The effects of Christianity

Human Value
Jesus was born at a
time in history when
the Roman Empire
ruled much of the
known world. As
such, the moral
standards of Rome
permeated much of
society. The Romans
held a low view of
human life. A
person was
regarded as having
When Jesus laid down His life so that those who believe in Him can enter
into an eternal relationship with God, He changed the lives and eternal
destinies of billions of people. Through the lives of those who believed in
and followed Him, He brought great change to the whole world.
value only if he contributed to the political fabric of society. This is seen
in several ways in the Roman world, such as the practices of gladiatorial
games and suicide.
The early Christians, on the other hand, held a more sacred view of
human life, as they believed what Scripture teaches about the value of life
and that human beings are made in the image of God.
God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)
You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned
him with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:5)
They understood that God honored human life by sending His Son to
become incarnate as a human being:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. He was in the beginning with God. … And the Word became flesh
and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son

from the Father,
full of grace and
truth. (John
1:1,2,14)
Because God values
human life, the
early Christians
understood that
life was to be
honored and
protected.
Human Sacrifice
Throughout Old
Testament times,
we read of societies which practiced human sacrifice. Child sacrifice was
common among the followers of Baal in Canaan. Some fallen kings in
Israel turned away from God and sacrificed their own sons to the
Canaanite god Moloch. (2 Kings 16:3, 21:6)
While human sacrifice was outlawed throughout the Roman Empire by
Jesus’ time, Christians encountered it centuries later in pagan lands. For
example, before the gospel was brought to them by St. Patrick, the Irish
people sacrificed prisoners of war to war gods. Human sacrifice was
common among pagan Prussians and Lithuanians until the thirteenth
century. This came to an end because of Christian influence.

The dignity and status of women
Throughout the reign of the
Roman Empire, women lived under
the law of patria potestas, which
declared that the paterfamilias
(male head of the family) had
absolute authority over his
children, even adult ones.
Married women remained under
the authority of their father unless
the marriage was a manus
marriage, which meant that the
woman ceased to be under the
authority of her father and came
under the control of her husband.
As such, a husband could legally
physically chastise his wife. If she
committed adultery, he could kill
her; if she committed some other serious offense, the husband was
generally required to get the consent of his extended family before killing
her. A manus marriage gave the man complete authority over his wife, so
that she only had the legal status of an adopted daughter.
Women were not allowed to speak in public settings. All places of
authority, such as city councils, the senate, and legal courts were only
accessible to men. If women had any legal questions or complaints, they
had to convey them to their husbands or fathers, who would take the
matter to the proper authorities on the woman’s behalf, as women were
required to remain silent on such matters. In general, women were held in
very low regard.
In the Jewish culture throughout the rabbinic era (400 BC to 300 AD),
there also existed a strong bias against women. They weren’t allowed to
testify in court, as they were considered unreliable witnesses. They were
likewise barred from all public speaking. They weren’t allowed to read the
Torah out loud in the synagogues. One rabbinic teaching proclaimed that
it was “shameful” to hear a woman’s voice in public among men.
Synagogue worship was conducted by men. Women in attendance were
separated from the men by a partition.

Throughout the Gospels, we find that Jesus had a very different attitude
toward women than was customary at that time, one which raised their
status. Through both His teachings and actions, He rebuffed the common
beliefs and practices which espoused that women were inferior to men.
One example is His interaction with the Samaritan woman in the Gospel of
John. At that time, Jews didn’t interact with the Samaritans at all, yet Jesus
requested that she give Him a drink from the well. She was surprised and
wondered why He would ask her to give Him a drink, as the Jews had no
dealings with the Samaritans. (John 4) Jesus not only ignored the fact that
she was a Samaritan, but He also spoke with a woman in public, which
contravened the oral law (Jewish religious laws which were not included in
the original Laws of Moses but were added over the centuries): He who
talks with a woman [in public] brings evil upon himself. A similar rabbinic
teaching stated that a man may not converse with a woman in the
marketplace.
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record that women followed
Jesus, which was very unusual at that time, as other Jewish teachers and
rabbis did not have women disciples.
The twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of
evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven
demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household
manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of
their means. (Luke 8:1-3)
Some Jewish women were confined to their
homes, and didn’t even approach the outer
door of their homes. Young women
remained in parts of the house specified as
the women’s quarters to avoid being seen
by men, and when they had (women)
visitors, they would host them only in
these parts of the home. Married women in
rural areas had a bit more freedom of
movement, as they helped their husbands
do the farming. However, it was considered
inappropriate for them to work or travel
alone. Any income a married woman may
have received, including inheritances,
belonged to her husband.

