Rome's age of revolution: Augustus, Empire and the making of Christianity

How did Christianity, which began as a small Jewish sect in the remote province of Judaea, become the dominant religion of the Roman Empire - and go on to become a world religion? Tim Whitmarsh explores the entrepreneurial bent of the earliest Christians, who fully exploited the infrastructure, culture, and political climate of the Roman Empire, which was revolutionised under the rule of Augustus. In turn, the new religion was itself transformed by Roman beliefs and ideas, particularly those circulating in the Greek-speaking eastern parts of the empire. Concepts as diverse as the cult of the divine emperor, the martyrdom of Socrates and the thrilling love stories of the ancient Greek novel all left their mark on the young Christian movement. Adaptation and integration, not antagonism and persecution, explain the Christian success story: by tapping into the zeitgeist, Christianity not only found a ready audience but also saw its beliefs and practices indelibly shaped by the powerful globalising forces that revolutionised the Roman world at the beginning of the first millennium CE.

Genres

History

Language

English

Publisher

The Bodley Head

ISBN

9781847925343