militant on earth—militant because it still needed to do
battle with sin and the forces of darkness—with the church
triumphant in heaven.o Like pagan Rome, then, both the old and new Christian Romes
saw time punctuated by the rhythm of fasti and nefasti, holy
days and ordinary time, sacred festivals and profane activities.
And as Christianity’s presence pervaded everything, it was
inevitable that Judaism, even when minimally protected by
law, would become more vulnerable, both psychologically and
in reality.Christian Culture in the Context of Empire
• After Constantine, we see a distinctively Christian culture
progressively being shaped within the context of the empire.
• Especially in the East, the forms of Greek culture based in the Greek
language continued—rhetoric, philosophy, art and architecture,
and music—but they were now suffused with Christian content,
above all, biblical themes. In the West, the Latin language would
dominate the communication of the good news to ever more
barbarian peoples.• In the East, continuity was most evident and changes were subtle,
while in the West, challenges to traditional culture were more
marked, and lines of continuity with classical culture were fragile
and would eventually be broken.Baldovin, The Urban Character of Christian Worship.
Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy.
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