The Divine Origin of Revelation

VI. Rôle of Miracles in the Historical Development of Christianity

1. The miracles which concern us in this section of our treatise, e.g., the rapid spread of Christianity, do not consist of sharply defined individual events, but of an aggregation of facts and occurrences coalescing, as it were, into one great, nay, extraordinary phenomenon,—extraordinary not in the sense that it per se completely transcends nature, as, for example, the Resurrection of Christ, but only in so far as, according to the usual order of things and in view of the customs and habits, the physical and moral weaknesses of men, the ensemble of these events cannot be explained without the positive supernatural concurrence of God. In order to explain this sort of phenomena, therefore, it is permitted to conclude, not with physical, but with true moral certainty, that they were caused by a supernatural intervention on the part of God. For this reason some writers speak of them as miracles of the moral order. In what manner the miraculous phenomenon as a whole is realized in detail, whether by external acts or internal divine illumination and strengthening, is a problem into which we need not enter here.

2. To this class of miracles belong above all three, which stand in a most intimate relation to the historical development of Christianity. We mean: (1) the rapid spread of the Christian religion; (2) the heroic fortitude of the martyrs, and (3) the regenerative effects of Christianity in the social, moral, and religious spheres. But these facts are important for our present purpose only in so far as they appertain to the first three centuries of the Christian era. For, after the persecutions had subsided under Constantine the Great, Christians were no longer put to death for their faith, and the interests of the Church were largely fostered by the State, so that many a phenomenon which had a clearly supernatural character before that time, could now be explained by natural causes.

3. That we speak of miracles in the development of the Christian religion, and not of the Church, is owing to the fact that we have not as yet demonstrated that Christ established a church. For the same reason we disregard in this connection the argument derived from the preservation of Christian doctrine and the indestructibility of the Church.

4. The Vatican Council emphasizes the value of these historical miracles when it says: “For to the Catholic Church alone belong all those many and admirable tokens which have been divinely established for the evident credibility of the Christian faith. Nay, more, the Church itself, by reason of its marvelous extension, its eminent holiness, and its inexhaustible fruitfulness in every good thing, its Catholic unity and its invincible stability, is a great and perpetual motive of credibility, and an irrefutable witness of its own divine mission.”⁴⁸³483Conc. Vatic., Sess. III, C. 3, de Fide: “Ad solam enim catholicam Ecclesiam ea pertinent omnia, quae ad evidentem fidei christianae credibilitatem tam multa et tam mira divinitus sunt disposita. Quin etiam Ecclesia per se ipsa, ob suam nempe admirabilem propagationem, eximiam sanctitatem et inexhaustam in omnibus bonis foecunditatem, ob catholicam unitatem invictamque stabilitatem magnum quoddam et perpetuum est motivum credibilitatis et divinae suae legationis testimonium irrefragabile.” (Denzinger-Bannwart-Umberg, Enchiridion, n. 1794.)

I. The Rapid Spread of Christianity

In order that the extension of Christianity may be used as an argument for its divine origin, it is necessary to demonstrate, (1) that the Christian religion actually spread with extraordinary rapidity and (2) that this rapid spread must be attributed to a supernatural, divine influence. Once this point has been established, the divine origin of Christianity can no longer be denied, since it is impossible to assume that God would lend His miraculous intervention to aid in the triumph of a false religion.

We maintain that the extraordinarily rapid spread of the Christian religion is a proof of its divine origin. This we prove as follows: A doctrine or religion which, after being put forward by its author as divinely revealed, spreads in an extraordinary and supernatural manner, must actually be divinely revealed. Now the religion established by Christ during the first three centuries of its existence spread in an extraordinary and supernatural manner. Therefore, the religion of Christ must be divinely revealed.

A. The Extraordinary Spread of the Christian Religion in the First Three Centuries

1. The Apostolic Age

The number of those who professed the Christian religion during the life-time of Jesus Christ was not large. In the “upper room” at Jerusalem after the Ascension were gathered only about one hundred and twenty persons to expect the descent of the Holy Ghost.⁴⁸⁴484Acts I, 15. But the very first sermon of St. Peter resulted in many conversions. “There were added in that day about three thousand souls.”⁴⁸⁵485Acts II, 41: “Et appositae sunt in die illa animae circiter tria millia.” Not long after, we read, “many of them who had heard the word, believed; and the number of the men was made five thousand.”⁴⁸⁶486Acts IV, 4. And again: “The multitude of men and women who believed in the Lord, was more increased.”⁴⁸⁷487Acts V, 14: “Magis autem augebatur credentium in Domino multitudo virorum ac mulierum.” The persecution which broke out after the death of St. Stephen compelled many Christians to leave their homes. This again served to spread the Christian religion more widely, for “they that were dispersed went about preaching the word of God.”⁴⁸⁸488Acts VIII, 4: “… qui dispersi erant, pertransibant, evangelizantes verbum Dei.” Thus the Christians of Jerusalem, when St. Paul about twenty-four years later (ca. 58) told them of his success among the pagans, could point with pride to the large number of Jews who had embraced the religion of Jesus Christ: “Thou seest, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews that have believed.”⁴⁸⁹489Acts XXI, 19 sq.: “Vides, frater, quot millia (πόσαι μυριάδες) sunt in Iudaeis, qui crediderunt.”

