Knowing the biblical history associated with Jesus (I.e. Pontius Pilate crucifying him to appease the Jews), how did Roman Catholicism end up becoming the dominant religion in the Roman world? It seem like they’d want to distance themselves from that, sort of like how it would be kind of awkward for Jews to accept Jesus as the messiah, ya know?
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Well there was ~300 years between those events. Not to say it was an easy transition, because the Romans persecuted many Christian during those 300 years. But Christianity survived and spread and continued to gain support. The first major tipping point was Constantine’s legalization of, and subsequent conversion to, Christianity. Soon after it became the official state religion.
Religion is an effective means to control people and Christianity was particularly useful since: a) it was universal (anyone could become a Christian); b) lent itself to a hierarchical structure (meaning if you control the chief Christian leaders, that control trickles down). The relationship between the Christian churches and nations was one of mutual exploitation. Churches would encourage kings and other leaders to convert as a means to use said leaders to spread Christianity and those kings and leaders would try and use the religion to “civilize” and thus control their non-Christian neighbors and enemies.
Romans in particular were a very political people and would not scoff at using Christianity as a means to solidify power within their own borders not to mention the age old adage: “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!”
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