Problemática actual

Christianity moved out of the Land of Israel slowly and irregularly; it was successful in some places and made no headway in others. Whether Christianity was rejected or accepted was infl uenced by the original cultural and religious composition of the population.

In the fi rst century of the common era, there were an estimated 4 or 5 million Jews in all the principal cities of the Greco-Roman world and along the main trade routes. Th ey were especially numerous in the trade city of Alexandria, and there were strong communities in Rome and Antioch, the center where the term

“Christian” was fi rst coined. Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Em-pire: it had a population of between a quarter and a half million inhabitants and 20,000 to 40,000 Jews.

The Pauline Mission

When the apostle Paul began his outreach to the Gentiles, he often explained the Jewish Scriptures in a way that highlighted the role of Jesus. Th is often caused fric-tion in the synagogues and riots, but it captured the attenfric-tion of non-Jews. Th e ef-fect of the assimilation of Greek language and culture was the creation of a common means of communication with non-Jews. Successful Jewish propaganda, showing the superiority of Judaism as a moral and monotheistic religion over paganism, paved the way for the spread of Christianity.

On his second and third missionary journeys, Paul traveled west to Macedonia and Th race, which was inhabited by non-Jews. Th is change in direction from heavily populated Jewish areas, as well as Christianity’s ability to adapt to local cultures, also paved the way for its success.

However, where tannaitic infl uence was strong in the local Jewish community, as in Nisibis, Christianity was established with more diffi culty. In that city, a Chris-tian bishopric was not founded until 300. In Nehardea, another center of Talmudic learning in Babylonia, Christianity also made little progress.

Th ere were other factors as well. Christianity had spread to areas of Western Europe before the reign of Constantine in the fi rst quarter of the fourth century. As early as the late second or early third century, Christian communities in the western part of the empire had attained some geographical independence from Jewish populations. Why was this so?

Part of the answer lies in the spread of infl uence of the Roman Empire. Where the Romans moved, and where they traded, they brought Christianity, as well as Mithraism and their own pantheon of gods inherited from the Greeks. In parts of

Gaul and in areas of Arabia there were no recorded Jewish communities in the fi rst century CE. Yet in the British Isles and Ireland, and in the less densely popu lated West, Christianity began to spread from the late second century. Th is may suggest that the Celtic inhabitants were disposed favorably to the new religion brought by the Romans. Mansi’s list of bishops attending the Council of Arles in 314 names several areas of Gaul and three places in Britain—Eboracum (York), Lindinonium (Lincoln), and London (Colonia Londinensium—that sent delegates, as well as Basti and Boetica (in present-day Spain), which had Christian populations but ap-parently no Jews. Another center of Christianity not far from the River Rhine was Agrippina, modern-day Cologne, which is recorded as having no Jewish population either in 314 or at the time of the Council of Nicaea in 325.

Africa sent 12 delegates to the Council of Arles, but only three towns had Jewish populations, which included Carthage. Gaul was divided into several provinces and sent at least 36 delegates. Only fi ve towns represented had Jewish populations.

Christian Populations Indicated by Delegates to the Council of Nicaea Th e Church historian Eusebius reports that more than 250 bishops attended the Council of Nicaea in 325 (Eusebius Vita Const. 3.6 and 9), but estimates have been as high as 600. All the Latins and the most famous bishops came from towns with Jew-ish populations. Th e number of bishops attending the Council varied with the months.

Th e more important sees in the Eastern Church, except for Heracleopolis, had Jewish populations. Th ese were Nicomedia, Caesarea, Heraclea (Egypt), Higher Th ebes, Cyprus, Neocaesarea, Nisibius, Caesarea, Gangra, and Myra (Asia Minor).

In the Provinces of Spain, Rome, Egypt, the Province of Th ebes, and Upper Libya, there was an approximately 50 percent correlation with the Jewish population. In these areas, about half the Christian population had spread to areas where there were few Jews.

Th ere was a close geographical association with Jewish communities in the Province of Palestine. On the other hand, Christianization in strong Samaritan areas, such as Neapolis and Sebastae, was sporadic and slow. When the land was reorganized under Diocletian into Palestine Prima, Secunda, and Tertia, this greatly increased the Samaritan Diaspora and possibly made Christianity’s progress easier in the wake of a less concentrated Samaritan presence. In the Province of Syria, only 9 of 21 episcopal delegates lived in towns with Jewish populations.

In the Province of Mesopotamia, only Tarsus and Adanu in the Province of Cili-cia had Jewish populations from the 11 towns represented by delegates. No Jews were present in the Province of Cappodicia, which sent nine delegates, or in Arme-nia, represented by six delegates. Th e Province of Arabia sent six delegates, yet no town represented had a Jewish population. Th e Province of Phrygia, which sent seven delegates, had Christians who lived in only one Jewish center, Laodicia. Th e latter city held an ecumenical council in 360, which passed four anti-Jewish can-ons, including the stipulation that Christians were not to accept festal presents from Jews or to celebrate festivals with them.

Christianity in the more populated areas of the Roman Empire in the east was closely aligned to the Jewish population. In less populated parts of the west, where there were fewer Jews, such as Gaul and Arabia, Christianity had begun to spread to areas without recorded Jewish populations by the end of the second century CE, brought to Gaul by the Romans.

Selected Bibliography

Crown, Alan. 1989. Th e Samaritans. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr-Paul Siebeck.

Dacy, Marianne. 2001. “Th e Separation of Early Christianity from Judaism.” PhD diss., Univer-sity of Sydney, Department of Semitic Studies. http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/

2123/837.

Hefele, Karle Joseph von. 1883–1896. History of the Councils of the Church from the Original Documents. 5 vols. Translated by William R. Clark. Repr. New York: AMS Press, 1972.

Juster, Jean. 1914. Les Juifs dans l’Empire Romain. 2 vols. New York: Burt Franklin.