A large number of sects proliferate in Judea: orthodox sects, such as the Sadducees and the Pharisees, as well as dissident and sometimes persecuted sects such as the Essenes (whose ascetic practices will be illuminated by the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the mid-twentieth century.)

Saul, born at Tarsus in Anatolia, probably about the beginning of the first century CE and raised as a pious Jew, is a zealous opponent of Jesus’ followers until about 34, when he has a profound mystical experience that converts him to what will become known by the end of the first century as Christianity and impels him to change his name to Paul.

He follows this transforming experience—a vision of Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus—by missionary activity in Arabia, Syria, and his native Cilicia.

Knowledge of the new sect has by 37, at the end of Tiberius' reign, spread to the gentiles as a result of the preaching of Paul in Anatolia and in Greece.

At the same time, the movement continues to make progress among the Jews of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Syria and quickly reaches even Osroene and the Parthian towns of the Euphrates, where Jewish colonies are numerous.

The Roman authorities at first have difficulty in distinguishing the Christos believers from the orthodox Jews, but the religion of the former, on leaving its original milieu, will soon become differentiated.

The author of the Epistle to the Colossians (possibly written by Paul during one of his incarcerations after 60, or by a later follower of Paul who further develops some of his ideas) confronts a form of gnosticism that teaches that angelic powers rule the cosmos and that various ascetic and ritual practices are required of Christians.

In arguing against these teachings, the author posits that since Christ is lord of the whole cosmos and has saved believers, neither fear nor extreme practices are appropriate.

Colossians, like the earlier Ephesians, describes the church as a body, with Christ as its head.

The letter is supposed (or intended) to be written by Paul at Rome during his first imprisonment.

(Acts 28:16, 28:30) If the letter is not considered to be an authentic part of the Pauline corpus it might be dated during the late first century, possibly as late as the 80s.

The Epistle to the Hebrews, probably written between 60 and 90 to a general audience, features a symbolic style and sustained argument that identify it as a Hellenistic work based on the Jewish tradition.

(The only New Testament letter not introduced by the name of its author, Hebrews has traditionally, it has been ascribed to Paul, but modern scholars suggest that it, like Colossians, may have been written by another author, perhaps a disciple of Paul.)

The epistle’s first part describes Jesus Christ as superior to Moses; viewing him as the high priest who replaces the Levitical priesthood and who establishes a new covenant to be accepted by faith.

The second part offers counsel on persevering faithfully in the new covenant, urging Christians to uphold the exemplary ideal of Old Testament heroes of faith.

The use of tabernacle terminology in Hebrews has been used to date the epistle before the destruction of the temple, the idea being that knowing about the destruction of both Jerusalem and the temple would have influenced the development of his overall argument to include such evidence.

Therefore, the most probable date for its composition is the second half of the year 63 or the beginning of 64, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Another argument in favor of an early dating is that the author seems unfamiliar with the Eucharist ritual (had the author been familiar, it would have served as a great example).

Peter (about whom the New Testament is silent after his meeting in 51 with James and Paul) is the possible author of the first of two Epistles of Peter.

Possibly written from Rome ("Babylon", as the author calls it) to strengthen Christians suffering persecution in Anatolia just before 64, Peter explains the suffering as a test of faith and directs the persecuted Christians to their living hope founded on God, who raised Jesus from the grave.

2 Peter, probably written for the same Anatolian audience as was 1 Peter, cautions against false teachers in the community and gives affirmative assurance that Christ will return.

(Scholars question the authorship of 2 Peter; no mention of the letter occurs until about the third century.)

The Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament of the Bible, is written probably about 95 during the reign of Domitian according to second-century CE theologian Irenaeus.

Also called the Apocalypse—the only piece of New Testament writing cast almost entirely in the apocalyptic mode—the title of Revelation comes from the first verse of the text, "the revelation of Jesus Christ...to his servant John."

The author of Revelation identifies himself several times as "John."

The author also states that he was on Patmos when he received his first vision.

As a result, the author of Revelation is sometimes referred to as John of Patmos.

Following a prologue, the first part of Revelation, which contains letters to the seven churches of Asia, cautions them against false teachers and offering encouragement.

These are followed by a series of visions, characteristic of the apocalyptic writing currently in fashion, replete with allegories, numbers and other symbols, and a strong eschatological message.

The author, undoubtedly speaking to the situation of his day, interprets the significance of the cross and resurrection for the future, declaring their meaning for time and history until the end and communicating a vision of God's final triumph over evil.

The two Dacian Wars (101–102, 105–106) during Roman Emperor Trajan's rule are triggered by the constant Dacian threat on the Danubian Roman Province of Moesia and by the increasing need for resources of the economy of the Roman Empire.

Dacia, an area north of Macedon and Greece and east of the Danube, has been on the Roman agenda since before the days of Caesar, when they defeated a Roman army at the Battle of Histria.

The Dacians had swarmed over the Danube in CE 85, pillaged Moesia, and initially defeated the army that Emperor Domitian had sent against them.

The Romans had been victorious in the Battle of Tapae in 88 and a truce had been established.

Emperor Trajan recommences hostilities against Dacia and, following an uncertain number of battles, defeats the Dacian King Decebalus in the Second Battle of Tapae in 101.

With Trajan's troops pressing towards the Dacian capital Sarmizegetusa Regia, Decebalus once more seeks terms.

Decebalus rebuilds his power over the following years and attacks Roman garrisons again in 105.

