CC#38 -- Myths vs Reality: The Rise of Christianity: Unraveling History

Transcript

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What made Christianity spread so quickly after the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ?

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How did this obscure religion from a backwater region of the world go on to become the largest religion in the world?

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Let's talk about it on this Catholic Corner.

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Welcome.

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Oh sunlight that's bright.

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Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately, to create and lead a flourishing life.

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Now here's your host, David Kaiser.

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Hello, I am David and welcome back to our final Catholic Corner for 2024.

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And today is the second day of Christmas.

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Now you folks might be confused and say this can't be the second day of Christmas, but it actually is.

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You see, in Western Christianity the Christmas season traditionally begins on December 25th, christmas Day, and continues through January 5th or the 12th night, or Epiphany Eve, known as the 12 days of Christmas.

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For the Catholic Church, lutheran Church, anglican Church and some Orthodox churches, christmas Tide begins on December 24th at sunset or at Vespers, which is liturgically the beginning of Christmas Day.

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Now for some secular celebrations of Christmas.

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In many countries, particularly in the United States, the holiday season often is considered to begin much, much earlier.

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I mean in some places after Halloween, october 31st, others officially starts on November 1st, in some others after Thanksgiving, late November or even December 1st.

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Now you might be asking hey, what's the 12 Days of Christmas song about then?

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Well, actually we did some crack research on this very subject and we did discover that the song the 12 Days of Christmas is an English Christmas carol that was first published in England around 1780.

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While its exact origins are unknown, it is believed to have several layers of meaning.

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On the surface level, the cumulative song listing increasingly elaborate gifts given by my True Love on each of the 12 days.

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But then there's also a second, hidden, possible hidden meaning.

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Some theories suggest the song was used as a memory aid, for the aid of Catholic children to learn tenets of their faith during a time when Catholicism was suppressed in England.

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However, this interpretation is debated among scholars.

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Now you might also remember from your history books that while the Catholic faith was not actively suppressed in England during the 1780s as it had been in previous centuries, catholics still faced some legal restrictions and social prejudices.

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However, the period did mark a significant shift towards greater tolerance and a gradual emancipation of Catholics in England.

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Now back to our main subject of our Catholic Corner.

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How did this obscure religion, christianity, come from a backwater region of the world and go on to become the largest religion of the world?

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Furthermore, what led to its growth?

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In fact, let's ask and attempt to answer some of these major questions.

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What made Christianity spread so quickly in its earliest days?

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What was the ultimate factor?

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Why did its message click with so many different groups across so many different regions and social classes?

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How did their community networks and relationships help the Christian faith grow?

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And what, if all, did virtue play in its rise?

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And in attempting to answer all of these questions, we will do so with our book of the day, rodney Stark's the Rise of Christianity how the Obscure, marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries.

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The title infinitely grabbed my attention because it tackles a question I've always been curious about how did Christianity go from a small fringe movement to replacing classical paganism and becoming the dominant faith of Western civilization?

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And with that let's go to our first pull quote to begin to understand.

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Something distinctive did come into the world with the development of Judeo-Christian thought the linking of a highly social ethical code with the religion.

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There was nothing new in the idea that the supernatural makes behavioral demands upon humans.

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The gods have always wanted sacrifices and worship.

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Nor was there anything new in the notion that the supernatural will respond to offerings, that the gods can be induced to exchange services for sacrifices.

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What was new was the notion that the more than self-interested exchange relations were possible between humans and the supernatural.

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The Christian teaching that God loves those who love him was alien to pagan beliefs.

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Ramsey McMullen had noted in his 1981 book Paganism in the Roman Empire that, from the pagan perspective, quote what mattered was the service that the deity loves humanity.

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Christians cannot please God unless they love one another.

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Indeed, as God demonstrates his love through sacrifice, humans must demonstrate their love through sacrifice on behalf of one another.

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Moreover, such responsibilities were to be extended beyond the bonds of family and tribe, indeed quote to all those, in every place, call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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1 Corinthians, 1.2.

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These were revolutionary ideas.