Thus the Christian religion had spread far beyond the limits of Palestine already during the life-time of the Apostles. St. Peter addresses his first Epistle “To the strangers dispersed through Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.” St. Paul makes extensive missionary journeys, and St. John says: “What thou seest, write in a book, and send to the seven churches which are in Asia, to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamus, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”⁴⁹⁰490Apoc. I, 11: “Scribe in libro et mitte septem ecclesiis, quae sunt in Asia, Epheso et Smyrnae et Pergamo et Thyatirae et Sardis et Philadelphiae et Laodiceae.” St. Paul repeatedly says in his Epistles that the Christian faith had spread far and wide. “For from you was spread abroad the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia, and in Achaia, but also in every place.”⁴⁹¹4911 Thess. I, 8: “In omni loco [non solum in Macedonia et in Achaia] fides vestra … profecta est.” “Your faith is spoken of in the whole world.”⁴⁹²492Rom. I, 8: “Fides vestra annuntiatur in universo mundo.” “The gospel … is come unto you, as also it is in the whole world, and bringeth forth and groweth, even as it doth in you.”⁴⁹³493Col. I, 6: “[Evangelium] quod pervenit ad vos sicut et in universo mundo est et fructificat et crescit sicut in vobis.” (Cfr. Col. I, 23.) While the phrase “in the whole world” is not, of course, to be interpreted literally, it shows how widely Christianity had spread by the middle of the first century. That the number of its adherents was quite large, at least in some regions, may be seen from the remark of Tacitus⁴⁹⁴494V. supra, pp. 122 sqq. that during the Neronian persecution “an immense multitude” of Christians suffered martyrdom, and from the words of Clement of Rome, that “to these men with their holy lives [Peter and Paul] was gathered a large multitude of the chosen (πολὺ πλῆθος ἐκλεκτῶν), who were the victims of jealousy and offered among us the fairest example of their endurance under many indignities and tortures.”⁴⁹⁵4951 Ep. ad Cor., VI, 1; cfr. K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers in the Loeb Classical Library, Vol. I, London, 1912, p. 19.

2. The Subapostolic Age

St. Ignatius of Antioch, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, speaks of “the bishops who have been appointed throughout the world.”⁴⁹⁶496Ep. ad Eph., III, 2: τὰ πέρατα, sc. τῆς γῆς; K. Lake, l. c., p. 177; cfr. Ep. ad Rom., VI, 1.

Pliny attests the wide extension and great influence of Christianity in Asia Minor. “I have had recourse to your advice,” he writes to the Emperor Trajan, “for the matter seemed to me a proper subject for consultation, especially on account of the number of the persons endangered. For many persons of all ages, of every class, as well as of both sexes, are being, and will be, called into danger of their lives. Nor is it the cities only, but the villages and the country also, throughout which the infection of this superstition has spread. Yet it seems possible for it to be checked and amended. At all events it is well known that the temples which were already almost deserted, have begun to be thronged, and the customary rites which had been long neglected, to be resumed; and there is a market for the food of sacrificial beasts, buyers of which were hitherto very seldom to be met with. From this it is easy to gather what a multitude of persons can be brought into the right way if allowed room for repentance.”⁴⁹⁷497Ep. ad Traian. (Epp., l. X, 96, [97]): “Visa est enim mihi res digna consultatione, maxime propter periclitantium numerum. Multi enim omnis aetatis, omnis ordinis, utriusque sexus etiam, vocantur in periculum et vocabuntur. Neque enim civitates tantum, sed vicos etiam atque agros superstitionis istius contagio pervagata est: quae videtur sisti et corrigi posse. Certe satis constat prope iam desolata templa coepisse celebrari, et sacra solemnia diu intermissa repeti, passimque venire victimas, quarum adhuc rarissimus emptor inveniebatur. Ex hoc facile est opinari, quae turba hominum emendari possit, si sit paenitentiae locus.” (Cfr. C. R. Haines, Heathen Contact with Christianity during its First Century and a Half, Cambridge, 1923, p. 45.)

In the Shepherd of Hermas we read: “All the nations which dwell under heaven, when they heard and believed, were called in the name of the Son of God.”⁴⁹⁸498Pastor Hermae, Sim. IX, 17, 4; K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers, Vol. II, London, 1913, p. 265.

St. Justin Martyr writes: “There is no class of men, whether we reckon them as Greeks or barbarians, or whatever other name we give them, whether they live constantly on wagons [Scythians] or have no habitations, or dwell as shepherds in tents, [there is no class of men, I say] among whom prayers and thanksgivings are not offered to the Father and Creator of all things in the name of the crucified Jesus.”⁴⁹⁹499Dial. c. Tryph., n. 117 (Migne, P.G., VI, 748 sq.)

The acts of St. Papylus record this declaration made by the holy martyr before his judges: “In every province and city [of Asia] I have children by the grace of God.”⁵⁰⁰500Mart. Carpi, Papyli, etc., c. 32; ed. Harnack, Texte und Untersuchungen, III, 4; Leipsic, 1888.

St. Irenaeus says: “The Church having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered throughout the whole world, yet, as if occupying but one house, carefully preserves it. … For the churches which have been planted in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain, or those in Gaul, nor in the East, nor those in Egypt, or those in Lybia, nor those which have been established in the central regions [probably referring to the churches in Palestine] of the world. But as the sun, that creature of God, is one and the same throughout the whole world, so also the preaching of the truth shineth everywhere, and enlighteneth all men that are willing to come to a knowledge of the truth.”⁵⁰¹501Contra Haereses, I, 10, 2 (Migne, P.G., VII, 551 sq.); tr. from Roberts and Rambaut’s version in The Ante-Nicene Library, Writings of S. Irenaeus, Vol. I, Edinburgh, 1868, p. 43.

