The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World by Bart D. Ehrman (review)

In his new book, Bart Ehrman abandons the particular study of the historical Jesus and New Testament traditions, for the history of the early church writ large. In The Triumph of Christianity, Ehrman puts on the hat of social historian and offers his own contribution to the debate over how and why this diverse messianic movement evolved from an initial scattered following to the official religion of the Empire in the late fourth century. Church historians have long argued that the rise of Christianity as the dominant religion of the Empire rested on Constantine and his recognition of Christianity as a religio. As Ehrman points out, this viewpoint regarding Constantine deserves to be destabilized. Ehrman relies upon Rodney Stark's data from his work The Rise of Christianity to chart the dramatic growth in the Christian population from the first century to the fourth century. But deviating from the Constantinian argument, Ehrman suggests that the "triumph" of Christianity in the fourth century was not entirely due to Constantine, rather Christian ascendance would have happened with or without Constantine's intervention.

Ehrman begins his examination in a rather unexpected fashion by starting with the vision and "conversion" of Constantine in an initial chapter, then moving back to the first-century context by examining Paul. Ehrman focuses his first chapter on the vision of Constantine at the Milvian Bridge and his subsequent promotion of the Christian religion. Ehrman does an apt job weaving through the various testimonies regarding Constantine's vision (chi-rho, draped cross), and charts his rise to power. Here, Ehrman shows his strength as an author by distilling various historical sources into a very readable and accessible narrative about Constantine's ascension to the throne. However, here and elsewhere, Ehrman uses the language of conversion to describe Constantine and his attitude towards the Christians which is problematic given his well-documented background as a devotee of Sol Invictus. The notion that Constantine "converted" to Christianity is controversial, even admitted by the author, and Ehrman does suggest that Constantine was politically savvy enough to understand that his support of Christianity would have ramifications on traditional Roman cults. Ehrman argues that Constantine did not aim to coerce others to convert; rather he supported peaceful conversion to the new religio. There are noticeable gaps in Ehrman's depiction of Constantine, as the emperor embodies the henotheism that Ehrman describes but it is still unclear where Constantine's true allegiance lies.

The following chapter treats a subject that is more in the author's wheelhouse: the apostle Paul. Ehrman situates Paul into his first-century context and provides a brief overview of his life, thought, and impact on the Jesus movement in the first century. Ehrman states that Paul was the most important convert of Christian history (even more so than Constantine), but again the language of conversion is problematic since there was no "Christianity" for Paul to convert into. Rather, Ehrman acknowledges Paul's contribution as opening up the understanding of salvation through Jesus's death and resurrection as not tied to Jewish identity but open to gentiles. This chapter is almost an abstract of other works Ehrman has written on Paul. The thesis of the book, however, demands a more thorough treatment of this figure and his contribution to the movement.

Ehrman's most useful and successful chapter treats the immediate context of religion in the Roman world, conversion, and engagement of Judeo-Christianity with polytheism. This chapter exemplifies how Ehrman continually engages both scholarly and general audiences. He describes the pluralism of the Roman Empire in detail and succinctly describes the difference in worldview between monotheists like Jews and Christians, and Roman polytheists. Although the language he employs could be aided by some religious theorists such as J. Z. Smith, Ehrman does a useful job of explaining how polytheists worked their religion differently than their monotheistic neighbors who would soon...