This paper deals with the National Standards for Geography. This is primarily the case in three areas including seeing the world in spatial terms, places and regions and human systems. Seeing the world in spatial terms is evident in the paper as regions are visualized in a global perspective of history. It also concerns places and regions in the fact that cultural influence is taken into count as it impacts the flow of history. Human systems also have their part in this paper while it concerns the migrations of people such as the flow of ‘barbarian’ peoples into Rome.
I propose to write a research paper that deals with the historical spread of the Christian faith among people groups. The purpose of this study would be to gain insight and matured understanding of the Christian history, to better understand where we are today as the church and how God has been active in spreading the gospel. This would include study of Christian history and the advance of Christianity throughout the world (history of missions), particularly concerning early advancement in Europe and more recently in the two thirds world. No doubt, there are many factors that have contributed to the growth of Christianity but one seemingly and particularly significant component is the factor of large-scale people movements that have occurred through the history of the church and continue to this day. This topic is especially appealing to me because of my interest in missions.
From the very beginning times of Christianity, its message has identified with and transformed communities of people. Christianity itself grew out of a people group who had an identity that stretches back in time thousands of years. The worship of Yahweh, geographically born in ancient Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) has spread through history to the farthest islands of the seas.
Born into the people of Israel, Jesus gathered a small group of followers living and working with them until his ascension to heaven. From these few, the Christian faith spread to other Jews in Israel and the further reaches of the Roman Empire, including parts of southern Europe and Southwest Asia. As Christianity was later adopted by the Roman Empire, much of Europe became the focus of conquest for Roman Christianity, though much of this was due in part to the fall of Western Rome.
Justo L. Gonzalez documents this spread of Christianity into Europe through the avenue of Rome’s influence. He quotes from a Roman Citizen, Paulus Orosius who condenses this historical phenomenon into his own words. He thoughtfully writes, "If only to this end have the barbarians been sent within Roman borders,…that the church of Christ might be filled with Huns and Suevi, with Vandals and Burgundians, with diverse and innumerable peoples of believers, then let God’s mercy be praised…even if this has taken place through our own destruction."(1, p231)
The various people groups documented by Gonzalez are primarily groups who claim a common ethnic and political identity in the form of a kingdom. These were at times conversions of coercion through political structures and at times conversions of convenience and at times conversions of the heart. The varying nature of these happenings is reflected in divergent growth and development and at times the inharmonious history of these groups. Among the groups that might be included in this history are the Vandals, Visigoths, Burgundians, Franks, Ostrogoths and the Lombards.
Ralph D. Winter comments on the ‘barbarian conversion,’ which took place in the midst of Rome’s decline. He states that, "as the Barbarian tribes people became Christianized, they became a greater and greater threat to Rome." He also notes that as the Barbarian tribes encroached on Rome they held high regard for the Christian faith and avoided the desecration of church properties. This respect was a result of what Winter calls a faith of at least ‘superficial’ proportions on the part of the Barbarians.
Winter explains that they received this faith through the missionary efforts of the Eastern church in Rome rather than the Western church. He conjectures that, "Perhaps a little more Christianity might have prevented the complete collapse of the governmental structure of the Roman Empire in the West." Perhaps this lack of effort on the part of the Western church in Rome to reach their neighbors to the north with the message of Christ can be credited in part for the West’s quick demise.(2, pB-10)
Another historical branch of the spreading Christian faith, though not as geographically and historically noted was to the east. A significant branch of Christianity spread to Persia, which grew to a point of sending missionaries to southern and even further eastern territories including Arabia, India and even China. This Church, which became known as ‘Nestorian’ diminished but remained in remnants throughout the world.
Gonzalez also notes the growth of the Armenian and the Ethiopian Churches, which were founded before Rome’s adoption of Christianity. He explains that the Armenian Church was founded by an Armenian Exile to the Roman Empire near the turn of the fourth century. After enduring much hardship, this exile, Gregory "the Illuminator" converted his relative King Tiridates III of Armenia in A.D. 303. The rest of the Armenian population eventually followed and thus Armenia was converted before Constantine.
The Ethiopian church has a long history as well, though parts are rather obscure. Gonzalez makes note of the strong connections with the Egyptian churches. The work of an Egyptian named Frumentius who spearheaded almost a century of missionary work in Ethiopia eventually won over Ethiopians beginning with their king. These churches shared much in common with the Coptic Christians of Egypt. The churches of Egypt were among two groups, as Gonzalez notes. One was grown into the mainstream Greco-Roman culture and the other among the Copts, people of ancient Egyptian heritage.(1, p261,262)
Another Region, which Gonzalez documents, is in the Balkan mountains and surrounding areas of Slavic occupation. These include Moravia and Crimea and were part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. One King Rostislav of Moravia speaks of his desire to learn more of the Christian faith in a part of a letter to Constantinople.
