16 May 2013
Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter
The cycle of readings for the period after Easter include substantial texts from the Acts of the Apostles. These stories describe the spread of the faith after Pentecost by those who were inspired by the preaching of Paul and others who accepted faith in Christ and a full response to that faith as a means by which they could live their lives in this world and live eternally in the next.
Historians have attempted to explain the historical event of the expansion of Christianity from a small cult to the predominant Mediterranean religious all within a time frame of 250 years. Although we as Christians would posit that this success had something to do with God’s providential action, such reasoning would not hold water at a history conference. But the reality was there nonetheless and it begs some explanation.
The explanation given by historians was that Christians had a clear belief, articulated that belief, and acted on that belief to the inspiration of others. In light of the growing moral and subsequent collapse of the Roman Empire, Christianity provided a clear set of values and a means to implement these values. In short, Christianity gave people meaning and method. Although the classic cause for the fall of Rome, held by such authors as Edward Gibbon who held that Christianity replaced civic virtue, the opposite was in fact the case. Christianity was perhaps one of the few friends good government had.
And it is still true today.