The Way of the Worldviews (Part 9): Christianity in Ancient Rome–The True Counter-Cultural Movement

In my last post, I took a brief look at life in ancient Rome. Simply put, despite the impressive monuments we love to “ooh” and “ahh” over, the fact is that daily life in ancient Rome for the majority of the people was harsh, cheap, and brutal. Rampant pornography and promiscuousness, the subjugation of women and children, slavery, and let’s not forget the brutality the Roman army inflicted on the peoples it conquered—it was not “the best of times.”

It was within this very world that Christianity was born when Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and God’s Holy Spirit was poured out on Christ’s followers. These two historical realities not only proved to be a formidable challenge to classical philosophy, but they had a profound impact on the surrounding pagan culture. Simply put, Christianity was the ultimate counter-culture movement that attacked the prevailing pagan immorality at every turn.

Christianity and Slavery (No, Paul was not “pro-slavery”)
In a culture where there was the institution of slavery, it was the Christians who preached for the equality and dignity of slaves. In his book, The Victory of Reason, Rodney Stark tells us that in his work entitled Divine Institutes, Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius (240-320 AD), who eventually became an advisor to Constantine, the first Christian emperor, stated, “Since human worth is measured in spiritual not in physical terms, we ignore our various physical situations: slaves are not slaves to us, but we treat them and address them as brothers in the spirit fellow slaves in devotion to God” (77).

It has been argued that Christianity actually supported slavery from the very beginning, after all, just look at what the apostle Paul said in Ephesians 6:5 and Colossians 3:22, “slaves obey your masters.” Such arguments, though, are as over-simplistic as they are dishonest. We must remember that Paul was not the head of state—he was a travelling tent-maker and evangelist. He had absolutely no power whatsoever to free slaves. When one looks at the overall context of what Paul was saying to those Christians who were, in fact, slaves, it becomes quite clear. He essentially said, “Your real master is Christ, just like my master is Christ—we are both slaves of Christ, therefore, we are equal. But as long as you find yourself a slave to an earthly master, serve him as if you were serving Christ, for when you do what is good, you ultimately serving Christ, no matter what situation you find yourself in.”

In addition, it must be pointed out that in those very passages where Paul addresses slaves, he also addresses masters, and tells them to treat their slaves justly and fairly, because after all, they too have a master in heaven. Then there is the entire letter to Philemon, where Paul is appealing to Philemon to not only forgive a runaway slave named Onesimus, but to in fact accept him back as a brother in Christ. Furthermore, far from endorsing slavery, Paul makes it clear (as in I Corinthians 7:21) that if you are a slave and have the opportunity to obtain your freedom, by all means, get it.

Christianity, from its very inception, found slavery to be deplorable, and the early Church lived this conviction out and, in that ancient Roman society, it was reviled for treating slaves as equals, and claiming they were worthy of dignity because they were made in God’s image. Nevertheless, over the course of the first 300 years of Christianity, Christians lived out this conviction so faithfully that by the time Constantine became the first Christian emperor, and the Christian worldview came to influence the Roman Empire at an even greater degree, it was actually Christianity that brought an end to the ancient institution of slavery. Justin Martyr opposed it, St. Patrick rejected all forms of it, and, as Vincent Carroll tells us in Christianity on Trial, St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) echoed the centuries-old conviction of Christianity when he said, “God did not intend that His rational creature, who was made in His image, should have dominion over anything but the irrational creation—not man over man, but man over the beasts” (26).

Christianity’s Impact on Ancient Society: Equal Rights for Slaves and Women
Christianity’s gradual impact on pagan society was truly tremendous. First of all, it was because of Christianity that the ancient institution of slavery was all but extinct by the 7^th Century. This feat cannot be minimized: nowhere before in human history had the institution of slavery ever been even questioned (even in ancient Israel). It was Christians who subverted the accepted practice of slavery and tirelessly worked to rid the ancient world of it.

