why did Christinanity have such a widespread appeal to Romans?

Question

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Answer 1

Because Constantine and his army could be very persuasive.

EDIT: Thumbs-up, Gary J. The X-P symbol is CHI-RHO, the first two letters of the Greek word for "Christ". ("Christo"?)

Answer 2

There are many reasons why Christianity appealed to the people of the Late Roman Empire. Some of these reasons are (but not limited to):

1. The Conversion of Constantine The Great
The Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in 315 A.D., and made Christianity the religion of the state. He did not exactly outlaw the pagan Roman religions. Instead, he favoured Christianity. There is still considerable debate about his devotion.

However, a lot of people started thinking that maybe this Christianity business was not that bad afterall. Hey, if the Emperor is a Christian there be some opportunity for social advancement by being a Christian.

2. The Organisation of the Church
The Christian Church was quite organised and efficient at the time of Constantine. It had a system that fed the poor and provided basic social services for its members. No other pagan system could match its organisation and commitment to helping the needy.

3. Christian Doctrine
The Christians taught that all men were equal before God. This was near revolutionary in the Roman world. Infact, letters survive of Christian congregations that ordained slaves as deacons. No doubt this doctrine appealed to the many people. It was breath of fresh air from the stern Roman patriarchal system.

4. Spread Among the Upper Classes
Contrary to what many people believed, Christianity was widely spread among the Roman nobility. Constantine's mother Helena was a Christian.

Answer 3

It didn't at first, until Emperor Contantine won a battle against another Roman General vying for power. Constantine saw a vision of Christ appearing to him, and showing him a symbol that looked like a P with an X on it. (you've probably seen this symbol, I forget what it's called...) THen he heard a voice say to him "with this sign, you shall conquer." The next day he had all his men paint the symbol on their shields and banners, and he won a miraculous battle against huge odds. That convinced him and his men that Christianity was the way to go, and upon becoming emperor, stopped the wide-spread persecutions and started promoting it instead. After only a generation or so, the christians grew from a small, persecuted sect into a major religion.

That's how I understand it anyways.

That's how it became "mainstream." Before that, it appealed to mostly just poorer Romans, such as the slave class, because it preached the uselessness of riches, and accepted all people regardless of who they were. This is not what the they were used to, and in fact was a very radical idea at the time.

Answer 4

Think about it. One God instead of several. One God who loves you instead of makes you fear him. One God who gave his only son to save man.

The Roman gods were capricious and downright cruel sometimes (according to legends). This new God was loving and just and didn't care what race or nationality you were. Since the Roman legions were filled with many subject races by 100 A.D., the religion had a universal appeal.

There was the added advantage of converting wives to the religion. In Britain women of the old faith owned the land and the husbands simply had the use of it. When those same women converted to Christianity, the husbands got the property. Many of those husbands were former Roman soldiers.

Answer 5

Actually it didn't. I'm writing a book that refers to that in a small portion so I'll copy and paste.

Christianity was particularly foreign among the pagan Gentiles (non-Jews). While the pagans had temples, the Christians met in private homes for well over a hundred years. While the pagans had statues, altars, grand festivals, and sacrifices, the Christians had no such things to show their devotions. The most foreign thing, though, was how God was the one making the sacrifice, as if God needed to appease humans instead of the other way around. With no rituals similar to the pagans, the Christians were perceived to be not much different than Atheists.

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The world did not completely accept these “Christian” teachings, and for a couple hundred years Christianity was outlawed, and at best was laughed at. The name Christian, in fact, was used by the Romans as a derogatory label, but the followers of Jesus came to adopt the term.
Tacitus (60-120 AD), wrote the following about the Christians:

Christus, from whom their name is derived, was executed at the hands of the procurator Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius. Checked for a moment, this pernicious superstition again broke out, not only in Judaea, the source of the evil, but even in Rome… degrading every quarter of the globe, which there finds a following. Accordingly, arrest was first made of those who confessed [to being Christians], then, on their evidence, an immense multitude was convicted… Besides being put to death, they were made to serve as objects of amusement; they were clad in the hides of beasts and torn to death by dogs; others were crucified, others set on fire to serve to illuminate the night.

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In 112 AD, Pliny the Younger wrote a letter to Emperor Trajan outlining the treatment the Christians would receive. Pliny wrote:

It has never been my lot to be present at any examination of Christians before. I am therefore at a loss to determine what is the usual object either of inquiry or of punishment, and to what length either of them is to be carried. It has also been with me a question very problematical whether any distinction should be made between the young and old, the tender and the robust; whether pardon should be given on repentance, or whether retraction is not to be allowed to profit [i.e. “forgive”] the man who has been a Christian… In the meantime this has been my method with respect to those who were brought before me as Christians. I asked them whether they were Christians; if they pleaded guilty I interrogated them a second and a third time with a menace of capital punishment… In case of obstinate perseverance I ordered them to be executed. For of this I had no doubt, whatever was the nature of their religion, that stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy ought to be punished. Some infected with the same madness, on account of their privilege of [Roman] citizenship, I reserved to be sent to Rome, to be referred to your tribunal…. And this was the account they gave of the nature of the religion… whether it deserves the name of crime or error, namely, that they were accustomed on a stated day to meet before daylight, and to say in turns a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by an oath not to commit any wickedness… I judged it the more necessary to inquire by torture from two females, who were said to be deaconesses, what was the real truth. But nothing could I collect except a depraved and excessive superstition. The contagion of the superstition has spread not only through the cities, but even villages and the country.

Trajan wrote back, “You have done perfectly right, my dear Pliny.” [Cutts, Turning]

Answer 6

They suffered from lead poisoning, from their cooking utensils.
Since they were mentally impared, Christianity made them an easy target.
Today, we have no excuses for such insanity to be at large in our society.

Answer 7

The word of the Centurion's slave being healed by his faith in Jesus got around. Faith is a powerful thing.........