Dominion

Ed West over at Wrong Side of History, his substack site gives us The last shall be first and the first last his review of Tom Holland's Dominion, which is itself a sweeping review of how Christianity shaped Western culture, with even secularism being a Christian idea. The young Tom Holland accepted Gibbon's idea that Christianity had ushered in an era of superstition and credulity which only abated during the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. The deeper he studied, however, the more he saw that this explanation did not accord with facts so much as preferences, even class preferences.

There were cultural movements that were not immediately visible yet ultimately transformative, such as...

Opposition to female infanticide and divorce made the new religion especially attractive to women, who outnumbered men in the early church. Even women of the lowest class could, absurdly, rise to heights in a way unthinkable in Roman society, even if the price was very high. Blandina, a slave girl in late second century Gaul, was tortured and executed for her faith, and yet with her courage and nobility she had triumphed in death, worshipped in churches where it was said her broken body appeared transfigured. ‘That a slave, “a slight, frail, despised woman”, might be set among the elite of heaven, seated directly within the splendour of God’s radiant palace, ahead of those who in the fallen world had been her immeasurable superiors, was a potent illustration of the mystery that lay at the heart of the Christian faith.’(West's words, with the internal quote being Holland's.)

West covers a lot of territory quickly and seems especially concerned to call into question the assumptions of the chattering classes over the last 200 years, so You know I'm interested straight through. Thanks to Rob Henderson in his year-end post for finding it.