The document provides historical context about the Roman Empire and surrounding regions in the 1st century AD. It discusses the political and cultural landscape, including the dominance of Greek culture and various philosophical and religious movements of the time period. These include Stoicism, Epicureanism, Cynicism, Skepticism, and Gnosticism. It then describes the early Christian church emerging in this environment and how they saw themselves, as well as their core beliefs about God, Jesus, salvation, and the afterlife.

1. “ The World and the identity of the earliest Church”

4. “ Historians have long observed that conditions in the first century were just right for the spread of Christianity. There was relative peace, a common language (Greek), some level of social order enabling safe travel, and an increasing network of roads and sea routes.”

17. Christianity held these philosophies in check by saying that there was a norm and standard to life, and that was modeled by the life of Christ. Freedom is only found in Christ not in experiential self-expression; furthermore, truth is rooted in God’s creative mastery over the universe.

21. The desperation of ancient and modern culture and the answer to the world’s vacuum is Christ.