Clement of Alexandria says: “The word of our Master did not remain in Judea alone, as philosophy did in Greece, but spread over the whole earth, was received by the nations of the Greeks and barbarians, in the villages as well as in the cities, and led to the truth entire households, as well as all individuals who had heard it, nay, even many philosophers.”⁵⁰²502Stromata, VI, 18 (P.G., IX, 400).

Tertullian writes:⁵⁰³503Apolog., c. 37 (P.L., I, 462 sq.): “Si enim hostes exertos, non tantum vindices occultos agere vellemus, deesset nobis vis numerorum et copiarum? Plures nimirum Mauri et Marcomanni ipsique Parthi, vel quantaecumque unius tamen loci et suorum finium gentes, quam totius orbis! Hesterni sumus et vestra omnia implevimus, urbes, insulas, castella, municipia, conciliabula, castra ipsa, tribus, decurias, palatium, senatum, forum; sola vobis reliquimus templa. … Cui bello non idonei, non prompti fuissemus, etiam impares copiis, qui tam libenter trucidamur, si non apud istam disciplinam magis occidi liceret, quam occidere? Potuimus, et inermes, nec rebelles, sed tantummodo discordes, solius divortii invidia adversus vos dimicasse. Si enim tanta vis hominum in aliquem orbis remoti sinum abrupissemus a vobis, suffudisset utique dominationem vestram tot qualiumcumque amissio civium, imo etiam et ipsa destitutione punisset.” (We quote Thelwall’s translation, Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vol. XI, p. 116). “If we desired, indeed, to act the part of open enemies, not merely of secret avengers, would there be any lacking in strength, whether of numbers or resources? The Moors, the Marcomanni, the Parthians themselves, or any single people, however great, inhabiting a distinct territory and confined within its own boundaries, surpasses forsooth, in numbers, one spread over all the world! We are but of yesterday, and we have filled every place among you—cities, islands, fortresses, towns, market-places, the very camp, tribes, companies, palace, senate, forum;—we have left nothing to you but the temples [of your gods]. For what wars should we not be fit, not eager, even with unequal forces, we who so willingly yield ourselves to the sword, if in our religion it were not counted better to be slain than to slay? Without arms even and raising no insurrectionary banner, but simply in enmity to you, we could carry on the contest with you by an ill-willed severance alone. For if such multitudes of men were to break away from you, and betake themselves to some remote corner of the world, why, the very loss of so many citizens, whatever sort they were, would cover the empire with shame.” And again: “The outcry is that the State is filled with Christians—that they are in the fields, in the citadels, in the islands; they make lamentation as for some calamity, that both sexes, every age and condition, even high rank, are passing over to the profession of the Christian faith.”⁵⁰⁴504Op. cit., c. 1 (P.L., I, 262 sq.): “Obsessam vociferantur civitatem, in agris, in castellis, in insulis Christianos; omnem sexum, aetatem, conditionem, etiam dignitatem transgredi ad hoc nomen.” (Thelwall’s transl., l. c., p. 54.)

The Emperor Maximinus Daza wrote to one of his officials that Diocletian and Maximianus were fully justified in proceeding against the Christians, “since they saw that nearly everybody was giving up the worship of the immortal gods and joining the sect founded by Christ.”⁵⁰⁵505Eusebius, H. E., IX, 9 (P.G., XX, 824 sq.)

Some of the expressions in the above-quoted texts are not to be understood literally. Thus when we are told that Christianity had spread “in the whole world,” or “among all nations,” this manifestly applies only to the world and the nations then known. The statements regarding the numerical proportion between pagans and Christians are not always free from exaggeration. This much is certain, however, that towards the close of the third century the Christian religion flourished not only throughout the Roman Empire, but far beyond its confines among different nations, in the cities as well as in the country, and that the number of professing Christians was large.

That the Christian religion spread with extraordinary rapidity in the course of the first three centuries is a historical fact freely admitted even by those who will not concede that there was anything miraculous about its expansion. Thus Harnack writes: “Did Christianity expand with surprising rapidity? Though we have but little parallel material for purposes of comparison with other religions in the Roman Empire, I am inclined to answer this question affirmatively. The impression which the Church Fathers of the fourth century (Arnobius, Eusebius, Augustine) had, that their faith had spread from generation to generation with incomprehensible rapidity, was well founded. Seventy years after the establishment of the first congregation of Jewish converts in Antioch (Syria), Pliny writes in the strongest terms of the expansion of Christianity in far distant Pontus and regards the other cults in that province as imperilled. Seventy years later the controversy regarding the celebration of Easter shows the existence of a Christian ecclesiastical confederation reaching from Lyons to Edessa. And after another seventy years the Emperor Decius declares that he would rather tolerate a rival emperor in Rome than a Christian bishop, and in less than seventy more years the cross is affixed to the Roman field standards.”⁵⁰⁶506Die Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten, Vol. II, 4th ed., Leipsic, 1924, pp. 956 sq. On pp. 529 sqq. of the same volume Dr. Harnack quotes the most important contemporary testimonies for the spread of Christianity.

