The Fall of the Pagans and the Origins of Medieval Christianity - Course Guidebook

by Kenneth W. Harl

The Fall of the Pagans and the Origins of Medieval Christianity - Course Guidebook

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Christianity, Medieval, World History

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Dr. Kenneth W. Harl is Professor of Classical and Byzantine History at Tulane University in New Orleans, where he teaches courses in Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader history. He earned his B.A. from Trinity College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University.

Recognized as an outstanding lecturer, Professor Harl has received numerous teaching awards at Tulane, including the coveted Sheldon H. Hackney Award two times. He has earned Tulane's annual Student Body Award for Excellence in Teaching nine times and is the recipient of Baylor University's nationwide Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teachers.

In 2007, he was the Lewis P. Jones Visiting Professor in History at Wofford College. An expert on classical Anatolia, he has taken students with him into the field on excursions and to assist in excavations of Hellenistic and Roman sites in Turkey.

Professor Harl has also published a wide variety of articles and books, including his current work on coins unearthed in an excavation of Gordion, Turkey, and a new book on Rome and her Iranian foes. A fellow and trustee of the American Numismatic Society, Professor Harl is well known for his studies of ancient coinage. He is the author of Civic Coins and Civic Politics in the Roman East, A.D. 180–275 and Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of great information in this one.
This is one that I plan on buying because I can easily see myself re-listening to it. You should know that I'm stingy with my Audible credits, but this one is definitely worth it for me.



The beginning really goes into what was happening politically and socially in the Roman Empire that paved the way for Christianity to take over as the major religion. That leads us to the time of Constantine and the back and forth between the emperors that came after him. And by the end of it, you have the start of the Medieval world and how the church fathers had shaped Christian doctrine into a semblance of what we see today.



Harl does an excellent job of recounting historical events without pulling theology into it, so it has a just the facts ma'am feel instead of either glorifying or demonizing the church.
I've been looking for something like this for several years and would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about the transition between the pagan and the Christian world.

Highly Recommended.

[فؤاد · Rating 4 out of 5]

یک دورۀ حیرت انگیز در مورد تاریخ مسیحیت. حیرت انگیز به خاطر احاطۀ مدرس روی تاریخ و باستانشناسی روم. چند دوره تاریخ مسیحیت گوش دادم از همین گریت کورسز اما هیچ کدوم این قدر اطلاعات ارائه نمی کردن که این می کنه.

[Abhi Gupte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Throughout this course, I focused on answering the question - Why did the entire European continent forsake a rich diversified Paganism and adopt monotheistic Christianity?

Prof. Harlan's course patiently weaves the answer in 24 lectures. I initially was disappointed that the course focused only on the period up to the 7th century and the Mediterranean region; I was more interested in learning about the the rise of Christianity in Western Europe. But as Prof. Harlan has explained again and again in all his courses, the Eastern Mediterranean and particularly Turkey were the core areas of the ancient world. Wealth, culture and religion spread from this region to the rest of Europe.

I'm recording the rest of this review purely for my own reference in the future. These are my key takeaways from the course and my answer to the questions - Why did Christianity become the dominant religion in Europe when other religions/cults did not? And why in Europe and not elsewhere?

1. The simplest answer is that European Christianity was a child of the Roman empire and early Christian theology. Pre-Conversion Roman Empire inadvertently helped build a strong theological foundation for Christianity. A series of military victories by convert Emperors gave Christianity valuable currency in a militarized society. Post-Conversion Eastern Roman Empire vigorously spread the religion. And even with it's demise, the Western Roman Empire created an institutional void that only Christianity could fill in.
2. In the beginning, the Romans deplored a new monotheistic religion which they felt insulted the old gods. They wanted to persecute the Christians but were were completely unprepared for a non-violent resistance. Roman tradition was built on strong military and law. Since the former could not be used against non-violent Christians, they had to resort to legal proceedings which gave Christians a chance to buttress their theological foundation. This was the first uniquely Roman-Christian synthesis.
3. The civil wars of the 3rd century moved the power to the soldiers who worshipped whichever God gave them victories. A series of victories for Christian converts starting with Constantine and defeats for Pagans such as Julian, made Christianity the favored religion of the military base. This was uniquely Roman given the highly militarized nature of Roman polity. A uniquely Christian institutional clergy ensured uniformity through the generations. This was thus the second uniquely Roman-Christian synthesis.
4. Diocletian's reforms made the Roman Emperor an absolute monarch, which just formalized the absolute power of the top Generals who became Emperors. Theodosius' reforms made Christianity the state religion. Power concentrated in the office of the Emperor and this power was directed towards the spread of Christianity and suppression of Paganism. Absolutism and Monotheist Evangelism were the third uniquely Roman-Christian synthesis in Europe.
5. An emphasis on canon rather than rituals meant that Christian clergy had to be literate and maintain theological uniformity. This led to an institutional clergy with a hierarchical organization spread across the Roman lands. With the fall of the Western Roman Empire and Eastern pagan elites, the Church filled the role of local institutions. This was the fourth uniquely Roman-Christian synthesis.