There were also women [at His
crucifixion] looking on from a distance,
among whom were Mary Magdalene, and
Mary the mother of James the younger
and of Joses, and Salome. When he was in
Galilee, they followed him and ministered
to him, and there were also many other
women who came up with him to
Jerusalem. (Mark 15:40-41)
After His resurrection, Jesus appeared first
to women, and instructed them to tell the
rest of His disciples that He had risen.
After the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the
first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and
the other Mary went to see the tomb. …
But the angel said to the women, “Do not
be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus
who was crucified. He is not here, for he
has risen, as he said.” … And behold, Jesus
met them and said, “Greetings!” And they
came up and took hold of his feet and
worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them,
“Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers
to go to Galilee, and there they will see
me.” (Matthew 28:1, 5–6, 9–10)
The early church followed Jesus’ precedent, ignoring cultural norms
regarding women. Women played an important role in the church, as seen
in the Epistles of Paul stating that they had churches in their homes. In
the letter to Philemon, he addresses Apphia our sister and Archippus our
fellow soldier, and the church in your house. (Philemon 1:1–2) Nympha
was a woman who had a church in her home in Laodicea. (Colossians
4:15) He referred to Prisca and her husband Aquila, who had a church in
their house, as my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. (Romans 16:3. See also
1 Corinthians 16:19)
In the book of Romans, Paul wrote: I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a
servant of the church at Cenchreae. (Romans 16:1) The Greek word
translated as servant is diakonos, which is sometimes translated in the

Epistles as deacon and other times as minister. Paul refers to himself
as diakonos numerous times in the Epistles. Of this gospel I was made a
minister according to the gift of God’s grace. (Ephesians 3:7) Paul used
the same Greek word diakonos when referring to his co-workers and co-
leaders. He referred to Tychicus as a faithful minister in the Lord
(Ephesians 6:21) and Epaphras as a faithful minister of Christ. (Colossians
1:7) So when he commended Phoebe as a diakonos of the church, it
appears that Paul was acknowledging that she was a deacon or minister
within the church.
Paul made the point that within Christianity, there is neither Jew nor
Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you
are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28) Jesus, Paul, and the early
church worked against the concept of keeping women secluded, silent,
subservient, and segregated in worship.
Early church historians maintain that generally women were more active
in the church than men were. St. Chrysostom, in the fourth century, said:
The women of those days [early apostolic
church] were more spirited than men.
German church historian and theologian
Leopold Zscharnack wrote:
It was the evangelistic zeal of women in the
early years of the church, and later, which
won the weak and the mighty.
For the first 150 years of Christianity, women
were highly regarded within and very
important to the church. Sadly, after that time,
some of the church leaders began to revert to
the practices and attitudes of the Romans
relating to women, and women were slowly
excluded from leadership roles within the
church. Over the next three centuries, church
leaders incorporated views of the inferiority of
women into general Christian understanding.
These attitudes were both misguided and
wrong.