The Social Complexion of the Christian Community.—The first followers of Christ were for the most part recruited from the ranks of the common people. St. Paul wrote: “For contemplate your own call, brethren; not many of you are wise according to the flesh, not many are powerful, not many of good birth. Nay the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world God hath chosen so as to put to shame the men of wisdom, and the base things of the world, aye, the things that are despised, the things that are not, God hath chosen, so as to bring to nought things that are: lest any flesh should vaunt itself in his sight.”⁵⁰⁷5071 Cor. I, 26 sqq.: “Videte enim vocationem vestram, fratres, quia non multi sapientes secundum carnem, non multi potentes, non multi nobiles: sed quae stulta sunt mundi, elegit Deus, ut confundat sapientes, et infirma mundi elegit Deus, ut confundat fortia, et ignobilia mundi et contemptibilia elegit Deus et ea quae non sunt, ut ea quae sunt destrueret, ut non glorietur omnis caro in conspectu eius.” But there were also some socially prominent and highly educated Christians, e.g., among the Jewish converts: Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, the Apostle Paul himself, Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, the eloquent Apollo of Alexandria,⁵⁰⁸508Acts XVIII, 24. “a great multitude of priests,”⁵⁰⁹509Acts VI, 7. “some of the sect of the Pharisees,”⁵¹⁰510Acts XV, 5. and, finally, those to whom the admonitions in the Epistle of St. James are addressed.⁵¹¹511James II, 1 sqq., V, 1 sqq.; cfr. O. Bardenhewer, Der Brief des hl. Jakobus, Freiburg i. B., 1928, pp. 58 sqq., 132 sqq. Among the converts from paganism: the centurion Cornelius,⁵¹²512Acts X, 1 sqq. the proconsul Sergius Paulus,⁵¹³513Acts XIII, 7–12. Dionysius the Areopagite,⁵¹⁴514Acts XVII, 34. “not a few noble women” in Thessalonica and Beroea,⁵¹⁵515Acts XVII, 4, 12. and the consul Titus Flavius Clemens and his wife Domitilla.⁵¹⁶516Cfr. Dio Cassius, Hist. Rom., LXVII, 14; ed. Sturz, Leipsic, 1824, IV, 278 sqq. That Christianity had adherents among many of the noble families of Rome may be seen from the inscriptions found by De Rossi in the Catacombs. P. Allard gives a brief survey of them as follows: “In the cemetery governed by Callistus [the latter of the two popes bearing this name, who ruled from 217 to 222] the leading families of Rome are represented. One finds there the funerary marbles of the Caecilii, the Cornelii, the Aemilii, the Bassi, the Annii, the Iallii, the Pomponii; one sees there the tombs of the relatives of the imperial families. As there were Christian Flavii in the first century, so there were Christian Antonini at the close of the second and the beginning of the third century.”⁵¹⁷517Histoire des Persécutions pendant la Première Moitié du Troisième Siècle, 2nd ed., Paris, 1894, p. 191: “Dans le cimetière que gouverna Calliste, les plus grandes familles de Rome sont représentées. On y trouve les marbres funéraires de Caecilii, de Cornelii, d’Aemilii, de Bassi, d’Annii, d’Iallii, de Pomponii; on y rencontre des tombeaux d’alliés des familles impériales. Comme au premier siècle il y avait eu des Flaviens chrétiens, à la fin du deuxième et au commencement du troisième il y eut des Antonins chrétiens.” How widely Christianity was spread among the upper classes about the middle of the third century, may be seen from an edict of the Emperor Valerian issued in 258.⁵¹⁸518Cyprian, Ep., 80, 1 (Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum, Vienna, 1866 sqq., Vol. III, ed. Hartel, pp. 839 sq.): “… ut … senatores et egregii viri et equites Romani dignitate amissa etiam bonis spolientur et, si ademptis facultatibus Christiani [esse] perseveraverint, capite quoque multentur, matronae ademptis bonis in exsilium relegentur, Caesariani autem, quicumque vel prius confessi fuerant vel nunc confessi fuerint, confiscentur et vincti in caesarianas possessiones descripti mittantur.” (P.L., IV, 429 sq.) This agrees with what the Christian rhetor Arnobius says (about 304) in an appeal to the pagans.⁵¹⁹519Adv. Gent., II, 5 (Migne, P.L., V, 816): “Nonne vel haec saltem fidem vobis faciunt argumenta credendi, … quod tam magnis ingeniis praediti oratores, grammatici, rhetores, consulti iuris et medici, philosophiae etiam secreta rimantes, magisteria haec expetunt, spretis quibus paulo ante fidebant?”

It is an indisputable fact, therefore, that the religion of Christ spread with remarkable rapidity throughout the then known world and permeated all classes of society during the first three centuries after its establishment.

B. The Supernatural Character of the Rapid Expansion of Christianity

The extraordinarily rapid spread of the Christian religion must have had an adequate cause. That this cause must have been at least partly supernatural follows from the lack of proportion between the purely natural means by which Christianity was propagated and the enormous obstacles which it had to overcome. To show this lack of proportion clearly, we will first consider the obstacles that hindered, and then the natural causes that favored the spread of Christianity.

1. Obstacles Impeding the Spread of Christianity

These obstacles were partly internal, connected with the nature of Christianity, partly external, based upon the character of the nations among which the new religion first began to spread.

a) The internal obstacles arose from the Person and doctrine of Jesus Christ and from the exclusive character of Christianity.

