The Triumph of Christianity

Core Message

How did a small group of twenty or so lower-class, illiterate Jews from rural Galilee become a church of thirty million people in just three centuries? The triumph of Christianity was due to its unique combination of exclusivity, missionary zeal, and comprehensive worldview that addressed pagans' deepest needs.

Key Themes

Christianity's Revolutionary Ethic

"Leaders of the Christian church preached and urged an ethic of love and service. One person was not more important than another. All were on the same footing before God: the master was no more significant than the slave, the patron than the client, the husband than the wife, the powerful than the weak, or the robust than the diseased."

Christianity introduced a radical equality that challenged the dominance-based ideology of ancient Rome.

Service to the Marginalized

"The very idea that society should serve the poor, the sick, and the marginalized became a distinctively Christian concern."

Christianity created an entirely new concept of social responsibility and care for the vulnerable.

The Scale of Growth

"How did a small handful of the followers of Jesus come to convert an unwilling empire? According to the New Testament, some days after Jesus's crucifixion, eleven of his male followers and several women came to believe he had been raised from the dead. Before four centuries had passed, these twenty or so lower-class, illiterate Jews from rural Galilee had become a church of some thirty million."

The numerical growth from ~20 people to 30 million in 300 years is unprecedented in religious history.

Constantine's Vision and Conversion

"Whether actual or imagined, the vision experience contributed to Constantine's religious meditations as he was reflecting on the problem of the gods and how to find much-needed divine support for his assault on Maxentius. He became convinced that his vision was a sign from the one true and ultimate god, and he decided to worship him."

Constantine's conversion, whether genuine or political, fundamentally changed Christianity's status from persecuted to privileged.

Paul's Revolutionary Impact

"Paul is so significant because he came to believe—whether in a flash, as claimed in the New Testament, or over a period of time, as calmer reflection might suggest—that the death and resurrection of Jesus brought a salvation that was not tied to explicit Jewish identity; that the salvation of Christ was efficacious for gentiles as well as Jews."

Paul's insight that gentiles didn't need to become Jews first opened Christianity to the entire Roman world.

Paganism's Nature

"Pagan religions were almost entirely about practice, about doing things, about giving the gods their due—not through mental affirmations of who they were or what they had done, but through ritual actions that showed reverence and devotion."

Pagan religions were additive, not exclusive, and focused on ritual rather than doctrine or ethics.

The Absence of Conversion in Paganism

"Because of the open nature of polytheism, there was virtually no such thing as 'conversion.' Anyone who chose to begin worshiping a new god was welcome to do so and was not required or expected to leave behind any previous practices of worship or make an exclusive commitment to this one deity."

Christianity's demand for exclusive worship was revolutionary in the ancient world.

The Afterlife Question

"Ancient Romans had something comparable, a seven-letter abbreviation that spoke volumes: 'n.f. f. n.s. n.c.' When spelled out, it stands for non fui; fui; non sum; non curo, which means 'I was not; I was; I am not; I care not.'"

Christianity offered hope for eternal life in a world where most pagans had no expectation of meaningful existence after death.

The Harsh Realities of Ancient Life

"This was a world filled with disease and no way to handle it: a tooth abscess was often a death sentence. This was a world in which life itself was a life-threatening proposition: many children died in infancy; many women died in childbirth."

Christianity provided comfort and community in an extraordinarily dangerous and uncertain world.

Word-of-Mouth Conversion

"The way Christianity spread was principally through these networks. Christians did not associate only with Christians. In the early centuries, most of the people Christians would have known would have been non-Christians."

Christianity grew through everyday social networks, not organized missionary campaigns.

Christianity's Comprehensive Nature

"One other feature of Christianity that made it different from all the pagan religions throughout the empire is that it encompassed numerous aspects of life that had always been kept distinct."

Christianity provided a complete worldview integrating ethics, doctrine, ritual, and community in ways paganism never did.

Key Historical Figures

Constantine vs. Paul

"We have, then, an exalted emperor and a beleaguered, impoverished craftsman. These are the two most significant converts of Christian history. Without the latter, this history would never have been written."

The contrast between the most powerful man in the empire and a simple artisan shows how Christianity transcended social boundaries.

Paul's Missionary Strategy

"Unlike Jesus, who preached in hamlets, villages, and remote areas of rural Galilee, Paul focused on urban centers, where populations were the most dense."

Paul's urban focus was strategically brilliant for spreading the message efficiently.

Key Insights

• Christianity succeeded because it was the only exclusive, missionary religion in the ancient world
• Pagan religions were additive and ritual-focused, not doctrinal or ethical
• Constantine's conversion fundamentally changed Christianity from persecuted to privileged
• Paul's insight about gentile inclusion opened Christianity to the entire empire
• Christianity spread through social networks, not organized missionary campaigns
• The promise of eternal life addressed a major pagan anxiety
• Christianity's comprehensive worldview integrated aspects of life that paganism kept separate
• The radical equality of Christian teaching challenged Roman dominance ideology
• Care for the marginalized was unprecedented in ancient society
• Christianity provided community and meaning in an extraordinarily dangerous world

Historical Context

• Roman paganism had no concept of exclusive worship or conversion
• Ancient life was extraordinarily dangerous and uncertain
• Most pagans had no expectation of meaningful afterlife
• Religious practices were local and varied widely across the empire
• Christianity's growth from ~20 to 30 million people in 300 years is unprecedented