Lesson 1: The Decline of Rome and the Spread of Christianity

1. Lesson 1: The Decline of Rome and the Spread of Christianity Lesson Questions: How did specific events and fundamental changes in the Roman Empire contribute to the spread of Christianity? Lesson Objectives: The students will understand the general political, economic and cultural developments in the Roman Empire in the first three centuries of the Common Era. The students will also understand the origins and spread of Christianity during this same time.

2. Lecture Points and Essential Questions: • The PaxRomana and Romanization EQ: What were the causes of Romanization during the PaxRomana? • The Origins of Christianity EQ: Why do historians often call early Christianity “Pauline Christianity”? • The Third Century Crisis 234-284 C.E. EQ: Define the term “crisis” as it is applied to the third century C.E. of the Roman Empire. • The Dominate and the Later Roman Empire EQ: How did Diocletian and Constantine save the Roman Empire?

3. Roman Provinces

4. The Spread of Early Christianity

5. The Spread of Christianity

6. The Later Roman Empire

7. DBQ Standards: 5. Analyzes point of view in at least two documents. • Point of view explains why this particular person might have this particular opinion or what particular feature informs the author’s point of view. • Students must move beyond mere description of that individual by considering and explaining the tone, the characteristics of the author, the intended audience, and/or how the intended outcome may have influenced the author’s opinion. 6. Identifies and explains the need for one type of additional document or source. • Students must identify an appropriate type of additional document or source and explain how the document or source will contribute to an analysis of the question.

8. 1. What is Pliny’s point of view toward Christianity? How does his position as a Roman imperial official affect what he writes about the Christians? 2. What sort of additional documents might help us better understand early Christianity in the Roman Empire? What information or insight into early Christianity would they add that Pliny’s letter does not?

9. 1. What is the point of view of the Martyrdom of Polycarp? 2. What sort of additional document might help us better understand the phenomenon of martyrdom in the Roman Empire?

10. DBQ Standards: 5. Analyzes point of view in at least two documents. • Point of view explains why this particular person might have this particular opinion or what particular feature informs the author’s point of view. • Students must move beyond mere description of that individual by considering and explaining the tone, the characteristics of the author, the intended audience, and/or how the intended outcome may have influenced the author’s opinion. 6. Identifies and explains the need for one type of additional document or source. • Students must identify an appropriate type of additional document or source and explain how the document or source will contribute to an analysis of the question.

11. Christian Asceticism: Desert Fathers Pole Sitters St. Basil 330-379 C.E. St. Benedict 480-547 C.E. (Benedictine Rule) Missionary Work Manual Labor