Factors that contributed to fast spread of Christianity during the Middle Ages
The spread of Christianity in the middle Ages in the backdrop of persecution, hostility, and limited knowledge of religion and Jesus in the Roman Empire was miraculous in many ways. Most Christians believe that God’s power had a hand in arranging the historical circumstance that led Christianity to thrive in the region and even becoming the Roman Empire’s official religion (Delgado, 2017). Even then, God’s power that acted behind the scenes to create such a favorable environment for the spread of the Gospel does not out rule the use of cultural, social, and religious factors to enable the success of the spread of the Gospel.
Socioeconomic factors
Prevailing Peace
During the Middle Ages, the powerful Roman Empire had managed to establish peace throughout the region using its army. The kingdom had effectively created and maintained order and harmony in society. The peace allowed the spreading of Christianity’s message widely without fear of attacks from enemies and other physical barriers that accompany a period of war (North, 2017). As opposed to times of war where bearers of Christianity messages would be held captive or killed, the peace that was created by the Roman Empire allowed free movement. The pax Romana, for example, was utilized by the early Christians to preach faith and spread the message about the coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
Common language
There were two dominant languages in the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages. These were Greek commonly used in the East and Latin that was mostly used in the West. Commerce or trade mostly used common Greek. The Bible and particularly the New Testament was originally written in Greek, and so were the early messages of Christianity (Southern, 2016). The use of universal language that prevailed in the Mediterranean was an advantage to the missionaries and bearers of the message of Christianity to spread the Gospel since they could communicate effectively with the targets. The missionary could capture the attention of non-believers, preach to them, and convince them to become believers without any language barriers (North, 2017). Close to everyone in the region could understand Greek, contributing to the understanding of the New Testament.
Advancement in transport
The Roman Empire had advanced technology that simplified travel. The kingdom had built an elaborate system of roads that linked most parts of the region. Missionaries such as Apostle Paul utilized the roads to travel far and wide, taking with them messages of Christianity that would eventually convert a lot of people to become Christians (Kuuliala, 2019). The Apostles also used the developed means of transport to access remote locations and build Churches to facilitate easy conversion of non-believers to believers.
Religious factors
Gracious plan of salvation
Christianity was founded on a very appealing proclamation. According to the Gospel, Jesus made sin atonement by accepting crucifixion despite his innocence and purity. Bearers of Christianity messages portrayed salvation as a gift from God due to his unwavering love for humanity (Maskarinec, 2018). In the new Christianity, Each individual gained the right to be forgiven of sins regardless of race, social status, or age. Christianity differed from other philosophies and religions at the time due to its principle of inclusivity. Additionally, Christianity was strongly embraced by slaves and other people of low status in the society whose transformation acted as prove for the unique care and love that God had on the world. The transformation of the disadvantaged acted as a magnet to attract more people to Christianity who eventually got converted. Another religious reason for Christianity’s growing popularity is the portrayal of God’s love in contrast with Greco-Roman gods that were worshiped at the time despite lack of tangible evidence for their love and care.
Courageous Martyrs
Religious scholars and commentators express different opinions regarding the amount of persecution that early Christians were subjected to, but they all agree that the nature of deaths of the Martyrs had a massive impact in the spread of Christianity. With a lot of suffering caused by members of the Roman Empires, some Christian martyrs including Jesus met a painful death challenging people to embrace faith despite the circumstances (Hardison, 2019) . Early Christians and apostles led by example by withstanding temptation and suffering including death in their faith and efforts to spread Christianity. The belief in resurrection as Jesus had done gave early Christian more strength to endure persecution while spreading the Gospel. The amazing courage of the apostles acted as significant proves in the resurrection of Jesus as people in the region that warranted the heavy risks that early Christians undertook.
Growing popularity in Monotheism
At the time of the ancient Greco-Roman world, polytheism had become rampant. As a result, a prominent building, The Pantheon, had been erected to represent “All gods” (North, 2017). As Christianity emerged, in the Middle Ages, monotheism had started becoming trendy and revolutionary . The belief in a single but powerful God had continuity and coherence as opposed to polytheism. Since Christianity was founded on Triune nature of God, it presented a unique type of monotheism that people were increasingly ready for.
