Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents:

Chronology for The Church and the Roman Empire (301-490)

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Underground

Up close and personal: St. Agnes of Rome

You be the judge: Do Christians exaggerate the persecutions?

Chapter 2: The Revolution

Up close and personal: Eusebius of Caesarea

You be the judge: Did Constantine force Christianity on unwilling pagans?

Chapter 3: Nicaea

Up close and personal: Who attended the Council of Nicaea?

You be the judge: Did Constantine create the Bible?

Chapter 4: The Empire Christianized

Up close and personal: St. Athanasius of Alexandria

You be the judge: Weren't bishops originally elected by the people?

Chapter 5: Pope Constantius

Up close and personal: five who chucked everything for a life of solitude

You be the judge: None of the early councils of the church were about the eucharist. Doesn't that indicate that no one believed in the real presence of Christ until much later?

Chapter 6: The Counterrevolution

Up close and personal: St. Basil the Great

Chapter 7: The Christian empire and beyond

Up close and personal: St. Ephrem of Syria

You be the judge: Didn't Christianity harm the status of women?

Chapter 8: A tale of two bishops

Up close and personal: St. Monica of Hippo

Chapter 9: An age of Titans

Up close and personal: St. Monica of Hippo

Chapter 10: Decline and fall

Up close and personal: Pilgrims of the fourth century

You be the judge: Isn't the church's Marian piety a fifth-century innovation?

Chapter 11: A lamp in the twilight

Up close and personal: Irish Catholics

You be the judge: Wasn't supreme papal authority an invention of the middle ages?