Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Simon & Schuster (2018), Edition: 1st, 352 pages
Description
In The Triumph of Christianity, Bart Ehrman, a master explainer of Christian history, texts, and traditions, shows how a religion whose first believers were twenty or so illiterate day laborers in a remote part of the empire became the official religion of Rome, converting some thirty million people in just four centuries. The Triumph of Christianity combines deep knowledge and meticulous research in an eye-opening, immensely readable narrative that upends the way we think about the single most important cultural transformation our world has ever seen - one that revolutionized art, music, literature, philosophy, ethics, economics, and law.
Media reviews
Reading about how an entire culture’s precepts and traditions can be overthrown without anyone being able to stop it may not be heartening at this particular historical moment. All the more reason to spend time in the company of such a humane, thoughtful and intelligent historian.
User reviews
LibraryThing member nbmars
Jesus died around 30 CE., at which time he had only a handful of followers, all of whom considered themselves to be Jews. But by the late third century, Christianity had attracted enough followers that the Roman Emperor, Diocletian, felt it threatened the stability of the state and vigorously
Bart Ehrman, professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, attempts to answer that question in The Triumph of Christianity.
Ehrman points out that the Romans were generally very tolerant of all religions. When new peoples entered the empire (usually by conquest) the Romans simply added and adopted the gods of the new people to their pantheon (with a lower case ‘p’). In fact, they did not even have a word for “pagan,” since virtually everyone in the empire recognized some or all of the Roman gods. The Romans even tolerated the Jews, who worshipped only one god, probably because the Jews did not proselytize.
But the Christians were different. They proselytized vigorously. Moreover, they were exclusive in that they taught that the worship of gods other than their own was sinful. There was no room for other gods in their society. Each new convert to Christianity reduced the number of believers in the traditional Roman deities.
Ehrman argues cogently that Saul of Tarsus, better known as Saint Paul, was the most important convert in history. Although a Jew by birth, Paul fundamentally changed early Christianity from an inward looking Jewish cult to a cosmopolitan, outward looking, proselytizing organization.
What arguments did the early Christians use to convert others? To the Jews, the Christians asserted that Jesus fulfilled Jewish prophesies of a Messiah. This argument required a rather radical reinterpretation of those prophesies since most Jews expected the Messiah to create a formidable Jewish earthly kingdom. The argument had limited success.
To the pagans, the Christians claimed that Jesus worked many miracles. Although few if any Christians had actually witnessed the miracles, many had heard about them and repeated the tales with great conviction.
Ehrman also notes that Christianity as a community resource was very attractive to Roman pagans: it emphasized the church as an accepting family that would care for all of its members; it welcomed women; and as a bonus, guaranteed life after death.
Finally, the Christians threatened nonbelievers with the prospect of eternal damnation and hellfire. That argument was strong enough to convince even the brilliant philosopher, mathematician, and gambler Blaise Pascal (albeit many centuries later) that it paid to hedge one’s bets and practice Christianity.
The actual growth rate of Christianity was not a staggering as it may first appear. Ehrman shows that the church had to grow at only about 3% per year to reach 10% of the population - 2.5 million people - by the year 300. By 380, it had reached majority status.
The second most important convert of all time after Paul was probably Emperor Constantine I. Although many historians have argued that he may have feigned his conversion, Ehrman argues that it was genuine. He had little to gain politically from converting since Christianity was a distinct minority at the time. Moreover, he took an active part in shaping Christian doctrine, calling for the historic Council of Nicaea in 325 to settle various theological issues. His conversion was especially significant not only because of the example he provided, but since all of his successors (except Julian, who ruled only from 361 to 363) espoused Christianity as well.
The story of the first two centuries of Christianity is open to a lot of speculation because the cult was too small to attract the attention of contemporary secular historians. The accounts in the apocryphal gospels are too fantastic to merit credibility. Even the canonical gospels are hard for nonbelievers to accept. Thus it is important for serious modern historians like Ehrman to piece together and interpret what is actually known about that time.
Evaluation: As usual, Ehrman doesn’t break any new ground, but repackages what is already known into a non-academic, reader-friendly format. His subject matter happens to be endlessly fascinating and consequential, which also helps.
(JAB)
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persecuted it. Despite the persecutions, by 313, it had grown sufficiently powerful and significant that the new Emperor (Constantine) even converted himself. He then issued the Edict of Milan, which granted official tolerance to Christianity. And in 380, Emperor Theodosius issued the Edict of Thessalonica, making it the only authorized religion in the Empire. How could the religion have grown so fast?Bart Ehrman, professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, attempts to answer that question in The Triumph of Christianity.
Ehrman points out that the Romans were generally very tolerant of all religions. When new peoples entered the empire (usually by conquest) the Romans simply added and adopted the gods of the new people to their pantheon (with a lower case ‘p’). In fact, they did not even have a word for “pagan,” since virtually everyone in the empire recognized some or all of the Roman gods. The Romans even tolerated the Jews, who worshipped only one god, probably because the Jews did not proselytize.
But the Christians were different. They proselytized vigorously. Moreover, they were exclusive in that they taught that the worship of gods other than their own was sinful. There was no room for other gods in their society. Each new convert to Christianity reduced the number of believers in the traditional Roman deities.
