Art, literature & culture

Origins of Christianity

33 CE

Christianity began in the Roman province of Judea as a movement among followers of Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish teacher who was crucified in Jerusalem under the governor Pontius Pilate. The year 33 is one traditional dating of his death, while some scholars prefer around 30. His followers proclaimed that he had risen from the dead and was the Messiah, and the movement spread through Jewish communities and then to non-Jews, helped by missionaries such as Paul of Tarsus. Despite periods of persecution, it grew across the Roman Empire, was legalised by Emperor Constantine in 313 and became the state religion under Theodosius I in 380. Christianity is now the largest religion in the world, with major branches in Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism.

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