Outline your knowledge and understanding of the main factors that led to the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire.

Another factor, within the Roman Empire, was the growth of a proper system of roads and trade between countries. The main purpose for which the roads were built to allow the great Roman army to travel quickly to any trouble- spots. This could only be done if travel was easy, which required good roads connecting every part of the empire with the capital. These roads were not exclusively for military use and the progress of travel was increased for all, this included the travel of Christian missionaries.

Another extremely important factor, which contributed to the spread of the Christian faith, was the creation of a universal language- this came in the form of Greek. The result was that the language barrier no longer restricted the movement of ideas. The Old Testament was translated into Greek and, outside Israel, it was widely used in Jewish communities- it was often the Greek and not the Hebrew version of the bible that was used by Paul and other early missionaries quoted from. For the first one hundred years of the church's writings, Greek was the medium used for expansion into the Gentile world. Wand highlights the importance of a universal language, "One coinage and one language would carry the traveller all the way... Greek was a kind of universal language which one could make shift anywhere- there would always be found someone who could speak it.

Growing cosmopolitism must also be considered as a factor that favoured the spread of Christianity. In both the Greek and Roman Empires there was a tendency to conform to a set pattern; this resulted in local peculiarities being weakened. This made people more venerable to the word of God.

Finally, within the Romans, there was the Roman governments' attitude to religion. Chadwick sums this up, "The Roman government was in practice tolerant of any cult provided that it did not encourage sedition or weaken morality". As the Romans considered Christianity as simply a Jewish sect, they treated it with the same respect as they treated Judaism, which had a long history.

The Jews were also a very important people in encouraging the spread of Christianity. One reason for this was the Diaspora. Many Jews were deported between 597 and 535 B.C. when the Babylonians captured Judah. Even when they were allowed to return when Cyrus overthrew the Babylonians, many decided to stay and established settlements and local synagogues, "It is a remarkable fact that the number of Jews in the Roman Empire outside Palestine at this time cannot have been far short of five millions... about seven per cent of the total population" (Wand). The Diaspora meant that there were now Jews in virtually every major centre of population in the world.

Therefore, whenever the early church missionaries came, they could count on finding a Jewish synagogue to proclaim the gospel. They could also have had a great influence on the surrounding gentile communities, "They had persuaded many of their more intelligent and moral neighbours that their presentation of an ethical monotheism was the closest approximation to philosophical and religious truth available at the time" (Wand).

Jewish theology also played a role in the spread of Christianity, here that already had the beliefs that would be central to the Christian faith. For example, they believed in an ethical monotheism and that God was a might and universal force.

Finally, the Jewish communities played a role. They aimed to preserve their identity and their religious and racial distinctiveness. A result of this was that many gentiles were attracted to the synagogues.

The Greek impact must also be considered even discussing the spread of Christianity. The Greeks were responsible for hyalinisation. Although Alexander the Greta's death saw the beginning of the decline of the Greek empire, hyalinisation continued under the rulers of the Roman Empire. Greek language, culture, philosophy and religion made a tremendous impact on the ancient world.

The importance of language has been discussed, however, the impact of Greek culture, philosophy and religion must be considered. The Greek were thinkers and their religion and philosophy raised questions about ultimate issues so that, when missionaries later came on the scene, they found people who were aware of the problems of life to which the Gospel claims to have the answer.

It is not easy to draw the line between Greek religion and philosophy because the various forms of philosophy were more than a group of intellectual systems: they were a leading influence in the moral education of both the educated and the masses and were increasingly religious. The remain schools of Greek philosophy represented in the Roman Empire were the Epicureans, the Peripatetic, the Pythagoreans, the Stoics, the Platonists and the Neo-Platonist.

In conclusion, it is important to realize that it was not one single factor which was responsible for the spread of Christianity, all these figures came together to give the perfect platform for a new religion to develop, " Never before in the history of thru race had conditions been so ready for the adoption of a new faith by the majority of the peoples of so large an area" (K.S Latourette).

By Chris Busby