Survival of the Fittest

Question 1

Survival of the Fittest

Answer 1

• By 64 CE, the emperor Nero is persecuting Christians because Christians did not fit the Roman model of religion.
• People could worship whatever gods they wanted as long as they also paid homage to the official gods.
• Christians refused to worship state gods or recognize other pagan gods.
• Additionally, Christians were not just monotheists, but also monotheists who proselytized.
• Christianity continued to grow until 312, when Constantine fought an important battle under the sign of the cross. His victory ushered in an era of official tolerance for Christianity.
• By the end of the century, Christianity was the official religion of the empire and pagan religions were banned.
• Christianity´s triumph with the Roman Empire, then, was dependent upon Constantine.

Question 2

An Open Platform

Answer 2

• The creation of the Roman Empire made interethnic friendship valuable.
• With the Pax Romana a huge area of commerce opened up, with lots of potential for business among people of different cities, nations and ethnicities.
• There were several sects within early Christianity.
• If there were two sects within a religion and one welcomed people from all nationalities and the other made it difficult for people of most nationalities to join, then the former would grow faster, and it would have competitive advantages due to its size.

Question 3

two sects within a religion

Answer 3

• Ebionites, who demanded that new members be thoroughly Jewish required circumcision for men.
• Runner-up: Marcionism
• two gods:
• A wrathful creator god of the Hebrew Bible.
• A loving God, revealed by Jesus, who offered escape from this material world.
• Marcion’s canon included the letters of Paul and a redacted version of Luke.

Question 4

Tension between the early Christians and Jews begins

Answer 4

• as both compete to be the legitimate heirs to the Old Testament. Christians argued that the Jews had abandoned their God by killing his son.
• Ancient religious proselytizers were working in a competitive environment. They were trying to get people’s attention and hold it through a story that would occupy a special place in their spiritual lives.

Question 5

Constantine’s Conversion

Answer 5

• An emperor of a multiethnic empire would favor a religion that promotes ethnic harmony and consolidates the empire.
• Roman Empire had done the same by promoting tolerance of diverse gods of diverse ethnicities. Everybody had to pay homage to the state gods, but all were welcome to worship their own gods.

Question 6

The Point of the Exercise

Twofold point:

Answer 6

• To show that some doctrine of interethnic amity was likely to prevail within the Roman Empire all along.
• To show how adaptable a given god can be in service of this goal.
  o Yahweh began life with an ethnic bias in favor of the Israelites, with the rest of the world subject to him and to Israel.
  o Once Israel became a member of the Persian Empire, interethnic amity grew.
  o Under Christianity, God underwent another change from a national god, the God of Israel, to a transnational god.
  o Christianity replaced one kind of particularism with another; from a particularism based on ethnicity to one based on belief.

Question 7

Conclusion

Answer 7

• When different ethnic groups all win then God changes.

- It isn’t that God is changing, but rather that people’s image of God is changing/expanding.