Customer Reviews

Pagan Rome and the Early Christians

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One of the things that was impressed upon me by this book is that Romans were horrified by the early Christians in much the same way many people in this day and age are horrified by groups with seemingly "different" ideas. To most ancient Romans the Christians were people who skulked around at night and performed cannibalism. To the more enlightened, who honestly tried to understand what it was that Christians believed, the Christian belief system still didn't make sense on a philosophical basis. This book teaches us that Christianity spooked a lot of ancient Romans because the worship of Roman gods was so tied to Roman patriotism. If you didn't worship the Roman gods then how could you be a good Roman? Despite this, Romans were amazingly tolerant of most other belief systems which adds even more weight to how radical early Christians had to have been.

This is a well-written, well-researched and interesting book. I think that perhaps inadvertently it is also a good book about human nature. In particular it reinforces the importance of keeping the church and the state separate.

This book presents the view of early Christianity from the Roman side, by focusing on the work of several early writers and commentators. The insights are quite interesting and the view of Roman society is rather different from that one hears in Christian circles. I recommend the book, but wish it went into a bit more depth in places, and explained some things more fully.

The book is well outlined so the subject matter is not difficult to follow. The print is clear, easily read, and the font is a good size to read though not large print. Those interested in the subject matter will find this book an interesting, informative, and beneficial read. The notes and bibliography alone are worth the price of the book. Benko, the author of the book, is to be commended for a job well done.