Chapter TWO
Political Maneuvering: Making Christianity Palatable to the Romans 200 - 500 C.E.
Christianity owes its large membership to the political maneuvering of orthodox Christians. They succeeded in turning Christianity from an abhorred minor cult into the official religion of the Roman Empire. Their goal was to create what Bishop Irenaeus called "the catholic church dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth."1 To that end, they used nearly any means. They revised Christian writings and adapted their principles to make Christianity more acceptable. They pandered to Roman authorities. They incorporated elements of paganism. Orthodox Christianity appealed to the government, not as a religion that would encourage enlightenment or spirituality, but rather as one that would bring order and conformity to the faltering empire. The Roman government in turn granted orthodox Christians unprecedented privilege, enabling the Christian church to become the very sort of authoritarian power that Jesus had resisted. Winning acceptance for Christianity was no small feat; Christians were not well-liked within the Roman Empire.