I developed this understanding throughout the course thanks not only to Prof. Harlan's explanation of mega-trends but also his low-level evidentiary explanations for each of his assessments. This was one of the best Great Courses lectures I've listened to.

[Clif Hostetler]

If you have a casual knowledge of the history of the Christian Church, you have probably heard the following two quotations:

--"The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church," (Tertullian, 2nd-century)
--Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. (a common factoid)

The above statements are not true according to these lectures. The persecution of Christians was more scattered and inconsistent than commonly imagined, and there is no evidence that the percentage of the population that was Christian changed appreciably in response to persecutions. Also, Christianity wasn’t made the official religion of the Roman Empire until 380 AD which was 74 years after Constantine became emperor in 306 AD. What Constantine did was recognize Christianity as a legitimate sect under Roman law, and he made funds available for construction of basilicas.

Even after Christianity was adopted officially as the state religion, over half of the population remained pagan well into the 5th century. It wasn’t until the implementation of a “persecuting society” by Justinian (527-565 AD) that one could finally say that Christianity was pervasive throughout the Western world.

So how did such a dramatic change in the course of history come about? These lectures do a good job of answering that question by describing a complicated story with numerous twists and turns. Those of us on this side of history presume that the eventual outcome must have been a sure thing. But for those living through the history the outcome was not evident.

These lectures provide a historically focused discussion of the interaction between Judaism, Christianity, and paganism from the 1st to the 6th centuries. The lectures explore the reasons why Christianity was able to emerge and endure and, in turn, spark a critical transition for religion, culture and politics.

Those of us living today in a pluralistic society where everyone is free to chose (or not chose) their own religion should feel some sympathy for the pagans of this era. They had a pluralistic society that was accepting of all gods and religions. Most of the persecutions that occurred of the Christians were because they were unwilling to indicate loyalty to the Emperor (by making token sacrifice to the Emperor’s genius). As long as any cult or religion didn’t cause civil unrest, they were tolerated in the early Roman world. But by the 6th century when the Christians were completely in control, anyone who wasn’t a Christian was persecuted. Here's a LINK to an interesting Huffington Post article about the "Myth of Christian Persecution."

The following is a quotation from a 4th century pagan:

"The problem with you Christians is that you empty the world of gods and you make it a lonely place. The human and the divine no longer interact. Henceforth the divine is transcendent, it is a great magistracy of the universal God. But that God can only be approached by the holy ones and through the imperial Church.”

Most of the resistance from the pagans was in the form of inertia of customary belief and actions. Many pagans were pragmatic about it and concluded that sufficient Greek Platonism had been appropriated into the Christian culture that they could live with it.

[William Adam Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

This course of 24 lectures is very well done and provides great context for the era when the Christian religion caught on in Europe, Southwestern Asia, and northern Africa, and eventually replaced the pagan religions of the Roman Empire. Professor Harl speaks very clearly and is easy to understand. He does have a bit of a gruff delivery, which is most noticeable on the transitions sentences when he hits the "and" a little hard. His knowledge level of this era in history is remarkable and he is well prepared to lecture on this subject matter.

Professor Harl starts out by giving the background of the religious situation in Rome before Christianity arrived. He discusses the early converts to Christianity, who they were and why they were attracted to the new religion. He gives in depth analysis to the age of persecution of Christians, for example, was there an exaggeration of the number of Christians that were martyred? He goes on to discuss if Christian persecution brought on new converts because of the sincerity of their faith. Harl spends a lot of time discussing the Emperor Constantine, as one would expect. He talks about Julian the Apostate, and the chances that paganism had to retake its place as the preferred religion. He wraps up the course talking about the importance of Emperor Theodosius.