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These were revolutionary ideas.

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Ah, these teachings, or as our author Sparks calls it, put an ethical code.

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They weren't just about logic or self-interest.

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They focused on a mutual obligation and on sacrifice.

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That sense of shared values and willingness to give something up for the greater good is what attracted so many new converts to love one another as he has loved us.

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As we have talked about in our Foundations and Flourishing segments on this podcast, virtue plays a crucial, if not vital, role in our lives.

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It's something we cannot overlook.

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It's just that important.

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Now, mainly the foundational virtues of prudence, justice, temperance and courage.

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And as a reminder, prudence is the ability to discern the appropriate course of action in any given situation.

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It's often seen as the practical wisdom that guides decision-making.

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Justice focuses on the fairness and the responsibility to treat others with equality, ensuring that everyone receives their just due.

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Temperaments are temperaments, temperance is Temperance involves self-control and moderation.

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It helps individuals maintain balance in their desires and actions.

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And then, finally, courage represents bravery in the face of adversity, empowering individuals to overcome fear and stand firm in the pursuit of what is right.

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But coupled with and overlaid upon these virtues are the Christian virtues of faith, hope and love.

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These were new to that pagan world.

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The Christian theological virtues of faith, hope and love are the powerful forces that shape our lives and connect us to something greater than ourselves.

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They add depth to our character.

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Faith provides that foundation of trust and belief, even in the face of uncertainty, offering comfort and strength during challenging times.

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Hope, on the other hand, fuels our aspirations and gives us the courage to envision a brighter tomorrow, and motivating us to persevere when the road seems tough.

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And love what we learn from our Lord.

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Love is the greatest of them all.

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It binds us together, fostering compassion and understanding and unity among people.

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Together, these three virtues work together.

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They inspire resilience, they nurture relationships, they create a sense of purpose that drives us to live meaningful and fulfilling lives and in fact, which drove the early Christians in spreading that religion.

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Let's go back to the book for some more goodness.

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But perhaps above all else, christianity brought a new conception of humanity to a world saturated with capricious cruelty and the vicarious love of death.

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Consider the account of the martyrdom of Perpetua.

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Here we learn the details of the long ordeal and gruesome death suffered by this tiny band of resolute Christians, as they were attacked by wild beasts in front of a delighted crowd assembled in the arena.

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But we also learn that had the Christians all given in to the demand to sacrifice to the emperor and thereby be spared, someone else would have been thrown to the animals.

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Someone else would have been thrown to the animals.

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After all, these games were held in honor of the birthday of the emperor's young son.

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Whenever there were games, people had to die, dozens of them, sometimes hundreds.

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Unlike the gladiators, who were often paid volunteers, those thrown to the wild animals were frequently condemned criminals, of whom it might be argued that they had earned their fates.

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But the issue here is not capital punishment, not even very cruel forms of capital punishment.

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The issue is spectacle For the throngs in the stadia watching people torn and devoured by beasts or killed in armed combat was the ultimate spectator sport worthy of a boy's birthday treat.

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It is difficult to comprehend the emotional life of such people.

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In any event, christians condemned both the cruelties and the spectators.

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Thou shall not kill, said Tertullian, and he reminded his readers.

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And as they gained ascendancy, christians prohibited such games and, more important, christians effectively promulgated a moral vision utterly incompatible with the cruelty, the casual cruelty, of pagan custom.

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Finally, what Christianity gave to its converts was nothing less than their humanity, and this sense of virtue was its own reward.

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This new way of looking at the world made Christianity stand out in the society where social status often defined a person's value and showing mercy was seen as a sign of weakness.

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Early Christians offered something different a community built on shared values and genuine care for each other, not for the social rank.

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And again we keep coming back to the virtues.

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The virtues as a foundation.

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Their focus on the dignity and compassion sparked movements to feed the hungry, to help the poor, to care for the sick and to put Christ's teachings into action in a truly meaningful way.

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They stopped the Roman games.

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Stark's ultimate conclusion is fascinating, but it is not surprising.

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Let's go to that conclusion now.

