In The Triumph of Christianity, Bart Ehrman, a master explainer of Christian history, texts, and traditions, shows how a religion whose first believers were twenty or so illiterate day laborers in a remote part of the empire became the official religion of Rome, converting some thirty million people in just four centuries. The Triumph of Christianity combines deep knowledge and meticulous research in an eye-opening, immensely readable narrative that upends the way we think about the single most important cultural transformation our world has ever seen - one that revolutionized art, music, literature, philosophy, ethics, economics, and law.

Other title information from dust jacket.

The beginning of the end : the conversion of Constantine -- Back to the beginning : the conversion and mission of Paul -- The religious world of conversion : Roman paganism -- Reasons for the Christian success -- Miraculous incentives for conversion -- The growth of the church -- Christians under assault : persecution, martyrdom, and self-defense -- The first Christian emperor -- Conversion and coercion : the beginnings of a Christian empire -- Gains and losses.