Ehrman argues that the emergence of Christianity as the victor over pagan religions in the ancient world was “the single greatest cultural transformation our world has ever seen.” And, consequently, there are few historical questions more important (and interesting) than how and why that happened.

In recent years there’s been a resurgence of interest in early Christianity. Rather than focusing just on the first century—and the accompanying New Testament writings—scholars have begun to ask more questions about the second and third centuries. What was Christianity like during this time? How was it received? How did it survive?

Recent books covering these sorts of topics include Rodney Stark’s The Triumph of Christianity (2011), Larry Hurtado’s Destroyer of the gods (2016) [read TGC’s review], and my own Christianity at the Crossroads (2017).

Bart Ehrman—distinguished professor of religious studies at UNC-Chapel Hill—has entered this discussion with his latest volume, The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World. Ehrman argues that the emergence of Christianity as the victor over pagan religions in the ancient world was “the single greatest cultural transformation our world has ever seen” (4). And, consequently, there are few historical questions more important (and interesting) than how and why that happened.

After all, argues Ehrman, how did a small band of uneducated Galilean disciples lead a religious revolution that eventually conquered the world? How does a religion go from a handful of people to 30 million people in just 300 years? The book answers these sorts of questions.

Central to Ehrman’s argument is that Constantine’s conversion (which he explores in chapter 1) wasn’t the decisive factor in the triumph of Christianity, as is so often supposed. A much more important conversion happened centuries earlier: the apostle Paul. In chapter 2, Ehrman argues that Paul was foundational to the eventual triumph of Christianity because he advocated for a “salvation that was not tied to explicit Jewish identity” (72). This, in turn, opened the doors wide to the conversion of the Gentile pagan world.

Christianity and Paganism

Before exploring why the pagan world began to convert to Christianity, Ehrman devotes chapter 3 to the question of what pagan “religions” were like. Although they were all different, he suggests they shared the following characteristics, each of which is nearly the opposite of Christianity: (a) they worshiped many gods instead of one; (b) they were more concerned with ritual acts than with doctrine or ethics; (c) they focused on this life instead of the afterlife; (d) they were local instead of global; and (e) they operated on the basis of custom instead of books.

So how did early Christians go about converting people out of this pagan background? According to Ehrman in chapter 4, it’s because Christianity was both missionary and exclusive. Ehrman states, “One reason Christianity grows is that it is the only religion like this: the others are not missionary and they are not exclusive. These two features make Christianity unlike anything else on offer” (120).

The missionary commitment of early Christians was relatively unheard of in other religious systems. The reason isn’t difficult to find: other religions didn’t think people were “lost” if they didn’t commit to their particular deity. Indeed, pagan religions didn’t see themselves in competition with other religions. If people chose to worship a particular god, nothing prevented them from also worshiping another god. So pagans lacked a motive to try to “convert” someone to their own religion.

Christianity, on the other hand, affirmed that only Jesus is the true God and that without him people face eternal judgment. Thus, Christians were motivated out of love for their fellow man to reach out to the world around them. And when people converted, they were told they had to give up their pagan past entirely and now give full and exclusive devotion to Christ.

So, Ehrman argues, the combination of Christianity’s missionary heart and exclusive worship led to its eventual triumph.

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