Coming Out Christian in the Roman World

Boin offers a highly original approach to the social and religious anxieties that seized Jesus' followers in the years after his death. The result is not just another new study of early Christianity. Coming Out Christian in the Roman World takes the history of the Roman empire into a wholly new direction. -- Reza Aslan, author of ZEALOT: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JESUS OF NAZARETH In this well written and engaging book about late antiquity, Boin provides us with a thought provoking new take on the origins of Christianity with explanatory power for how we think about ourselves today. Anyone who wonders or worries about religious freedom in the modern world should read Coming out Christian. -- Candida Moss, author of THE MYTH OF PERSECUTION The author provides some thought-provoking points and successfully begins a dialogue with conventional wisdom on this subject. Kirkus An unusual and sometimes alternative, cultural history of late antiquity for those with an affinity for classical civilization. Library Journal Boin has produced a genuinely thought-provoking and imaginative book. Wall Street Journal Boin is an entertaining guide, leading the reader through complex texts, materials, and events with a panoptic gaze, an engaging pace, and humor--like Morgan Freeman narrating March of the Christians. -- John David Penniman, Bucknell University Marginalia Boin is a gifted writer with the rare ability to bring ancient history before modern eyes. The Christian Century One of the excellent points he makes concerns how most early Christians were the quieter ones, who went along with many of the civic/religious ceremonies, and may well have converted more pagans to their faith than the argumentative martyrs. Other topics include the wide variety of Christianities in those early years, Judaism, the cults of Mithras and Isis, and, most of all, just how complex religious life on the ground really was during late antiquity. The Historical Novel Society