Hospitals
There is some evidence of a concept of healthcare facilities prior to the
rise of Christianity. In ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt (5000–2000 BC),
some sort of hospitals existed, and as early as the 5th century BC in
India, the Buddhist religion had institutionalized healthcare facilities. In
Roman times there were military hospitals for soldiers, but these were
not available to the public.
Once Christianity was legal and could be freely practiced, beginning in
324 AD, Christians were in a much better position to provide
institutional care for the sick and dying. The church council of Nicaea in
325 AD instructed bishops to establish a hospice in every city that had a
cathedral. The purpose of a hospice was not only to care for those who
were ill, but also to provide shelter for the poor and for Christian
pilgrims. This aligned with what Jesus taught.
I was naked
and you
clothed me, I
was sick and
you visited me,
I was in prison
and you came
to me. Then
the righteous
will answer
him, saying,
“Lord, when
did we see you
hungry and
feed you, or
thirsty and
give you drink?
And when did
we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And
when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?” And the King will
answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these
my brothers, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:34-40)

The first hospital was built by St.
Basil in Caesarea, Cappadocia
(Eastern Turkey), about 369 AD. The
next was built in a nearby province,
Edessa, in 375 AD. The first hospital
in the West was built in Rome about
390 AD by Fabiola, a wealthy widow
who was an associate of St. Jerome,
an important Christian teacher. She
founded another hospital in 398 AD,
about fifty miles southwest of Rome.
St. Chrysostom (d. 407) had
hospitals built in Constantinople in
the late fourth and early fifth
centuries. By the sixth century,
hospitals had become a common
part of monasteries. In the ninth
century, during the reign of the Holy
Roman Emperor Charlemagne,
numerous hospitals were built. By
the mid-1500s there were 37,000
Benedictine monasteries that cared
for the sick. By that time, hospitals
were plentiful in Europe.
In the United States, one of the very
first hospitals was founded by the
Quakers in the early 1700s, and that
was one of only two hospitals until
the early 1800s. In the second half
of the 1800s, many more hospitals
were built, usually by local churches
and Christian denominations. The
hospitals were often named after the
denomination which sponsored
them, such as Baptist Hospital,
Lutheran Hospital, Methodist
Hospital, and Presbyterian Hospital.
Others were given names such as St.
John’s, St. Luke’s, St. Mary’s, etc.

Science
The ancient Greek and
Roman polytheistic
cultures believed in
gods who engaged in
jealous, irrational
behavior in a world
that was nonrational,
which made the
concept of systematic
investigation of the
world and how it
functions futile.
However, Christianity, along with Judaism, teaches that God is a rational
being. Because humans are made in His image, we too are rational beings
who are able to use rational processes to study and investigate the world
in which we live.
In the 12th century, some Christian philosophers such as Robert
Grosseteste (1168–1253), a Franciscan bishop and the first chancellor of
Oxford University, proposed the inductive, experimental method as an
approach to gaining scientific knowledge. Grosseteste’s pupil Roger Bacon
(1214–1292), another Franciscan monk, asserted that “all things must be
verified by experience.”
Three hundred years later,
Francis Bacon (1561–1626), a
devout Anglican, propelled the
concept of inductive reasoning
forward by means of keeping a
written account of his
experiments and their results.
He promoted the concept that
science involves careful and
methodical observation along
with rigorous skepticism about
what is observed. As such, he
is known as the father of the
scientific method.

Education
Another area influenced by
Christianity was public
education for all children.
Today, free public schools are
common; however, this wasn’t
always the case. Prior to the
1500s, most education in
Europe, especially at the
elementary level, was
supported and operated by
the church in cathedral
schools. Sadly, few people
overall were literate, as very
few attended the church
schools.
Martin Luther (1498–1546) advocated a state school system in which
students of both sexes would be taught in the local language in primary
schools, followed by Latin secondary schools and universities. His
coworker Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560) persuaded the civic
authorities in Germany to start the first public school system. Luther also
advocated that the civil authorities should compel children to attend
school. Over time, Luther’s idea of compulsory education took root in
other countries. Today the concept that every child should attend school
is written into law in most countries.
Universities
It is commonly accepted that the oldest existing university in Europe is
the University of Bologna, Italy, founded in 1158. It specialized in canon
law (church law). The next university in Europe was the University of Paris,
founded in 1200. It originally specialized in theology, and in 1270 it
added the study of medicine. Bologna became the mother of several
universities in Italy, Spain, Scotland, Sweden, and Poland. The University
of Paris became the mother of Oxford and of universities in Portugal,
Germany, and Austria. Emmanuel College, a British Christian college
within the University of Cambridge, became the mother of Harvard in
America.

