Chapter 15, Lesson 1: The Early Christians (pp. 458-462)

I. The New Faith

• A. Romans followed a number of religions and also allowed a great deal of freedom to other religions.
• B. Jews and Christians began to disagree on religious grounds, and Christianity slowly became a separate religion.
• C. There are few written historical accounts of Christianity's early history. Much of what we know comes from the New Testament part of the Bible.

• II. Jews and Christians

• A. Jews and early Christians shared the same basic beliefs, but differed on the idea of the messiah.
• B. At first, Christians concentrated on trying to convert other Jews.
• C. After serious debate, the early Christians decided to preach Christianity to the Gentiles.

• III. The Work of Paul

• A. Paul, a convert to Christianity, made three long journeys to spread Christianity and establish Christian communities.
• B. Paul's Roman citizenship, the good roads, and listeners open to new ideas helped Paul spread Christianity in the Greek-speaking world.
• C. While in Rome to stand trial, Paul preached and taught for two years before being executed.

Chapter 15, Lesson 2: Rome and the Christians (pp. 463-469)

I. Rome's Early Response

• A. At first the Romans paid little attention to the Christians.
• B. Some Romans were quite suspicious of Christians, and Nero blamed them for starting a major fire which destroyed much of Rome.
• C. Although by A.D. 100 there was a law condemning admitted Christians to death, it was seldom enforced.

• II. The Attack on Christianity

• A. In A.D. 250 Emperor Decius ordered the execution of all Christians who refused to worship the Roman gods.
• B. Up until A.D. 311, Christians suffered two more waves of persecution under two different emperors.
• C. Roman mobs destroyed Christian churches and sacred books. Christians were fired from jobs, forced to leave the army, attacked, and killed.

• III. The Rise of Christianity

• A. Emperor Constantine made it legal for Christians to worship, gave money to the church, and became involved with church decision-making.
• B. Constantine gave Christianity the support of the Roman authorities, but also combined religion and government, and persecuted Jews.
• C. Christianity gained power as the Roman Empire was declining.

Chapter 15, Lesson 3: The Decline of Rome (pp. 471-474)

I. The End of the Pax Romana

• A. Rome suffered political turmoil during the years after A.D. 180; in one 50 year period, 25 emperors ruled.
• B. Prices rose, trade was disrupted, and people could not afford to pay the taxes Rome needed to defend the empire.
• C. Tribes from the north overran Rome's borders.

• II. The Reign of Diocletian

• A. Diocletian introduced a number of reforms to solve the problems of the empire.
• B. Diocletian's reforms reorganized and stabilized the empire, but limited the freedoms of the Roman people.
• C. Under Diocletian, the power of the emperor over the people became complete.

• III. The Reign of Constantine

• A. Constantine helped Christianity become the empire's main religion.
• B. Constantine completed the reorganization of the government, and moved the capital to Constantinople.
• C. After Constantine's death, by A.D. 400, the empire had permanently split into two parts.

Chapter 15 Lesson 4: The Fall of Rome (pp. 475-481)

I. Barbarian Invasions

• A. Over a period of 300 years, many barbarian tribes made their way south into the Roman Empire.
• B. By the A.D. 200s, the frontier of the empire was no longer a clear-cut boundary between barbarians and the Romans.
• C. Historians use the year A.D. 476, when the last emperor was forced out of the western part of the empire, as the fall of Rome.

• II. Growth of the Church

• A. While the Roman empire declined, Christianity grew stronger.
• B. Some of the barbarians tribes from the north converted to Christianity.
• C. Pagan Romans blamed Rome's decline on the fact that Romans had abandoned their old gods.

• III. The Causes of the Fall

• A. A far-flung empire, economic decline, and the growth of a government which required more and more of its people were some of the factors in the fall of the Roman Empire.
• B. Other factors in the fall included: decline in the work force, a lack of technology, and a greatly weakened army.

• IV. The Roman Legacy

• A. Following the fall of the western Roman Empire, Europe entered 500 years of decline called the Early Middle Ages.
• B. In Europe, Rome's heritage in book form was preserved in monasteries.
• C. In Constantinople, scholars copied many important Greek and Roman works, thereby saving them for the future.