Much Earlier, in the British Isles, Rome had a partial grip on the southern portion of England. They established control there and set up churches. However, it wasn’t until the Romans left under invasion by the Angles and Saxons that Christianity grew strongly in the Isles. The strongest foothold of the Christian faith in the Isles began in Ireland and spread from there to the tribes and kingdoms of England and Scotland. The Irish conversion is attributed primarily to St. Patrick who was originally a captive of Irish invaders and returned to his captors to share the gospel in the face of peril. Christianity grew in Ireland to the point that it became the principal sending point of missionaries to other nearby lands.
Ralph Winter further delves into the Christian history with another ‘epoch’ of the spreading faith. This period begins after the breakup of Rome and the consolidation of Europe under Charlemagne. Winter dubs it, "Winning the Vikings."(2, pB-13)
Winter notes the similarity of the Vikings conversion to that of the Barbarians. As the Barbarians received faith in the destruction of the Roman Empire, so did the Vikings receive their faith in the midst of European chaos and destruction. In both instances the ‘outsiders’ came to those who had received Christianity. To Winter this makes a statement to Christian faith, in which he states that to retain we must, "extend…without reserve."(2, pB-21)
The Vikings in particular were brutal warriors of the sea, who hammered first the Irish monasteries then east to the mainland where they left behind a wake of destruction. It was from those who they had sacked, captured and enslaved that they learned about Christianity. As they accepted the Christian faith and eventually subsided into the dark ages of Europe, the ‘Viking spirit,’ as Winter calls it, carried over into the mentality of Christian Europe and it’s Crusades. Interestingly, Winter notes that, "All of the major Crusades were led by Viking descendents."(2, pB14,15,16)
Winters notes a period of Christianity that includes the horrors of the Crusades, followed by the Plague and various reforms. He highlights two consequences of this period’s tragedies. One was the shameful alienation of the Western Christian world from much of the Eastern world and specifically the Muslim-Arab world that followed the Crusades and the other was the reforms that followed the confusion left by the Plague.
Winters explains that the reforms that followed were in communion in that they sought to rebuild from the ashes of the Plague. However, he notes that two movements resulted. In northern Europe, people sought the decentralization of Christianity to gain their own identity as Christians. Winter notes that like the Greeks, the Germans and various groups in Europe were converted to Christianity. He continues to show that they were different, though, saying that, "Paul had not demanded that the Greeks become Jews, but the Germans had been obliged to become Roman." The reform for Germany became a search for their own Christian tradition and identity. On the other hand the reform for southern Europe, who were culturally united by ages of Roman rule, was rather a matter of Latin unity vs. division.(2, pB16-18)
The unity of the Latin churches is seen in their readiness to expand. This expansion took place primarily in the Americas to begin with. It wasn’t until much later in the 1800’s that Protestants began any kind of expansion, as Winter explains. It is unavoidable to see that this ‘expansion’ was coupled with political agendas as seen that by 1945 when Europeans had 95% control of the non-Western world. While Christian nations dominated the globe, much was left to be said for the Christian mission in the world.
In the following twenty-four years, as Winter again notes, there was a radical change in this global picture. The West had lost control over all but 5% of its previous non-Western possessions. The change in political scene was good for the gospel as Winters states that, "the absence of political control for the first time in many areas has now begun to allow non-Western populations to yield to the Kingdom of Christ without simultaneously yielding to the political Kingdoms of the Western world."(2, pB19)
Gradually, an era of missions has developed, which is less hindered by paternal domination. As time has passed, blunders have transpired along with the victories of Christian Faith. Through this time as well we can see the geographical spread of the gospel. This growth can literally be seen where groups of people have accepted the gospel. Some of these groups have either made the mistake of claiming the Christian religion as their own, while others have sought to make it their own. Rather, the truth is that the gospel becomes yours when you share it with another. (3)
1. Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity. San Francisco: Harper Publishing, 1984.
2. Winter, Ralph D.; Hawthorne, Steven. Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. Pasadena, CA: The Paternoster Press LTD, 1992.
3. Coptic church, http://pharos.bu.edu/cn/, (5/6/99)
4. Frumentius, http://www.catholic.org/saints/saints/frumentius.html, (5/6/99)
5. Vikings, http://www.csn.net/advent/cathen/11115b.htm, (5/6/99)
6. Crusades, http://orb.rhodes.edu/encyclop/religion/crusades/Crusade.html, (5/6/99)
7. St. Patrick, http://wilstar.com/holidays/patrick.htm, (5/6/99)
created 5/3/99
http://nicanor.acu.edu/~armstrongl/geography/plans99.html (5/4/99)
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lesson plans and research papers, 1999