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Christianity did not grow because of miracle working in the marketplaces, although there may have been such and there may have been much of that going on.

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It did not grow because Constantine said it should, or even because the martyrs gave it such credibility.

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It grew because Christians constituted an intense community.

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Constituted an intense community able to generate the invincible obstinacy that so offended the younger plenity, but yielded immense religious rewards.

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And the primary means of its growth was through the united and motivated efforts of the growing numbers of Christian believers who invited their friends, relatives and neighbors to share in the good news.

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And you might remember Pliny the Younger, that Roman lawyer, author and magistrate who lived from 61 AD to 113 AD.

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He's renowned for his letters given to Tacitus, which details Roman life, roman politics and the events like the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

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As a governor, he opposed Christians for defying Roman traditions, for refusing emperor worship and for holding secretive meetings which he saw as a threat to societal unity and to Roman authority.

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His writings highlight his intellectual curiosity and his view of Christianity as a challenge to the Roman way of life is a challenge to the Roman way of life.

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In our book, stark also dives into Christianity's growth, including some fascinating numbers the demographics of the early church, how it spread and where it was most concentrated, and then, finally, what happened when it became tied to the state under Constantine.

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It's a great read.

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I highly recommend it.

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And, by the way, rodney Stark released another book called the Triumph of Christianity how Jesus' Movement Became the World's Largest Religion, and, according to the publisher, it focuses on how faith conquered Rome.

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And this newer book takes a broader look at how Christianity has continued to grow and thrive throughout its different and devast periods of history, and, frankly, it's definitely worth checking out too.

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Now, sadly on a side note, I did know this Rodney Stark passed away on July 21, 2022, at his home in Woodway, texas.

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He was a prominent psychologist of religion and served as the Distinguished Professor of Social Sciences at Baylor University, and there was just a brief write-up about this.

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I'll give you a brief write-up about this.

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Stark was known for his influential works on the sociology of religion, including his celebrated book the Rise of Christianity and numerous other publications that significantly shaped the field.

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His contributions to the study of religion and society have left a lasting impact on both academic and public discourse.

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Rodney Stark helped me to understand how early Christianity grew and I always treasured when he released a new book.

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There's going to be many more books we're going to cover from Rodney Stark, but for today, may he rest in peace and may perpetual light shine upon him for eternity.

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He has helped so many of us to see Christianity from a different perspective and to give us the truth on how Christianity spread so quickly.

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Let us take a moment to reflect on the countless Christians who have come before us, especially those early believers.

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These faithful souls carried a fledgling faith from a humble corner of the Middle East and spread it across Roman roads and through its language.

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Ultimately, it shaped definitively into the world's largest religion, a faith that continues to teach us the profound and transformative virtues, and ultimately that transformative virtue of humility.

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A humility that requires us, requires of us, the Christian in persecuted times, to take up and carry his or her cross each and every day, requires of us, the Christian in persecuted times, to take up and carry his or her cross each and every day.

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In times of external difficulty, we must help our brothers in faith resist all opposition.

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We can assist them through our example, our words, our cheerfulness, our faithfulness and, most especially, our prayer.

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It's crucial to show them genuine brotherly love during these times.

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As Proverbs reminds us, a brother helped by his brother is like a strong city he can't be taken by storm.

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So let us continue knowing that the real rise for Christianity was because hundreds of millions of others coming before us taking up their cross each and every day.

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They invited their friends, they invited their relatives, they invited their neighbors to share in that good news and in the ultimate face of persecution.

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May we all be given the grace from our Lord, like that of St Stephen, the martyr, whose feast day we just celebrated.

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May we be given that grace.

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Who prayed St Stephen, who prayed for his executioners so that we may love our enemies, which is a very hard thing to do, but which converted a pagan world to Christianity.

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And, as always, along with St Paul, let us always continue to fight the good fight.

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Merry Christmas everyone.

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Thank you for joining us.

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We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast.

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Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources.

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Until next time, keep getting your mojo on.

CC#38 -- Myths vs Reality: The Rise of Christianity: Unraveling History

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