COMING OUT CHRISTIAN IN THE ROMAN WORLD

A new interpretation of early Christian history in the Roman Empire by a dynamic young scholar.

The collapse of Roman civilization is still lamented more than 1500 years later—and intertwined with it is the notion that a fledgling religion, Christianity, went from a persecuted fringe movement to an irresistible force that toppled the empire. Douglas Boin argues that such tales are untrue and ignore the most important fact of all: life in Rome never came to a dramatic stop. Instead, a small minority movement transformed society—politically, religiously and culturally—but their rise was far from inevitable. Drawing upon a decade of studies in history and archaeology, including his own, Douglas Boin opens up a new window onto a period we thought we already knew.

Douglas Boin is an expert on the religious history of the Roman Empire. He is an Assistant Professor of Ancient and Late Antique Mediterranean History at Saint Louis University and has worked extensively as an archaeologist in Rome, studying the site of the synagogue at Ostia Antica. From 2010-2013, he taught in the Department of Classics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.