O'Donnell (Georgetown Univ.; The Ruin of the Roman Empire) offers a view of the rise of Christianity from a unique perspective-that of the pagans whose traditional religions faded in popularity as monotheism took root. O'Donnell contends that "all [traditional] religion was local" and without a recorded history, since religion was so embedded in daily life. He notes that certain pagan practices, such as blood sacrifice, lost popularity and had all but vanished long before they were officially banned by Christian officials. While Emperor Constantine I converted to Christianity and gave imperial patronage to his chosen religion, allowing Christianity to expand significantly its numbers and reach, the concept of "Christianity" in opposition to "paganism" wasn't created until the fourth and fifth centuries CE, when Christian writings overdra-matized the vanquishing of outdated, disparate paganism. During those centuries, Christianity provided a radically new idea of a religion that also constituted a single community of worshippers, cemented by the recorded texts that gave it history and consistency. VERDICT Though the rise of Christianity did not follow a simple path, the author presents this somewhat circuitous route through an engaging narrative. While clearly geared toward a general audience, O'Donnell's work is grounded in solid scholarly research. This book will appeal to the armchair historian and those with an interest in the Roman Empire, early Christianity, traditional religions, and religious history.
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