The efforts of Apostle Paul
The Apostle Paul fronted a unique and extraordinary effort in spreading the message of Christianity. In his lifetime, he made three major journeys as a missionary, effectively establishing a foundation of Christianity in Asia. His contribution in spreading Christianity earned him the title of the greatest missionary and theologian of Christianity (Doohan, 2016). Paul also wrote 13 New Testament books that places Jesus Christ at the fulfillment of the Old Testament in line with the expectations of a savior. These connection between the Old Testament and Jesus Christ led to many more people that previously waited for the fulfillment of the prophesies since the beginning of mankind existence to convert into Christianity.
Cultural factors
Charity and Aid
The Roman Empire had supported a mean culture where the poor and the less privileged in the society were abandoned to fight their own battles. Christianity, having been found on equality of all mankind and other principles, brought hope to a lot of people. The early Christians offered a lot of charity and aid to alleviate suffering to less fortunate people (Richter, 2005). The poor, the sick and the aged became beneficiaries of items such as clothing, shelter and food that followers of Christianity offered. This aid and assistance covered both believers and non-believers, enabling Christianity to be extremely appealing to a lot of people. Additionally, Christians provided hospital, hospice and rescue centers to help the sick recover from their illnesses and save patients in critical condition from imminent death. Orphanages also set up by early Christians to accommodate unwanted children in the society helped to meet their needs. In most cases, the beneficiaries of the acts of charity and other people who learnt about what Christians did to the less fortunate were ultimately converted. Philanthropists were attracted by the remarkable acts of salvaging societal members compelled at the bottom of socioeconomic pyramid.
Elimination of social classes
During the middle ages, members of society were stratified according to their social standing whose pillars were class, genders, and race. Early Christians and Apostles opposed and proclaimed against the social classifications. The Apostle Paul, for example, utterly disregarded treatment of people based on whether they were Greek, Jew, free, slave, male or female. He insisted that all people were created in the image of God and were equal and one before Jesus Christ on whom Christianity is founded. This stand not only brought an appealing unity among the diverse groups in the Church but also attracted more non-believers in the Church regardless of the classification in the society (Richter, 2005). The principle of equality for all also gave Christianity an upper hand against prevailing religions such as Judaism and existing cultural norms of the Roman Empire that discriminated against some groups in the society. In Christianity, all people including slaves and women were invited to become equal members in the religion. Victims of discrimination in the community were attracted by the message that God loved them deeply, had forgiven and accepted them in His kingdom despite their social class, sex, color, or age.
In brief, combination religious, social, and cultural factors played a massive role in influencing the success and expansion of Christianity during the middle Ages. Social factors included prolonged peace, use of common language and existence of elaborate means of transport. Religious factors included an appealing message of salvation to all mankind, committed Martyrs and the growing popularity of monotheism in religion. Culturally, Christianity presented a better system of society characterized by sharing, equality, compassion and love. It also disregarded social classifications that ultimately disadvantaged the poor and the weak. As a result, most people found a reason to join and support Christianity, allowing it to thrive and expand in the region.
Reference
Delgado, M. (2017). From Acceptance to Religious Freedom: Considerations for Convivencia in Medieval Spain and Multireligious Coexistence Today. In Contested Spaces, Common Ground (pp. 225-240). Brill Rodopi.
Doohan, H. (2016). Paul’s Vision of Church. Wipf and Stock Publishers.
Hardison Jr, O. B. (2019). Christian Rite and Christian Drama in the Middle Ages: Essays in the Origin and Early History of Modern Drama. JHU Press.
Kuuliala, J., & Rantala, J. (Eds.). (2019). Travel, Pilgrimage and Social Interaction from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Routledge.
Maskarinec, M. (2018). City of Saints: Rebuilding Rome in the Early Middle Ages. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Richter, M. (2005). Medieval Ireland (New Gill History of Ireland 1): The Enduring Tradition–Ireland from the Coming of Christianity to the Reformation (Vol. 1). Gill & Macmillan Ltd.
Southern, R. (2016). The Penguin history of the Church: Western society and the Church in the middle ages. Penguin UK.