History 288 Home | Schedule of Readings and Assignments

The Christianization of the West

What was the political and religious situation in the Western Roman Empire?

  • triumphalist quotations from Tertullian (d. 230) and Augustine (d. 430)
  • Christianity from East (Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor) to West (Rome, North Africa, Gaul, Germany)
  • critics of Christianity: Celsus (2nd c.), The True Word; Porphyry (3rd c.), Against the Christians
  • deterioration of Roman imperial rule in the west
  • invasion of Germanic tribes

    How did the West become Christian?

    1. legal aspect: Constantinian Revolution
      Emperor Constantine (d. 337) and the Edict of Milan (313)
      building of churches, e.g. Church of the Nativity (Bethlehem), Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Jerusalem)
      patronage for bishops / bishops as state officials
      Theodosius I and the edict Cunctos populos (380)
    2. administrative aspect: Bishops and abbots filled the political vaccuum. Pope Gregory I (the Great) (590-604)
    3. missionary impulse: Ulfilas (ca. 311-383), Clovis (466-511) and the Franks, Remigius of Rheims, Patricius = St. Patrick (5th c.), Columba (521-597), Columbanus (540-615), Kilian (ca. 640- ca. 689), Wynfrith = Boniface (ca. 675-754)
    4. military force: Carolingians, Charlemagne (742-814)

    What effect did the Christianization of the West have on the development of Christianity?

  • Christianity as cultural and political force
  • a Christian civilization
  • the “victory of Christianity”?

    NB Key terms are underlined.