The Personality of Christ, in spite of its many sublime traits, was, humanly speaking, an obstacle to the spread of the religion which He founded. He, the scion of a despised race, who had been condemned to death by His fellow-Jews and shamefully crucified by Roman soldiers, demanded divine worship and adoration. Such a demand was “to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Gentiles folly.”⁵²⁰520Cfr. 1 Cor. I, 23. Though the hope in the promised Messias was widely spread among both Jews and Gentiles, no one expected salvation to come from a man who had been crucified as a common malefactor.

The doctrines preached by the heralds of the new faith also offered serious difficulties. Intellectually, they required belief in incomprehensible mysteries and demanded the greatest possible sacrifices from men who were strongly addicted to selfishness and luxurious living. While paganism permitted its votaries to gratify their selfish passions and the example of the gods themselves encouraged them in the pursuit of pleasure, the Christians, on the contrary, were obliged to practice self-denial and humility, and to love all men, including their enemies.

To this must be added the exclusiveness of Christianity, which, in contradistinction to the dogmatic tolerance allowed by the pagan religions,⁵²¹521 See Supplementary Note 5, p. 335. proscribed every non-Christian cult and forbade its followers to practice communicatio in sacris.

b) The external obstacles lay mainly in the violent opposition which both the Jews and the pagans offered to the spread of the Christian religion.

The Jews still regarded themselves as the Chosen People of God, and were forbidden to have any religious intercourse with the pagans. Their religion was revealed by God and confirmed by miracles and prophecies. They tenaciously adhered to their traditional usages and customs, and centered all their hopes upon the Messias, who, as a powerful king, was expected to restore Israel’s national independence and to make Jerusalem the capital of a world empire.

The pagans were deterred from embracing Christianity by beliefs which they had inherited from their ancestors and which placed no restraint upon their passions. These beliefs permeated and governed their private and public life, and stood in closest relation to the historical development, the civic institutions, the laws and ceremonials of each individual nation. Quite naturally the priests of the various pagan cults did everything in their power to perpetuate their prerogatives. In this they were enthusiastically supported by the secular rulers, who on certain public occasions were wont to act as high priests, or at least were firmly convinced that the welfare of the State depended on the favor of the gods. The representatives of culture, more especially the philosophers, on their part, sought to cast suspicion upon the Christian religion and branded it as a superstition altogether unworthy of educated men.⁵²²522Cfr. J. J. I. Döllinger, The Gentile and the Jew, tr. by N. Darnell, Vol. II, pp. 183 sqq.

For Jews as well as Gentiles the acceptance of the Christian religion was made even more difficult by the calumnies launched against Jesus and His followers. The Christians were denounced as “enemies of the commonwealth,” as atheists, and as fools who worshipped an ass.⁵²³523Cfr. Tertullian, Apolog., c. 35 (P.L., I, 452 sqq.); Justin, Apolog., I, 6 (P.G., VI, 336); Tertullian, Apolog., c. 16 (P.L., I, 364 sqq.); Ad Nat., I, 11 (P.L., I, 577); Minucius Felix, Octavius, c. 9 (P.L., III, 260 sq.) On the “Graffito blasfemo,” a caricature of the crucifixion discovered in 1856 beneath the ruins of the Palatine palace (the figure on the cross bears an ass’s head, before which stands a Christian in the posture of adoration) see Pohle-Preuss, Christology, 5th ed., St. Louis, 1925, p. 105, and Garrucci, Il Crocifisso Graffito, Rome, 1857. They slaughtered infants at their meetings, it was charged,⁵²⁴524Justin Martyr, Apolog., II, 12 (P.G., VI, 464 sq.); Tertullian, Apolog., c. 7 (P.L., I, 506 sqq.); Minucius Felix, Octavius, l. c. and ate the flesh. If the Empire or any province or city was visited by misfortune, the Christians were usually blamed for it on the ground that they did not pay due respect to the gods.⁵²⁵525Cfr. Tertullian, Ad Nat., I, 9 (P.L., I, 571 sq.); Apolog., c. 40 (P.L., I, 478 sqq.)

However, the greatest of all the obstacles that hampered the spread of Christianity were the bloody persecutions which, during the first three centuries, in almost unbroken sequence threatened with banishment, torture, and death all who professed the religion of the despised Nazarene.

2. Natural Causes Favoring the Expansion of Christianity

The natural means and instruments employed in the expansion of Christianity were quite insignificant. The first heralds of the Gospel, the Apostles and their coadjutors, during whose life-time the Christian religion spread through the then known world, were, with few exceptions, plain, unlettered men of the lower classes. They belonged to a race which was universally loathed, and lacked all those superior advantages which might have promised success to their efforts. They possessed neither power nor fame, neither wealth nor eloquence. The only means they had at their command was the simple preaching of Christ crucified and the zeal with which they promoted His cause. There was nothing to attract the masses to Christianity. It held out to them no material gain, no public honors, no sensual pleasures or promise of earthly prosperity. True, the followers of Jesus hoped for eternal happiness in the world to come, but this hope was encouraged also by other religions⁵²⁶526Cfr. S. Angus, The Mystery-Religions and Christianity, pp. 139 sqq., 176 sq., 230–234. and, therefore, could not be regarded as a specific attraction of Christianity.

