Three Centuries Without a Sword: How Christianity Spread Across the Roman Empire by Preaching and Miracles Alone
Language: English
Published by Independently published, 2026
- Softcover
- New
Seller: California Books, Miami, FL, U.S.A.California Books
AbeBooks seller since October 27, 2023
Condition: New
£ 25.41
Quantity: Over 20 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Print on Demand.
Seller Inventory # I-9798258863133
- Title
- Three Centuries Without a Sword: How Christianity Spread Across the Roman Empire by Preaching and Miracles Alone
- Author
- Lazzarini, Steve
- Publisher
- Independently published
- Publication year
- 2026
- Condition
- New
- Binding
- Soft cover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 13
- 9798258863133
The book makes one strong empirical claim and one careful theological caveat.
The empirical claim is this: between approximately 33 CE and approximately 313 CE, the Christian movement grew from a small group of disillusioned Galileans hiding in an upper room in Jerusalem to roughly six million members spread across the Roman Empire from Britain to Persia, accomplishing this growth without the use of military force, without state power, without mass communication technology, without economic coercion, and—for most of the period—against active legal and social opposition. The growth math has been carefully reconstructed by sociologists of religion (Stark 1996 and after), and the mechanisms of propagation have been examined by historians of late antiquity (MacMullen 1984, Hopkins 1998, Bagnall 2003, and others). The reconstruction works only if we take seriously what the early Christian sources themselves say about how the spread occurred: through preaching, through perceived signs of supernatural power, through unusual communal life, through the witness of those who died rather than recant, and through the patient transmission of testimony from one named individual to the next.
The theological caveat is this: showing how Christianity spread does not, by itself, prove that the underlying claim is true. Many movements have spread effectively. Some of those movements were built on truths; some on partial truths; some on falsehoods. The empirical question about how the spread occurred is methodologically separate from the metaphysical question about the truth of the spread's content. This book undertakes the empirical question and points the reader toward where the metaphysical one can be continued.
I write as a French Catholic from Lorraine, with the formation that comes from being raised a few kilometers from Domrémy-la-Pucelle, where Jeanne d'Arc was born in 1412. Her line to her judges, "Vous avez votre conseil, et j'ai le mien"—"You have your advisers, and I have mine"—is, in my judgment, the same answer the apostolic generation gave the Roman provincial governors who interrogated them. The pattern of refusal recurs across the centuries. So does the pattern of spread. This book examines the spread.
What you decide after reading is your own.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
California Books
Miami, FL, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since October 27, 2023
Shipping rates within U.S.A.
| Item | 3 to 7 business days | 2 to 5 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 2.24 | £ 12.71 |
Payment methods
Store description
We have 20 years experience selling books worldwide! Friendly customer support. Your satisfaction guaranteed!
Specialty
All authorized categoriesSeller's business information
Miramar International Services LLC
FL, U.S.A.
Right of withdrawal
If you are a consumer you can withdraw from the contract in accordance with the following. Consumer means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.
Information regarding the right of withdrawal
Statutory right to withdraw
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.
The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day on which you acquire, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you acquires, physical possession of the last good or the last lot or piece.
To exercise the right of withdrawal, electronically fill in and submit a clear statement on our website, under "My Purchases" in "My Account". We will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.
To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.
Effects of withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for the supplementary costs arising if you chose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).
We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.
We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract.
We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.
We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back, or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.
You shall send back the goods or hand them over to California Books, Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A., without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your withdrawal from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.
Exceptions to the right of withdrawal
The right of withdrawal does not apply to:
- The delivery of newspapers, journals or magazines with the exception of subscription contracts; and
- The supply of digital content which is not supplied on a tangible medium (e.g. on a CD or DVD) if you accepted when you placed your order that we could start to deliver it, and that you could not withdraw once delivery had started.