Pagan Rome and the Early Christians

Rating:
Summary: We're not that different from ancient Romans
Review: One of the things that was impressed upon me by this book is that Romans were horrified by the early Christians in much the same way many people in this day and age are horrified by groups with seemingly "different" ideas. To most ancient Romans the Christians were people who skulked around at night and performed cannibalism. To the more enlightened, who honestly tried to understand what it was that Christians believed, the Christian belief system still didn't make sense on a philosophical basis. This book teaches us that Christianity spooked a lot of ancient Romans because the worship of Roman gods was so tied to Roman patriotism. If you didn't worship the Roman gods then how could you be a good Roman? Despite this, Romans were amazingly tolerant of most other belief systems which adds even more weight to how radical early Christians had to have been.

This is a well-written, well-researched and interesting book. I think that perhaps inadvertently it is also a good book about human nature. In particular it reinforces the importance of keeping the church and the state separate.