My paper seeks to research the history the beginning of Christianity and the development of Christianity up to the council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. in order to roll up information field-grade officer this paper the University of South Florida ‘s well stocked library provided multiple beginning for this paper. Other beginnings such as the cyberspace and on-line diary were used for preliminary research and information for my paper. The probe into the development of Christianity started with its beginnings form the life of Jesus Christ and Christianity ‘s patterned advance throughout history up till the council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. this subject was interesting because Christianity is soon one of the largest faiths in the universe and has a major domain of influence. Christianity began in obscureness and had to vie with many other faiths in order to go such a big faith. This paper is a merchandise of an involvement in pagan religion so portion of this paper will research pagan religion ‘s influence on Christianity but this paper besides includes many other faiths and religious orders of Christianity as people fought for the control of the church or fought to derive followings for their position of Christianity. The point of the council of Nicaea was to unify the church and snuff out any dissident religious orders of Christianity while pulling up a uniformed ideal of what the Church should be like. The paper non merely looks at some of the Christian subjects brought up in the council of Nicaea but besides some of the similarities between other civilizations and faiths that influenced the Christian church and created the political orientation of the church in 325 A.D. From the research the paper concludes that Christianity has a great assortment of influences and that it had to get the better of other approaching faith at the clip of its rise to a major faith and take the misbelievers from the church in order to unify under the Nicene Creed.
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Abstraction
Table of Contentss
Introduction
Hebraism
Gnosticism
Mazdaism
Mithraicism
Roman Influences
Social Influence
Political Influence
Economic Influence
Grecian Influences
Social Influence
Political Influence
Economic Influence
Council of Nicaea ( 325 A.D. )
Arianism
Nicene Creed321
The Holy Trinity
The Pagan Trinity
Decision
Introduction
From Christianity ‘s beginning in 33 A.D. it has been shaped by the influence of other faiths and viing philosophies. The tests that Christianity has faced due to the outgrowth of multiple other faiths as it rose to prominence and its battle to derive a strong followers has helped Christianity to go one of the universe ‘s major faiths. The council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. was another of import milepost for the faith because it was a opportunity for many spiritual leaders in the Christian universe to come together and set an terminal to arguments on the deity of Christ and the contention of the Holy Trinity while besides denouncing many of the unorthodoxies, one being that of Arius and his philosophies. Although Christianity may hold attempted to divide itself from enigma and dissident faiths to organize its ain faith based on the instructions of Jesus of Nazareth, Christianity, as it existed at the Council of Nicaea could non wholly separate from many other faiths that have influenced Christianity ‘s patterns, instructions, and philosophies. Some of Christianity ‘s influences were besides viing faiths every bit good, such a Mithraism, coming near to replacing Christianity. Some of the biggest influences of Christianity were Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Paganism, and Gnosticism. Surrounding besides played a function in the defining of Christianity as a universe faith. Christianity was influenced by Jewish, Greek, and Roman civilization. Up until the council of Nicaea, Christianity had many influences that would go indispensable to the Christian Religion for centuries to come.
Hebraism
Gnosticism
Mazdaism
Mazdaism is a Iranian faith that is led by the prophesier Zoroaster that gained influence about 390 B.C. Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic faith, idolizing its individual God, Ahura Mazada, who is ever at war with the evil Angra Mainyu which parallels to Christianity with the battle between God and the Satan and points to the ideal that immorality will ever be defeated. Zoroastrianism is said to be a large influence on Christianity among other faiths particularly in respect to the hereafter, Resurrection, and Judgment of the dead. Zoroastrianism gave Mithra the function of a Sun God over its followings
Mithraicism
Mithraism holds many similarities to Christianity and besides fused constructs of Judaism into its construction. Even Jesus ‘ Resurrection can be paralleled to a narrative in Mithraism. “ Mithra is said to be forced out of a stone, have oning the Phyrygian cap keeping a sticker and a torch of visible radiation. ” From this myth perchance comes the Resurrection of Jesus from a stone grave. Jesus and Mithra ‘s birth day of the month is one in the same because Emperor Aurelian declared December 25th as the birth of Mithra and in 313 Emperor Constantine besides declared the birth of Jesus to be on December 25th. The Communion of the staff of life and vino to stand for the flesh and blood of Christ in Christianity is similar to Mithra ‘s Communion stand foring the ingestion of the flesh and blood of a bull, a symbol of metempsychosis. Like Mithraism Christianity used similar animate beings to the bull in forfeit like random-access memories and sheep. Between the two faiths Communion was a manner to was off wickednesss and derive ageless life and redemption. Sunday became the twenty-four hours of worship for Mithras because Mithra is a Sun God, Christians followed in favour of Sunday as the twenty-four hours for worship over the Judaic Sabbath, or Saturday. The Judgment twenty-four hours of the Mithra analogues to Christianity ‘s Judgment twenty-four hours because the dead await Judgment twenty-four hours and so are either destroyed by fire, Hell, due to their evil or because they are non baptized and the good articulation Mithra, God, in Paradise to populate an ageless life. Some other similarities between the two faiths is the symbol of the cross. Constantine finally fused Mithraism with Christianity because he called himself a Christian and still held some traditions from the Mithra faith like the lettering of “ Sol Invicto comiti ” on his coins that meant committed to the unbeatable Sun, associating to Mithra, the Sun God.
Roman Influences
Social
Political
Economic
Grecian Influences
Social
Political
Economic
The Council of Nicaea ( 325 A.D. )
Turning concerns over the province of the male parent and the boy ‘s deity every bit good as break form the unorthodoxies prompted The Emperor of Rome, Constantine, to name over 300 bishops from largely western churches with a few eastern churches represented to fall in in Nice in Bithynia in order to come to a consensus over the issues within Christianity trusting to unite Christianity under the original Nicene Creed.
Arianism
Arianism was a unorthodoxy that gained a big support around the clip of its creative activity but was finally crushed before it could make major harm to Christianity. Arianism was led by Arius of Alexander and it was started around 320 in Alexandria, Egypt and spread as Arius preached his word. Arius believed that Christ was created but he was a superior being and that although he was superior he was non on the same degree as God. Arius said that because Christ had appeared on Earth he was non as ageless, pure, or infinite as God who could non hold appeared on Earth. In 321 Arius was excommunicated from the Christian church because his positions become so popular within the Christian church that those who did non hold with Arius wanted to cut Arius off from mainstream positions of Christianity. Arius continued to prophesy on what he believed in until he was denounced at the council of Nicaea where all of his philosophies were besides set to fire and Arius was exiled to Illyricum. Arianism was ne’er able to recover the strength that it one time had.
The Nicene Creed
The contention over the three arose because there was a difference over whether Jesus Christ was a adult male, God, something in between, created, and a mix of other ideals. In the terminal the council decided that Christ was as Godhead and pure as God. Christ was besides considered to be God ‘s lone natural boy chase awaying the belief of him as a created being. As for the Holy Spirit, it was decreed to be responsible for his birth to the Virgin Mary, his crucifixion, and his Resurrection.
