Persecution, Martyrdom, and the Growth of the Church

Sporadic, local, and often overstated in later memory

Candida Moss

Moss's The Myth of Persecution argues that outside the identifiable empire-wide episodes (Decius, Valerian, Diocletian), most persecution was local, brief, and driven by regional tensions rather than sustained imperial policy, and that later Christian memory constructed a narrative of continuous suffering that outran the evidence.

Real and pervasive, even if not continuous

Paul Middleton; other patristic historians

Middleton and others argue that even sporadic, localized persecution produced a pervasive climate of legal vulnerability and social hostility documented across many regions and periods (Pliny, Lyon, Scillium, Carthage), and that Moss underweights how routinely Christians faced real legal and social risk even between major imperial edicts.

Ordinary network-based conversion and social benefits

Rodney Stark

Stark modeled growth using standard rates found in modern new religious movements, arguing no miracle or mass event is needed to reach several million adherents by 300, driven by social networks, care during plagues, and appeal to women given expanded roles relative to pagan norms.

Persecution and martyrdom themselves as a recruiting and cohesion mechanism

W.H.C. Frend

Frend's Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church argued that public martyrdom accounts functioned rhetorically to demonstrate the faith's power and attract converts impressed by conviction under threat of death, making persecution paradoxically a contributor to growth rather than simply an obstacle.

A core group is substantially reliable

Herbert Musurillo (editor of standard critical edition)

Musurillo's Acts of the Christian Martyrs identifies a smaller set of texts (Polycarp, Scillitan Martyrs, Perpetua) as close to contemporary court records or eyewitness testimony, distinguishing these from later, more legendary passiones composed centuries after the events they describe.

Even 'early' acta show significant literary shaping

Candida Moss; various form critics

Moss and others argue that even the earliest martyrdom accounts are shaped by imitation of Christ's passion and earlier martyr narratives, meaning their value as straightforward historical record needs to be weighed carefully against their function as theological literature.

Limited and largely a later Christian retrospective exaggeration

Leonard Thompson

Thompson's study of Revelation's historical context argued that Domitian's alleged persecution of Christians is thinly attested outside later Christian sources and likely reflects local tension and perceived rather than actual systematic state persecution.

A real, if smaller-scale, persecution occurred

Adela Yarbro Collins

Collins argues some real hostility and possibly localized persecution under Domitian, connected to emperor-cult refusal, is plausible and provides adequate background for Revelation's language of tribulation, even if it fell short of a systematic empire-wide campaign.

Sincere religious conversion

Eusebius; Peter Leithart

Eusebius's Life of Constantine and later Christian historians such as Leithart argue Constantine's own testimony (the reported vision before the Milvian Bridge, his subsequent legislation, and personal correspondence) reflects genuine, if theologically unsophisticated, conversion.

Primarily political calculation

Ramsay MacMullen

MacMullen and other historians of Late Antiquity emphasize that Constantine's actions can equally be explained as shrewd politics — co-opting a growing, organized minority for social cohesion and imperial legitimacy — with sincere belief, if present, secondary to political utility.