How did Christianity spread in the Roman Empire and beyond?

Question

1. How did Christianity spread in the Roman Empire and beyond? 

Answer 1

This is a super interesting question which many scholars have spent entire forests of answers trying to debate. I will try to keep my answer a little shorter hahaha.

So, it is important to remember that Rome had a really strict hierarchical system that governed how people were supposed to interact with each other. In this system enslaved people, and freedmen were the bottom of the totem pole. These groups were treated generally bad (there was a difference between the way rural slaves working in the latifundia and domestic slaves serving in their master's household were treated, but the point is that generally it sucked to be a slave). Christianity was more popular amongst these groups because, aside from the fact that a lot of enslaved people were enslaved for their Christianity, it preached tolerance and forgiveness and promised these people a good life after death (the best a slave could hope for in the roman faith was a slightly nicer version of eternal purgatory). Essentially it said that they were just as good as their masters and it gave them hope that there was something better after this life. Early Christians would also care for and support one another in a n otherwise hostile Roman World that made their communities really strong and resilient even in the face of extreme persecution.

Importantly, enslaved people made up a huge portion of the population and freedmen within the imperial household grew ever stronger with each passing generation. While these freedmen did not hold elected positions they were oftentimes in charge of distributing grain or collecting taxes: very important jobs.

this all came to a head at the battle of the Milvian Bridge where future emperor Constantine claimed to have a vision of a cross and dedicated his victory not to Jupiter or Mars but to Jesus and the Christian god. Then, when Constantine became emperor of the newly united roman empire he switched the officlial state religion and the rest is history.