Christianity was able to take full advantage of an extensive network of trade routes to
spread its radical message. Trade brought people from different cultures, religions, and walks
of life together, making it an especially effective means of spreading religious ideas across
vast swathes of territory.
In relation to Christianity, maritime trade
routesmost notably across the Mediterranean and the Indian Oceanbecame a highly useful conduit
for the dissemination of its teachings. Trade introduced people to religious traditions that
they would otherwise never have encountered.
Christianity had the added
advantage in that neither of the two main religions at that time, Judaism and Roman state
religion, had any tradition of proselytizing or preaching. This left the field open for the new
religion to make substantial inroads into the many territories that lined the trade routes of
the known world. In the wake of traders and merchants came Christian preachers, each one
determined to...
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