Alice Roberts Explores the Rapid Growth of Christianity

Quick Summary

• Alice Roberts’s new book,Domination: the Fall of the Roman empire and the Rise of Christianity,explores how Christianity rose from a Mediterranean sect to a dominant global religion.
• Unlike her previous works which heavily incorporated osteoarchaeology, this book primarily relies on historical documents for analysis.
• Roberts critiques customary explanations for Christianity’s appeal, such as its message or follower devotion, labeling them as propaganda.
• She argues that early christian evangelists focused their recruitment on upper-class Romans rather than rural or urban poor populations.
• The Church merged wiht business and state functions over centuries, creating a vast system including welfare, health services, legal systems, agribusinesses, and education. Its charitable efforts served more to enhance its influence than solve poverty.
• This transition allowed elite Romans to maintain power through church careers even after the Western Roman Empire collapsed.
• Roberts’s narrative highlights parallels between ancient church-driven philanthropy and modern billionaire charity practices.