Christianity and the Roman Empire: ​Jerusalem to Constantinople

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The second through fourth centuries C.E. saw a profound transformation, and profound upheavals, in the Roman world as a result of the rise of Christianity as a universal religion. Religion, flexible and syncretic, was a powerful source of identity for the Romans, from the temples of misty Britain to the mystery cults of the Middle East. The growing numbers of Christians, as a minority incapable of assimilation, were a disturbing anomaly… and a useful scapegoat.

​Host: Lucy

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Further Reading
Mary Beard, S.P.Q.R.: A History of Ancient Rome, W.W. Norton, (2016).
 
Jás Elsner, Imperial Rome and Christian Triumph: The Art of the Roman Empire AD 100-450, Oxford University Press, (1998).
 
Peter Frankopan, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, Vintage, (2015).
 
Robin Margaret Jensen, Face to Face: Portraits of the Divine in Early Christianity, Fortress, (2005).
 
Jennifer A. Rea and Liz Clarke, Perpetua's Journey: Faith, Gender, & Power in the Roman Empire, Oxford University Press, (2018).
 
James Renshaw, In Search of the Romans, Bloomsbury, (2020).
 
Jack Tannous, The Making of the Medieval Middle East: Religion, Society, and Simple Believers, Princeton University Press, (2018). 

​Music: "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin Macleod (www.incompetech.com)