In the first century of the Common Era, two new belief systems entered long-established cultures with radically different outlooks and values: missionaries started to spread the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth in Rome and the Buddha in China. Rome and China were not only ancient cultures, but also cultures whose elites felt no need to receive the new beliefs. Yet a few centuries later the two new faiths had become so well-established that their names were virtually synonymous with the polities they had entered as strangers. Although there have been numerous studies addressing this phenomenon...
In the first century of the Common Era, two new belief systems entered long-established cultures with radically different outlooks and values: mission...
The fourth century of our common era began and ended with a miracle. Traditionally, in the year 312, the Roman emperor Constantine I experienced a Vision of the Cross that led him to convert to Christianity, and in 394 the emperor Theodosius I won a victory after praying for divine support. Other stories heralded the discovery of the True Cross by Constantine's mother, Helena, and the rise of a new kind of miracle-maker in the deserts of Egypt and Syria. Miracle also crept into the discourse and argument of this era, changing the criteria by which Romans awarded victory. According to a...
The fourth century of our common era began and ended with a miracle. Traditionally, in the year 312, the Roman emperor Constantine I experienced a Vis...
