Book recommendation for those interested in the early development of Christianity....

[Rowdyboy]

To any one interested in the reactions of ancient Romans to Christianity, I strongly recommend Gore Vidal's "Julian" (published in 1964). Its the story of the Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate who ruled from 361-363 AD, some 50 years after Constantine I made Christianity the officially sanctioned religion of the Roman Empire. Julian attempted to reverse the advance of Christianity and return to worship of the Hellenic gods. Though he had great disdain for Christianity, he never persecuted followers of the sect; instead he merely instituted a "freedom of religion" allowing citizens to worship whatever they liked, or not worship at all.

Christianity still was not firmly entrenched and, had Julian served 20, 30 or 40 years history might have been VERY different. Vidal's hero has a visceral disdain for Christianity, referring to early churches as "charnel houses" and Christians contemptuously as "Galilleans". The backdrop of political intrigue, murder and assassination of the era is fascinating and very readable. I even found the battle descriptions intriguing.

Vidal takes great care with historical detail and the book is obviously well researched.Overall, a read well worth your time if you are interested in the destruction of the classic world of Rome and Greece and the beginning of the new age. A book by a top quality author that, while infinitely sad is also very satisfying.

from wikipedia:

Julian's personal religion was both pagan and philosophical; he viewed the traditional myths as allegories, in which the ancient gods were aspects of a philosophical divinity.

[LuvNewcastle]

1. That is a great book.

It's Vidal's answer to "Quo Vadis," a book a really didn't care for.

[JDPriestly]

2. Sounds interesting, but why would Julian have referred to

Christian places of worship as carnal houses?

Seems to me that Christians are less interested in the carnal than are pagans. Am I wrong about that?

[LuvNewcastle]

3. He called them "charnel," not "carnal" houses.

Charnel houses are places to store skeletons and bodies. The catacombs of Rome and other cities are full of skulls and other body parts and it has been said that early Christians worshiped in those places.

[JDPriestly]

6. Oh, yes. I have been in a church in which the basement held

the remains of Christians -- in Rome.

Thanks. I know the word charnel is used to refer to the remains of bodies, but even that did not make sense to me. Of course, not having been raised Catholic, I did not think of it.

I will have to read the book. Thanks for the tip.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Another recommendation, "Constantine's Sword"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine's_Sword

Warning: long read but satisfying

[Adsos Letter]

5. Another...

There Is No Crime for Those Who Have Christ: Religious Violence in the Christian Roman Empire by Michael Gaddis (Transformation of the Classical Heritage Series)

http://www.amazon.com/There-Crime-Those-Have-Christ/dp/0520241045/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313091129&sr=1-1


A bit repetitive at times but a very interesting read.

[onager]

7. Add one more to the pile!

Christianizing The Roman Empire A.D. 100-400 by Ramsay MacMullen

Excellent study of how early Xianity spread, and I say that as a Fundamentalist Atheist. :P

This book is amazing in the way it shows how our ancestors were just like us today.

In the first chapter, masses of Bedouins flock to see Saint Symeon sitting on top of his pillar. With the same slippery Xian Bookeeping we see today, the church leaders of the time counted noses and put down every one of those Bedouins as a Xian convert. Then spread the story that umptaleen heathen Bedouin had miraculously converted to Jebus!

Well, those nomads didn't come to convert - they came to gawk at a nut sitting on a pillar. Just like some of us turn on our TVs today and laugh at Paul Crouch or Jimmy Swaggart. Then the Bedouin dispersed and continued happily worshipping Dusares (their male deity) and Allat (female deity, though her name sounds very familiar...).

MacMullen also notes one reason Xianity became so popular after Constantine got behind it - Xian clergy were tax-exempt and the state subsidized church construction. OTOH, the pagans still had to pay taxes. Then there were the miracle workers and the roving mobs of fanatics...

Warning: this is not light summer reading. MacMullen is the Dunham Professor of History and Classics at Yale University, and he...er, well, writes just like a Yale professor. His style is sometimes VERY dry. This thing has a whopping 43 pages of endnotes and author's commentary - for a book only 119 pages long in paperback.

Still, the book is well worth the effort and don't let me scare you away from it.

http://www.amazon.com/Christianizing-Roman-Empire-D-100-400/dp/0300036426

[Adsos Letter]

8. ANYTHING by MacMullen; I think I have every book he's written

once you get used to his writing style it becomes much easier. His The Second Church: Popular Christianity A.D. 200-400 has almost a conversational, stream-of-consciousness feel to it. It's also easier if you have some background in the period, which that book takes for granted.

If you get the chance, try his recent release: Voting About God in Early Church Councils. It's something of an eye-opener on how things got done back in the day. :D