How did Christianity spread so far and wide being an offshoot of Judaism?

[Landon Caeli]

It seems miraculous that people in India, Egypt, Russia, Romania, Italy, etc., would all accept a religion rooted in Judaism, especially when they had their own preferred culture that normally would have taken precedence over foreign influences.

...It seems impossible! What happened?

 

[Gregory Thompson]

@Landon Caeli - Colonialism, the gospel spread through gunfire.

 

[Landon Caeli]

@Landon Caeli - Colonialism, the gospel spread through gunfire.

Is that how the St. thomas Christians of India began?
I'm talking about the first few hundred years.

Please read this: https://books.google.com/books?id=_ZxeCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA150&lpg=PA150&dq=Thomas+Sanyasi&source=bl&ots=HSqd8xVxfs&sig=nCLfeYY9mKA2gBke1W8tNmnBlVI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwilqLvCzdHOAhUG8mMKHe2BD6sQ6AEILzAC#v=onepage&q=Thomas Sanyasi&f=false

Thomas Sanyasi was the Apostle Thomas... He brought Christianity to India in the year 52, following Jesus' directions through the Holy Spirit... Without "gunfire". But by performing miracles, which the natives called "magic".

...I believe it! There is no way that a foreigner could walk into India and start converting natives and building Churches without some *supernatural power*.

In the same way, Churches were being built in Russia, Egypt, and the West -something that should have been impossible for foreign Jews to accomplish...

 

[Landon Caeli]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Thomas_Christians

 

[FireDragon76]

There are also the Mar Thoma, who are basically High Church, "Reformed" Malankara Orthodox. I used to live near one of their churches.

Christianity actually spread in India among the Jewish diaspora that had been living there for centuries before Christ.

The early Church was adaptable to local cultures and the theology was straightforward. There is a large amount of diversity in liturgy and worship in the eastern and African Christian world, but they all have more or less the same faith.

 

[Landon Caeli]

There are also the Mar Thoma, who are basically High Church, "Reformed" Malankara Orthodox. I used to live near one of their churches.

Christianity actually spread in India among the Jewish diaspora that had been living there for centuries before Christ.

The early Church was adaptable to local cultures and the theology was straightforward. There is a large amount of diversity in liturgy and worship in the eastern and African Christian world, but they all have more or less the same faith.

But after Pentecost, miracles were being performed, the first of which was the ability to speak every language. Peter even walked on water, and they are said to have cast out demons and raise the dead.

...Particularly, I like the story of St. Thomas the Apostle that the native Indians told -where a crowd of angry natives began encircling him and threatening him, at which time a cloud emerged where thunder and lightening sent them running. Testimonies are given in the long link from post #3.

 

[JackRT]

The early Church was adaptable to local cultures and the theology was straightforward.

I certainly agree. The age old archetypical myth of the tortured, dying, resurrecting, redeeming savior was very adaptable to Christian belief. Celsus, a 2nd century pagan apologist, in speaking of Christianity wrote "Are our [pagan] beliefs to be accounted myths and theirs [Christians] believed? What reasons do the Christians give for the distinctiveness of their beliefs? In truth, there is nothing at all unusual about what the Christians believe.'

 

[Soyeong]

It seems miraculous that people in India, Egypt, Russia, Romania, Italy, etc., would all accept a religion rooted in Judaism, especially when they had their own preferred culture that normally would have taken precedence over foreign influences.

...It seems impossible! What happened?

You might be interested in reading this article on The Impossible Faith:

http://www.tektonics.org/lp/nowayjose.php

 

[Albion]

Remember that the most impressive spread early on was through the Roman Empire, not India, Russia, or sub-Saharan Africa. Consider the religious situation in the Roman Empire and it will make sense. The Romans were used to many different sects, but they tended to be oriented towards special segments of the population--women, intellectuals, warriors, certain ethnic groups, etc. Christianity distinguished itself by being a religion that was open to them all, both in principle and in fact.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Is that how the St. thomas Christians of India began?

@Landon Caeli - Oh yeah, didn't the catholic church exterminate the remnant of them when they came during the colonialism era?

The initial spread of "hope" was inevitable because it was sorely needed everywhere in the world at that time. (as it is now) That christians were translating scriptures into other languages helped as well.

 

[Albion]

@Landon Caeli - Oh yeah, didn't the catholic church exterminate the remnant of them when they came during the colonialism era?

I don't know how the Catholic Church would even have had the opportunity to do that.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

@Albion - it was the portuguese in 1498, they tried to convert them, apparently they're still around though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Thomas_Christian_churches

I think Thomas might have gotten to India through the Roman empire, the same way Mithraism made it from India, through Persia, to the Roman empire.

 

[Albion]

@Albion - it was the portuguese in 1498, they tried to convert them, apparently they're still around though.

