Hello historians.

My name is Ms. Krijnauw, and welcome to this unit about the Romans where we are answering the question, what is the story of Christianity's rise? In this lesson, we are going to travel back more than 2,000 years to learn about early Christianity.

By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to describe the story of the early days of Christianity in the Roman Empire, and it is my job to support you with the learning materials and resources.

Before we start the lesson, I would like to introduce you to some keywords.

These are words that will come up during the lesson.

You might want to make a note of them so that when we encounter them, you can refer back to your notes.

The words are religion, follower, Judea, scapegoat, martyr.

I'm going to read these words again, but this time you can read them with me.

Religion, follower, Judea, scapegoat, martyr.

Well done.

Let's find out what these words mean.

The first word is religion.

Religion is the belief in a God or gods and the practises, the belief says to live by such as praying and worshipping in a church, temple or mosque.

The next word is follower.

A follower is a person who believes in the teachings of a leader.

Judea.

Judea refers to the mountainous region of ancient Palestine and was once a kingdom of the Jewish people.

The next word is scapegoat.

A scapegoat is someone who carries the blame for others' mistakes and wrongdoings.

And the last keyword for this lesson is martyr.

A martyr is someone who would rather die or suffer, than give up their religious or political beliefs.

You could pause the video here to make a note of these keywords.

And when you are ready to continue the lesson, press play.

This lesson about early Christianity has two learning cycles.

The first one is entitled Christian beginnings.

There are many religions in the world such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism.

And of all the world's major religions, Christianity is the largest with more than 2 billion followers.

Christianity is a religion that started in the first century CE, and it's based on the life and teaching of a man called Jesus Christ.

The followers of Jesus are known as Christians and they believe Jesus to be the son of God.

Christianity started in the Roman province of Judea after Jesus died.

It was only after his death that his followers formed a church to pray and worship in the way that Jesus taught them.

Let's check our understanding of what we have just learned.

Which of the following statements about Christianity are true and which are false? Tick the correct column.

The statements are: in the first century, BCE, a new religion began: Christianity.

The next statement says, "the followers of Jesus are known as Christians." And lastly, Christianity started in Britain after Jesus died.

You can pause the video here, and when you are ready to hear the answers, press play.

Let's check the answers.

In the first century, BCE, a new religion began Christianity.

Well, that statement is false.

The followers of Jesus are known as Christians.

Well, that statement is true, and Christianity started in Britain after Jesus died.

That statement, of course, is false.

Well done if you got that right.

Let's correct those false statements.

The first false statement says "in the first century, BCE, a new religion began: Christianity." The next false statement says, "Christianity started in Britain after Jesus died." Pause the video here so you can correct those statements, and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

Let's find out what those false statements should have said In the first century, CE, not BCE a new religion began: Christianity.

Christianity started in the Roman province of Judea, not Britain after Jesus died.

Well done if you got those correct.

Jesus lived in Judea in the first century CE.

When Jesus was alive, he told people what he believed about God and how he thought people should treat each other.

Many people liked the messages that he was preaching and he gained a lot of followers.

After he died, Jesus' followers continued to spread his teachings.

These teachings formed the basis of the new religion, Christianity.

And so Christianity started in the Roman province of Judea after Jesus died.

Jesus's teachings were written down in the second part of the Bible called the New Testament.

The New Testament also contains writings about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, as well as the development of the early Christian community.

Early Christianity spread from Judea throughout the Roman Empire.

In the first few centuries CE the followers of Jesus Christ actively sprayed his teachings.

The Roman Empire was renowned for their well-developed system of roads.

It made travel and communication easier, and the early Christians could move quickly and easily and share their religion across different regions.

By the late second century, CE Christianity had reached Roman Britain.

Christianity continued to spread, and eventually it became the main religion in many parts of Europe.

That was quite a lot of new information.

So let's consolidate what we have learned.

Read the statements below.

Explain to your learning partner which one you think is correct.

Sam says, "Christianity started when Jesus Christ was born" and Andeep says "Jesus' followers spread his teachings after his death.

These teachings formed the basis of the new religion, Christianity." Pause the video here, and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

Let's reflect on the answer.

Sam was not correct because Christianity did not start when Jesus was born.

In fact, Andeep is correct.

When Jesus was alive, he gained many followers, but it was after his death that they spread his teachings.

These teachings formed the basis of the new religion, Christianity.

Well done if you said that Andeep is correct and that your explanation is similar to this one.

Well, we are now ready for the first learning task of the lesson.

It says, "complete the paragraph by filling in the missing words." Christianity is a hmm that is based on the life and teaching of hmm Christ.

The followers of Jesus are known as hmm.

Early Christianity spread from hmm throughout the Roman Empire.

Christianity reached Roman Britain in the late second century hmm.

Pause the video here, and when you are ready for the answers, press play.

Let's reflect on the answers.

Christianity is a religion that is based on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ.

