Did Christianity cause the fall of the Roman Empire?

Question

I am a devout Christian and I have been studying History and the history of Christianity in general. I used to buy into the junk about the Romans being corupt and immoral that caused their fall. Sure by today's standards of morality the Romans were some wicked people but did that really cause their down fall? To me there seems to be a connection with Romes acceptance of Christianity in the 4th Century and the fall of Rome by the hands of the Barbarians not long afterwards. By the way Paganism was big buisness too. What do you think?

Answer 1

As much as I would like to blame christianity, it was actually the Huns. Rome had already been on a downhill slide long before it became christian. The Huns finished them off and destroyed much of the city.

Answer 2

Not necessarily. Although it would take me forever to create a huge laundry list of what caused the Roman Empire to fall, I will say that it got too big for its britches. It expanded over from Italy into the Middle East, parts of Gaul (modern day France), Britain, Germany, Spain, etc. Now imagine the governments set up there to govern these captured lands. Since they are so far away from Rome, it is difficult to manage the empire. Plus, you had other non-Romans coming in the empire as well (from North Africa, the Middle East, etc). Plus, there were uprisings here and there (including the one with the Romans vs. the ancient Teutons in a German forest; the Roman army had a difficult time trying to maneuver through the woods). There's a book that I'm planning to get back into reading and it's called "The Fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon. It's a great resource but just for the record, Gibbon does criticize the Christian faith but not to the extent of being offensive and demeaning.

Answer 3

No. A good argumant can be made that Christianity was co-opted by the Roman Emperor Constantine and turned to the purposes of the Roman Empire. Today the Roman Empire still exists, though diminished, in the form of the Roman Catholic Church.

I think that you might benefit from continued study. If you have the resources, buy the lecture series on THE NEW TESTAMENT by Professor Bart Ehrman which is published and marketed by The Teaching Company. He has another very informative course called LOST CHRISTIANITIES, & THE BATTLE OVER AUTHENTICATION.

Finally, if you are looking for the truth instead of comfort, spend a few years studying THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS.

Answer 4

it would be interesting to hear what you base your theory on. Is it just that Christianity ascended around the same time that Rome fell? Unless you can argue cause and effect, what you have is, at best, coincidence.

Fact is Rome was on its way down for a long time. It's politics were regularly a disaster. At one point they went through about 50 emperors in 100 years - that does not promote stability. The city could never feed itself: wheat had to be inported from Egypt just to sustain the city of Rome. And the empire was way over-extended.

One of the reasons Constantine supported the Church was that he saw it as a possibly unifying force, which is what he believed was needed to save Rome. So in no small degree Christianity flourished because Rome was declining, not the other way around.

Answer 5

In those prophecies in Daniel about future world empires, the image connected with the Roman Empire is of iron with clay feet, which I think is symbolic of military strength but flawed and all-too-human leadership. I think they never sorted out a sensible way to select emperors. They had contests between emperors, especially later on, with legions wasted in these conflicts - a house divide cannot stand !

Then of course various migrations from Mongolia into Russia cause all sorts of instability and invasions. So the western side of the Roman Empire got overwhelmed.

Its interesting to consider that Turkish migrations into the Middle East due to similar ferocious people groups on the move in the steppes destroyed the Caliphate (and also eventually overcame the remnant East Roman Empire, usually called the Byzantine Empire).

My latin teacher at school blamed it on the lead pipes making the noble classes thick.

Answer 6

The Roman Empire was already starting to fall.

They adopted Christianity in an effort to regain control. The Roman Empire did not officially adopt Christianity until 325 A.D. During the Council of Nicia.

The fall of the Roman Empire is do to the fact that they tried to spread their empire around the world. It takes a lot of troops to take over many nations, and over time they loss control over the nations they once controlled.

The same thing happened to Ethiopia, Egypt and Greece.

In modern times we see this with the fall of the British Empire.

Answer 7

By the year 300, the Roman Empire stretched from Britain to Egypt – a massive expanse of people, cultures and possible attackers both without and within. Spanning around 1,500 years, from around 753 BCE, to the final sacking of the city in 472 CE, Rome served as the center of an empire and the world.

When Constantine I made Christianity the official state religion in 324 CE, he ended the first major stage of Christianity and began a new era that continues mainly unchanged today. While the benefits of the ‘legitimization’ of the faith are debatable, official state recognition didn’t come cheaply. The previous century saw constant conflicts between the state and the church, and a series of persecutions.

“Christians made use of the peace Rome had secured to travel and extend their churches. At the same time imperial attacks upon Christians and their leadership heightened as the Roman emperors sought to instill greater loyalty among their people. The result was four major waves of persecution. The first of these took place under the rule of Septimus Severus at the beginning of the third century.” (History of the World Christian Movement p. 109.)

A series of violence and attacks against both the flock and leaders of the church created both martyrs and new converts drawn to a religion that gave followers faith to bravely face certain death or torture. Serious violence subsided, until the reign of Decius and an edict in 250 CE that required residents (and not just Roman citizens) to offer sacrifices to the gods recognized by Rome. The subsequent year of persecution was particularly brutal as followers of Christ chose to suffer and die than recognize false gods.

A third wave of persecution swept the Christian community in 258 CE, and another decade of persecution began around 303. The final wave of violence brought attacks against buildings, books, leaders and common followers.

In 312 CE, Constantine began the slow conversion to and state recognition of Christianity. With his deathbed baptism in 337, Constantine completed the official recognition of the once counter-culture philosophy of an itinerant day-laborer from the small village of Capernaum.

Massive trade routes were difficult to maintain and administrative and military problems plagued the huge empire as it staggered on for more than 100 years. Did Christianity hasten the fall, or was the final collapse inevitable, given the expense of controlling the massive occupied regions? Probably not.

The modern result of this institutionalized religion is U.S. flags in church sanctuaries. Surely this isn’t what Christ intended?

Godspeed.

Answer 8

No, it was already crumbling by then due to overexpansion, corruption, a collapsing infrastructure, and constantly having to put down rebellions in the provinces. I have no doubt Christianity did play a part in the fall of that empire but it didn't cause it.

Answer 9

I think it's true that the Roman leadership was chronically lead-poisoned and this led to both Christianity and the fall of the empire. Apparently they were cooking wine-based reduction sauces in lead pots.

Answer 10

when Jesus sent Paul over to Rome that's when it happen God broth Judgment on them