When Did Christianity Start?

To ask the how and when of Christianity is a lotFrance, Germany, etc.
like looking back at a twisting tunnel. From withinWhen did Christianity become accepted?
the tunnel, you would discover that there wereChristianity was by no means accepted
too many sub-tunnels to state clearly just howimmediately when it began. Like all other religions,
the whole structure started.it suffered rejection and even persecution in the
Yet there have been some educated hypotheseshands of people who had other beliefs and faiths.
over the past few years; one hypothesis statedBut with perseverance, this small Judaic remnant
that the very first Church was established inof an ideology reached out from its humble
Jerusalem. The establishing of the Church inbeginnings in Jerusalem. By 600 AD, Christianity's
Jerusalem was more of self-preservation. Withoutmission of bringing a message of peace to the
any form of collectivity, a belief system (and alsoland finally spread well into neighboring areas
economic interests) was bound to be erased as(except in areas that were already strongholds of
history imperceptibly drives forward in empty,the Islamic faith).
homogeneous time.Near the Black Sear, Christianity was able to
The first Churchestablish well in Constantinople, Edessa, Antioch
It was believed that the first Church was firstand Damascus. Near the Mediterranean basin,
established in Jerusalem before 70 AD. BecauseCyrene and Alexandria were also Christianized. In
by the time 70 AD arrived, the brutes of thebetween the Mediterranean and the North Atlantic
Roman Empire crushed the small Church. But didOcean, Granada in Spain and Rome in Italy were
the first crushing kill Christianity? Absolutely not. InChristianized as well. When Constantine the Great
fact, we can say that because the first Churchbecame a Christian leader, Christianity began
was harassed by power, it paved the way forshowing signs of a lasting religious system. By
the spread of the belief system. After Jerusalem,winning both leaders and warriors, a religion
Palestine was the next place that old Christianityassured itself of survival.
established itself.It was during this time that the ascetic and
Through trade and traveling disciples mission tomonastic began to emerge as an extreme
share the word about the new faith, Christianityexpression of faith in Christianity. Such expression
crossed territorial borders and spread like wildfireof faith was by no means peculiar to Christianity;
throughout the continents. It was during the erawe find similar practices in Hindu sects and
of imperial conquest and domination that thesub-groups as well as in humanist belief systems
religion was single-handily used to colonize manysuch as Buddhism and Daoism. To an extent, the
countries in what was believed to be the Far East.monastic life was perceived as a unitary means
East was just China; the West was not Americaof achieving spiritual enlightenment.
but Mother Europe with the strongest bulwarks;