The Eternal City: Rome & the Origins of Catholic Christianity

The Origins of Catholicism #3

by Taylor R. Marshall

Read this book if you have ever wondered why the Catholic Church specifically claims to be Roman? It would seem that the Church of Jesus Christ would be centered in Jerusalem, the capital of the Jews, since Christ died and rose again in Jerusalem. Catholic theologian Taylor Marshall, Ph.D. provides a layman's account of how Christ chose the Rome as an instrument of redemption for the nations. Beginning with the Old Testament prophets, Dr. Marshall explains how the Messiah would come and assume reign over the nations through the Roman Empire. This book provides an exciting and popular account establishing Rome as 'the Eternal City' of Christ the King.

Genres: Catholic, History, Theology, Religion, Church History, Christianity, Nonfiction

234 pages, Paperback

First published November 26, 2012

About the author

Taylor Marshall reads, reads, and reads. And then he writes.

He is the President of the New Saint Thomas Institute.

Dr. Marshall earned BA in Philosophy from Texas A&M University, an MAR in Systematic Theology from Westminster Theological Seminary, a Certificate in Anglican Studies from Nashotah Theological House, and an MS in Philosophy from the University of Dallas.

He completed a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Dallas with the thesis “Thomas Aquinas on Natural Law and the Twofold Beatitude of Humanity.”

He lives in Colleyville, Texas with his wife, Joy, and eight children.

Reviews

[Tom Willis]

This is a very good book. I'm surprised I didn't review it back when I read it.

Dr. Marshall gives a great overview of the history and theology of Rome, with the goal of showing how it is relevant to Christianity (and the Catholic Church). Although there are many tangents throughout the book, they are all engaging and informative.

However, Dr. Marshall is a doctor of philosophy - not history, and not theology. And it shows. His academic style is not particularly rigorous, even by pop nonfiction standards. He makes many claims without the proper annotations, and many assertions without the nuance necessary to maintain reliability. This severely limits the usefulness of this book, and this Origins of Catholic Christianity series as a whole.

Nevertheless I consider these three books indispensable resources for the modern Christian.

[Susan]

Actually I would say a 4.5.... my reading was somewhat interrupted and distracted with all the busyness of the holidays...but the connections he makes, the import of his subject matter, and the flow of his writing is always worthy of the read, in my opinion.

[Catholic Potato]

Dr. Marshall's writing style never ceases to disappoint me. This book was very very good! I felt like I learned so much about Catholic History that I didn't know about before. Funny how that is... the more we learn about the Faith and Catholic History... the more we find we don't really know much at all.
This book, along with its two preceding books, The Crucified Rabbi: Judaism and the Origins of Catholic Christianity and The Catholic Perspective on Paul: Paul and the Origins of Catholic Christianity are excellent for anyone interested in these topics! I think this one, out of all three was my favorite.
Dr. Marshall just has a way of writing about such topics that do not bore the reader, but rather, the reader is sucked in to the book and wants to hear more. The font is very readable too, which apparently is something I appreciate now?
My brain is mush and I am unable to write a proper, detailed review BUT, here are a couple choice quotes:

(Quoting St. Ignatius of Antioch) "(W)herever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church." (page 147)
"The Christ the defeats Daniel's Rome is not a soft and effeminate sage. Rather, He is the conquering King of Kings and Lord of Lords." (page 194)
"The eternal plan of God was fulfilled only when the Jewish Messiah came crashing up against Rome of the Gentiles. The Jewish Messiah won, and He gathered His spoils." (page 196)

Again, this book may sound like a heavy topic to some Catholics but trust me, Dr. Marshall writes it like he's telling a story. It's very well worth reading. 10/10 would recommend.

[Bryan]

Best one out of the trilogy. I never realized just how integral being ROMAN Catholic is to the Christian faith. It was not and is not just an incidental. Old Testament prophecies, Christ's own words, and the Apostles had everything pointed straight to the Eternal City.

