Chapters

1. History’s Story
2. Wanderers and Settlers: The Ancient Middle East to 400 B.C.
3. The Chosen People: Hebrews and Jews, 2000 B.C. to A.D. 135
4. Trial of the Hellenes: The Ancient Greeks, 1200 B.C. to A.D. 146
5. Imperium Romanum: The Romans, 753 B.C. to A.D. 300
6. The Revolutionary Rabbi: Christianity, the Roman Empire, and Islam, 4 B.C. to A.D. 1453
7. From Old Rome to the New West: The Early Middle Ages, A.D. 500 to 1000
8. The Medieval Mêlée: The High and Later Middle Ages, 1000 to 1500
9. Making the Modern World: The Renaissance and Reformation, 1400 to 1648
10. Liberation of Mind and Body: Early Modern Europe, 1543 to 1815
11. Mastery of the Machine: The Industrial Revolution, 1764 to 1914
12. The Westerner’s Burden: Imperialism and Nationalism, 1810 to 1918
13. Rejections of Democracy: The InterWar Years and World War II, 1917 to 1945
14. A World Divided: The Early Cold War, 1945 to 1993
15. Into the Future: The Contemporary Era, 1991 to the Present

• Epilogue: Why Western Civilization?

Theme

Summaries

Keywords

Review Questions

Study Guide for Chapter 6
The Revolutionary Rabbi Christianity, the Roman Empire, and Islam, 4 B.C. to A.D. 1453

Primary Sources | Art History | Links

Theme

Christianity transformed the culture of the Roman Empire, but it falls, and Islam rises as a new competing culture.

Summaries

The Son of Man
Yeshua benJoseph of Nazareth became Jesus Christ and gave birth to the new religion of Christianity.

The Cultural War
The Romans persecuted Christians at first, next Constantine legalized the faith, then later emperors made Christianity the state religion.

Roma Delenda Est
Rome was once again destroyed, this time by Germanic invaders who became the rulers of Western Europe.

Struggle for the Realm of Submission
The rise of the culture of Islam and Arabic power claimed large parts of the former Roman Empire.

Keywords

The Son of Man
Christianity, Yeshua of Nazareth / “Jesus Christ” (b. ca. 7-4 BC-d. ca. AD 30), Gospels, Messiah, orthodoxy, heresy, Gnosticism, New Testament, apostolic succession, secular clergy, bishops, councils, baptism, Eucharist, excommunication

The Cultural War
Paul of Tarsus (d. ca. AD 65), paganism, heathenism, martyrs, Constantine, Constantinople, Edict of Milan (313), saints, Council of Nicaea (325), Arianism, intellectualism, anti-intellectualism

Roma Delenda Est
Augustine of Hippo (d. AD 430), pacifism, Huns, Germanic barbarian migrations, vandalism, Germanic barbarian kingdoms, Byzantium or Byzantine Empire (527-1453), cæsaro-papism, Emperor Justinian (r. 527-565), Justinian Code, Slavs

Struggle for the Realm of Submission
Islam, Muslims, islamization, arabization, mysticism

Review Questions

• How did the new religion of Christianity begin and define itself?
• How did conflicts among the Jews, Christians, and pagans lead to the Romans creating a new cultural landscape?
• How did the Roman Empire fall in the West, yet not in Easern Europe?
• How did Islam rise as a rival civilization?

Other Questions

• What was the importance of religion in the ancient world? Consider the following questions: What religious forms did the first peoples have? How did religion serve the needs of the Middle Eastern civilizations? What changes did the Greeks and Romans bring to beliefs? How were Judaism, Christianity, and Islam different from other religions and from each other?
• What were the success and failures of empires in the ancient world? You might consider the following questions: How did the first empires come about? What were the strengths and weaknesses of the universal empires of Assyria and Persia? How did the Greeks fail at empire yet succeed at civilization? How did the Roman Empire arise out of a crisis, create more crises, and yet survive for several centuries? What caused the ultimate failure of the western portion of the Roman Empire, and what were its consequences?