In their book Readings in World Christian History, Coakley and Sterk (2004) suggest that the movement of Christianity as a religion has always been more expansive than any individual or local community. The diversity of beliefs and practices inherent to the religion that developed over the past two millennia is compelling and deserves an in-depth investigation. Thus, the book’s authors brought together this diversity to explore the movement from a global perspective and bring insight into Christianity’s multi-dimensional and multi-cultural history.
The exploration of the early Christian communities represents the first bulk of the historical discourse. Its understanding bears immense relevance in the given context as it allows us to determine the first steps that Christianity had taken when capturing significant population groups, as well as how it evolved throughout the history of human development. The Gospel of Thomas, for example, is explored by the authors as a piece of Christian teachings that said that humankind could only find salvation through the words of Jesus (Coakley & Sterk, 2004). The gospel does not mention the traditional stories of suffering, healing, the cross, or miracles; instead, it teaches that salvation stems from an individual’s betterment. The Didache is another example that the authors present in the book that offers more explicit instructions according to which Christian groups should lead their lives. It includes rituals such as Communion, fasting, and baptism and contains reminders of Jesus’s second coming (Coakley & Sterk, 2004). The piece shows the evolution of Christian thought compared to the Gospel of Thomas, providing less ‘room for interpretation’ but offering guidance for Christian communities to live godly lives.
Thus, by offering examples of the Christian teachings according to which early Christian communities lived, the authors are able to show the progression and modification of beliefs and practices. While core teachings had remained the same over the centuries, the emergence of such pieces as the Apostolic Tradition by the Hippolytus of Rome shows that Christianity evolved together with society as new roles emerged. Specifically, Hippolytus’s work had a major impact on the formation of ancient Church Orders (Coakley & Sterk, 2004). In addition, the authors give an overview of the Correspondence of Pliny and Trajan, which marked the first time when the Roman government recognized Christianity as a separate religion from Judaism, thus setting a precedent for the future persecution of the followers of this religion. The reign of Constantine as the first Christian emperor with a unique position in the Church is indicative of not only the rising popularity of the religion but also population’s desire for it to get embedded into the sociopolitical life of communities.
The exploration of the History of the World Christian Movement allows for posing several important questions. The first question is the following: “How did Christian beliefs and customs change over the course of society’s development?” The second question is, “Why did Christian teachings mention nothing about bishops and priests in the Gospel of Thomas but emerged later in Hippolytus’s work? What commentary does it offer regarding social development?” The third question “What role did Emperor Constantine play in the strengthening of Christianity among the population?” The final question for exploration is, “What does the history of Christianity over the course of two millennia teach about its future development?”
Reference
Coakley, J., & Sterk, B. (2004). Readings in world Christian history. Volume I: Earliest Christianity to 1453. Orbis Books.