I really enjoyed listening to these lectures. It gave me a lot to think about. I have already started a new course by Professor Harl on the Byzantine Empire and am enjoying that one also.

[BJ Richardson · Rating 2 out of 5]

In Fall of the Pagans, Kenneth Harl makes a ludicrous attempt to revive the long-dead top-down theory for the rise of Christianity and the collapse of Paganism. He cherry-picks his evidence and dismisses out of hand the more common theories of why and how swiftly Christianity spread in the Roman world. Harl tries to assert that Christianity was practically nonexistent until Constantine's "conversion" at the Battle of Milvian Bridge. (He also ignores the fact Constantine wasn't baptized as a Christian for another 25 years after this battle.) He also tries to make the insane claim that had it not been for his untimely death, Julian the Apostate would have led the Empire back into another era of paganism. I don't know any other serious scholar who would think this was even the remotest of possibilities. These are just a few of the moments I would have laughed if it wasn't for the fact so many other people are going to uncritically listen to this series and soak it all up as unvarnished truth.

This was my second try with Kenneth Harl and I won't give him a third. As I mentioned in my review of the other lecture series I have heard from him, Harl butchers both modern Turkish and ancient Greek. I know, I am nowhere near fluent in either of these languages and yet I have no doubt that I can do a much better job of pronouncing both. And yet, this is supposed to be the region (Anatolia) and time period (Classical Greek) of his specialty. If he can't even be bothered to learn enough to even pretend to know what he is saying, then I begin to wonder how much of an expert he really is.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

An in-depth, scholarly look at the state of paganism in the Roman world from the high Empire to late antiquity. Harl explains Roman religious attitudes and practices, as well as the wider Greco-Roman intellectual milieu into which Christianity entered to challenge the status quo, first as a unrefined and easily ignored upstart but eventually as a sophisticated and victorious sparring partner. Constantine, who was undoubtedly the pivotal figure in Christianity's unlikely reversal of fortune, is given significant attention, yet he remains an enigma (to me, at least). The contrasting interpretations of him (cynical opportunist vs. sincere convert), ostensibly derived from the same evidence, likely tell us more about the methods and preoccupations of historians than they do about the man himself.

This was not light listening. One should not expect an easy introduction into the complicated history of late antiquity. Harl has a deep erudition, moves quickly and expects one to keep up. But he also has an unconcealed enthusiasm for the subject matter which helps one get through the knottier sections.

[Jenny Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid lectures. Underlying thesis is that the the political and cultural structures of power, authority, and legitimacy within the Roman Empire facilitated the acceptance and spread of Christianity, and that this spread also created a feedback loop within western Christianity itself, resulting in the hybridized Roman/Jewish form known as Christianity.

Note for my research:
Find the sources on the explanation of language skills (esp. rhetoric) as a sign of high culture/society within Roman culture, and contrast that not just to then rough written language of the early NT, but specifically to glossolalia as a deconstruction/interruption of language’s communicative power. Glossolalia as the polar opposite of Roman linguistic sophistication = inversion of the power structure of signifying itself.

[Miles Foltermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really fine course. It’s been many years since I’ve listened to a Great Courses series, and this one has me excited about some of the other recent entries. Dr. Harl’s enthusiasm for the topic really comes out in his lectures. His lessons are infused with a tasteful amount of humor, as well. The course guidebook is over 300 pages and is an excellent resource in itself. It contains lecture notes, a timeline, a glossary, biographical notes of the figures discussed in the course, and an extensive bibliography. Recommended.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Im a fan of Professor Harls' audio lectures in the Great Courses series and this one is no exception. It tells the history of the rise of Xtianity from Augustine to Justinian and how the assumed results with hind site of Christianity becoming the religion of Rome was far from assured and explains how it finally triumphed over paganism in the 6th century. A good set of 24 lectures that fills in plenty of gaps in my knowledge.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a shame that I find this lecturer’s voice a little difficult to listen to at times (harsh, sharp and/or somehow guttural) because I find his presentation over all very engaging. Most of this material was very new to me, and I found it a bit hard to retain the main points. Interesting lens with which to view the time period, and healthy level of detail.