The followers of Jesus are known as Christians.

Early Christianity spread from Judea throughout the Roman Empire.

Christianity reached Roman Britain in the late second century CE.

Well done if you got those answers correct.

In the second learning cycle of this lesson, we are going to learn about Christian persecution and martyrs.

It wasn't always easy to be a Christian, and the early Christians faced many challenges.

In the early years of Christianity, the Christians faced being persecuted in the Roman Empire, which means that they risked being treated unfairly and cruelly.

And here are some reasons.

The Romans followed a religion where they believed in many gods such as Jupiter, the God of the sky, and thunder and Mars, the God of war and Vesta, the goddess of home and family.

Even the Roman Emperor was worshipped as a God.

Following the Roman religion was an important part of what it meant to be Roman Christians, however, shunned the Roman religion of many Gods.

Christians believed in only one God.

The Romans did not understand why Christians only believed in one God and they did not like that Christians refuse to worship the emperors as Gods.

The Roman authorities thought that Christians were going against what it meant to be Roman.

Another reason why Romans were persecuted was that the Roman authorities did not always trust them.

Christian gatherings were often held in private at people's homes.

They met to tell each other about Jesus' teachings, to worship and to pray.

Because these meetings were held behind closed doors, the Roman authorities became suspicious about what they were up to.

They thought that the Christians were plotting and planning to cause trouble for the Roman government.

This is another reason why Christians were harmed and persecuted for their beliefs.

It was a very difficult and dangerous time for Christians.

Let's check our understanding of what we have just learned by saying whether the statement is true or false.

Early Christians were persecuted in the Roman Empire.

Pause the video here.

When you're ready for the answer, press play.

This statement, of course is true.

Well done if you got that right.

Well, let's justify our answer.

In other words, let's give a reason why we say that statement is true.

Is our justification A, they were persecuted because they worshipped only Roman gods or were Christians persecuted because they refused to worship the Roman gods? Pause the video here, and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

The answer is that the Christians were persecuted because they refused to worship the Roman gods.

Well done if you got that correct.

Sometimes when things went wrong in the empire such as a natural disaster or a plague, some Romans blamed the Christians and made them the scapegoats.

The Romans thought that the disasters happened because the Christians were angering their gods for not following the traditional Roman religious practises causing problems and crises for the Roman citizens, the Christians were given the opportunity to make things right and to avoid punishment by publicly offering sacrifices or burning incense to the Roman gods to show that they rejected the Christian religion.

But if they refused, they were punished severely often by being attacked and killed by wild animals in amphitheatres.

Many early Christians were very brave and strong in their beliefs.

Some were even killed because they would not give up what they believed in.

These people are called martyrs.

The martyrs often inspired other Christians in the Roman Empire and motivated them to be strong and dedicated to their religion, which in turn contributed to the growth of the Christian community.

Let's consolidate our learning.

Match the word to what it meant for early Christians.

The words are scapegoats, persecution, martyrs.

The definitions are Christians did not give up their religion even if they faced punishment or death.

Christians who were unfairly blamed when things went wrong and the unfair and cruel treatment of Christians.

Pause the video here and when you are ready for the answer, praise play.

Let's match the word to the correct meaning.

Scapegoats matches with Christians who were unfairly blamed when things went wrong.

Persecution matches to the unfair and cruel treatment of Christians.

And martyrs were Christians who did not give up their religion even if they faced punishment or death.

Great work.

Here is the second learning task of this lesson.

Write three or four sentences to tell the story of the early days of Christianity in the Roman Empire.

Use these words to help you.

Religion, Jesus Christ.

Followers, Judea, scapegoated, persecuted, martyrs.

Pause the video here to give yourself enough time to write three or four sentences.

And when you are ready for the answers, press play.

Pause the video here to give yourself enough time to write three or four sentences.

And when you are ready to reflect on the answer, press play.

Here is an example of an answer that you could have given.

In the first century CE, a new religion called Christianity began.

It was based on the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The followers of Jesus Christ spread Christianity from Judea throughout the Roman Empire.

The Christians refused to worship Roman gods and the Romans scapegoated and persecuted them.

Many early Christians were killed for their faith making them martyrs.

Well done if your paragraph looks similar to this one and an extra well done, if you managed to use all the words highlighted in green.

We have come to the end of this lesson, but before we go, let's summarise what we have learned about early Christianity.

Christianity began in the first century CE following the death of Jesus Christ.

His followers spread Jesus' teachings and the new religion.

Early Christianity spread from Judea throughout the Roman Empire reaching Roman Britain In the late second century CE.

Christians were persecuted in the Roman Empire because they refused to worship Roman gods and the Romans thought that they were plotting against them.

Christians were scapegoated and punished severely.

Many Christians became martyrs and they refused to give up their religion.

Well done for all your hard work during this lesson.

I've enjoyed our learning adventure, and I look forward to seeing you again very soon.