I just now got off the phone with a reporter for the London newspaper the Independent who is writing an article on new developments in our understanding of why Christianity spread so widely in the Roman world.  (The Independent is one of the few newspapers anymore that has some articles of substance in addition to the exciting and/or depressing news of the day, given with a decided slant.)  He wanted to know what new information, archaeological finds, and or analyses have appeared over the past seven or eight years and I had to tell him that, well, I didn’t know of any.  (!)  He was surprised, but suggested a few things he had come across (“Christians had better health care/community support” etc), and I had to inform him those were old ideas.

Not wanting to go away empty-handed, he asked me my views about the question, Why did Christianity take over the Roman world?  He knew I had written a book on it, but he hadn’t read it, so I went into my standard spiel about it.  Doing so I realized that this information really ought to be common knowledge, but alas, even this fellow intently looking into the question didn’t know it.

My main argument in the book is that Christianity

Unlock 4,000+ Articles Like This!

Get access to Dr. Ehrman's library of 4,000+ articles plus five new articles per week about the New Testament and early Christianity. It costs as little as $2.99/mth and every cent goes to charity!

Learn More!