[Stefanie]

I learned so much about the history of the Church from this book. I am embarrassed to admit that I went to Catholic school for twelve years and wasn't taught a majority of what this book was about--such a shame! I especially wasn't aware of the prophecy of Daniel and how it was fulfilled by Peter establishing the Church in Rome. As others have mentioned, this book could have used a second look when it comes to proofreading and editing. Nonetheless, I am so glad I read this book and I learned so much that I feel I need to go through it again and take notes!

[Ethan D Good]

From what I've read from the book thus far, it is very informative and well written, as is expected from this author. I have nothing against this book.

That said, while the history covered in the remaining chapters of the book would no doubt be interesting, I really only got this book for its content on the prophies of the book of Daniel in Scripture. Supposedly, Taylor Marshall argues that Daniel not only prophesies the coming of Christ's Kingdom, but the Catholic Church, or the Church in Rome, specifically. He makes this point in his other book, "Infiltration", and he references this point as the reason why he can't be Eastern Orthodox. Thus, I had to pick up this book to get the full scope of what he touched on at the end of "Infiltration."

Below I will share my refutation of this argument because, unfortunately, I don't think it holds up well.

First, the prophecies and Marshall's conclusion described in detail from the book:

THE FIRST PROPHECY:
"The first vision is found in the second chapter of Daniel. It describes a dream of Nebuchadnezzar about an enormous statue composed of four different materials. First, the head was of gold. Second, the chest and arms were of silver. Third, the belly and thighs were of bronze. Fourth, the legs and feet were of iron an clay. According to the vision, a stone will be hewn from a mountain without human hands and cast into the statue. This small rock smashes against the statue's iron and clay feet, which causes the entire statue to crumble. Then the small rock becomes a great mountain and fills the entire earth.

Daniel interpreted the dream in the following way: First, the golden head was Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian Empire. Next an inferior kingdom would then follow the Babylonian Empire, as silver is inferior to gold. Then, a third kingdom would arise inferior to the second kingdom, as bronze is inferior to silver. Lastly a fourth kingdom would arise that was different than the previous three.

As for the small uncut rock cast down from Heaven, Daniel explains: And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end and it shall stand forever; just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be hereafter, The dream is certain. and its interpretation sure (Dan 2:44-45).

The stone from Heaven in the days of the Fourth Kingdom signifies that "the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed.""
Looking in back in time, we understand the prophecy as corresponding to the following historical chronology when heathen kingdoms ruled over the Jews:
1. Babylonian Empire (ca. 587-539 B.C.)
2. Medo-Persian Empire (ca. 539-331 B.C.)
3. Greek Empire (ca, 331-168 B.C.)
4. Roman Empire (ca 63 B.C.-A.D. 70)
It was in fact : In the days of the Fourth Kingdom, the Roman Empire, that God established His Messianic Kingdom.

From a historical point of view we see that the Rock of Ages came crashing into the Roman Empire. The Kingdom of Christ began precisely when Daniel predicted- during the era of the Fourth Kingdom, the Kingdom of Rome."

THE SECOND PROPHECY
The second vision basically reaches the same conclusion of the first, that being that the beasts represent the four empires, so I'll spare you the extra details and just share the key points from Marshall and the Scriptures:
"In the seventh chapter of Daniel, the prophet records a related dream that he experienced concerning Four Beasts coming from the Great Sea.
He sees:
1. a lion with eagle wings (Dan 7:4)
2. a bear raised up on one side with three ribs between its teeth Dan 7:5)
3. a leopard with four wings and four heads (Dan 7:6) 4. a fourth beast, terrible and dreadful and exceedingly strong: and it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns (Dan 7:7).
[...]
Once again we find that Daniel rightly prophesies that the Messiah will arise in the time of the Fourth Kingdom. It is during the time of the Fourth Kingdom that the Messiah shall receive His own Kingdom--the Kingdom of God.
Daniel states that the Fourth Kingdom of Rome will "persecute the saints' (Daniel 7:25), and history testifies that Rome certainly persecuted not only Christ but also the early Church. Next, Daniel explains:
The Fourth Beast's dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end. And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be gven to the people of the Saints of the Most High; their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them (Dan 7:26-27.)
[...]
The culmination of Daniel's Four Kingdoms-the Roman Empire-is handed over to people of Jesus Christ. The Church is not the Roman Empire, but it receives the Roman Empire. Daniel spoke of this before the coming of Christ, and the recorded history after Christ bears witness to this truth."

