{"product_id":"christendom-the-triumph-of-a-religion-ad-300-1300-peter-heather-paperback","title":"Christendom: The Triumph of a Religion, AD 300-1300 -- Peter Heather, Paperback","description":"\u003cstrong\u003e\"A colossal book written by a colossus in the field\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e): A major reinterpretation of the religious superstate that came to define both Europe and Christianity itself, by one of our foremost medieval historians.\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the fourth century AD, a new faith grew out of Palestine, overwhelming the paganism of Rome and resoundingly defeating a host of other rival belief systems. Almost a thousand years later, all of Europe was controlled by Christian rulers, and the religion, ingrained within culture and society, exercised a monolithic hold over its population. But how did a small sect of isolated and intensely committed congregations become a mass movement centrally directed from Rome? As Peter Heather shows in this illuminating new history, there was nothing inevitable about Christendom's rise and eventual dominance. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom Constantine the Great's pivotal conversion to Christianity to the crisis that followed the collapse of the Roman empire--which left the religion teetering on the edge of extinction--to the astonishing revolution of the eleventh century and beyond, out of which the Papacy emerged as the head of a vast international corporation, Heather traces Christendom's chameleonlike capacity for self-reinvention, as it not only defined a fledgling religion but transformed it into an institution that wielded effective authority across virtually all of the disparate peoples of medieval Europe. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAuthoritative, vivid, and filled with new insights, this is an unparalleled history of early Christianity.\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e Peter Heather\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Vintage\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\/22\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 752\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/strong\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWeight:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.1 lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 7.9\" H x 5.1\" L x 1.4\" W\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9781101974100\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Flowerburst","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50583965172016,"sku":"9781101974100","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2712\/8368\/files\/9781101974100_9e8cdcca-286c-420b-9601-8a977a907737.jpg?v=1775172708","url":"https:\/\/flowerburst.co\/products\/christendom-the-triumph-of-a-religion-ad-300-1300-peter-heather-paperback","provider":"Flowerburst","version":"1.0","type":"link"}