The History of Christianity: From the Disciples to the Dawn of the Reformation

Lecture 21: Expansion beyond the Boundaries of Empire

Conclusions about the Expansion

•    Although the Roman Empire had attractions, Christianity succeeded

in some places despite imperial power rather than because of it.

This religion, in whatever form it appeared, clearly had the capacity

to attract people on its own terms.

•    The “catholicity” (universal character) of the church included an

ever greater diversity of populations, languages, and cultural forms,

and although the more familiar forms of Christianity developed

within the framework of an imperial heritage, the forms of Christian

expression from North Africa to China in the years 400 to 800

testify to a remarkable cultural adaptability.

•    This survey confirms the point made earlier that what is called

“orthodox” Christianity is, to a large extent, to be identified with

imperial Christianity, while outside the empire, Christianity was

most often Arian, Nestorian, or monophysite.

•    The powerful movement of peoples in the West and the

evangelization of those tribal peoples would form the future cultural

context for the Latin church.

Bihlmeyer (Mills, trans.), Church History, pp. 216–240.

Daniélou and Marrou, The First Six Hundred Years, (The Christian

Centuries, vol. 1), pp. 281–375.

1. What does the success of Christianity among new peoples say about the
   inherent attractiveness of the religion?


2. Discuss the reasons that “orthodoxy” tends to be coterminous with the
   boundaries of empire.

Suggested Reading

Questions to Consider