A. What is the one key idea of this chapter?


The Major Idea of this chapter is making a difference. In the days of the early Christians the Church was molded into what it is today through not only the life of Jesus, but the influential power of other societies and cultures. People like Alexander the Great, Herod the Great, and other rulers of the time influenced many ideas like what heaven would look like. Yet the early Christians also lived among many different mystery cults, The Cult of Isis, The Cult of Dionysus, The Cult of Mithras, that might well have influenced the daily customs of the Christian community at the time. While these may not have had total influence over the Church, I am sure things would've been very different without all of the different communities of the time.


B. Write about two major ideas you want to remember.


One major idea I think I would like to remember is how the Jewish people, have not only been discriminated but discriminate themselves, depending on where they live. I think this explains a lot of the turmoil in the middle east right now. The have been hating each other for so long that they do not know what to do with themselves now that they've settled their differences, so they have decided to pick on the Palestinians. Maybe if the Babylonian exile had not happened, the Samaritans hadn't been forced to intermarry, and then the Judeaens hadn't been so stuck up the middle east could've been a safer place to visit today

I think that all of the cults of the early Christian community effected the customs and culture of the people, things like good and bad luck could have come from them. There quite a few different cults back in those days mainly revolving around the gods of other ancient cultures. The Cult of Isus was focused on death and rebirth and said that its followers were immortal. Not much is known of the practices because the followers took a command of silence. The Cult of Dionysus was a wild and untamed cult with now boundaries or restraint it involved excessive drinking and the unleashing of sexual desires. The Romans became so annoyed with there antics that they decided to have a failed attempt at suppressing the insane cult. The Cult of Mithras was model for soldiers because it was built upon the foundation that there "god" was very aggressive and practiced self denial.




C. One Image that captures the Chapter for you

This is a picture of St. Peters Basilica i Chose it because it shows Roman influence of the Church. The architecture is very Roman like in that it have columns, domes, pillars, statues, and equality. This symbolizes the way the Romans changed the church after they embraced in the time of Constantine.

D. One significant question you have from this chapter

What outside influence was the most prevalent in the early Christian community

E. In writing describe in detail one social injustice.

I think that one social injustice that is happening today is human trafficking in China. In rurual China these people kidnap other people and force them in to bondage and work for factories. The conditions are most likely appalling and if I were in there situation I would have given up on being rescued. The most distubing part to me is that the media have just begun to expose this. The governmnet has also started to liberate these slaves. I think that it is pathetic that after everything that has happened in the past few centuries, we still cannot figure out that slavery is wrong. This could be like the labor camps of the Haulocaust for all we know.