewish were waiting the arrival of a Messiah, a liberator who would destroy theRomans and rebuild t
22、he Kingdom of David. Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus Christ was believed to be the incarnation of God the Son and the awaitedMessiah. Jesus was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit in Marys womb when she was still a virgin. According to the bible, when Mary andhis husband Joseph arrived in the city
23、of Bethlehem the inn had no room and so they were offered a stable where the Child Christ was soon born.13. Jesus was a preacher and a miracle worker. He preached a message of peace and love of God and neighbor and the imminent coming of thekingdom of Israel. Although his preaching was peaceful, he
24、was arrested and the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate decided the Jesus posed athreat to the law and order and finally Jesus was put to death by crucifixion. And this painting is called Descent from the Cross, by Rubens.14. This is the famous painting Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. We can see Jesu
25、s and his Twelve Apostles, also known as the TwelveDisciples. Judas betrayed Jesus. You can see Judas is wearing green and blue and is in the shadow, He is holding a small bag, perhaps signifyingthe silver given to him by payment to betray Jesus, and he looked panic and turned down the saltcellar. S
26、ince the Middle Ages, Judas has beenseen as the personification of the Jewish people and his betrayal has been used to justify Christian persecution of Jews. We cant forget theHolocaust, in Geek meaning whole burnt offering. There were 6 million European Jews murdered by Nazi Germany.15. After the d
27、eath of Jesus came the resurrection, Jesus Christ coming back to life after he had been killed. Inspired by the resurrection,Jesuss Apostles started to spread the Gospels to Asia Minor, Greece and even Rome. Gospel in Greek means good news. There were fourbooks called gospels in the New Testament, t
28、hey told the life, death, resurrection of Jesus. Saint Paul and Saint Peter played very important role ofthe spreading of Christianity. Saint Paul was born c. 5 AD and died maybe 64, maybe 67, also known as Paul the Apostle although he was notone of the Twelve Apostles. He taught the gospels of the
29、Christ to the first century world. Paul saw Christianity was not only for Jewish people butfor the whole world. He took advantage of his status as both a Jew and a Roman citizen to preach to both Jewish and Roman audiences. SaintPeter born ca. 1 and died between 64 to 68, was one of the Twelve Apost
30、les of Jesus Christ, also known as Simon. He was a leader of the earlyChristian Great Church. Peter was crucified in Rome under Emperor Nero. He was crucified upside down at his own request, since he saw himselfunworthy to be crucified in the same way as Jesus Christ. He is traditionally counted as the first Bishop of Rome or pope.16.Lets look at the key words: Adam and Eve, Moses and Exodus, Jesus Christ, resurrection，Gospels.This is the end of fourth part of the fourth chapter, The Victory of Christianity. 2
