Romans + Christianity

[Restitvtvs]

Good overview of five centuries of the Romans and Christianity, from Christianity's Jewish origins to the Fall of the West[ern Roman Empire].

http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch19.htm
http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch20.htm
http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch21.htm
http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch22.htm
http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch23.htm
http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch24.htm
http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch25.htm
http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch26.htm

Nice Christianity timeline, including Roman period:

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pine ... index1.htm


Thread Summary:

Finally completed part-time studies of Romans, Jews, Judaism, “The Way,” early Christianity, etc. Reaching point of diminishing returns.

So many persons, motives, and interactions in many places over centuries. So many factors and details that simple explanations don’t do justice, and just explanations would take longer than I can afford and some may like.

Summary: Romans and Christianity is a large, complex mix. Good and bad, cause and effect, facts and opinions, genuine and fraudulent, synergies and negations, spiritual and worldly, beautiful and ugly, individuals and groups, east and west, north and south, natives and immigrants, cultural and commercial, pros and cons, kind and cruel, co-opting and legacies, certainties and probabilities, real and imagined, lumpers and splitters, hoped and feared, and on and on and on.

During the course of my studies, I came to even better know and understand how people (including myself) and their systems generally become increasingly complex, and not always beneficially so; how basic principles can be misunderstood and intentionally and unintentionally, mis-communicated, distorted, redirected, misused, etc.; how what's good can come to be called bad and vice versa; how the road to hell can be paved with good intentions; how meanings can be lost and re-discovered, independently "discovered" or "created" in different places at different times.

Some people might feel offended or worse if they know the “truth” behind some of their beliefs. Among us, who really knows the absolute truth(s)?

I am absolutely certain about only four things in the universe of possible things, yet I know that I could also be wrong about any or all of these things. Some people erroneously think that’s contradictory. Not so,

Interestingly, I read 25+ years ago, and after decades of subsequent personal experience I can personally confirm, that we can travel far and wide for answers that were at home, within, all along. Much effort for little gain. Ecclesiastes chapter 5.

Some things are much simpler and easier than we may think. Others aren’t.

Some things we must learn for ourselves, the hard way.

Some things we should test for ourselves, rather than accept unquestioned.

Some things are truly worth effort. G-d, family, friends, friends-to-be, good helping.

A few years of these studies, like life experiences and other kinds of studies, can teach us much more than we originally planned, including things about ourselves, and what matters most in life.

I’ll check back here from time to time, be glad to answer thread questions here, and other questions in applicable threads or private messages.