The Triumph of Christianity

How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World

By: Bart D. Ehrman

Narrated by: George Newbern

From the New York Times bestselling author of Miquoting Jesus comes the “marvelous” (Reza Aslan, bestselling author of Zealot) story of how Christianity became the dominant religion in the West.

How did a religion whose first believers were twenty or so illiterate day laborers in a remote part of the empire became the official religion of Rome, converting some thirty million people in just four centuries? In The Triumph of Christianity, early Christian historian Bart D. Ehrman weaves the rigorously-researched answer to this question “into a vivid, nuanced, and enormously readable narrative” (Elaine Pagels, National Book Award–winning author of The Gnostic Gospels), showing how a handful of charismatic characters used a brilliant social strategy and an irresistible message to win over hearts and minds one at a time.

This “humane, thoughtful and intelligent” book (The New York Times Book Review) upends the way we think about the single most important cultural transformation our world has ever seen—one that revolutionized art, music, literature, philosophy, ethics, economics, and law.

Critic reviews

“How did a small, provincial Jewish sect called Christianity convert the mighty pagan Roman Empire? Bart Ehrman answers this baffling question with the same wit, passion, and rigorous scholarship that have made him one of the most popular religion writers in the world today. The Triumph of Christianity is a marvelous book.”
— Reza Aslan, New York Times bestselling author of Zealot

“The great appeal of Ehrman’s approach to Christian history has always been his steadfast humanizing impulse... Ehrman always thinks hard about history’s winners and losers without valorizing the losers or demonizing the winners… Reading about how an entire culture’s precepts and traditions can be overthrown without anyone being able to stop it may not be heartening at this particular historical moment. All the more reason to spend time in the company of such a humane, thoughtful and intelligent historian.”
— The New York Times Book Review

“Drawing on a wealth of ancient sources and contemporary historical research, Bart Ehrman weaves complex questions into a vivid, nuanced, and enormously readable narrative.”
— Elaine Pagels, National Book Award-winning author of The Gnostic Gospels

“Like a good college lecture class, [Ehrman’s] book offers both a wealth of historical information and, to make sense of it all, a few plausible theories — including his own. He doesn’t tell us what to think. He gives us a lot to think about.”
— Newsday

“The value of Ehrman’s book, as is so often the case with his writings, is in his ability to synthesize complex material and distill it into highly readable prose.”
— Booklist

“Well worth reading for those wishing to dispel myths around the early Christian churches.”
— Publishers Weekly

“One of Christian history’s greatest puzzles after the age of the apostles is how a tiny band of mostly-illiterate outsiders converted the proud and massive Roman Empire in just three centuries — a historical blink of an eye. In The Triumph of Christianity, Ehrman brings impressive research, intellectual rigor, and an instinct for storytelling to this extraordinary dynamic.”
— David Van Biema, former religion writer at Time and author of the forthcoming Speaking to God

“Accessible and intriguing.”
— Kirkus Reviews

“Bart Ehrman is the leading expert on early Christian texts and here he takes the story on into the fourth century in a vivid and readable narrative that explores why Christianity “triumphed” as a world religion. The work is particularly valuable for its critical survey of the work of other scholars in the field.”
— Charles Freeman, author of A New History of Early Christianity

Another Winner

Another great book on the history of Christianity. Ehrman's books are incredible. While this one is a little deeper and might take more than one read, I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about how Christianity grew and the background of the era it grew in.

Good scholarship but doesn't answer the question that it pretends to address

Good scholarship as you would expect from the author but s bit dry and repetitive. Worse of all
doesn't answer the question that it pretends to address.

Excellent as always!

I find that Professor Ehrman does an excellent job with his intellectual honesty in a most difficult subject. If you are a conservative in your religious beliefs, you probably won't like him. He pushes against what some believe to be faith, the inerrancy of the Bible and its assumes historical stories that follow. It is not orthodox, yet it is important historical information. Well done!

Excellent work!

In short, I've read all of ehrmans books and this, along with lost christianities, might just be his best. If you're a religious history nerd like me you're going to find many things to love here. I think his chapter on the evangelism of Paul might be my favorite here. Though the epic chronology of the rise of Christian persecution and ultimately pagan persecution within about 80 years, is something worth remembering.

If you enjoy this subject matter this is wrll written and well researched. Excellent work as always Bart. Lets do lunch sometime!

In Depth Indroduction to the First Centuries

As a overview of the first several centuries of Christianity it is very enlightening in showing how and why the religion grew. It does not defend Christianity in any way, just tells the story of it's rise over the religions and Gods of the early Roman empire. I would liked to have heard more about the Christian adoption of 'pagan' holidays, but most of those may have happened beyond the time frame of this book.
Don't look for any apologetics or defense of Christianity, it's not here - this is just a history of its early growth.