The History of the Origins of Christianity. Book VII

Two powerful visions of the moral life confronted the ancient world: the disciplined philosophy of the Stoics and the rapidly expanding faith of the Christians.In The History of the Origins of Christianity, Book VII: Marcus Aurelius, Joseph Ernest Renan brings his monumental history of Christian beginnings to its conclusion. Against the backdrop of Marcus Aurelius and the philosophical culture of the Roman Empire, Renan traces the continuing growth of Christianity amid persecution and controversy. He examines the martyrs of Lyons, the influence of Gnosticism and Montanism, the writings of Christian apologists, the work of Irenaeus, and the increasingly important authority of bishops as scattered communities developed into a more organized and unified Church.Renan concludes by examining Christianity at the end of the second century-its doctrines, worship, discipline, moral ideals, geographical expansion, and growing confidence in its own identity. Comparing the achievements of Stoic philosophy with the extraordinary success of the Christian movement, he asks why one vision of moral reform gradually faded while the other prepared to transform the Roman world. Marcus Aurelius is both the culmination of Renan’s history and a sweeping portrait of the decisive era in which Christianity emerged from its formative struggles as an enduring institution poised to shape the centuries ahead.