The Triumph of Christianity

July 10, 2017
Ehrman (Misquoting Jesus), a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, provides a lucid and convincing account of the growth of Christianity in the Roman world. He begins with a question: how to explain the phenomenal success of Christianity within a pagan empire? His answers reject the theory that Christianity’s spread was due simply to Emperor Constantine’s embrace of the faith or continual missionary activity (which he says didn’t happen after Paul). Instead, he shows Christianity’s achievements to have been the result of an incremental numbers game in which geometric progression won the day. Ehrman doesn’t provide new research, but his careful synthesis of existing scholarship creates an approachable study of the early church. Strong aspects of the book include Ehrman’s placing of such issues as Christian exclusivity, Christian care for plague victims, and Christian martyrdom within the context of the wider Roman ethos. The book covers much familiar ground but is well worth reading for those wishing to dispel myths around the early Christian churches. Agent: Roger Freet, Foundry Literary + Media.

How Christianity conquered Western civilization.In his latest popular exploration of Christianity, noted New Testament authority Ehrman (Religious Studies/Univ. of North Carolina; Jesus Before the Gospels, 2016, etc.) asks, "how does a religion gain thirty million adherents in three hundred years?" In attempting to find an answer, he consults other scholars while looking at data, extant literature, and varied historical facts to explain the explosion of Christianity under the latter Roman Empire. The author begins in the usual place, with the life of Emperor Constantine, who converted to the Christian faith in 312 and changed the landscape of religious life in Europe from then on. In doing so, Ehrman makes the important point that it is difficult for historians to say what Constantine converted from. Indeed, having swept across the Western world, Christianity erased much of the pagan culture it replaced, leaving current scholars with little evidence of what once existed or even how Christianity made its swift advance. The author points out that conversion in the early years of the faith was not done "by public preaching or door-to-door canvassing of strangers" but instead by "everyday social networks [and] word of mouth." With the notable exception of the biblical Paul, "the most significant Christian convert of all time," few other traveling evangelists are identified in early Christianity. Converts were instead made by personal contact with other believers, yet at a rapid pace. Ehrman notes a number of characteristics that made Christianity attractive to Roman pagans--e.g., the emphasis on the church as family, care for the less fortunate, and promise of an afterlife--and once the emperor himself had joined, the door was opened to phenomenal growth. The author concludes with a look at post-Constantinian roadblocks to Christianity and the church's own early forays into intolerance and violence. An accessible and intriguing but not groundbreaking history of the growth of Christianity. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 15, 2017

Remember the Sadducees? Just another Jewish sect that didn't make it. So how, in just four centuries, did Christianity grow from being the persuasion of a handful of poor peasants in the desert stretches of the Roman Empire to being its official religion? A New York Times best-selling scholar of Christianity explains.

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October 15, 2017

Triumph has a positive ring to it, yet Ehrman (religious studies, Univ. of North Carolina Chapel Hill; Misquoting Jesus) provides a decidedly neutral evaluation of Christianity. In his hands, the rise of Christianity from obscurity was neither miraculous nor a historical inevitability; it was simply unsurprising. Ehrman's study starts with two foci: the emperor Constantine and his choice to devote himself to the Christian faith; and the apostle Paul, whose interpretation of the Gospel was instrumental in the religion's trajectory. From these, the author maps out the early growth of Christianity against a detailed background of Roman society and history, seeking to explain its appeal, the reasons for an otherwise tolerant society's hostility toward it, and how that hostility missed its mark. He not only brings a clear presentation of his own views but also gives alternative interpretations a fair hearing. VERDICT Ehrman's lively and thoroughly researched volume is bound to become a standard text on early church history. It is a rare work that delivers so vast a history in such a comprehensive and coherent fashion. [See Prepub Alert, 8/13/17.]--JW

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.