Early Church in 1st and 2nd Century

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Early Church in 1st and 2nd Century

• 95121383 Jamie Wu
• 95121373 Nancy Chen
• 95121342 Iris Huang
• 95121314 Cathy Huang

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Introduction

• Early church in the 1st and 2nd century
• 1. The history of early Christianity
• 2. Apostolic Age and Acts of Apostles
• 3. Persecution in early Church
• 4. Faith in the early Church

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The map of Christianity
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Historical introduction of Christianity

• It concerns the Christian religion and Church
• Christians believe in a triune God Father, Son,
  and the Holy Spirit
• The largest branches of Christianity the Roman
  Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and
  the Protestant Churches

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• Christianitys spread Jerusalem? Near East ?the
  state religion of Armenia ?the state religion of
  the Roman Empire ?common to Europe in Middle Ages
  ? Exploration Age ? become the world's largest
  religion

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The history of early Christianity

• spans from the death of Jesus Christ (c.26-36) to
  the First Council of Nicaea
• In the 1st part of period - the Great Commission
  (the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ
  to his disciples, that they spread his teachings
  to all the nations of the world ) of the twelve
  apostles

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• The earliest followers of Jesus composed an
  apocalyptic, Jewish sects
• Early Christianity apart from Judaism and
  established itself as a predominantly gentile
  religion

One of the earliest Christian inscriptions found,
it is from the early 3rd-century Vatican
necropolis area, Rome
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Apostolic Age

• WHAT IS THE APOSTOLIC AGE?
• Post- Jesus Christianity
• The period of the Twelve Apostles, dating from
  the Crucifixion of Jesus(c.26-36) and the Great
  Commission until the Death of John(c.100)
• Represents the purer form of
• Christianity

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Acts of Apostles

• Principal source of information for the Apostolic
  Age
• Genre Acts denoted a recognized genre
  characterizing books that describes great deeds
  of people.
• Source From Oral traditions
• Dated to the 2nd half of the first century.
• Recounts the lives and works of the Apostles of
  Jesus
• Particular emphasis on the ministry of the Twelve
  Apostles and Paul of Tarsus.

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the Twelve Apostles, also called Apostolic Age -
in the front row are Matthew, Peter, James and
John
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Significance

• Produced writings attributed to the direct
  folowers of Jesus Christ.
• It is the foundation upon which the entire
  church history is founded.
• The Apostolic Age is particularly significant to
  restorationism

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Persecutions in the early church- Rome as
persecutor

• The First Persecution, under Nero, A.D. 67
• The Second Persecution, under Domitian, A.D. 81
• The Third Persecution, under Trajan and Hadrian,
  A.D. 108 
• The Fourth Persecution, under Marcus Aurelius
  Antoninus, A.D. 162
• The Fifth Persecution, Commencing with Severus,
  A.D. 192

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Trajan Persecution

• Between 109 and 111 AD
• Pliny was the governor sent by the emperor
  Trajan for I held no question that whatever it
  was they admitted, in any case obstinacy and
  unbending perversity deserve to be punished.

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Reasons for persecution

• Hatred against Christians
• Caesar is Lord
• --155AD
• Martyrdom of Polycarp

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Saints
Saint Irenaeus, Martyr
Saint Polycarp, Martyr
Saint Clement of Rome, Martyr
Saint Ignatius, of Antioch
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Justin Martyr

• 100AD-- Justin Martyr is born
• Good education
• -Stoicism, Pythagoreanism, Platonism
• 130AD-- Conversion

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Justin Martyr

• 153AD-- Writes First Apology
• 160AD-- Writes Dialogue with Trypho
• 165AD-- Martyrdom

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The martyrdom of St. Ignatius
The martyrdom of St. Clement
The martyrdom of St. Justin
The martyrdom of St. Polycarp
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Faiththe faith of the early Christianity
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Edward Gibbon, (1737-1794 A.D.)

• The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman
  Empire
• Conclude 5 reasons why make the Christianity so
  successful

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1. Christians are extremely enthusiastic in their
religion

• Christians are not narrowed in only Jews,
  instead, they share the bliss to every people in
  the world and emphasize that people are brothers
  and sisters with each other.
• However, they wont compromise the belief and
  canon to anyone.
• e.g. Marcus Aurelius, (121-180 A.D.) thought that
  theyre too stubborn to insist their own
  religion. And abandon any kinds of the way which
  Heresies live with.
• Christian live in a unique and stubborn way,
  that they know very well about their own religion
  and will never mix up with any others.

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2. The loyalty to waiting for the Messiah

• This attitude is quite important for Christian,
  because the situation of Rome Empire is
  turbulent. Their firm will of waiting for the
  Messiah help Christian to tolerant towards all
  the difficulties.
• This kind of attitude toward the life make the
  belief more powerful and positive.

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3. They believe in the miracle of Holy

• The prophets, the beatitude, the healing power,
  to expel the demons
• These kinds of super-nature power and miracle is
  an important experience within their belief. And
  lots of Christian do rely on these miraculous
  miracle.

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4. The early Christians ask themselves to live
with a holy, pure, and conscientious life

• We can see 4 steps of training inThe Didache of
  the Twelve Apostles
• 1) abandon the bad habbits
• 2) learn to obey the law (commandments)
• 3) to pray
• 4) to reject the circumambulate
• A seeker should be training step by step for 3
  years then can enter the group

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5. The fellowship

• The follower will love and take care to each
  other. And theres no any barrier between them,
  everyone is equal and can share with each other.
• The member in the fellowship is like a big family
  that they encourage each other to conquer the
  obstacles in the life.

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• Thank you for your attention