I recently wrote about how the mighty Persian Empire became a powerful vehicle for the spread of Christianity through much of Asia. That role was unintentional, in the sense that the empire itself followed a very different creed, that of Zoroastrianism, and at various points, the Persian state had brutally persecuted Christians. But in the last days of that empire in the seventh century AD, before its conquest by Islam, the Christian presence became very strong indeed. Unknown to non-specialists,... Read more

I have been posting about the linkage between empires and the shaping of world religions, particularly (by no means exclusively) Christianity. I have especially stressed the role of unintended consequences, of empires doing things that resulted in outcomes utterly different from what they wanted or expected. Man proposes, and God disposes. When we write Christian history, one empire in particular often escapes our attention, and it provides a vast hole in the story. Once upon a time, in the ancient... Read more