Christianity's Impact on the Roman World

[guy]

I have been motivated to write this by Ludovicus' interesting book suggestion:

 

http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11395

 

Too many historians and writers about the late Roman Empire minimize the role that the various and competing threads of Christian belief played in shaping the world of Late Antiquity.

This may arise from their ignorance.

 

Unfortunately, this may also arise from an almost visceral (and possibly understandable) hostility toward Christian theology.

 

I, too, find most philosophical arguments boring and tedious. For me, there is no more effective soporific than discussions about religion. These include the earlier Christian controversy about The Trinity and the later controversies about the

Edited September 5, 2010 by guy

[Aurelia]

Earlier this year, I watched an interesting documentary aired on BBC called A History of Christianity. Even though it attempts mainly to address the question of what it means to be a Christian today, it also provides a chronological account of the evolution of its different strands. The fist 3 episodes dealing with the origians of Christianity, the rise of the Roman Catholic Church, and Orthodoxy respectively are particularly interesting as they show the impact these developments have had on the ancient and modern worlds.

[caldrail]

This is an interesting thread, because invariably christianity takes the credit for changing the Roman Empire. But isn't it true that Christianity was given a Roman character, including provision for earning wealth? That like other aspects of Roman culture Christianity adopted ideas from other faiths? And that local variations were either destroyed or declared heresy, so that a politicised religion governed peoples hearts and minds?

 

Slavery is said to have declined due to christian thought, but manumission had become a popular method of establishing your personal generosity long before that, and as the wars of conquest became a thing of the past, the supply of slaves was no longer inundated by the conquered. Gladiatorial combat did decline in part due to christian teaching, but again, the genre was past its glory days and was declining anyway, for economic and social reasons.

 

The dominance of christianity certainly changed Roman culture to a degree, but I can't help feeling that it was only accentuating aspects that were already there.

[barca]

... local variations were either destroyed or declared heresy, so that a politicised religion governed peoples hearts and minds?

 

 

Here's a related work that i just picked up at the local book store.

http://www.amazon.com/AD-381-Charles-Freeman/dp/159020171X

 

I plan to read it when I finish my book on Julian:

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Pagan-Julian-Apostate-Ancient/dp/1594772266

[guy]

 

 

Here's a related work that i just picked up at the local book store.

http://www.amazon.com/AD-381-Charles-Freeman/dp/159020171X

 

 

 

Barca. Your first book link is the first book referred to in my original post. I recommend the book highly to anyone interested in the development of Christian doctrine. It changed forever my view of the theological forces at work during the late Roman empire.

 

 

guy also known as gaius

[barca]

 

 

Here's a related work that i just picked up at the local book store.

http://www.amazon.com/AD-381-Charles-Freeman/dp/159020171X

 

 

 

Barca. Your first book link is the first book referred to in my original post. I recommend the book highly to anyone interested in the development of Christian doctrine. It changed forever my view of the theological forces at work during the late Roman empire.

 

 

guy also known as gaius

 

That was an oversight on my part.

 

I also have the books by Jenkins that you recommended and I started reading the The Lost History of Christianity. Interesting information but somewhat laborious reading (for me, at least)--I'll pick it up again later. It does give a different perspective on Christianity, i.e. that it's not necessarily endemic to the Western World.

[guy]

 

That was an oversight on my part.

 

I also have the books by Jenkins that you recommended and I started reading the The Lost History of Christianity. Interesting information but somewhat laborious reading (for me, at least)--I'll pick it up again later. It does give a different perspective on Christianity, i.e. that it's not necessarily endemic to the Western World.

 

 

 

I thank you, Barca, for sharing an interest in this fascinating facet of the Roman Empire.

 

Here's a review I write sometime ago on AD 381. I greatly enjoyed that book.

 

http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=9493

 

The books by Jenkins are essential, but difficult reading. His writing style is fine, but my eyes glaze over when faced with philosophical arguments.

 

I think sometimes (honestly, most of the time) I would rather watch the DVD Spartacus: Blood and Sand than labor over some obscure theological point. But I also know that vegetables are important, too. (Is beer a vegetable?)

 

 

guy also known as gaius

Edited September 5, 2010 by guy