Ehrman argues cogently that Saul of Tarsus, better known as Saint Paul, was the most important convert in history. Although a Jew by birth, Paul fundamentally changed early Christianity from an inward looking Jewish cult to a cosmopolitan, outward looking, proselytizing organization.
What arguments did the early Christians use to convert others? To the Jews, the Christians asserted that Jesus fulfilled Jewish prophesies of a Messiah. This argument required a rather radical reinterpretation of those prophesies since most Jews expected the Messiah to create a formidable Jewish earthly kingdom. The argument had limited success.
To the pagans, the Christians claimed that Jesus worked many miracles. Although few if any Christians had actually witnessed the miracles, many had heard about them and repeated the tales with great conviction.
Ehrman also notes that Christianity as a community resource was very attractive to Roman pagans: it emphasized the church as an accepting family that would care for all of its members; it welcomed women; and as a bonus, guaranteed life after death.
Finally, the Christians threatened nonbelievers with the prospect of eternal damnation and hellfire. That argument was strong enough to convince even the brilliant philosopher, mathematician, and gambler Blaise Pascal (albeit many centuries later) that it paid to hedge one’s bets and practice Christianity.
The actual growth rate of Christianity was not a staggering as it may first appear. Ehrman shows that the church had to grow at only about 3% per year to reach 10% of the population - 2.5 million people - by the year 300. By 380, it had reached majority status.
The second most important convert of all time after Paul was probably Emperor Constantine I. Although many historians have argued that he may have feigned his conversion, Ehrman argues that it was genuine. He had little to gain politically from converting since Christianity was a distinct minority at the time. Moreover, he took an active part in shaping Christian doctrine, calling for the historic Council of Nicaea in 325 to settle various theological issues. His conversion was especially significant not only because of the example he provided, but since all of his successors (except Julian, who ruled only from 361 to 363) espoused Christianity as well.
The story of the first two centuries of Christianity is open to a lot of speculation because the cult was too small to attract the attention of contemporary secular historians. The accounts in the apocryphal gospels are too fantastic to merit credibility. Even the canonical gospels are hard for nonbelievers to accept. Thus it is important for serious modern historians like Ehrman to piece together and interpret what is actually known about that time.
Evaluation: As usual, Ehrman doesn’t break any new ground, but repackages what is already known into a non-academic, reader-friendly format. His subject matter happens to be endlessly fascinating and consequential, which also helps.
(JAB)
Show Less
LibraryThing member cdogzilla
Interesting history. Ehrman's style is ... not terrible, but artless. He's methodical and I appreciate the notes and sourcing. I'm more skeptical than Ehrman that there was an actual Jesus, but the point is irrelevant to the thesis, just one of a few quibbles I had with some of his assumptions.
LibraryThing member nmele
Ehrman examines the historical record using primary and secondary sources to explain what factors led to the growth of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. Turn out Constantine didn't have that much to do with it after all. Along the way, Ehrman offers a fair bit of information about the way
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Christianity spread in the centuries between Christ and Constantine, much of it about different aspects of Roman society. Show Less
LibraryThing member John_Warner
How did a backwater Jewish sect comprising one charismatic leader and twelve disciples grow to become the predominant religion in the Roman Empire through the conversion of 30 million people in four centuries? According to Early Christianity historian Bart Ehrmanit was due to Paul's missionary
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trips and Constantine and subsequent emperors. The author provides and an easily read and well-referenced treatise on the rise of Christianity. Show Less
LibraryThing member unlikely
Books narrative stops centuries before the crusades
LibraryThing member Proclus
By far Ehrman's least interesting book. No thought-provoking insights into anything. Its main thesis is that the growth of Christianity was nothing particularly shocking, but mainly the result of small, incremental increases on the model of compound interest. Reads like a Cliffs Notes version of
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early Christian history. Show Less
LibraryThing member la2bkk
An interesting, but hardly compelling, discussion of the rise of Christianity. For the most part, the matter is bookended by two of the most compelling figures- the Apostle Paul and the Emperor Constantine.
The author provides a helpful analysis of the differences between paganism and Christianity,
Nonetheless, the reader will come away with a greater appreciation for Christianity's development in the early centuries.
The author provides a helpful analysis of the differences between paganism and Christianity,
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although I don't believe he reached any compelling conclusions to explain Christianity's ultimate success. Perhaps the question is unknowable, or a result of myriad factors that belie easy explanation.Nonetheless, the reader will come away with a greater appreciation for Christianity's development in the early centuries.
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LibraryThing member lschiff
This book was a huge disappointment. I'd heard a radio interview with the author and expected this to be a well researched historical analysis infused with some special insights from someone who'd been a "believer." Unfortunately the author's skills as an historian are quite weak. He takes the New
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Testament as an authoritative source, which I find completely unacceptable, particularly when it's the sole source. The book includes much speculation about what different people might have done or might have thought, and those suppositions are stepping stones to an ultimate point that he wants to make, but that's not reliable analysis. I gave up after reading the chapter looking at why Christianity spread in which there was no mention about the economic and political contexts that surely propelled this. Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2018
Physical description
9 inches
ISBN
1501136704 / 9781501136702