During the Late Roman Empire, classical values gave way to Christianity.  This chapter discusses how Christianity evolved from an obscure Jewish sect to a distinct international religion that transformed the Greek humanist tradition.

Christianity emerged in a context of social/sectarian division among Palestinian Jews.  A Jew by birth and outlook, Jesus developed teachings that drew upon and responded to the ideals represented by the major sects.  His message of individual moral commitment and universal love opposed the legalism and ritualism of the aristocratic Saducees.  His active ministry and vision of a new world order drew upon Pharisee prophetic ideals, Essene eschatology, and Zealot messianism.  His message was radical enough to alienate many powerful Jews and provoke the Romans into executing him as a subversive.  By mythologizing his death and resurrection, Jesus' followers began the process of transforming his Jewish vision into a distinct church.  The most active of these followers was the Apostle Paul, whose thought drew Christianity away from Judaism.  By presenting Jesus as the resurrected savior and by preaching individual moral transformation, Paul formulated a universal religion that appealed to Jews and Gentiles alike.  Further, by claiming that Jesus' message superseded Mosaic Law, Paul attracted non-Jewish converts who recoiled from many Jewish practices.

Christianity spread steadily in the Late Roman cultural climate.  Already dissatisfied with Hellenic rationalism, many people were turning to mystery cults, mystical philosophy, and magic for moral guidance and salvation.  Christianity offered such people a powerful message of hope and a strong institutional community more personally fulfilling than the Roman world state.  Roman universalism and its infrastructure benefited Christianity, enabling it to spread throughout the Empire.  Women and members of various underclasses were among the first converts, but during the early periods of official persecution, many of the powerful converted as well, impressed by Christians' courage under duress.  Though Christianity rejected many Roman values, it ultimately won official tolerance and was later adopted as the state religion.

Emulating Roman administration, the church built a powerful institutional structure.  Like the Empire, the church made cities its administrative centers.  These were led by bishops, with the Bishop of Rome claiming primacy over all others.  Initially loose collections of individuals following their own spiritual paths, monastic orders became similarly structured.  The Rule of Benedict set the standard of western monasticism, eliminating the eccentricity of the eastern form by establishing strict guidelines for how monks were to live, work, and pray.

As the faith and its institutions grew, Christianity defined its place in society.  Although Jesus preached nonviolence, later Christian thinkers argued that war could be just.  Early Christianity also accommodated slavery, adopted traditional Jewish subordination of women, and maintained strict sexual standards.  Even as Christianity built itself on many Jewish ideas and values, it developed a pernicious hostility toward Judaism.  Built upon old resentments and myths propagated by some theologians, this hostility caused Christians both to lash out at Jews and to view them as misguided cousins who would one day see the truth.

Christian Scripture provoked theological debate that, in turn, occasioned the Hellenization of Christian thought.  With different emphases, the synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John present Jesus' core message, with the remaining texts providing the first layer of commentary and elaboration.  Because these texts involve discrepancies, differences of interpretation arose that led to theological conflict.  Major controversies over Christ's divine nature were resolved at the councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon.  These debates were argued in the language of Greek philosophy, reflecting an influence as old as John's Gospel that identifies Jesus with the Logos of Stoicism.  Although some early Christian thinkers feared the influence of pagan philosophy, most adopted Greek philosophical concepts to argue with intelligent nonbelievers and to build the faith into systematic theology.  The most important contributor to this Hellenization process was Augustine, whose The City of God presented a grim yet philosophically sophisticated account of human destiny.  Though Augustine used the concepts and methods of Hellenic philosophy in that work, he broke with the central tenet of Greek humanism by arguing that reason must be guided by faith if one is to attain true wisdom.

Early Christian art also turned from secular rationalism.  Rather than try to render nature accurately or cultivate beauty for its own sake, Christian artists took up the already debased forms and techniques of classical art and adapted them for the purposes of spiritual devotion.  Early Christians developed a vocabulary of symbols that enabled them to communicate with each other without arousing the suspicions of Roman authorities.  Artists adopted these symbols to express abstract theological ideas, also disguising Christian meaning by employing familiar Roman scenes.  Artists also drew upon Old Testament stories and pagan mythology, interpreting these allegorically within a Christian framework.  As Christianity won toleration, its art no longer needed to be small and secretive, tucked away in catacombs for use in covert worship.  Under Constantine, artists used more obvious Christian symbols and architects began to develop distinct styles for churches.  Constantine encouraged the basilica style that eventually assumed the shape of the Latin cross.  The more Greek-influenced centralized form developed as well, particularly in the Byzantine empire and areas under its influence.  Mosaics became the most distinctive early Christian form.  Their flat, highly decorative style enabled artists to represent religious scenes without violating the ban on idols.

Christianity introduced an entirely new world view to the classical world.  Greek humanism emphasized the individual and his rational search for the good life on earth.  Christianity valued the individual as well but placed that value in a religious context.  Without God, the reasoning individual cannot achieve salvation.  Further, unlike Greek humanism, Christianity formulated a living and compassionate God, developed a conception of history infused with meaning, and offered a vision of divine community open to all who love and obey God.  The triumph of the theocentric view marked the end of antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages.