Download File - JOHN J. HADDAD, Ph.D.

18 ◆ Christianity A SHORT GLOBAL HISTORY
Mediterranean were works of Satan. They were home to most Christians.
The countryside was more likely to be the stronghold of ‘paganism’
(the Latin word pagos means ‘rural’ or ‘village district’). The apostle
Paul praised the Augustan peace established by the Romans and used its
protection of travel as a way to spread the faith. Priscilla and Aquila also
journeyed at least from Rome to Ephesus; they had some contact with
the Christian from Alexandria, Apollos, who appeared during their stay
in Ephesus. Paul invoked his Roman citizenship as a good. He used his
education, in both Jewish scripture and Hellenistic rhetoric, to his
advantage. Like a good rhetorician he uttered warnings about the problems
of philosophy but employed it well in his writings.
The cultural struggles of this first period were complex. Most Christians
found ways to adapt within the societies in which they lived. Their
adjustments sometimes appear in the Gospels, but particularly in the
New Testament book of Acts, the epistles and the apocalypse called Revelation.
Some Christians were slaves, but urban slaves who could go to
meetings after their work was finished; others were tentmakers or craftsmen.
A few owned houses big enough for group meetings and held
important positions in either Roman government or Jewish religious
organizations. Even during their earliest existence in Galilee and
Jerusalem, they were not solely a proletarian or agrarian movement
attractive only to lower, less powerful classes. The lowest in society
(slaves in galleys and mines, peasants and slaves on small farms) either
did not find this new religion appealing or had no one to tell their stories
often enough to become a part of historical memory. Two reasons for the
spotty persecution of Christians in the first three hundred years of the
religion’s existence seem plausible. First, they well may have included
just enough established people, such as the Roman citizen Paul, that the
authorities were often uncertain about what their intentions were and
what the consequences of putting them in jail might be. Second, some
figures outside Christian groups thought they should be noted, even
investigated, but they did not seem to be that numerous or dangerous.
Pliny the younger (c. 61–c. 112), a governor in Bithynia (north-western
Turkey) tortured some Christian deaconesses (women leaders) and found
that the group was basically harmless. They took oaths not to steal or lie
and seemed to come from all strata of society, low and high. They shared
a benign common meal. If necessary they could be suppressed. Lucian of
Samosata (born c. 120) thought them silly. They were so gullible that
they even fed their members who had been justly imprisoned.