Welcome back to Shemus Popery. I'm Joe Heschmire.

And guys, I don't know if you've thought about the Roman Empire yet today, but it's time to.

So I want to talk about not just the Roman Empire, but one of the weirdest phenomena historically that happened within the Empire.

Whether you're a Christian or not a Christian, we should be able to recognize there's something really fascinating and bizarre about the fact that a tiny band of followers of Jesus became a

massive force in the Roman Empire, basically took over the Roman Empire, and then from there

took over much of the Western world. So to put that in context, I want to quote from a recent

book review. It's the review of the sociologist Rodney Stark's book The Rise of Christianity.

The book reviewer right now is anonymous. It doesn't really, it's part of a book review contest.

But the reviewer says this. He says, the rise or she, the rise of Christianity is a great puzzle.

In 40 AD there were maybe a thousand Christians. Their Messiah had just been executed and they were

on the

wrong side of an intercontinental empire that had crushed all previous foes. By the year 400,

there were 40 million, and they were set to dominate the next millennium of Western history.

I actually think that slightly understates the case on both ends. I think on the one hand,

there were probably more than a thousand Christians and 40, but not a lot more than a thousand.

On the other hand, I think that it wasn't just the next millennium that was dominated by

Christianity. I think Christianity remains one of the largest, if not the largest single force

on earth today.

I understand you can debate that, but I think this, at the very least, captures something massive

happened here.

I like the way the reviewer puts it.

Imagine taking a time machine.

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