In response, Trajan again marches into Dacia, besieging the Dacian capital and razing it.

Trajan, having quelled Dacia, subsequently invades the Parthian empire to the east, his conquests expanding the Roman Empire to its greatest extent.

Rome's borders in the East are indirectly governed through a system of client states for some time, leading to less direct campaigning than in the West in this period.

The Christian Church had originated in the Roman province of Judea in the first century CE, founded on the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth believed by all Christians to be the Messiah, or deliverer king, of the Jewish people.

The precise start of the Church is considered to be at Pentecost, but it is usually thought of as originating with Jesus' Apostles.

According to Christian scripture, Jesus commanded the Apostles to spread his teachings to all the world.

Although Christianity had sprung out of the first century Jewish faith, from its earliest days some sects of the Church had accepted non-Jews without requiring them to adopt Jewish customs (e.g., circumcision), running counter to tradition.

Conflict with Jewish religious authorities had quickly led to the expulsion of the Christians from the synagogues in Jerusalem.

The Church has gradually spread through the Roman Empire and outside it gaining major establishments in cities such as Jerusalem, Antioch, and Edessa.

Christianity has become a widely persecuted sect, hated by the Jewish authorities as a heresy, and by the Roman authorities because, like Judaism, its monotheistic teachings are fundamentally foreign to the traditions of the ancient world, as well as a challenge to the imperial cult.

Cerinthus, a Jewish-Christian teacher, establishes a gnostic sect in the Roman province of Asia that flourishes around 100.

All we know about Cerinthus comes from the writing of his theological opponents.

Contrary to proto-orthodox Christianity, Cerinthus's school follows the Jewish law, denying that the Supreme God had made the physical world, and denying the divinity of Jesus.

Teaching that the world was created either by a Demiurge (inferior deity) or by angels, he maintains that Jesus was merely human until his baptism, when he received a divine energy that had guided him in his ministry but left him at the crucifixion.

Like many early Christians, Cerinthus teaches that Jesus would establish a thousand-year reign of sensuous pleasure after the Second Coming but before the General Resurrection, a view that would be defined as heretical at the Council of Nicea in 325.

Cerinthus uses a version of the gospel of Matthew as scripture.

Teaching at a time when Christianity's relation to Judaism and to Greek philosophy has not yet been clearly defined, in his association with the Jewish law and his modest assessment of Jesus, he is similar to the Ebionites, a Jewish Christian sect that lives in and around Judea and Palestine, and to other Jewish Christians.

In defining the world's creator as the demiurge, he matches Greek philosophy and anticipates Alexandrine gnosticism.

His description of Christ as a bodiless spirit that dwelled temporarily in the man Jesus matches the Gnosticism of Valentius.

Marcion, a native of Sinope in Pontus and a devoted Christian, had immigrated to Rome around 140 and attached himself to the church there.

Associating in Rome with the Syrian Gnostic, Cerdo, Marcion had developed unorthodox perspectives that soon brought him into conflict with the Roman church.

Arguing that the Christian God of love could not have also been the Creator God of the Old Testament, Marcion had maintained that Judaizing tendencies among the earliest disciples have corrupted the original gospel of Jesus and that the Old Testament holds no validity for Christians.

The only one to have correctly understood the original teachings of Jesus, claims Marcion, was Paul.

Rejecting the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John, he collects ten of Paul's letters and an edited “Gospel According to Luke,” from which he removes all legalistic and Old Testament references; he claims that these documents constitute the rule or canon of the church's teaching.

The Christian church in Rome, compelled to define what it accepts as the true canon, excommunicates Marcion in about 144 and begins assembling the New Testament canon (the version accepted today, inclusive of all four gospels).

Marcion’s substantial following grows rapidly into a sect, based mainly on the premise that the gospel of Jesus Christ is entirely a gospel of love to the exclusion of the Mosaic Law.

The aged Polycarp of Smyrna, a disciple of John the Evangelist, visited Rome to discuss the celebration of Passover with Pope Anicetus, according to Irenaeus.

Polycarp and his Church of Smyrna celebrate the crucifixion on the fourteenth day of Nisan, which coincides with Pesach (or Passover) regardless of which day of the week upon this date falls, while the Roman Church celebrates the Pasch on Sunday—the weekday of Jesus' resurrection.

The two do not agree on a common date, but Anicetus concedes to Polycarp and the Church of Smyrna the ability to retain the date to which they are accustomed.

The controversy is to grow heated in the following centuries.

The Christian historian Hegesippus also visits Rome during Anicetus' pontificate.

This visit is often cited as a sign of the early importance of the Roman See.

Anicetus is the first Roman Bishop to condemn heresy by forbidding Montanism.

He also actively opposes the Gnostics and Marcionism.

According to Liber Pontificalis, Anicetus decreed that priests are not allowed to have long hair (perhaps because the Gnostics wore long hair).

Montanus, aided by two women, Maximilla and Priscilla (or Prisca), has established an apocalyptic sect, whose enthusiastic followers preach the imminent end of the world, austere morality, and severe penitential discipline.

The Montanists, as the sect comes to be called, prohibit second marriages, deny the divine nature of the church, and refuse forgiveness for sins that persons commit after baptism.

The Montanists apparently seek renewal of the church from within through a rebirth of the religious enthusiasm that had characterized early Christianity.

Montanus preaches that revelation and prophecy has not ended with Jesus’ death.

The Church, threatened by this belief and the growing expectation of Christ’s Second Coming, excommunicates many Montanists.