Historiography of Christianization of the Roman Empire

rdf:langString Historiography of Christianization of the Roman Empire

rdf:langString Bradbury

rdf:langString Cameron

rdf:langString Salzman

rdf:langString Rethinking Pagan-Christian Violence

rdf:langString Christianizing the Rural Communities of Late Roman Africa: A Process of Coercion or Persuasion?

rdf:langString The Murder of Hypatia: Acceptable or Unacceptable violence

rdf:langString David

rdf:langString Edward

rdf:langString Michele Renee

rdf:langString Watts

rdf:langString Riggs

rdf:langString Salzman

rdf:langString Drake

rdf:langString The historiography of Christianization of the Roman Empire is a review of scholarly explanations of how Christianity grew from its small, relatively obscure origin in the Roman province of Judaea in AD 30–40, as one of many religious options, to become the majority religion of the entire Roman Empire. The process of Christianization proceeded slowly in the first century and was at times met with opposition that occasionally included persecution. Christianity's growth became self-sustaining (able to create continued growth on its own, indefinitely, without outside influence) between 150 and 250. Scholars disagree over the precision of numbers and the length of time Christianization took, but it is generally agreed that Christianity began with fewer than 1,000 people, reached approximately 200,000 converts by the end of the second century, and grew to the bare majority of just over half of the empire's population by 350. It prospered greatly with state support from the reign of Constantine the Great (306 – 337) and his successors for the next century and a half. After the political fall of the western empire in 476, Christianization became nearly universal when state control of religion was asserted by the eastern emperor Justinian I (r. 527 to 565). By the eighth century, the Byzantine papacy, losses to Islam, and changes within Christianity itself, had ended Ancient Christianity as it had existed in the Roman Empire, transforming it into its eclectic medieval forms. From the earliest studies, scholars have sought to understand the conversion of an entire society by asking what sociologist Rodney Stark has described as the central question: "How was it done?" Ancient historian Adam Schor observes that this question has, "more than any other, shadowed the study of late Roman history". Until the last decades of the twentieth century, the primary theory of "how?" focused on the role of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, and his successors imposing Christianity through force. For over 200 years, this "top-down" model and its variations, the conflict model and the legislative model, have provided the major narrative of the conversion of Roman society. In the twenty–first century, new discoveries and new methods have produced additional insights into old theories and some complete alternatives. Both sociology and psychology have offered insight into the processes whereby individuals acquire and transmit certain ideas; the spread of disease has been discussed as a comparison; game theory demonstrates the importance of Roman beliefs about Christians; and many twenty-first century scholars are asserting that sociology's network theory and diffusion of innovation offer the best models for understanding how this extensive social change took place. Other theories argue that Christianity spread as a grass roots movement primarily because it appealed to people over the alternatives. Proposed reasons for this include charity, egalitarianism, accessibility and a clear message.