Christianity and its effects on western civ

Running Head:   DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIANITY

The Development of Christianity from                                                                                           its Beginning, through Constantine
 

Abstract
At the lowest point of the Roman Empire a new religion was on the rise.   This religion would suffer persecution at the hands of the Roman government, and later great acceptance by a leader known as Constantine.   This would boost Roman power one last time, but in the end, at the fall of the empire, this religion would prove resilient; and the last vestige of Rome would remain solely identified in the only thing left of the empire: Christianity.  
 

In the last years Before Common Era - referred to as B.C. - the Roman Empire was at a high point of its existence.   The government was tolerant of other religions, and for the most part allowed the people under its rule to worship in a manner of their choosing.   This attitude was soon to change with the emergence of a new religion that Rome viewed to be a danger to its very existence.   Rome sought to crush the movement, but it would ultimately be Christianity that would have the greatest influential impact on Roman society than any other religion in its history.   Rather than crushing the movement, Christianity would be the only thing left of the defunct Roman Empire.   This essay will trace the development of Christianity through its struggles and persecutions by the Roman Empire at the hands of Nero and Diocletian, to its final acceptance by a single Roman ruler named Constantine; whose conversion forever changed the Western World.
The roots of Christianity as a religion are greatly debated by theologians.   Several theories exist as to the origins of the principles that became the fundamental beliefs of Christianity, however there are two systems of beliefs which historians contend were the foundations from which the religion emerged.  
One such idea was Stoicism.   Stoicism taught that a single...