OK. Yes, in the small part of India that Portugal controlled, that would be possible.

 

[Landon Caeli]

@Landon Caeli - Oh yeah, didn't the catholic church exterminate the remnant of them when they came during the colonialism era?

The initial spread of "hope" was inevitable because it was sorely needed everywhere in the world at that time. (as it is now) That christians were translating scriptures into other languages helped as well.

Exterminate them? No, they accepted them in... Some of them rejected, some accepted. Others joined into Orthodoxy, others splintered.

...But the Holy See recognized them as legit.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Thomas_Christians
"Historically the Saint Thomas Christian community was part of the Church of the East, centred in Persia. They were organised as the Ecclesiastical Province of India in the 8th century, served by bishops and a hereditary Archdeacon. In the 16th century the overtures of the Portuguese padroado to bring the Saint Thomas Christians into the Catholic Churchhttto the first of several rifts in the community and the establishment of Catholic and Malankara Church factions. Since that time further splits have occurred, and the Saint Thomas Christians are now divided into several different Eastern Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, East Syrian Rite Christian, and independent bodies, each with their own liturgies and traditions."

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

@Albion - it was the portuguese in 1498, they tried to convert them, apparently they're still around though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Thomas_Christian_churches

I think Thomas might have gotten to India through the Roman empire, the same way Mithraism made it from India, through Persia, to the Roman empire.

Roman Mithraism was a neoplatonic reinterpretation of the Persian Cult, which was not an Indian import. Both Persian and Indian Mitra were derived from the common Indo-Aryan base religion, with Mitra brought to India by the Aryan invasion.

Thomas likely made it to India via the extensive Roman era trade between Egypt and the Malabar coast.

 

[Landon Caeli]

Here are the St. thomas Christians who decided to become one of the 23 Catholic Churches in communion with the Roman Church.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syro-Malabar_Catholic_Church

...St. Peter the apostle, and St. Thomas the apostles Churches reunited in to ONE apostolic Church.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

In the same way, Churches were being built in Russia, Egypt, and the West -something that should have been impossible for foreign Jews to accomplish...

Christianity actually spread in India among the Jewish diaspora that had been living there for centuries before Christ.

In truth, there is nothing at all unusual about what the Christians believe.'

There always was and is still a lot unusual and always rejected by the whole world except for those who are born again. The world still hates Jesus and His disciples/followers, just as Jesus says.

@Landon Caeli - Oh yeah, didn't the catholic church exterminate the remnant of them when they came during the colonialism era?

A lot of groups as a whole, and a lot of individuals,(millions upon millions throughout history and the last one hundred years as well) were exterminated.(by many religions and governments, including 'Christian' groups)

 

[Landon Caeli]

Here is a pretty good account of the St. thomas Christians by the Catholic Encyclopedia originally published in 1907.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14678a.htm#VI

 

[Landon Caeli]

In any case, we all do believe that the apostles were given the ability to perform miracles after Jesus ascended into heaven, right?

...So that's how Christianity spread so far and wide?

 

[Greg J.]

In any case, we all do believe that the apostles were given the ability to perform miracles after Jesus ascended into heaven, right?

...So that's how Christianity spread so far and wide?

Presumably it spread through the early church for the same reasons it is shown to have spread in Scripture. When miracles will be sufficient testimony for a people, God does miracles.

Some non-historical thoughts:

The message itself is appealing: God loves you. He came to earth to pay for all your wrongdoings by dying and now you are cleansed from all offense against him, and he now sees (and on Judgment Day will see) you as holy, righteous, and good. There will be no more pain, and so forth. These things are not presented in Scripture as hopes (in something that may or may not happen), but things that will happen.

The Word has power that can affect people in ways unlike anything else, such as triggering a recognition of Truth, rather than convicting someone that an explanation is logical. Although there are various nonspiritual ways to explain why the Ethiopian was quick to believe (he was in Jerusalem because he already had some faith), the bottom line was that he was given a basic understanding of some things from the Word and the good news and he believed (narrative in Acts 8:26-40).

The early Church was adaptable to local cultures and the theology was straightforward.

I've heard that God has ensured there remain avenues in every culture through which people can connect to the truth of the gospel. I don't know if that's true, but wherever it was the case, Jesus would have been an answer that rang true to a people group where there was a tension (or pain) about something (e.g., the resurrection story for people desperate to know they have eternal life, instead of a reason to hope for it).

The quote from Celsus, referred to in JackRT's post, belies a lack of recognition of the uniqueness of the gospel. e.g., where is the part for salvation where I have to pay something to God for my sins? This is contrary to fallen human nature. We're wired to not be satisfied with a justice where there is no punishment to the lawbreaker. When a person (whose faith is not cold) learns the good news he gets an injection of God's glory into his heart (which hopefully will bring him to Life ).