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Early Christianity is the period of Christianity preceding the First Council of Nicaea in 325. It is typically divided into the Apostolic Age and the Ante-Nicene Period (from the Apostolic Age until Nicea). The first Christians, as described in the first chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, were all Jewish, either by birth, or conversion for which the biblical term proselyte is used,〔(Catholic Encyclopedia: Proselyte ): "The English term "proselyte" occurs only in the New Testament where it signifies a convert to the Jewish religion (; ; ; etc.), though the same Greek word is commonly used in the Septuagint to designate a foreigner living in Palestine. Thus the term seems to have passed from an original local and chiefly political sense, in which it was used as early as 300 B.C., to a technical and religious meaning in the Judaism of the New Testament epoch."〕 and referred to by historians as the Jewish Christians. The early Gospel message was spread orally; probably in Aramaic,〔Ehrman, Bart D. (2012). ''Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth.'' HarperCollins, pp 87- 90.〕 but almost immediately also in Greek. The New Testament's Book of Acts and Epistle to the Galatians record that the first Christian community was centered in Jerusalem and its leaders included Peter, James, and John.〔, ; See Historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles for details〕 Paul of Tarsus, after his conversion to Christianity, claimed the title of "Apostle to the Gentiles". Paul's influence on Christian thinking is said to be more significant than any other New Testament author.〔''Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' ed. F.L. Lucas (Oxford) entry on Paul〕 By the end of the 1st century, Christianity began to be recognized internally and externally as a separate religion from Judaism which itself was refined and developed further in the centuries after the destruction of the Second Jerusalem Temple. Numerous quotations in the New Testament and other Christian writings of the 1st centuries, indicate that early Christians generally used and revered the Jewish Bible (the Tanakh) as Scripture, mostly in the Greek (Septuagint) or Aramaic (Targum) translations.〔() How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth - Gordon D. Fee - Douglas Stuart - Harper Collins Publishing〕 As the New Testament canon developed, the Letters of Paul, the canonical gospels and various other works were also recognized as scripture to be read in church. Paul's letters, especially Romans, established a theology based on Christ rather than on the Mosaic Law, but most Christian denominations today still consider the "moral prescriptions" of the Mosaic Law, such as the Ten Commandments, Great Commandment, and Golden Rule, to be relevant. Early Christians demonstrated a wide range of beliefs and practices, many of which were later denounced as heretical. ==History== (詳細はapocalyptic, Second Temple Jewish sect, which historians refer to as Jewish Christianity. The first part of the period, during the lifetimes of the Twelve Apostles, is called the Apostolic Age. In line with the Great Commission attributed to the resurrected Jesus, the Apostles are said to have dispersed from Jerusalem, and the missionary activity spread Christianity to cities throughout the Hellenistic world and even beyond the Roman Empire. Though Paul's influence on Christian thinking is said to be more significant than any other New Testament author,〔 the relationship of Paul of Tarsus and Judaism is still disputed. Early Christians suffered sporadic persecution as the result of local pagan populations putting pressure on the imperial authorities to take action against the Christians in their midst, who were thought to bring misfortune by their refusal to honour the gods.〔"As the existence of the Christians became more widely known, it became increasingly clear that they were (''a'') antisocial, in that they did not participate in the normal social life of their communities; (''b'') sacrilegious, in that they refused to worship the gods; and (''c'') dangerous, in that the gods did not take kindly to communities that harbored those who failed to offer them cult. By the end of the second century, the Christian apologist (literally, 'defender' of the faith) Tertullian complained about the widespread perception that Christians were the source of all disasters brought against the human race by the gods. 'They think the Christians the cause of every public disaster, of every affliction with which the people are visited. If the Tiber rises as high as the city walls, if the Nile does not send its waters up over the fields, if the heavens give no rain, if there is an earthquake, if there is famine or pestilence, straightway the cry is, "Away with the Christians to the lion!"' (Apology 40)" - (Bart D. Ehrman, ''A Brief Introduction to the New Testament'' (Oxford University Press 2004 ISBN 978-0-19-536934-2), pp. 313–314 )〕〔 Persecution was on the rise in Asia Minor towards the end of the 1st century,〔Ehrman 2004, p. 318 - "If the letter (Peter ) is indeed associated with Asia Minor, as its prescript suggests, it should probably be assigned to the first century, possibly near its end, when persecution of the Christians was on the rise"〕 and in 111 AD the emperor Trajan issued regulations about the conduct of trials of Christians under the Roman governor of the area.〔(John Granger Cook, ''Roman Attitudes Towards the Christians'' (Mohr Siebeck 2011 ISBN 978-3-16150954-4), pp. 138ff. )〕 The first action taken against Christians by the order of an emperor occurred half a century earlier under Nero after the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD.〔de Ste. Croix, Geoffrey Ernest Maurice. "Why Were Early Christians Persecuted?". Past & Present, No. 26 (Nov., 1963), pp. 105–152.〕 During the Ante-Nicene period following the Apostolic Age, a great diversity of views emerged simultaneously with strong unifying characteristics lacking in the apostolic period. Part of the unifying trend was an increasingly harsh rejection of Judaism and Jewish practices. Early Christianity gradually grew apart from Judaism during the first two centuries and established itself as a predominantly gentile religion in the Roman Empire. According to Will Durant, the Christian Church prevailed over paganism because it offered a much more attractive doctrine and because the church leaders addressed human needs better than their rivals.〔Durant, Will. Caesar and Christ. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1972〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Early Christianity」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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