Pagans: the end of traditional religion and the rise of Christianity

Description

From James J. O'Donnell, renowned classicist and author of Augustine and The Ruin of the Roman Empire, comes the provocative story of Christianity's rise as told by the traditionalists it displacedFor hundreds of years, religious and spiritual pluralism thrived in the Roman Empire. In the fourth century, however, as Christianity became the state religion, Christians developed the concept of the "pagan" as a way to stigmatize and ostracize those who refused to abandon their traditions and devote themselves to the Christian god. These "pagans" were Greeks, Romans, Gauls, and Syrians who piously observed the traditions of their ancestors—and who wrongly believed that Christianity was a passing fad.The story of paganism's swift extinction unfolds through the fourth century of the Common Era, when Romans of every nationality, social class, and religious preference found their world suddenly controlled and constrained by rulers who worshipped a...