Posted this in AskHistorians a while back, but it belongs here.
I'm not talking about historically, I mean in the present day.
The 2 most influential factions within Christianity on the world as a whole are IMO: Roman Catholicism and evangelical Protestantism.
Roman Catholicism's hardline teaching against contraception and all forms of birth control apart from natural family planning has a direct effect on the high birth rates in Africa - causing long term damage to the world due to the risk of insufficient resources to feed a rapidly multiplying African population, impact on climate change and also instability caused by migration.
However, I think a good case could be made for evangelicalism - particularly the premillenial dispensationalist variety (the dominant version globally). Dispensationalist premillenial evangelicalism can be distinguished by its literalist view of the entire Bible including the eschatological (endtimes) portions and it's belief in the imminent return of Christ in the rapture when he will evacuate his church from the earth prior to the reign of the antichrist in the Tribulation.
This version of evangelicalism often directly leads to a lack of concern about the long term future of the planet. Why worry about the environment's long term future if the Second Coming is coming imminently?
Trump, who pulled the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement, would never have been elected without dispensationalist evangelicals rallying behind him. Same with Bolsonaro in Brazil - who is now overseeing a reversal of protections for the Amazon rainforest, the lungs of the world.
Also dispensationalist motives among a huge % of the US population directly influence the trajectory of US foreign policy toward the Middle East. Israel feels that it need not make huge concessions and withdraw from the Occupied West Bank, given that it will always have US backing regardless of its behaviour.
Also dispensationalist eschatology probably contributed toward the US Iraq invasion in 2003 which led to the destabilization of the Middle East: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2009/aug/10/religion-george-bush
I'm aware that there was a lot of suspicion in the empire around Christianity in the early days, but what was it about the religion which was so enticing to average working Romans in Greece, Egypt, Syria, and Italy that they would feel compelled to abandon the Hellenic faith they'd known for millennia? It must have been really something to gain converts in the face of early prosecution.
I am trying to put together a list of Gentiles that converted to Christianity in the 1st or 2nd Century. What names can you think of from either the Bible or early Church father writings? Also, I am trying to exclude examples where the person was a Hellenistic Jew from this list.
My list so far includes:
- Cornelius
- Clement of Rome
- Justin Martyr
- Polycarp
- Timothy- his grandmother was Jewish but his father was Greek and don't think was Jewish.
- Nicolas of Antioch
- Quartus
- Philologus and Olympas were Roman Christians so may also have been Gentiles.
What other names can you think of?
The others- 2003, 2006, 2010.
For perspective, they have met 11 times on SNF since NBC got the package.
It's amazing how for whatever reason this matchup rarely made it to Monday Night all these years.
(Also, they have played once on Thanksgiving- 1992)
Interestingly, in a reverse situation, the Eagles and Cowboys have played only 1 MNF game since ESPN got that package (2008, the last MNF game ever at old Texas Stadium).
It's just strange how the Cowboys rarely get MNF divisional games yet NBC seemingly always gets them.
It seems that christianization, and associated state building, in the lands outside of the former Roman Empire, occurred in a very short period of time.
Rulers of Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Bohemia, Denmark, Poland, Kievan Rus', Hungary, all suddenly converted to Christianity after centuries of pagan tradition. It was coupled with the creation of new states which last to this day.
What societal and political changes in the pagan half of Europe led to the mass christianization?
Was there a clear shift in international politics during this time?
What role did competition between the Byzantines and Latins play in this?
What was the role of missionaries, and what theological or doctrinal changes allowed the conversion of vast new populations?
How strong was the opposition of pagan elites/priests and how was it overcome?
Why did Christianity seemingly halt it's expansion around 5th century and only restarted in 860s-70s?
