How Christianity Happened

The Earliest Christians (32-33 CE)

Around 32 CE, the followers of Jesus in Jerusalem select seven ministers to care for the needs of widows (Acts 6). One of these ministers, Stephen, seems to have offended some religious leaders as he spoke about the Jewish temple. Stephen is executed, crying out as he dies, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." A young man named Saul--a native of Tarsus, yet a citizen of the Roman Empire--watches over the cloaks of those who stone Stephen to death (Acts 7:57--8:1). After Stephen's death, Saul launches a campaign against the followers of Jesus. On his way to Damascus, Saul experiences a vision that changes the direction of his life (Acts 9:1-9)--and the direction of Christian history. Saul becomes a believer in Jesus around 33 CE.

Testimonies and Traditions of a Risen Messiah (49-55 CE)

Around 49 CE, Paul pens the oldest surviving written references to the resurrected Jesus in Galatians and 1 Thessalonians. His letter to the Galatians, written in 49 or 53, refers to Jesus as the one "raised from the dead" (Gal. 1:1). The Thessalonian epistles, written in 50 and 51, urge believers to "wait for God's Son, ... the one that God raised from the dead" (1 Thess. 1:10).

In 55, Paul's first letter to the Corinthians records this early tradition--an account that emerged in Judea shortly after Jesus' crucifixion and which became the core of Paul's proclamation: "I passed to you what I received: That the Messiah died on behalf of our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he was seen by Cephas, then the Twelve; then he was seen by more than five hundred brothers at once; ... then he was seen by James, then by all the apostles" (1 Cor. 15:3-7).

Rome Burns, Christians Suffer (64 CE)

On July 18, 64 CE, a fire breaks out in Rome. The initial flames were probably the result of an accident in an oil warehouse. Fanned by summer winds, the inferno engulfs the city for six days and seven nights, scorching seventy percent of the city.

According to the historian Tacitus, "A rumor had spread that, as the city burned, Nero stepped onto his private stage and sang.... To stop the rumor, he falsely charged...the people called Christians, who were commonly despised for their superstitions.... They were covered with skins of beasts, torn apart by dogs, nailed to crosses, burned alive--then, as each day drew to a close, they would be turned into torches to illuminate the night."

The Deaths of Peter and Paul (64 CE)

In the aftermath of the fire, the apostles Peter and Paul are executed. According to tradition, Paul is beheaded, while Peter--unwilling to die in the same way as his Lord--is crucified upside down.

During Nero's persecution of Roman Christians, Peter's interpreter--a young man named John Mark--records Peter's retelling of the life of Jesus. This text becomes known as the Gospel According to Mark. According to an early church leader named Papias, relating what he had been told in the first century, "Mark, who became Peter's interpreter, wrote accurately as much as he remembered--though not in ordered form--of the Lord's sayings and doings."

After Nero, More Persecution and Separation (68-70 CE)

In 68 CE, the Roman Senate declares Nero a public enemy; Nero flees the city and commits suicide. Four emperors vie for the throne before Vespasian is named emperor of Rome in 69. During this time of political upheaval, Jewish revolutionaries conquer and hold the city of Jerusalem.

According to some reports, Christians flee northeast during this time, to the city of Pella. In 70 CE, Vespasian's son Titus leads three legions of Roman troops to retake Jerusalem. The Jewish temple is burned. The historian Josephus writes, "The Romans ... slaughtered everyone they caught, setting fire to the homes where Jews had fled ... until corpses clogged the streets. The city ran with so much blood that it was the blood of the Jews that quenched the fires in the houses." In the aftermath of this tragedy, the Christian and Jewish faiths increasingly separate into two different groups.

Christianity Survives, then Spreads (100+ CE)

By 100 CE, the Roman Empire spans more than 2,000 miles from east to west and commands the allegiance of 181 million people. Christian faith has found its way to most major population centers, perhaps even reaching India and Spain. Yet Christianity remains a minority sect. Fewer than one million persons--less than one percent of the population of the Roman Empire--claim the title "Christian." External persecution and internal squabbles fragment many Christian congregations during the second and third centuries.

Still, the sect continues to flourish, eventually becoming the dominant faith of the empire.

Today, nearly two billion people throughout the world describe themselves as Christians.