Book Review: Soldiering for God: Christianity and the Roman Army

Archives

by John F. Shean

Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2010. Pp. xviii, 452. Illus., notes, biblio., index. $224.00. ISBN: 9004187316

In this work, a volume in Brill’s "History of Warfare" series, Prof. Shean (LaGuardia), takes on the question of the relationship between Christianity and the Roman Army, to demonstrate that the traditional image of pious converts martyred for their pacifism is not only inaccurate, but that in fact the early church was by no means anti-military. 

Displaying a masterful command of the literary, archaeological, and numismatic evidence, Shean opens with a look at the social, moral, and religious status of the warrior in early societies, and goes on to examine the religious experience of the Roman Army.  He then looks at the early Church and its relationship to the army and military service.  Shean shows that, despite modern attempts to portray early Christians as pacifists, there was no inherent moral objection to military service in the early Church, noting, for example, that the many soldier-martyrs were persecuted for refusing to take part in pagan rituals, not for refusing to fight.  He goes on to discuss the evolution of, and religious changes in, the Roman Army from the late-third century into the early fourth, a period in which several faiths supplanted the traditional Capitoline deities.  This, in turn, suggests that Constantine’s conversion was influenced by the fact that Christians had become sufficiently numerous in the ranks to make it a smart move.  There’s much more, of course, such as the Christianization of the state, the “barbarization” of the army, and so forth. 

Soldiering for God is an important work for anyone interested in the rise of Christianity, the later Roman Empire, and the Roman Army.

---///---





Reviewer: A. A. Nofi   


Buy it at Amazon.com

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close