Synopsis and Conclusion

A rapid survey of the argument just developed shows, on the one hand, a fact unique in the history of mankind, an effect of the most extraordinary sort: in every portion of the world countless men and women of every class and condition were turning towards a religion which made the highest demands upon human nature, was universally hated and despised, and bitterly opposed and combated everywhere. On the other hand, we find, as the natural cause of this effect, only the unimpressive activity and preaching of a few ordinary men from the ranks of the common people. This cause is out of all proportion to the effect produced. Since, however, every effect must have an adequate cause, and diabolical influences are excluded by the very nature of the case, we must assume that the natural causes which were at work and which can explain only a very small proportion of the effects, must have been supplemented by a supernatural cause, which is chiefly responsible for the conversion of the ancient world to Christianity. Therefore, the Christian religion must be of divine origin.⁵²⁷527The extraordinary character of this phenomenon is admitted even by Rationalist critics. Thus Paulsen (System der Ethik, Vol. I, 9th ed., p. 102, Berlin, 1913) says: “Among all the events of which history has preserved a record, none is more astonishing than the conversion of the ancient world to Christianity. There has never been an intellectual movement which so appeared to lack everything that enables a movement to conquer the world, as Christianity.”

C. The Attempted Natural Explanation of the Expansion of Christianity

The enemies of Christianity attempt to explain its rapid expansion by enumerating a series of natural causes and pointing to analogous phenomena in the history of other religions, which no one would think of describing as supernatural. However, a careful examination of the evidence shows that both these claims are unfounded.

1. Natural Causes which Favored the Spread of Christianity. The natural causes which favored and are said to explain the rapid spread of Christianity without recourse to supernatural agencies are the following:

a) The exemplary life of the first Christians, their heroism and practical charity.⁵²⁸528See the detailed account apud Harnack, Die Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums, Vol. I, 4th ed., pp. 170-239. English tr. by James Moffatt, The Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries, Vol. I, London, 1908, pp. 181-273. This argument is based on the assumption that the extraordinary piety of the first Christians was a purely natural phenomenon, which assumption is, as we shall show presently, altogether unfounded. The sudden, complete, and permanent change of life adopted by so many converts, and the moral heroism which they showed in the midst of a corrupt world, is such an extraordinary phenomenon, so contrary to the customs, habits, and inclinations of ordinary men, that natural causes are not sufficient to explain it. Besides it must be remembered that there were among the early Christians not a few men of wealth and high social position who certainly were not attracted by the charity dispensed by the followers of Jesus. Finally, we must take into consideration the fact that the hope of receiving alms could not have exerted much influence upon the poorer classes, when any man who embraced the Christian religion literally risked his life.

b) The doctrine of the equality of all men before God naturally awakened the hope of liberty and, as a consequence, aroused great enthusiasm among the slaves, whose number at that time was very large. But this doctrine was intimately bound up with the extremely high ethical demands of Christianity, which stood in the sharpest possible contrast to the moral corruption of the slaves, especially in Greece and Italy. Add to this the consideration that Christianity, during the first centuries of its existence, did not demand the abrogation of slavery, in fact could not do so without conjuring up the peril of a universal revolt, which would have destroyed the entire social, economic, and civil order of that time. The abolition of slavery, it is true, was a logical postulate of the Christian conception of manhood, but it could not be brought about at once, least of all at a time when Christianity was regarded as an enemy by the pagan State. Therefore, while the persecutions lasted, Christianity had to content itself with admonishing the slaves, after the example of St. Paul, to obey their masters, no matter whether these were Christians or pagans, and to leave their enfranchisement entirely to the good will of the latter.⁵²⁹5291 Tim. VI, 1 sq.; 1 Cor. VII, 20 sqq.; Eph. VI, 5 sq. Cfr. J. L. Balmes, Protestantism and Catholicism Compared, Baltimore, 1850, Vol. I. Ignatius Martyr (Ep. ad Polyc., IV, 3) says: “Do not be haughty to slaves, either men or women; yet do not let them be puffed up, but let them rather endure slavery to the glory of God, that they may obtain a better freedom from God. Let them not desire to be set free at the Church’s expense, that they may not be found the slaves of lust.” (Ed. Kirsopp Lake, The Apostolic Fathers, Vol. I, pp. 272 sq.) As late as 324, the Council of Gangra in Asia Minor (can. 3) decreed that “If anyone, under the pretense of piety, induces a slave to despise his master and to run away from his service, and not to serve his master with a good will and due reverence, let him be anathema.” (Mansi, Concil. Coll., II, 1101).

c) The union of many nations under the suzerainty of Rome.⁵³⁰530Harnack, op. cit., I, 23 sqq.; Engl. tr. by Moffatt, Vol. I, pp. 25 sqq.—The unity of the Roman Empire, the roads connecting all the provinces with the capital, and the vastly improved means of interprovincial and interurban communication resulting therefrom, no doubt aided the spread of the Christian religion. But while all these things served to make the new religion more widely known, they did not induce people to embrace it, which is the point here at issue. All the difficulties in the way of conversion remained in full force. The spread of the Gospel was a conditio sine qua non of conversion, not a cause productive of converts. Besides, the facility of interprovincial and interurban communication promoted not only the expansion of Christianity, but also the more effective persecution of the Christians during the first three centuries.

d) Christianity, it is said further, adapted itself to the existing religious syncretism, borrowed viable and fertile concepts from other religions, and by the aid of these developed its own dogmatic system.⁵³¹531Cfr. Harnack, l. c.; F. Heiler, Der Katholizismus, seine Idee und seine Erscheinung, Munich, 1923, pp. 595-621. If this theory were correct, it would be impossible to explain the opposition in which Christianity found itself, not only at the start, but also in the course of the following centuries, to the different religions with which it came in contact. Had there really been a complete fusion between Christianity and the existing religions, as has been asserted, the result would have been a friendly relationship between them, not a bloody persecution of the new religion by the votaries of the older cults. Nor is it possible to explain what truths Christianity might have borrowed from the pagan syncretism of the age. For all the concepts which are mentioned as having been borrowed (e. g., “soul,” “God,” “knowledge,” “expiation,” “ascetics,” “redemption,” “eternal life”)⁵³²532Harnack, op. cit., I, 36; Engl. tr. by Moffatt, I, 36. formed part and parcel of the dogmatic teaching of Christianity as early as the Apostolic age, and it cannot be shown that Christ or the Apostles borrowed them from other religions or from the writings of the Greek philosophers.

