Why Rome Fell

10 The Role of Religion

There are few subjects more controversial than religion, and few periods in which religion looms larger than in the historiography of “late antiquity.” The period can fairly be characterized as a watershed in religious history across the whole Mediterranean basin and well beyond, seeing, as it did, the rise of Christianity to dominance throughout the Roman Empire; the rise of Islam; the development of rabbinic Judaism; the high incidence of religious intolerance and persecution; together with considerable continuity down to the present day. The main issues tackled in this chapter are the following:

• Communal vs. creed religions—why this is important
• Religious toleration, intolerance and persecution—Freedom of religion in pagan Rome
• “Christians to the Lions!”—A slogan that belongs more to Hollywood than to history
• The Roman treatment of Jews—Latitude shown to Judaism as a communal religion until the dominance of Christianity
• The origins, nature, and effects of rabbinic Judaism—Turning Judaism into a hybrid communal/creed religion
• How and why Christianity became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire—A critique of a number of varieties of pro-Christian special pleading
• The rise of Islam—Marking a watershed
• The impact of religion on politics
• Religious continuity and change down to the present day

Communal vs. Creed Religions

Religions can be classified in a variety of ways, most commonly as either monotheistic or polytheistic, as Abrahamic (chiefly Judaism, ...