The Apostles of Jesus wrote four books about Jesus’s time on earth: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These books are similar, although they have some differences, but all tell the same story. Known as the Gospel, they make up the first part of the New Testament of the Bible. Unlike other classical literature, the Bible is historical not mythological. Its historical accuracy is even agreed upon by some atheist historians. 

God the Father sends his only Son, Jesus, to earth as a man to show his love for the world. Jesus is both the Son of God and a man at the same time. Born in the town of Bethlehem, Jesus’s mother, Mary, remained a virgin after she gave birth and bore the Son of God. Jesus lived in the town of Nazareth most of his early life and first preached at the age of 12. John the Baptist (or John the Forerunner) announced that the Son of God was coming soon. John baptized Jesus around AD 30. When Jesus was baptized, he was confirmed as both the Son of God and a man. After his baptism in the Jordan River, Jesus started his public ministry. 

Jesus’s first miracle occurred at a wedding, when the hosts ran out of wine for the meal, so Jesus miraculously turned water into wine. He began preaching to large crowds and healing dozens of people. He recruited 12 disciples to help spread His message across Israel, and also gave them the power to heal. When Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath Day (Saturday) this angered the Jewish religious leaders (the Pharisees) because they claimed it was against the Law. Jesus stated that he was the fulfillment of the Law, and that certain practices did not need to be followed anymore. Consequently, the enraged Pharisees proclaimed that he was a false prophet and sought to destroy him. 

During this time, Jesus did some of his greatest miracles, such as calming a stormy sea, walking on water, feeding 5,000 men with only five bread loaves and two fish, and healing the daughter of Roman Centurion. King Herod thought Jesus was a resurrected John the Baptist, who he had put to death. After Jesus forced a legion of demons into a herd of swine, the local residents did not let Jesus stay because they feared the Pharisees. The Jewish religious leaders hated Jesus because he preached against them and against the Law. 

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Ostrogoths controlled most of what would be modern-day Italy. They were led by the relatively enlightened king Theodoric from 493-526. Theodoric even tried to keep the Roman culture and customs alive, and preserve some sort of hierarchy. The Vandals claimed most of the Roman colonies in North Africa. Unlike the Ostrogoths, who treated the former Romans fairly, the Vandals ruled with an iron fist, killing out many of the old Romans living in North Africa. Under their ruler Genseric (428-477), the Vandals murdered hundreds of Christians before being defeated in battle by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in 533. 

In 493, Theodoric, the leader of the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths, declared himself the “King of Italy.” However, the Goths and Christians resisted the Ostrogoth oppressors, and the Byzantine Empire invaded and conquered Italy in the 560s. Soon, the barbarians, who were previously pagan, converted to Christianity, making much of France, Germany, and Britain Christian. 

Even after Rome fell, it continued to influence Europe for centuries, in literature, language, and government. Many European languages, such as French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian, came directly from Latin. Rome also helped preserve Greek architecture, art, and philosophy. Amazingly, the ruins of Roman roads, bridges, aqueducts, and dams still stand today throughout Europe. 

Originally a manichaeist, Saint Augustine (354-430) believed that he was trapped in a world of evil. Augustine wanted to know the origin of human thought, and the reason for the good and evil. In 386, Augustine converted to Christianity and was baptized by the bishop St. Ambrose of Milan. Between 397 to 398, Augustine wrote his book “Confessions,” which continues to be a studied Christian book. In “Confessions,” Augustine stated that original sin affects everyone, and we need to turn to God in order to be saved from this punishment. The ultimate moral perfection is to find God, he explained, and the ultimate sin is to turn away from God. By the 6th century Western Europe became more Christianized, due to the influence of Saint Augustine and other christian scholars during the early Middle Ages.

During the 4th and 5th centuries, heresies and controversies started popping up in the Church. Donatism was an early deviation that was started by the Bishop of Carthage, who stated that the validity of the sacrament was based on the priest giving it, while Montanism proclaimed that there would be new prophets to warn of the Second Coming of Christ. One of the most sinister heresies was Arianism. Starting around the year 300, the Alexandrian Presbyter Arius preached that Christ was not equal to the Father and that the Son was not fully God. Many emperors and bishops agreed with this doctrine and persecuted people practicing the true faith. 

Arianism was condemned in 325 at the First Council of Nicea, which also made advancements in Church governance. The Council of Constantinople in 381 dealt further with Arianism and made additions to the Nicene Creed. Another influential subversion was monophysitism, the belief that Christ only had one nature, which was divine. It was struck down at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. 

There are two main ways to practice Christian monasticism: Eremitic – monks (sometimes called hermits) live in isolation in a secluded place like a forest or desert; and Cenobitic – a group of monks who live and pray together in a monastery. St. Anthony of Egypt (250-335) left his monastery, went to be a hermit in the desert of Egypt, and asked that he be left in solitude. However, 300 people followed him and his example and also became hermits. 

By the year 300, women also started becoming monastics and are now known as nuns. St. Benedict made many of the rules followed today in Western monasteries. The main center of Western monasticism is Monte Casino and the East’s is Mount Athos. Monks also invented many agricultural techniques, wrote a large amount of books and writings, and started copying manuscripts that were used in Medieval Europe. 

Many early Christian apologists thought that the ancient Greek philosophers had a root in the Christian faith, like St. Justin Martyr. Originally a Platonist, he was converted to Christianity and preached extensively to Jews and Pagans, eventually being beheaded for his faith. 

The early heresies of the Church such as Arianism, Monophysites, and Origensim, were superseded by later problems like Iconoclasm and Muslim empires that invaded christian lands and would later cause war between the two religions in the Middle Ages.