2. Analogous Phenomena in the History of Other Religions. In order to show that natural causes are fully sufficient to explain the rapid expansion of Christianity, the champions of this theory point to certain other religions which, as all admit, spread with great rapidity. These religions are: Buddhism, Mithraism, Mohammedanism, and Protestantism.⁵³³533Whether Protestantism represents the true or a false form of Christianity is a question with which we are not concerned at present; the point at issue here is the rapidity of its spread. In the working out of this parallel, however, the circumstances under which these religions developed are left entirely out of the reckoning. There is a fundamental difference between Christianity and the religions just named. Not one of them imposed such heavy burdens, not one had to contend with so many difficulties, and not one disposed of so few means of propaganda as Christianity. Therefore, it will not do to put Christianity on a par with these religions in regard to rapidity of expansion. A short survey will show this more plainly.

a) Buddhism.—Buddhism, in its popular form, which alone attained to considerable popularity, was not, like Christianity, impeded by the exclusiveness of its doctrines and worship, but readily absorbed the views and customs, the polytheism and superstition of the nations among which it spread.⁵³⁴534Cfr. Vol. I of this Handbook, pp. 55 sq.; E. Hardy, Der Buddhismus, 2nd ed., Münster, 1919, pp. 18 sqq. Its ethical code was far less exacting than that of Christianity, since Buddhism was originally atheistic and consequently had no authority to impose moral obligations.⁵³⁵535Hardy, op. cit., p. 131. Moreover, Buddhism, unlike Christianity, never had to undergo bloody persecutions, but from the beginning of its existence enjoyed the protection of the secular power,⁵³⁶536Hardy, op. cit., p. 37. and its extension was mightily promoted by the efforts of King Asoka, who lived about 150 years after the death of Sākyamuni (263-222 B. C.), the founder of Buddhism.⁵³⁷537Hardy, op. cit., pp. 104 sqq. Cfr. De Broglie, Problèmes et Conclusions de l’Histoire des Religions, 4th ed., Paris, 1904, pp. 194 sqq., 360 sqq.; also Vol. I of this Handbook, pp. 89, 102 sq.; also this present volume, infra, pp. 335 sqq.