Second, in a culture where most women had very little status or dignity, it was the Christians who preached for the equality and dignity of women. For, just as they argued that slaves, being made in God’s image, deserved dignity and equality, Christians also argued the same for women. In fact, as Rodney Stark points out in The Triumph of Christianity, “…there is overwhelming evidence that from earliest days, Christian women often held leadership roles in the church and enjoyed far greater security and equality in marriage” (125). And again, “But recent, objective evidence leaves no doubt that early Christian women did enjoy far greater equality with men than did their pagan and Jewish counterparts. A study of Christian burials in the catacombs under Rome, based on 3,733 cases, found that Christian women were nearly as likely as Christian men to be commemorated with lengthy inscriptions” (124).

Ironically, it was precisely because they treated both slaves and women as equals, and declared them worthy of dignity and honor, that Christians were decidedly mocked in the ancient world. Celsus, a famous pagan critic from the second century, derided Christianity as being “a religion of women, slaves and children.” That comment alone shows not simply how cruel ancient Roman society was, but also where such ideas of equality originally came from: the Christians.

But the Apostle Paul was a Misogynist, Right?
But what about Paul? It has long been argued by modern critics that Paul was a raving misogynist who commanded wives to submit to their husbands (Eph. 5:22-24; Col. 3:18-19), who said that women were forbidden to even speak in church (I Cor. 14:34-35), and who said that he didn’t allow women to teach men, because it was Eve who was deceived, not Adam (I Tim. 2:12-13).

As with the argument against Paul regarding slavery, this accusation is also naïve and dishonest. First of all, as Thomas Cahill states in his book Desire of the Everlasting Hills, it was Paul who made “the only clarion affirmation of sexual equality in the whole of the Bible—and [was] the first one ever to be made in any of the many literatures of our planet” (141). And A.N. Wilson says in his book, Paul, that at that time in the ancient world, “…you would have been hard put to find anyone who believed in ‘sexual equality’ in the modern sense, and the person who comes closest to it is, strangely enough, Paul” (140).

How can such claims be made in light of the above verses, you ask? First, one just has to look at the broader picture of Paul’s corpus of letters, where he commends Phoebe as a deacon in Cenchreae (Rom. 16:1), where he praises Junia as someone who was “outstanding among the apostles” (Rom. 16:7), and where he openly talks about women who prophesy (I Cor. 11:5).

Second, one must consider that immediately after Paul tells wives to be subject to their husbands, that he commands husbands to love their wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Furthermore, both comments to both wives and husbands are said in the context of Paul telling Christians in Ephesus to submit themselves to one another (Eph. 5:21).

Thirdly, in regards to I Cor. 14:34-35, there is a very strong and convincing textual argument that those verses were not written by Paul and are not part of the original letter. And finally, in regards to I Tim. 2:12-13, Paul is specifically addressing the issue of wives and husbands, and not women and men in mass. And, lest it be overlooked, Paul is actually encouraging women to learn and study, so that they won’t be like Eve who was deceived. I discuss N.T. Wright’s take on the issue of women in Church leadership here.

Christian Charity: An immoral practice by Roman standards (but one that changed the world)
As shocking as it may sound, in a culture that viewed charity, pity, and mercy to actually be immoral, it was the Christians who preached that these qualities lay at the center of Christ’s teachings, and that just as God showed mercy to us, that we are to show mercy to others. As Stark tell us, in Triumph of Christianity, “In contrast, in the pagan world, and especially among the philosophers, mercy was regarded as a character defect and pity as a pathological emotion: because mercy involves providing unearned help or relief, it is contrary to justice” (112). Nevertheless, in true counter-cultural fashion, not only did Christians practice mercy and charity, they declared that such actions were not only moral and good, but they lay at the heart of salvation and the redemption of the entire created order. This changed everything.

