The Hollywood story version of the clash between Christians and pagans is simple: in this story, nasty, brutish Romans throw gentle, uncomplaining Christians to the lions. The truth was more complicated - and Christianity was much less meek. When Christians came to power in the Roman world, they smashed pagan statues, defaced and destroyed pagan temples, burned books and passed law after law outlawing "pagan" religion - eventually on pain of death. This talk looks at how Christianity gained power over first an emperor - and eventually an empire - and in doing so changed Europe forever.
Catherine Nixey studied Classics at Cambridge and now works as a journalist at the Economist. Her writing has previously appeared in the Times, and the Financial Times, among others. She lives in England, with her husband. Her first book, The Darkening Age, was published in 2017 and was an international bestseller, and won a Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award. She is soon to release her new book Heresy: Jesus Christ and the Other Sons of God.
Up Next in Member Exclusive Lectures
-
Touching History
Join us as we hear all about iconic church stories. Writer and broadcaster Peter Stanford, inveterate “church crawler” and author of ‘If These Stones Could Talk: A History of Christianity in Britain and Ireland’, published in paperback last year by Hodder, will share some favourite churches from ...
-
Scottish Country Houses and their Chu...
Although many new houses were constructed in a broadly classical style, others were inspired by the Scottish tradition of castellated architecture. In this talk, Emma Baillie will present her research into the history of three prominent Scottish country houses – Blair Castle, Inveraray (Inverer-r...
-
John Cruso in Norwich
The name Crusoe is eternally linked with Daniel Defoe's castaway Robinson Crusoe. The Crusos were, however, a real-life family who took refuge in England during the Dutch Revolt. Dr. Christopher Joby has published a book on the life and work of one of the more illustrious members of this family, ...
3 Comments