Harvard University, one of America’s most prominent, was established to
train ministers of the gospel. Its original motto was (in Latin) Truth for
Christ and the Church. It was founded by the Congregational Church.
Other prominent American universities were also founded by Christian
denominations, such as the College of William and Mary (Episcopalian),
Yale University (Congregational), Northwestern University (Methodist),
Columbia University (Episcopalian), Princeton University (Presbyterian),
and Brown University (Baptist).
Education for the Blind
Not much is known about care for the blind in the first few centuries
after Jesus’ death and resurrection. In the fourth century, Christians
operated some facilities for the blind. In 630,
a typholocomium (typholos = blind + komeo = take care of) was built in
Jerusalem. In the thirteenth century, Louis lX (St. Louis) built a hospice for
the blind in Paris.
In the 1830s, Louis Braille, a dedicated Christian Frenchman who lost his
sight at an early age, developed a means by which the blind could read.
He came upon a system used by the military which incorporated raised
dots to enable the reading of messages in the dark. From this idea he
developed his own system of pricked raised dots which allowed the blind
to read. On his deathbed, he said, I am convinced that my mission is
finished on earth; I tasted yesterday the supreme delight; God
condescended to brighten my eyes with the splendor of eternal hope.

Education for the Deaf
Teaching the deaf an inaudible
language largely originated
because of three Christian
men—Abbé Charles-Michel de
L’Épée, Thomas Gallaudet, and
Laurent Clerc. L’Épée was a
priest who developed a sign
language to use in teaching
the deaf in Paris in 1775. His
goal was that the deaf would
be able to hear the message of
Jesus. Thomas Gallaudet and
Laurent Clerc brought L’Épée’s
sign language to the United
States.
Laurent Clerc, born in a small village near Lyon, France, lost his hearing
when he was one year old. He attended the National Institute for Deaf
Children of Paris and eventually became a teacher there. Thomas
Gallaudet, a clergyman who wanted to help the deaf, attended the school
where Clerc taught in order to learn sign language. These two men
decided to travel to the United States in order to open the first school for
the deaf there. Before returning to Europe in order to learn more about
working with the deaf, Gallaudet said to a deaf girl, “I hope when I come
back to teach you much about the Bible, and about God, and Christ.” The
two men started a school for the deaf in 1817. In 1864, Gallaudet’s son
founded the first college for the deaf, which later became known as
Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.
Each of us, every single day, can positively affect our part of the
world through loving others, being kind, fair, understanding,
generous, positive, and helpful. We can be inclusive, respectful,
forgiving, humble, meek, patient, and kind. As we do our best
to live our faith, to emulate Jesus, to love God and others, we
too will change our part of the world for the better.

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Image Credits:
Page 1 (clockwise): LUMO Project, via freebibleimages.com; public domain; public domain;
designed by pressfoto via Freepik; public domain
Page 2: Hans S. via Flickr; used under Creative Commons license
Page 3: (top) LUMO project via freebibleimages.com; (bottom) public domain
Page 4: LUMO project via freebibleimages.com
Page 7: Public domain
Page 9: (top to bottom) Nora Morgan via Wikimedia Commons; Anphalen via Wikimedia
Commons; Abqjoe via Wikimedia Commons
Page 10: (top to bottom) Sith-x via Deviantart.com; used under Crative Commons license;
public domain
Page 11: public domain
Page 12: (left to right) Albert Bergonzo via Wikipedia.org; Daderot via Wikipedia.org
Page 13: public domain
Text adapted from “The Effects of Christianity” by Peter Amsterdam

The effects of Christianity

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The effects of Christianity