[Samantha wickedshizuku Tolleson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This set of lectures was really good. The professor though has a tendency to refer to other courses leaving gaps about a whole topic(assuming that you have already taken the other courses), but he did referance a lot of literature. So it's not a complete loss.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars--the content was interesting, but the professor's voice/intonation started to grate after a while.

[Jan Chlapowski Söderlund · Rating 4 out of 5]

* * * * 0,5 - filled with relevant information and explanations, I more than "really liked it".

Kenneth Harl gives a recorded set of lectures on the topic of "The Fall of the Pagans & the Origins of Medieval Christianity". By the end of the lectures, I was sad they finished so quickly. The lectures progress at a pleasant pace, interspaced with the right amount of anecdotes and filled with learned opinions - everything served with a personal touch. It almost feels like listening to an old relation telling about their childhood, not really a lesson but far more educational than you could imagine.

First a survey of pagan beliefs and moralities. A particular difference from our Christian outlook stuck in my mind. The fact that divine intermingling with humans was an ongoing process according to pagan beliefs. Which in the eyes of pagan thinkers, makes the transcendent god of Christianity and the belief in it - a removal of the divine from immediate human contact. An emptying of the world of gods.

The next step was portrayal of the origins of Christianity with S:t Paul and S:t Peter, all the churches and congregations they established. And how not much proselytising was performed thereafter for almost a few hundred years, due to the persecutions of Christians. The number of Christians was in fact, according to K.H., a minor minority compared to the wider Roman world - even at the time of Constantine.

Then the analysis of the theory that the pagan world and pagan morality was failing, which K.H. refutes elegantly by drawing among other sources upon his own research into Roman coinage.

The lectures continue with the story of Constantine, how he most likely went into battle carrying not only Christian banners but also to other gods - to win the favour of all manner of gods.

Another interesting aspect, is the portrayal of the ascetics and monks as the "Christian shock troops". I have never previously realised the importance of such hermits and devoted persons to the Christian faith in these terms. How the orders helped the individuals live lives similar to Jesus and in that way set an example and be an inspiration to non-Christians. And in some cases do the conversion by force.

These lectures were highly enjoyable and I recommend them to anyone wanting some more depth in their knowledge of Christianity. And the world Christianity on one hand wiped out, on the other preserved.

[Peter Burns · Rating 3 out of 5]

In June I started listening to The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. About half way through I realized that I needed more context in order to follow and understand the book. Gibbon describes one event after another and he assumes that the reader has an understanding of Roman history. Though I have a grasp of the overall arc of Roman history, I often got confused. On my Audible account I can download some books and college courses without spending my monthly credit. I started with The Fall of the Pagans and the Origins of Medieval Christianity. This is a series of lectures by Kenneth W. Harl. Unlike audio books the lectures are not fully edited. Professor Harl has some verbal tics that can be a bit annoying although they don’t keep me from enjoying the lectures. He says “essentially” and “”in effect” a lot, even when it is not necessary. Once I became aware of his verbal tics it was hard not to notice them. He also makes mistakes, saying one thing when he means something different. We all do that when we are talking but luckily we are almost never recorded.

In college I took a course that covers some of the same material as the Fall of the Pagans. It was taught by an eccentric professor named Dr. Young. He dressed in a gray Harris Tweed jacket which he had purchased in Oxford when he was a student at Oxford University. When he got excited he paced up and down the classroom and little bits of spit came out of the corners of his mouth. He was a biblical scholar and once I visited his house and he showed me his Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic bibles. He also gave me some butter cookies and cloudberry liqueur. It was a strange visit. Gibbon believed that one reason that Rome fell was because it became a Christian Empire.

[Johnny Malloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kenneth Harl's lectures on the origins of Christianity were enlightening and fascinating. It never occurred to me to question how Christianity came to dominate the late Roman world and on - and at the same time how Pagan ideas became relics of the past.

Harl's insightful comparisons between the religions of the era will always stay with me. The Pagan religions were distributed, flexible, open to interpretation, varied from city to city, and without much cohesive structure. Christianity offered the hierarchies of the bishops, a centralized and single doctrine, rigid monotheism that rejects the possibility of other deities, and the so called Christian Warriors - fanatics who bring The Word to the people.

