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Early Christians gathered in small private homes, [2] known as house churches, but a city's whole Christian community would also be called a "church"—the Greek noun ἐκκλησία (ekklesia) literally means "assembly", "gathering", or "congregation" [3] [4] but is translated as "church" in most English translations of the New Testament.
It developed into Early Christianity (see also List of events in early Christianity). The quest for the historical Jesus began with the work of Hermann Samuel Reimarus in the 18th century. [84] Two books, both called The Life of Jesus were written by David Strauss, published in German in 1835–36, and Ernest Renan, published in French in 1863.
The early Christian apologist Tertullian recorded that footwashing was a regular part of early Christian worship. [154] Footwashing was done with a basin "of water for the saints' feet" and a "linen towel". [151] Being commanded in John 13, footwashing done in the imitation of Jesus was a rite encouraged by Origen. [154]
Map of the Roman Empire with the distribution of Christian congregations of the first three centuries AD. The growth of Early Christianity from its obscure origin c. AD 40, with fewer than 1,000 followers, to being the majority religion of the entire Roman Empire by AD 400, has been examined through a wide variety of historiographical approaches.
The gradual rise of Germanic Christianity was, at times, voluntary, particularly among groups associated with the Roman Empire. From the 6th century, Germanic tribes were converted (or re-converted from Arianism) by missionaries of the Catholic Church. [4] [5] Many Goths converted to Christianity as individuals outside the Roman Empire.
[15] [16] Early Christians gathered into small groups inside private homes, where the typical setting for worship was the communal meal. [17] [18] Presbyters or bishops oversaw the economic requirements of the meal, alongside charitable distributions, and any ceremonial role they took was initially connected to this more prosaic role. [19] [20 ...
Cyprian (c. 200 – 258) was bishop of Carthage and an important early Christian writer. He was born in North Africa, probably at the beginning of the 3rd century, perhaps at Carthage, where he received an excellent classical education. After converting to Christianity, he became a bishop and eventually died a martyr at Carthage.
The phrase presumably lost its original religious meaning and became a conventional formula as used by the early Christians. Most of the time, dates of Christian inscriptions must be judged from context, but when dates are given, they appear in Roman consular notation, that is, by naming the two consuls who held office that year. The method of ...