Roman Empire & Christianity - Historical Thinking

Roman Empire & Christianity - Historical Thinking

Working through this first Historical Reasoning Skills assignment.

Central Historical Question:

Why did the Roman Empire persecute Christians?

Why?

Why did the Roman Empire persecute Christians?

Multiple Select

Which of the following factors give us the greatest ability to answer this question with validity (or with reasonable, historical accuracy)?

• Primary source documents

• Eyewitness accounts

• History textbooks

• Archaeological evidence

History Textbooks:

• Their information is gathered from all of the other factors mentioned in the previous slide

• All of them contain biases -- some are more apparent than others

Multiple Select

Historical events/phenomena are best studied when we can obtain:

• Multiple sources saying the same thing

• Varied Points of View

• Documents from the same time period as the event

• Background knowledge of the sources of historical documents

Brain Break!

Stand, stretch, take some deep breaths . . . 2-3 minutes

Historical Context:

• Christianity originated within the Roman Empire, in the Middle East (mid-1st century)

• Christians were persecuted by the Roman Empire throughout the 1st - 3rd centuries (C.E.)

Historical Context:

• Christians were expected, along with all Roman citizens, to perform pagan sacrifices

• If Christians did not follow-through on the ritual, it would mean execution

Let's answer the question

We will use the Scaffolded version of the readings -- they have been uploaded to "Files" & "Posts" in you Teams

When you go to the breakout room:

• Go to Teams and open the "Scaffolded Reading" file

• With your group members, read the assigned document (B. or C.) & answer the corresponding questions

After reading your document with your group & answering the questions:

• Is there agreement with Doc. A (the textbook) & your group's document regarding the "Why"?

• Give specific details of agreement or disagreement between the documents

Does the Textbook account (Doc. A) need to be re-written, based on our investigation of the other two documents?

Why or why not?

Multiple Select

Which factor(s) contributed to the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire?

• Having a common language throughout the empire

• Groups of scribes wrote many copies of the New Testament

• Christianity offered a peaceful afterlife

• The development of the horse drawn cart in the 1st Century, C.E.

Multiple Choice

One key similarity to Buddhism & Christianity, mentioned in the videos, was their:

• messiah figures in the Buddha & Jesus

• value of sacred relics

• message to obey political authorities

• appeal to the lower classes of society

Any Questions?