How did Christianity become so widespread in Europe, but not in the Middle East?

Question

If understand it correctly, Jesus spent alot of his time in the Middle East. Why did Christianity not seem to take hold? Or am I just wrong in my perception?

Answer 1

Many have said it already -- Christianity WAS widespread in the Middle East. In fact, the most culturally and theologically advanced figures in the first several centuries of Christianity were mostly in the Middle Eastern areas (where they primarily spoke Greek in those days).

Like Alexandria in Egypt (Clement, Origen, Athanasius, and the Desert Fathers like Anthony ... not to mention the Gnostic communities there and elsewhere).

And Jerusalem (Jerome lived there, although he was Latin).

And Antioch in Syria (where Dionysius the Areopagite was probably from).

And Constantinople in Turkey (Cappadocia, in central Turkey, included Basil the Great, his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and their friend, Gregory of Nazianzus).

Those four "sees" (capitals) of Christianity in their time were considered on a par with Rome as centers of Christian practice and teaching. But all were in countries that later were places into which Islamic civilization was to spread and predominate.

And again, as others have also said, there remain Christian communities in those lands today.
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Answer 2

Christians and Jews made up the majority of religion in the Middle East until year 636, the date of the Muslim Arab Conquest. Islam supposedly restored the word of God to it's original context, removing changes in the texts made by Judaism and Christianity.

I do agree that the Crusades had a large part in separating further differences between Christians and Muslims - the Holy Land was taken from the Muslims during the First Crusade in 1096 - the Christians had a hard time for loss of supplies and troops, and were most interested in securing the Holy Land (which then, as now, was sacred to all three religions). Muslims still had control of some of Europe until the Norman Invasion. The Jews, more than anyone else, were decimated or forced to convert to Christianity. Muslim countries imposed a tax on Christians, and by and by Muslims were expelled from Europe (they would not convert). Islam lost it's hold in most of Europe in the 17th century with The Great Turkish War.

The Muslims, it would seem, were tolerant of Christians and Jews for a price, where Christians did not tolerate niether Jews nor Muslims. You would either become Christian, or die, in the areas they controlled. A pretty evil way to make the masses, but it obviously worked.

At least I have a choice.

Answer 3

About 40% of Jewish Israelis come from the Muslim world, not the 10% you imply. These include over 500,000 refugees and their descendants from Muslim (mainly Arab) countries that came to Israel following anti-Jewish riots and pogroms in their native lands after Israel declared independence. Another 200-300,000 found their way to the West. In almost all of these cases, their personal and community property was stolen by the Arabs. I had friends growing up who were refugees from Egypt, and have worked with or known Jewish refugees from Algeria and Iraq. All were fiercely pro-Israel due to the way they and their families had been persecuted. There has been a Jewish community in Palestine for over 3000 years, even after the Romans gave the land that name as part of their ethnic cleansing campaign in the 2nd century CE (before that, it was the Roman province of Judea). The Jews did not move away voluntarily, and for 1800 years in diaspora, Jews worldwide have prayed towards Jerusalem three times daily and maintained the Hebrew language as a holy tongue. As a minority, Jews were persecuted off and on for hundreds of years in both the Christian and Muslim worlds, leading to the rise of the Zionist movement in the 19th century. Examples of these were the Damascus blood libel of 1840, and the Dreyfus affair in 1890s France. Your statement that "the Jews were doing pretty well" is simplistic, even if we ignore the Nazi Holocaust. Zionism started as a secular movement, but it was clear early on that the only land that most Jews would sacrifice for was Palestine due to religious and historical attachment. So the Jews starting in the mid-19th century (well before the First Zionist Congress, by the way) bought land, drained the swamps and began to build what became the State of Israel. Note that even before then, there were ancient Jewish communities still extant in Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed, and Tiberias. The Jews have been an identifiable people for at least 3000 years, and survived nearly 2000 years in diaspora without losing that identity. Could the Palestinians survive even 200 years of that? There is no Palestinian language, no separate religion, little separate culture from their brother Arabs. Compared to the Jews, the Palestinian claim to being a separate people is very weak. If the Arabs have over 20 states, and Muslims total over 50, why can't there be one state for the Jews? And if a Palestinian state is so important, why wasn't one declared between 1948 and 1967, when the Arabs controlled the West Bank and Gaza? The only logical conclusion is that the Arabs are far more interested in destroying Israel than in creating a state for the Palestinians. Finally, if there are no states based on a religion, then what is Pakistan? It was specifically established as a state for the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent, who otherwise differ little from their Hindu and Buddhist brothers.

Answer 4

You are wrong in your perception. Much of the Middle East and some of Africa and Asia was Christian until the Muslims invaded. Egypt, "Palestine", Syria, Asia Minor (Turkey) are a few examples. But don't worry, Christianity still exists in the Middle East and is growing despite the efforts to stop it.

God Bless.

Answer 5

Good question. I really don't know for sure, but can make a couple of assumptions based on history. After the deaths of Peter and Paul, and the slaughter of many of the believers, Constantine, the Roman emperor, came to power, was converted, and made Christianity the state religion of Rome - that really helped spread it around. From there, it was exported to the British Isles - which the Romans also subjugated for a time. It seems that Christianity was exported around Asia minor and the European continent.

You understand correctly about Jesus - He never traveled farther than 30 miles from his birthplace - but His word traveled on the lips of his disciples far into Asia minor and ultimately to Rome. I don't know why Christianity did not seem to "take hold" in the middle east - although, I have a suspicion the Crusades had a lot to do with that, along with the rise of Islam.

These are my understandings of that rather sketchy history - or perhaps my understanding is sketchy. Either way, I hope this has helped with a bit of understanding.

Great question - here's your star!

Peace & God bless.

Answer 6

Islam eventually conquered much of the middle-east and over time people began to convert...

there are still many Christians in the East, however, most are Eastern or Oriental Orthodox Christians...

Answer 7

Rome became the center of Christianity and spread it throughout Europe. It was popular in the Middle East until Islam came along. Next question.

Answer 8

Look up Nestorians and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

There were Christians in Central Asia and China.

There were Turkic Christians in Central Asia!

Answer 9

During the times of Genghis Khan, all middle east and only some parts of europe were under the mongol's rule. He wanted to unite the empire by one religion, but he couldnt choose. After some time, he started concidering Christianity, so he sent a messenger to one european country (i dont remember which one) asking a priest to come to mongolia and talk to Genghis Khan about the religion.

now, that priest had a good impression of Khan, so he would probably go down there.. except he died b4 the messenger got there. so when the mongol representative came, the new priest discussed it with the council or whatever, and decided it would be a waste of time. Genghis Khan got pissed off at this reply, chose islam, and forced everyone in his kingdom to convert. after the empire fell apart, some went back to the religions of their fathers, but for the most part, the middle eastern area and some parts into the europe chose to remain muslim.

Answer 10

U. S. Military troops that were Christians took their Christianity to Europe with them. They did not go to the Middle East that much during World War II.