Thinking about this as a disciplined centralized hierarchy (in contrast to the carefree distributed system of the Pagans) it is obvious why Constantine and other emperors would be attracted to Christianity. The bishops offered an immense power structure that did not exist before. Aligning themselves with the church was a symbiotic way for the church to grow in tandem with the empire.

I will definitely be looking at Harl for more lectures in the future. Highly recommended.

[Yoly · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, Dr. Harl's enthusiastic delivery of the material makes even the most boring subject come alive. That doesn't mean that the subject of this course is boring, on the contrary, it's a very interesting subject to me.

I went to Catholic school from 1st to 12th grade but I have to admit that my knowledge about the history of Christianity is somewhat limited, in part because it was taught briefly at school but also me not being really interested in the subject since I always felt that religion was something that was forced on me until I learned as an adult that it was okay to not believe in it and I wouldn't go to hell because of it 😛

I took this course because I wanted to know how exactly we went from worshiping gods like Athena, Zeus, Odin, Isis, etc. to "God". This gave me a very good chronology which I will use as a starting point to learn more on the subject.

This is my third course by Professor Harl and at this point if I see he's the lecturer I know I will enjoy the course and get a lot out of it. I highly recommend this course if you're interested in the subject.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well-presented survey of the late Roman Empire concentrating on the religious and cultural changes that occurred during the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries. During this period much of the world that later became Europe adopted Christianity as the dominant religion and initiated many of the changes that led to medieval society. Most histories of this period focus on the succession of emperors and military events so I had been unaware of the major upheaval in religious practice that was fermenting at the same time.

This series of lectures provided a different perspective of the imperial Roman civilization as it began to disintegrate and develop into what would eventually become our modern world.

[Gregg Lines · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this course. Professor Harl does a great job explaining the origins of the Christian movement, initial reactions, and the eventual rise to power of the church hierarchy the would eventually come to power. To do so he gives background on paganism and the Roman, Greek, and other Mediterranean cultures. I appreciated how he showed Christianity’s success wasn’t a a foregone conclusion, that martyrdom wasn’t the main draw, and that the church fathers’ ability to couch the religion in the language of the cultural elites shaped the movement for its success. It was a fascinating journey through a period of history I’ve often just jumped over. I learned a lot and unlearned some of the misconceptions he helps dispel.

[Beauregard Bottomley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of what I've known about early Christianity has been wrong. This course does a good job at separating the myth from the fact, and the professor will always tell you what we know, what we think we know, and what is speculation. My experience with most Christian historians is that they are always more than happy to state things as facts when it re-enforces their world view, but this professor always wanted to deal with the facts.

This course is best watched rather than listened to since maps, coins, statues, and visual aids are used through out.

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was better than I was expecting. Harl does a great job of making the subject interesting which is more difficult than it sounds, believe it or not. I'd recommend to people interested in the origins of Christianity in general, or those who like the fall of the Roman Empire and general Roman history as well. Christianity is inseparably intertwined with the Roman Empire. In many ways one's rise is connected to the other's fall so you really shouldn't study one too closely without studying the other.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first time I have ever heard a detailed and scholarly account of how Christianity began as a religion and eventually became the dominant religion of the western world. The professor does a great job of presenting multiple theories and speculations as well as explanations to why he believes his conclusions. He also does a great job in not discussing theology, just history.

[Cole Gillespie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really a fan. I was hoping it would be more about paganism but it was more about Christianity getting rid of paganism (which I guess is what the title says). I’d lowkey just read “The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World” by Bart D. Ehrman, I think that’s a better, more comprehensive version of this.

[Andie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting series of lectures on how Christianity eventually drove out the pagan religions and became dominant in the Western world. Professor Harl is both informative and entertaining as he delivers his information.

[Enrico · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good course that tries to explain how a world of pagans got converted to a world of christianity. From the influence specific emperors had, persecutions and the role of pure luck, everything gets discussed and it's impact weighed.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

What happened to the 5th century? We pretty much go straight from Theodosius to Justinian.

[Nina Braden · Rating 5 out of 5]

2011 a

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

Filling in gaps in my liberal education. An animated and interesting lecturer.

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow start but good overall; content needs to be reviewed