b) Mithraism.—Of the comparative growth of Christianity and the religion of the Persian Mithra, F. Cumont says: “These two religions spread with equal rapidity, and at the close of the second century they both had followers in the most remote parts of the Roman world. The disciples of Mithra could justly have adopted the hyperbolic phrase of Tertullian: ‘We are of yesterday and fill all your possessions.’”⁵³⁸538F. Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra, tr. by F. J. McCormack, 2nd ed., Chicago, 1910. Cumont is the leading authority on Mithraism. Textes et Monuments relatifs aux Mystères de Mithra (2 vols., Brussels, 1896-99) is his principal work on the subject. The Mystery of Mithra is smaller and exists in an English translation, which, however, is out of print. We translate from the 3rd French edition, Paris, 1913. Cyril C. Martindale, S.J., in his essay “Mithra” in Vol. II of The History of Religions, published by the Catholic Truth Society of England (unfortunately also out of print), regrets that we have no English book which treats of Mithraism in a way that could satisfy, without misleading, the general reader. Fr. Martindale’s own essay is the best available; the next best, perhaps, is the chapter on “Mithra and Mithraism” in Sir Bertram C. A. Windle’s work, On Miracles and Some Other Matters, London and New York, 1924, pp. 121-143. But the causes of the rapid spread of Mithraism differed toto caelo from those that promoted the expansion of Christianity. The cult of Mithra, (α) because of its syncretistic tendency, everywhere adapted itself to the environment in which it took root, as may be seen from the still extant ruins of its temples in Italy and Phrygia, along the Rhine, and in the valley of the Danube. (β) The sun-worship of Mithraism originated in the philosophical doctrine that the heavenly bodies were living divine beings. The worship of the emperors had an intimate connection with the adoration of the Sol invictus, of which the Roman rulers claimed to be emanations. (γ) Mithraism was spread without opposition mainly by slaves, soldiers, and public officials, along the frontiers of the Empire. The emperors themselves were its most zealous promoters. Aurelian officially introduced the cult of the “Invincible Sun” in 273, and Diocletian, together with his fellow-regents, Galerius and Licinius, dedicated a sanctuary to “Mithra, the protector of his empire,”⁵³⁹539“Mithrae, fautori imperii sui.” Cfr. F. Cumont, The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, tr. by G. Showerman, Chicago, 1911, pp. 114 sq., 150. in 307, at Carnuntum on the Danube. (δ) Mithraism had no persecutions to undergo down to the middle of the fourth century. When, soon after the death of Julian the Apostate, who was himself an enthusiastic devotee of the cult, a persecution broke out against Mithraism, it succumbed to the first attack,—a clear proof that the religion of Mithra bore no essential resemblance to Christianity, which grew strongest and spread most rapidly when it was most violently assailed.⁵⁴⁰540Cfr. F. Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra; J. Blötzer, S.J., “Das heidnische Mysterienwesen und die Hellenisierung des Christentums” in Stimmen aus Maria-Laach, Vol. LXXII (1907), pp. 39 sqq.; A. E. J. Rawlinson, The New Testament Doctrine of Christ, Appendix VI, “Christianity and the Mystery Religions,” pp. 270-284, London, 1926; L. Paterson, Mithraism and Christianity, Cambridge, 1921. The last-mentioned author relies too much on writers like Loisy and J. M. Robertson (cfr. Windle, op. cit., p. 121). S. Angus, The Mystery-Religions and Christianity: A Study in the Religious Background of Early Christianity (new edition, London and New York, 1928), refers to Mithra and Mithraism in a number of passages (pp. 20, 38, 66, 81, 88 sqq., 97, 120, 122, 135, 147, 157, 246, 310), but is uncritical in making it appear that Christianity borrowed some of its most important features from Mithraism. Paterson, Martindale, and Windle (op. cit.) show up the exaggerated character of these alleged parallels. The “virgin birth” of Mithra, for instance, can be brought to anything like the meaning attached to the term by Christian writers only by an unaccountable stretch of words (Paterson, op. cit., p. 13). The birthday of Mithra was fixed on Dec. 25. This is a point not yet fully cleared up. Fr. Martindale (Cath. Encyclopedia, s.v.) thinks “the same instinct which set Natalis Invicti at the winter solstice would have sufficed, apart from deliberate adaptation or curious calculation, to set the Christian feast there too.” Mithra is said to have been invoked as the Incarnate Word, but Paterson points out that this term was often used for an ordinary priest (op. cit., p. 17). Between the Mithraic ceremony (if it was Mithraic; there is some doubt on this point) of the taurobolium (slaying of the bull) and the Christian baptism of blood there is no traceable connection. Whatever may have been the resemblances between the Christian Sacraments (Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist) and certain practices of Mithraism, it is quite certain that the underlying notions, aside from the general idea of purification, were totally different. Mithraism is said to have taught adherence to the truth and urged abstinence and purity; yet Fr. Martindale, who is an authority on the subject, says: “In no case have we any evidence of a true code or system of ethics, or any trace (historically verifiable) of moral effort or ideal which can bear any relation to the Christian, save that of a will-o’-the-wisp to the noonday sun.” This observation, in the opinion of Dr. Windle, also no mean authority, “is the high-water mark of what may be said, with any truth, of all the alleged resemblances” between Mithraism and Christianity. (On Miracles, p. 143).

c) Mohammedanism.—The rapid spread of Islam was entirely due to natural causes. Mohammedanism (α) pandered to sensuality by permitting polygamy here on earth and promising a paradise of sensual delight in the world beyond. (β) It was propagated, not by instruction and conviction, but with fire and sword. Whereas Christianity preached self-denial, patience, and love of enemy, Mohammedanism encouraged pleasure-seeking and promised those who fell in battle the joys of a quasi-material paradise.

d) Protestantism.—Protestantism found so much favor upon its first appearance that it was able to spread over the greater part of Europe in less than a century. The chief causes of its rapid expansion were: (α) The nature of the new religion itself, which dispensed its followers from the duty of obedience to ecclesiastical authority and allowed the laity to share in the privileges of a universal priesthood. The so-called Reformers abolished auricular confession, sacerdotal celibacy, and monastic vows, declared self-denial, mortification, and the performance of good works to be useless, and demanded nothing more than fiduciary faith, i. e., confident hope in Christ and His merits. By allowing the old religious ceremonies to continue, the Protestant sects deceived the common people as to the true condition of affairs and gradually paved the way for the acceptance of the new religion. (β) The principal cause of the rapid spread of Protestantism were the favorable external circumstances under which it entered the world. The abuses that had crept in and the high taxes imposed upon the faithful by the curia, had created general dissatisfaction with Rome and the hierarchy. Moreover, the excessive wealth of the Church in some countries, notably in Germany, the birthplace of the new religion, had resulted in the episcopal sees being mostly held by scions of the nobility, who, lacking a true vocation to the ecclesiastical state, regarded their offices merely as sources of pecuniary profit and of social and political prestige. The lower clergy in some regions were extremely poor, ignorant, and degraded. Thus the soil was well prepared for the Protestant revolt. The eloquent appeals of the so-called Reformers found willing listeners and were, moreover, strongly supported by the literary campaign of the younger Humanists against Scholasticism and the Church, and by the co-operation of many of the secular rulers, who coveted the possessions of the dioceses and monasteries and forced their subjects to adopt the Protestant religion.⁵⁴¹541Cfr. Hergenröther-Kirsch, Handbuch der allgemeinen Kirchengeschichte, Vol. III, 5th ed., Freiburg, 1915, pp. 545 sqq.; J. Marx, Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte, 8th ed., Treves, 1922, pp. 558 sqq.

Hence no true parallel can be drawn between the rapid spread of Christianity and that of Protestantism, for while Christianity lacked almost all the natural means of expansion, Protestantism had a wealth of them at its command.

For further reading, see page 348.