Why were the Romans against Christianity but tolerant towards Judaism?
The primary reason the Romans were tolerant toward Judaism is the fact that it was a very old, traditional religion. To really understand this, you have to understand a couple of other things. First: There are some basic types of religions. One is traditional religion, and it is usually associated with a group of people, an “ethne” as the Greeks would call it. Judaism, in its original form, was an ethnic religion. It did develop, even early on, a system by which an individual could “convert” but that was not its primary function. You see this in the way the Hebrews thought of themselves and the way that God is referenced in the earliest scriptures. “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” is that primary reference. Yahweh, in this early stage, is not typically represented as the “one” God, but as the God of this people. Second: Evangelical Religions. This is, as I am using it, a technical term. It is also referred to as “founder” religions, but that may not always apply. Typically, they