But let’s tease this out a bit. In Greco-Roman culture, the reason there was so little humanitarian outreach for the sick, the poor, the dying, or the disadvantaged, was that such actions were not deserved by the recipients. What was considered a morally good thing to do in Greco-Roman culture was the concept of liberalis: the act of giving to someone who would later return the favor. After all, liberalis was considered “fair”—and certainly it was. But by contrast, what “good” is there in caring for a leper, or someone dying of plague? Such people would probably die anyway, and would not be able to return the favor. Such actions were considered, therefore, just stupid and immature—it was a waste. It was, at best, simply allowing oneself to succumb to childish sentimentality; at worst it was positively immoral.

But by contrast, Christians valued caritas—grace—which by definition is giving to someone who doesn’t deserve it and probably cannot return the favor. And that is why, when epidemics and plagues would from time to time sweep through cities and wealthy Romans fled the cities with no regard for the sick and needy who were dying, it was the Christians who stayed in the cities to care for the victims of plague. Dionysius, the bishop of Alexandria from 248-264 AD, described how pagans acted during times of plague: [The pagans] “pushed the sufferers away and fled from their dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treating unburied corpses as dirt, hoping thereby to aver the spread and contagion of the fatal disease; be do what they might; they found it difficult to escape.” By contrast, by staying in the cities and caring for the victims, Christians gained considerable numbers of followers from those who survived the plagues, thanks to the help of the Christians.

It was because of Christian mercy that Christians regularly searched through local garbage dumps for infants that the pagans had discarded and exposed, and who then took them home and raised them as their own children at their own expense. It was because of Christian mercy that Christians established orphanages and hospitals, and other charitable organizations aimed to help those whom Roman society so cheaply discarded. Their charity was even noted by prominent pagans. The satirist Lucian of Samosata (c. 170 AD) remarked, “…the Christians were unbelievably generous with their money and preferred to be open-handed rather than inquire too closely into the recipients.”

Christian charity had to be noted by pagans by the sheer fact that it was so immense. Stark tells us that in 251 AD, the bishop of Rome mentioned in a letter to the bishop of Antioch that the Christian congregation in Rome “was supporting fifteen hundred widows and distressed persons” (113). Indeed, as Paul Johnson states, “The Christians…ran a miniature welfare state in an empire which for the most part lacked social services” (quoted in Triumph of Christianity, 113).

And it wasn’t simply for their own did Christians extend charity—keeping in line with the tradition handed down by the apostles themselves, Christians extended charity to everyone. There really was “no Jew or Greek, male or female, slave or free” in the eyes of the Church. Grace, mercy, and charity was extended to all, regardless of gender, race, status, or creed. This was a truly revolutionary principle that changed the world: extending mercy and grace to those beyond traditional boundaries.

Conclusion
It was this kind of radical, counter-culture movement lived out in the daily lives of the early Christians that slowly but surely transformed the Roman Empire. And it wasn’t simply a social gospel. It was a social gospel that was firmly rooted in the historical realities of Christ’s resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and fully sustained by the philosophical and theological worldview stemming from those realities. Even thirty years after the death of Constantine the Great, during the reign of Julian the Apostate (360-363 AD) he complained about the growth of Christianity with these words: “It is generosity toward non-members, care for the graves of the dead, and pretended holiness of life that have specially fostered the grown of atheism” (a common term, ironically, for Christianity at the time). Julian, in an attempt to revive paganism, wrote to the pagan high priest of Galatia and urged him to distribute grain and wine to the poor because the Christians were making the pagans look bad: ‘the impious Galileans [Christians], in addition to their own, support ours, [and] it is shameful that our poor should be wanting our aid’” (quoted from Triumph of Christianity, 118).

Now, I know that there are thousands of churches throughout America who do a tremendous amount of charitable work, whether it be food kitchens, or any number of things. And I know that such good work doesn’t always get the press or attention it warrants. But I have to think that in the places where such work is done, lives are being changed and little pockets of our society are experiencing healing. But one thing should be clear and obvious: it is through acts of charity and over-flowing grace that Christianity most affects society and culture.