Questions tagged [christianity]
Christianity is one of the monotheistic Abrahamic religions along with Islam and Judaism. Christianity is the largest religion of the world, and the predominant religion in those countries considered part of the "Western" world. Adherents of Christianity are known as Christians.
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What evidence is there that "the overwhelming majority of Christians" renounced their faith or fled when persecuted under Pliny and Decius?
Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years:
[After the Decian persecution] the Christian Church had been severely damaged, not so much in terms of death and ...
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Were the Africans captured during the "Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade" already Christians, or did they only become Christians after being captured?
There is a substantiaial number of people who self-identify as or are otherwise classified as "African-Americans" in the United States who consider themselves Christians.
Were the ancestors ...
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Where can I find information about the commune between Sochi and Khosta that was closed in 1929?
In The Gulag Archipelago (by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, translation by Thomas P. Whitney) one can find the following lines:
Non-Orthodox sects were also under constant attack, even those sympathetic to ...
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Does any early Gnostic Christian scripture mention Hindu deities?
As per this article titled Indians: Bardaisan of Edessa on Indian ambassadors’ tales and the Brahmans (early third century CE) an early Christian saint Bardaisan of Edessa wrote about Brahmins and ...
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Are there any instances of Christians fasting on pagan holidays besides the Kalends?
I'm interested if early Christians fasted on pagan festivals because I've read some primary sources that instruct Christians to fast on the New Year's aka the Kalends of January but I couldn't find ...
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Is this story of John Wesley, a horse, and a bridge true?
I recently heard a story about John Wesley giving way to a stubborn man while on a narrow bridge: in short, Wesley was riding his horse on a bridge, while a man who was known to be a critic of Wesley ...
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Did Philo ever mention crucifixion as a punishment in any of his writings? If he didn't, was there ever a reason he didn't?
Philo was a prominent Roman writer and philosopher during the first century AD, it seems that in one of his books 'Against Flaccus' Philo mentions the multiple persecutions and punishments Jews of ...
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What do the inscriptions in Pomposa abbey say?
I've recently visited Pomposa Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in northern Italy near Ferrara, and while visiting I've stumbled upon these inscriptions below a fresco depicting an Hydra.
I have ...
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Were there Roman "weekly executions" in Judea?
I'm down in the moderate unpleasantness that is the US state of Florida. Not having anything better to do, I pop down to the local amateur library and pick something out.
Most of it consisted of ...
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Did the Romans ever get the idea to pardon Jesus or expunge the conviction when they adopted it as the state religion in 380, Edict of Thessalonica?
Given the premise of Jesus as being an innocent man being wrongfully convicted, wouldn't the very legally minded Romans or other jurists have the idea that the government should delete the conviction ...
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Was reincarnation part of the early Christian church?
I am interested in learning more about whether reincarnation was a part of early Christian church dogma, and how that belief may have evolved or survived as the church splintered into multiple sects. ...
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Did the Romans reuse crosses for crucifixion punishment or it was one time use (1st century Jerusalem) ? I need verified sources on this
I am trying to check if the story of Saint Helena mother of Constantine 1 finding the true cross logically follows or not.
The most common story goes ( Wikipedia:Church of the Holy Sepulchre)
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What did the equitable of the citizens exactly dislike about Ananus, in Josephus' reference to James?
Josephus' reference to James the brother of Jesus
And now Caesar, upon hearing the death of Festus, sent Albinus into
Judea, as procurator. But the king deprived Joseph of the high
priesthood, and ...
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What is the historical origin of the story of the Temptation of Christ? [closed]
In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, there is a story in which Jesus meets the Christian Devil (Satan), and Satan tempts Jesus to give up his mission through promises of power.
I want more ...
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How did the East Slavic pagans perceive the process of Christianization of Rus'? [closed]
I read that the Christianization of Rus' was of great civilizational, political and cultural significance for the Eastern Slavs.
One of the notable aspects of this theme is the view, supported by some ...
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