Research Topics

The Christianization of the Roman World

Is it proper to speak of the "triumph of Christianity." How was the Roman Empire Christianized?

The 18th century historian of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon, once remarked that it was no surprise that Rome fell. What was much more remarkable was that it lasted so long. Diocletian and Constantine might have saved the empire, but in the 5th century Rome collapsed, its citizens no longer willing to defend it. And while Rome fell, Christianity developed into the single most important religion in the Empire. Of course, Christianity developed in a world that was still pagan and attached to various mystery cults.

• The Early Conception of a Catholic Church, 3rd century
  The early Church was plagued by the formation of numerous sects and in this passage, the North African bishop and martyr, Saint Cyprian, describes the need for a universal Church.



• Eusebius, How Constantine Overthrew Maxentius and Favored Christianity (c. early 4th century C.E.)
  In 312 C.E., Constantine overthrew Maxentius at the Mulvian Bridge, and was followed by Constantine's declarations in favor of Christianity.



• Ammianus Marcellinus, The Movement of the Huns and Goths into the Roman Empire, late 4th century
  The last great Greek historian living toward the end of the Roman Empire describes the Huns and the passage of the Goths into the Empire.



• Origen, Principles of Faith, c. 3rd century
  Origen was one of the Church Fathers of the 3rd century C.E. and was known for his exegetical studies of Scripture.



• Pope Leo's Sermon on the Petrine Sucession, mid-5th century
  Elected Bishop of Rome in 440, Pope Leo I declared that the superior authority given to the Apostle Peter by Jesus was transmitted to all his successors in the Roman bishopric.



• Conversation of Priscus with a Greek living among the barbarians, 448
  Priscus accompanied the ambassador of Theodosius II to the court of Attila and left this impartial description of his court.



• Accounts of Roman Persecution of the Christians
  Various accounts of the persecutions of Christians in the period between Nero and Domitian.