Christine Gaeto
St. John Henry Newman Writing Group
It began with wondering. Why, I wondered, was the English term for Easter so different, etymologically, from that of much of the rest of Christian Europe: French Pâques, Italian Pasqua, Spanish Pascua, Greek Pascha, and so on? All these derive from the Hebrew word Pesach, designating the Passover feast. What was different about Christianity in the ancient Anglo-Saxon world—the precursor of modern England—that led to this and other differences, both in Christian terminology and in worship practices?
The quest for insight was amply rewarded by a book titled The Rise of Western Christendom, whose subtitle, “Triumph and Diversity: A.D. 200–1000,” suggested the promise of an answer.
The author, Peter Brown, born in Dublin in 1935, is currently a professor emeritus of history at Princeton University, as well as the recipient of numerous prizes and honors around the world for his many contributions in the field of study known as “Late Antiquity.” Fluent in many modern languages, he also taught himself ancient ones (Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Coptic, Arabic, and more) so that he could read both modern and ancient texts in their original languages. In addition, extensive travels through all the regions of Europe, the Near East, and the Middle East allowed him to study the artifacts and monuments of ancient cultures. These efforts gave him access to a wealth of new material with which he has enriched the study of this period, and The Rise of Western Christendom is a product of this research. The original book was published in 1996, but the book under review is the substantially revised second edition, published in 2003.
In The Rise of Western Christendom, Brown’s aim was to correct the conventional view of the period of history that had been so depressingly described by Edward Gibbon in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. This had become the grand narrative for the period—the “Dark Ages”—a period in which the fall of the Roman Empire ushered in the “triumph of religion and barbarism” throughout western Europe. As Brown states, in Gibbon’s view this was a period of “violent disorder” in which no high culture emerged until the bright lights of the Renaissance suddenly burst onto the scene. In Brown’s book, rather than a decline into barbarism, we discover that western Europe in this time enjoyed a rich and living tradition.
Brown begins his survey in A.D. 200, while the Roman Empire was still pagan and before Christian persecutions had ceased. He shows how Constantine’s conversion of the empire to a Christian one was not the revolution we have been taught to believe but rather a gradual growth, where Christian churches had “an intense sense of order and of belonging to a network of similar communities which stretched from one end of the Roman world to the other.” Early Christians achieved this on pagan soil. First, they did not deny the existence of the pagan gods; they simply treated them as evil. As well, they transformed the philosophers’ idea of individual self-improvement to the God-given one available to all, able to transform the human person entirely, through conversion and baptism. In addition, the practice of almsgiving added an attractiveness to this new religion: Christians were known to look after their own. Constantine’s conversion, then, can be seen as only the final step in Christianity’s triumph in the Roman Empire.
From this beginning, Brown covers the following periods that make up the four parts of the book: Empire and Aftermath: A.D. 200–500; Divergent Legacies: A.D. 500–600; The End of Ancient Christianity: A.D. 600–750; and New Christendoms: A.D. 750–1000. Hence, the scope is from the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire from around A.D. 200 to the conversion of the Scandinavian world in A.D. 1000. He ranges far and wide throughout the known world, to the far reaches of the empire and beyond—from Spain to China to Ireland to Ethiopia—to weave a narrative of Christianity’s remarkable growth.
Through stories about particular Christians, such as Patricius (Saint Patrick), Gregory of Tours, and Columbanus, using ancient texts as his sources, Brown paints a picture of how Christianity, in spreading to remote places—carried sometimes by a single holy person—far from remaining a homogeneous “Christendom” (that did not come till later), developed into many “micro-Christendoms,” each with its own worship practices and customs.
The answer to the question about the term Easter was found in chapter 15, which deals with the “re-conversion” of Saxon Britain in the early seventh century (Christianity had been in this area as early as the second century). We learn in this section that then-Pope Gregory the Great, when hearing reports about the stubbornness of the local people in clinging to old pagan practices, made a judicious decision for this region, allowing for an adaptation to local conditions, writing, “It is doubtless impossible to cut out everything at once from their stubborn minds.” Hence, among other things, the name of Easter, derived from the name of the pagan goddess of spring, Eostre, was allowed to remain. Henceforward, the joy of a pagan spring festival was transferred to the joy of Easter.
Another interesting discovery, for this reviewer, was to learn that the birth of Islam in Arabia took place in a region to which Christianity had already spread. There was at that time (late sixth century) an intense battle of ideas between Jews and Christians of the area. Mohammad, who at the age of forty began to have visions, claimed that “the same God who had spoken to Moses and to Jesus . . . now spoke again, once and for all, to himself.” The messages claimed that neglect and partisan strife had caused Jews and Christians to distort the messages of the prophets and called on Arabs, as descendants of Abraham through Ishmael, to return to the original purity of the past. The seriousness of the messages led Mohammad’s followers to try to convert, by force if necessary, all “infidels.” The dilemma for Christians and Jews was how to deal with this new religion, which closely resembled their own—not pagan but a monotheistic “in-between religion,” and which, like Christianity, considered itself the sole true religion.
Written in an engaging style, free of jargon, the book reads almost like a story and thus, though scholarly, is very accessible to the lay reader. An ample and very helpful introduction states the author’s objective and summarizes what we will discover in the rest of the book. The book also benefits from timelines and maps that accompany each section, as well as copious notes and an extensive bibliography. In addition, the numerous quotes from ancient authors throughout the book conveyed for this reviewer an immediacy, a “being there” that contributed to the pleasure of learning about this historical period.
Some readers may find that the author’s choice to use the structure of time periods rather than regions leads to a disjointed narrative. For instance, in order to learn about the history of a particular region, one must jump from one section to another to maintain the thread. In addition, some may find that the wealth of details that Brown gives us can be overwhelming, yet skipping over sections may leave the reader at a loss when the author refers to someone or something mentioned in an earlier passage. Lastly, this is a lengthy book—nearly five hundred pages of 10-point text—and therefore perhaps not for those who would prefer a more succinct history.
In summary, this book offers a wonderful adventure of discovery for those who love history and are interested in getting a more granular view of the usually overlooked period from the fall of the Roman Empire to the High Middle Ages. It is undeniable that our entire Western culture finds its roots in the history of Christianity, and this book will reward the interested reader abundantly.