New Historical Analysis of How Christianity Got to be So Big


The New York Times reviewed a new 700-page book which plots the rise of Christianity from the time of about 200 CE. The review does not seem to have a pay wall so hopefully you can read it if you wish.

Our most popular historical narrative of the growth of Christianity is that a shiny light prevailed over darkness. Darkness, of course, was whatever gods or religions, like Paganism, people might have enjoyed before Christianity. The author thinks now is a good time to reexamine the narrative of "light over darkness" now when Christianity is on the wane. I suppose it could be asked was Christianity ever "the light" and if so, is darkness returning. Or is there something emerging that is even lighter than Christianity. The twists and turns of history are reexamined.

The book sounds like endless details of history and is called by the reviewer a heavy read. One detail this book author addresses is the "conversion" of Constantine in the 200's. He suspects Constantine was always a Christian and revealed his religion only slowly for political reasons. As most readers know, the dictator Constantine's endorsement of Christianity was a huge boost in its popularity. While there is evidence Constantine did not use the power of military to convert the masses there is plenty of evidence Christian believers harassed Pagans and harmed them with no fear they themselves would be prosecuted by the government. 

According to the reviewer, the success of Christianity was its ability to change to meet the different markets. Paul alludes to the necessity of appearing as a Jew when with Jews. The other theme is fortuitus events. For example, the books attributed to Paul which scholars believe were not written by Paul. As the faith moved from one country to another it stumbled into fertile territory. The Romans first fought the tiny faith, then found it advantageous to adopt it. The Goths beat up the Romans and on and on it went. The reviewer says the book does not attempt to explain why the Christian faith was able to adopt to so many cultures.

Now that the faith is slowly falling away, the possibility that it was not built on solid rock but on sand has to be considered. That has not been to focus of much history and is why the author of the 700-page tome believes it is time to comb through whatever facts we have about the history and try to understand how its astounding success could be followed by the decline all other religions have experienced.

 

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