MY REBUTTAL
Marshall concludes that because the Roman Empire was handed over to the Christians (presumably upon the conversion of Constantine), that this means that the Roman Catholic Church is the eternal Kingdom of Christ that will never fade.

First off, the prophecies clearly describe the fourth kingdom as being destroyed: "The Fourth Beast's dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end", "the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed [...] It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end and it shall stand forever." With this in mind, the Fourth Kingdom and the Kingdom of Christ are clearly two different kingdoms as described in the prophesies, but Marshall seems to mix the two when he says "the Church receives the Roman Empire."

Secondly, as I mentioned earlier, there is no doubt that the Roman Empire was handed over to the Christians when Constantine converted, but as the prophecy predicted, the Roman Empire still fell and therefore cannot be the "Kingdom that will last forever."

Now we arrive at the core of the argument, to which at this point, one might say "but the Roman Empire was preserved with the Catholic Church" and "the Catholic Church is obviously Christ's eternal Kingdom." This is primarily where I think Marshall's argument falls apart.

For one, the prophecies don't say anything about the Fourth Kingdom and the Kingdom of Christ being one and the same, therefore the Roman Empire need not be preserved within the Church. Even if the Roman Empire was prophesied to be handed over to the Christians, which it historically was, that reality wasn't permanent and never needed to last according to the prophecy.

Finally, Marshall's argument is essentially that, because the Catholic Church is Roman, and Rome is prophecied as the Fourth Kingdom, we should be Roman Catholic. The reason this argument doesn't work is because, at least as a refutation to Eastern Orthodoxy, the Roman See wasn't the only See in the Roman Empire. In fact, in the context of the entire Empire being "Rome", the Orthodox Church is arguably just as "Roman" as the city of Rome, but I digress. The point I am really trying to make is that there were five Sees in the Roman Empire: Rome, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch. Four out of five of those "Roman" Sees were, and still are today, Orthodox. Thus, there is no unique esteem given to the See in the city of Rome, by this prophecy, that would not also apply to the other Sees that were also a part of the Roman Empire.

[Emily]

While an interesting and valuable read, this volume wasn't as persuasive to me as Marshall's first book in the trilogy. Coming from an anti-Catholic religious tradition, I had very little background on the Catholic Church's early days in Rome, so Marshall's summary certainly offered plenty of insight. I especially enjoyed the discussion of the mid-20th century archaeological excavations under the Vatican, though the discoveries the team made seemed almost miraculous (I suppose that's part of what proves Marshall's point!).

At the same time, however, I felt that many of his points could have been more persuasively presented and more convincingly explained; I often found myself wanting to know more about this argument or that, but Marshall had moved along to something else. Additionally, the editor seemed to have been on autopilot--there were plenty of punctuation and spelling mistakes that should have been caught before the book went to print.

[Steven]

This was a very convincing look at the the Old Testament prophesies concerning Christ's Church. Dr. Marshall offers a wonderful argument for not only why the Universal Church is Roman, but also why it must be so. I've always been sort of uncomfortable with Christianity's "Roman" roots, but this book celebrates-and convinces the reader to celebrate- the essential Roman-ness of the Church of Jesus Christ while looking ever forward to the New Jerusalem and our Lord's return.

[Tom]

If Christ was from the Middle East, a carpenters son from Bethlehem, how is it that the center of the Catholic Church ended up in Rome? Why are they called Roman Catholics? What caused the split between the Church of Rome and the Eastern Rites?

Taylor Marshall explains this, and more, in detail. This is his third book (The Crucified Rabbi and The Catholic Perspective of Saint Paul) and probably the most important of them all.

