Roman Decadence in the Late Empire
According to history, it is not a secret that the Roman Empire once fell, it was considered to be immoral as well as weak during this time. Decadence is coined with the fall of the empire and is therefore thought to be the sexual excesses that happened. People were more focused on having orgies mostly with their families specifically, sibling; the Romans were also doing heinous activities such as eating parts of animals like the tongues of humming birds, feeding Christians to the untamed lions and they even had the courage to poison their children, partners, spouses and parents (The John Hopkins University Press p. 316). There was also the existence of terrible events wherein the legionnaires destroyed the government and civilization and they were even successful in overthrowing the emperor which then led to their Dark Ages. With this happening, the decadence of the Roman Empire is thought to perceive more of the sexual desires and perversion and also disparages hedonism.
Messianic and Apocalyptic character of Pre-Christian Judaism
There were hypothesis that the grounds presented for the Pre-Christian groups and fad of Jesus were noted. Both the Christians and Jews were being led and controlled by their suppositions which either misconceived or ignored. Clues were also presented such that the Pre-Christian and Judaism had been both considered as characters of Apocalypse as Lamb of God. With the presence of logos, the God was finally identified with the existence of the fourth gospel and Babylonian symbols like the one called “seven Spirits”; however, the omega and alpha were things associated with Judaism and Semitic. The Messianic ideas on the other hand was deemed to have come to the people and became the declaration of himself as the one noted to be “Saviour-Sheperd” as well as King of Righteousness; these were all from the Mazdean doctrine in which the unborn son of the Zarathusta was designated as the time to destroy the Ahriman and then raise it from the dead. It was therefore latter associated with the orthodox Judaism.
Christianity and the radical break from Judaism
Christianity is known to be a religion system that is merely based on the beliefs that the Messiah or Christ is the Nazareth-born Jesus; Jesus is expected to be making the prophecies come to life especially those in Israel (Kohler n.p). Christianity is also popular for claiming that it has the well-renowned civilization form that attracted many people to have deeper and higher connection to their religious belief and life. It even successfully regenerated through union of the Greeks and Hebrews the continuity of human race. Based on Matthew’s gospel, hostile sentiments were greatly reflected from the elements of the pictures of Jesus and were then entertained in contrary to the Jews associated by the new sectors. However, within the last stages of the fall of Rome, the sentiments and the destinies were no longer talked and debated about. In addition, the massive power and originality were deemed to be embodied by great geniuses.
St. Augustine and the City of God
The City of God was described by St. Augustine as the world were people are contented with what they have and the people they are with. In contrast with the “City of Man”, the city of God is more on faith while the other is more on unbelief. There is also a published book authored by Hippo’s Augustine which has the aim to answer every allegations about the fall of Roman empire by the Christian religion; the book is known to be one of the best works of Augustine and eventually became the cornerstone in the west and it even encompassed the questions like divine omniscience, the existence of good and evil, free will and the misery of the righteous ones. The book also has two parts with numerous chapters or files under it such as the part I which tackles about the philosophy of the Earthly City and the critiques for the religion of romans. On the other hand, the part II of the book discusses more of the relationship between Earthly city and City of God.
Works Cited
Britannica Encyclopedia: “The City of God” Web. http://www.britannica.com/topic/The-City-of-God
Kuhman, Kohler “Christianity and its relation to Judaism” Web. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4366-christianity-in-its-relation-to-judaism
New Advent Org: “St. Augustine and the City of God” Web. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120117.htm
Sacred Text: “Pre-Christian and Judaism” Web. http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/cv/pch/pch37.htm
The John Hopkins University Press “Decadence of the Roman Empire”. Web. http://www.friesian.com/decdenc1.htm
