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The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity Paperback – November 1, 1999

by Richard Fletcher (Author)

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The Barbarian Conversion From Paganism to Christianity

The Barbarian Conversion From Paganism to Christianity
$85.50
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In a work of splendid scholarship that reflects both a firm mastery of difficult sources and a keen intuition, one of Britain's foremost medievalists tells the story of the Christianization of Europe. It is a very large story, for conversion encompassed much more than religious belief. With it came enormous cultural change: Latin literacy and books, Roman notions of law and property, and the concept of town life, as well as new tastes in food, drink, and dress. Whether from faith or by force, from self-interest or by revelation, conversion had an immense impact that is with us even today. It is Richard Fletcher's achievement in this superb work that he makes that impact both felt and understood.

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Editorial Reviews

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"An absorbing account of the most important event in the history of Europe: its conversion to Christianity. . . . Fletcher is a stylist not merely in the sense that like Gibbon he is a master of the memorable sentence, but in the historian's task of weaving the particular instance into the web of a compelling narrative."--Raymond Carr, "The Spectator

About the Author

Richard Fletcher is Professor of History at the University of York. Among his books are Moorish Spain (California, 1992) and The Quest for El Cid (1989) which won the Los Angeles Times History Book Award and the Wolfson Literary Award for History.

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Product details

Paperback: 575 pages
Publisher: University of California Press; First Edition edition (November 1, 1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0520218590
ISBN-13: 978-0520218598
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.5 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 19 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #457,338 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2835 in Books > History > World > Religious > Christianity
- #2952 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Churches & Church Leadership > Church History
- #3809 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > History

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How Europe became Christian

January 7, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is a well written if very dense history of a fascinating time of change. Change for many different pagan groups, tribes and peoples across the varied regions of Europe as they slowly become baptized and then much more slowly, Chistianized. It is a detailed introduction to the societies before and as they progress through the "afterwards" learning slowly what being Christian means. We learn that baptism was frequently effected by courageous men such as the Irish monks but sometimes forced, for example by Charlemagne, or very ofter performed on peoples who were ignorant of the essential details of what Christian religion is. There are detailed portraits (if data are available) of the monks and bishops who induct and as much as is available about the inductees. There are substantial quotations of primary source material. I appreciated the author's assessments on the quality of our knowledge of the various eras. The biggest surprise in the narrative is how long the process really took with the final bastions of non-Christian Europe, the Lithiuanians, subcumbing in the 14th century and some, the indigeous people of Finland, never joining in at least in the time frame of the book. There is information at each stage, each century, on the alterations in the Church and its demands on the clergy. It is a huge book both wide in its panorama and focused on important issues. And blissfully there are chapter summaries but NO repetition. Very thoughtful and captivating.

5 people found this helpful

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an excellent resource for the specialist

September 7, 2009

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Richard Fletcher has written a brilliant and comprehensive history of the expansion of Christianity in Europe following the collapse of the Roman Empire. Having a professional interest in the phenomena, this is the first resource I would recommend for those interested in the growth of the Church between 400 - 1100 and the gradual inter-marriage between religious and secular authority in the early and high middle ages.

The first half of the book was of most interest to me, as Fletcher discusses the relationship between the decaying Roman empire and the spread of Christianity. Much to my suprise, Christianity was initally "only for Romans", without much effort placed in bothering to convert the growing number of Germanic "barbarians" settling in western Europe. Over the course of the next two centuries, Fletcher does a marvelous job of explaining how a Mediterranean religion was gradually embraced by non-Latin peoples. (In a nutshell, the new arrivals borrowed extensively from Rome, including religion, before a real prosletizing movement began.)

The syncretism between pagan and Christian practices and beliefs was not addressed in as much detail as I had hoped, but Fletcher can be forgiven this as he does a remarkable job of connecting the historical dots between conversion of rulers and the gradual embrace of Christiantiy by the common folk. In spite of the dearth of source material and the obvious slant of Christian writers of the time, he lucidly shows conversion was not immeadiate, whole nor easy - his deductions, inferences and explainations as to how it happened, what the challenges faced by missionaries were, and what the short and long term consequenes were are vividly shown. That Europe as a whole was not Christianized by even as late as 1000 and even in "Christian" areas like the Rhine valley there were pockets of paganism may come as a surprise to many. Why this was and the close inter-relationship between church and state during this time is also clearly explained.

The book is really written with the specialist in mind: serious students of history or theology, or those with a burning desire to know intimate details about this issue in particular. It is exhaustively researched and cited and provides an excellent bibliography for even further reading. For the lay reader (or non-professional) interested in just *how* Christianity was adopted, the first 200 pages would be adequate, and even then with judicial skimming. WIth this caveat, I found it to be detailed, deep, and endlessly fascinating.

7 people found this helpful

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Clear well written and non doctrinal

January 6, 2000

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Although the Roman Empire slowly disintegrated its religion Christianity was able to live on and to be accepted by the states and tribes who conquered it. This book is a description of the process.
The author shows how the process was a complex one and depended on range of factors not just the mechanics of individual conversion. The reality was that Christian missionaries achieved conversions by winning over the kings and leader of the various new groups who conquered Rome. The basis of this varied from case to case. Sometimes conversion was the result of success in battle or a cure. Sometimes the wife of a king may have been the vehicle of conversion. The critical thing was that once a king was converted to Christianity all of the old ideas and beliefs were stamped out. This intolerance led to the success of Christianity as there was no religion that could replace it until the rise of Islam.
The history of conversion is thus replete with early chroniclers telling proud stories of the destruction of sacred groves, the burning of idols and the conversion of temples into churches. The early success of the church was thus based on the power of the state to suppress any dissent.
The write of the book appears to be a Christian who at the end concludes that the conversion of Europe created in the medieval feudal state a well run and compassionate social apparatus. It is thus surprising that some who have read the book found that he was somewhat biased.
The book is based on enormous scholarship and gives a the flavour of the time.

15 people found this helpful

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