CE when Constantine created a Christian monopoly based on the Orthodox
view, and later emperors actively suppressed a free religious market, pagan-
ism endured.
Crucially, Christianity blended with both Roman politics and culture, with
great variations from one locale to another, which often led to bitter conflict
among Christians. Indeed, the split between east and west after the fall of
Rome in 476 CE followed every possible fissure: political, economic, cultural,
linguistical, and of course, religious (Angold 2001:38–48). Christians of vari-
ous types (including Catholic, Orthodox, Gnostic, monophysite, triphysite,
and others) struggled both alongside and against each other (Pagels [1979]
2004), but also alongside and against Muslims and Pagans. Despite elite efforts
on all sides for theological purity, and observable trends between east and
west, the various religions of the era influenced each other syncretically. In
all the major expressions of social life, such as art and culture (Soucek 1997;
Tabbaa 1986; Thomas 1997; Thomson 1978; Vryonis 1997, 1985), economics
and politics (Angold 2001; Nicol [1972] 1993; Norwich 1995; Runciman 1990),
and religion (Cunningham 2002) east, west, Christianity, Paganism, and Islam
each shaped the others. This blending is not a modern recreation of the past,
but in fact a process recognized in medieval times as well, as for example in
The Alexiadby Anna Comnena ([1120] 1969).
Thus it seems impossible to argue that Christianity somehow represented
a unique and totally new system of belief, morality, or practice. Although
some Roman cults were definitely elite institutions (especially the Emperor
cults), many also appealed to and attracted the masses as Turcan (1996) shows
regarding the cults of Mithra and Isis, for example, which embraced charity
and the concept of everlasting life for its members (Meyer [1987] 1999). These
cults offered a sense of meaning and belonging to the many displaced peo-
ple in the major cities of the late Roman Empire (Turcan 1996:26). In this con-
text, Christianity was one of many cults offering succor in this world and
redemption in the next, provided that followers appeased the relevant god(s).
I contend, therefore, that the rational-choice factor of cost-benefit in times
of loneliness or crisis is refuted. This aspect was not unique, or even primary,
to Christianity. Indeed, Christianity would not develop a distinctive charac-
238 • George Lundskow
Imperial appointments, money, land, and power as rewards. None of this, however,
made significant inroads in many areas for several hundred years, and even now,
regional and local syncretic variations typify Christianity.