[Emerson John Tiu Ng]

The last book of the trilogy.... and I was blown away with all the information about how Roman Catholic Church has been established from Christ up until today... The Bible translation... Prophet Daniel prophesy... The Historical facts during Jesus birth, death, etc... St. Peter and St. Paul in Rome... The meaning of Book of Apocalypse or Revelation... and much more... I highly recommend this book as a reference.....

[Diego Velasquez]

The Eternal City: Rome & the Origins of Catholic Christianity is a fascinating and deeply enriching exploration of how Rome became central to the development of Catholic Christianity. The book does an excellent job of connecting history, theology, and geography, showing how the Eternal City shaped—and was shaped by—the early Church. It brings the ancient world to life in a way that feels both informative and meaningful.

What I appreciated most is how clearly it explains why Rome matters, not just politically, but spiritually and doctrinally. The continuity between the early Christian community, the martyrs, the apostles, and the Church that exists today is presented with clarity and respect for historical evidence. This book strengthened my understanding of Catholic history and gave real context to traditions that are often taken for granted. A highly recommended read for anyone interested in Church history, early Christianity, or the foundations of the Catholic faith.

[Thomas Deranek]

This book is a necessary finishing installment in Taylor R. Marshall's trilogy on the Catholic Church's origins.

It can, at times, feel like you are being listed off too many historical facts to keep track of at once. This can lead to some sections being difficult to stay attentive to.

However, this book, like the two that came before it, did something important for me that made it worth reading. It put at the forefront of my mind several facts that I knew but did not give the thought and attention it deserves. The fact that Jesus Christ was a living human being. God came down to earth as a man and sacrificed himself for our redemption. Peter and Paul were real people, not myths, that led the early church through confusion and persecution.

These were real people doing real things, and that is important to remember. I am thankful for this book, and how it reminded me of this.

[Lillian Marie]

A well researched historical book on the early Christians

The book was well researched and was understandable because it avoided too much philosophical language. It goes straight to the point. It provided just enough explanations why an event or a name might not be accurate
I was so curious what happened after Jesus as ended and what the early Christian Church was all about. What I read here was a revelation. Thank you Taylor Marshall for a well researched book

[Ethan Fortes]

A deeply historical view into the origins of the Catholic Church. While Marshall's book does bring a lot of insights into how Rome became the place where the Pope would reside the latter parts of the book wherein he holds that Latin is the only true language of the Church is a little archaic and feels a little disconcerting being that it is a book written Post Vatican II. I guess that is the only point of view within the book that I tend to disagree with

[Jacquie Stricklind]

Reading this book at times felt like reading a good thriller. The author using history and the Bible, especially the book of Daniel, explains why Rome not Jerusalem is the eternal city. In one section of the book, he presented why Catholics celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25th. Every Catholic should read this very well written book.

[Anne-Marie Woloszyn]

Fascinating read for anyone who is interested in the Christian roots of Ancient Rome.

If you want to learn about the Christian roots of Ancient Rome, this is your book! Excellent reading for anyone.

[Terry Brown]

Outstanding

Details Christ's plan for His one only Church. Read it and you will understand Rome's place in God's plan of salvation.

[Thomas G. Peterson]

The seat of Catholicism

An interesting detailed analysis of why the holy see is in Rome. The author describes how it was God's intention that it be so.

[David Vermont]

Excellent. Must-Read if you are interested in religion and history.

[Drew]

Good

[Beverly Truscheit]

The more you know

Excellent history of Rome and the Catholic Church
I learned much from this author and this book.
Every catholic should read this!

[Daniel Hennessy]

Cool and professional

Love this guys work. Ties up all the ends and leaves one wanting more. A super read and a job well done.

[Cary]

This is a must read for anyone fascinated by church history or seeking to understand Catholicism’s foundations.

[Dennis J. Waszak]

Very good history of the early catholic church and the importance of Rome in its early days. Provided a good background and it was an easy read.

[John E]

Excellent book and very informative.

It is a very easy to understand book. Written in a very easy to comprehend and enjoyable manner. Will read one more time.