I recently finished reading the book, Christianizing the Roman Empire (AD 100–400), by Ramsay MacMullen (Yale University Press). In it, the author traces the means by which Christianity—a minor, persecuted sect—rose to power, and eventually to domination, within the Roman Empire. I found his account sometimes challenging to my preconceptions, but also fairly even handed and well documented. In some instances MacMullen comes across as sympathetic to the Christian cause, while at other times he takes a more critical view. It is obvious, not only from this book but also from other historical works, that much of the criticism leveled at Christian political power playing in those early centuries is well deserved. I could not help but feel some sympathy for the pagans at each advancing step towards their defeat.
Of course, it deserves stating that, as the author concludes and as all Seventh-day Adventists know, paganism was not truly eradicated. Instead it was slowly absorbed into the Christian Church. I had long wondered how this came about. While there were undoubtedly many factors at play, one prominent factor was that, in the pagans’ eyes, joining the church was a matter of cultural, political, economic, and sometimes even physical survival. From the viewpoint of the leading Christian leaders, it did not matter whether “in pretense or in truth” a person joined the church; it was enough that they were in.
There are many interesting points brought out in this book, including what we know from historical sources of how Christians evangelized in those days. In some respects they followed the model Jesus had given: helping the poor, ministering to the sick, spreading out from population centers to more remote regions. Yet, if the author is correct, in other respects they veered far from the true path. It appears there was a strong reliance on miracles (healings and exorcisms mostly), and that an acknowledgment of the power of the true God and Jesus Christ was counted as genuine conversion, irrespective of a knowledge of the “present truth” or of Scripture per se. In fact, it appears that the great majority of conversions involved no discipleship or Biblical instruction until after the fact, if at all.
Another fascinating point is how Christians were viewed as “atheists” because they rejected the pantheon of gods from the pagan world. From the pagan standpoint, a religion that observed only the one supreme, transcendent God was essentially atheistic, because the pagans did not believe such a God was personally involved in our world. That is, to reject all the pagan gods was, essentially, to reject personal gods. This eventually played into the Christians’ favor, when it became apparent that all the pagan gods combined were not sufficient to withstand the Christians’ religious attack. Thus, in some degree, the Christians became the champions of a superstition-free religion, apparently the only true religion. (Of course, the influx of pagans managed to bring some superstition into the Christian church.)
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