Jenna Shealy

Ms. Turner
Western Civilization
10 December 2012
Edward Gibbon: The Fall of Rome
Edward Gibbon believed that Christianity had a major impact on the fall of the Roman Empire.
He was correct, in a way. Christianity did have an impact on the fall of Rome, but it was not a major
factor in the fall of the Roman Empire.
Christianity threatened the unity of the Roman Empire. Rome was a polytheistic community;
they believed in many gods. Christianity is a monotheistic religion; believing in one god. Many of the
people of Rome believed that the priest was a god himself. With the understanding of Christianity, they
felt that they had been betrayed. They realized that if Christianity only had one God, the priest could no
longer be a god as well. This weakened the Roman church.
Another reason Christianity threatened the unity of the empire was that everyone was so
focused on the religion. In Gibbons book The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire he writes, The
church and even the state, were distracted by religious factions, whose conflicts were sometimes
bloody, and always implacable; the attention of the Emperors were diverted from camps to synods.
This was an inner conflict within the empire and led to the empire being vulnerable to attacks from
outsiders.
The Roman Empire was already failing before the rise of Christianity. Rome was engaging in a
civil war and this led to other things that caused the decline of the empire. Economically, farm
production was declining because of the fighting in that the fields were being destroyed. The economy
was being depleted by invasions and other social issues. Therefore, Christianity was not the only reason
for the fall of the Roman Empire, although it did have a small impact on the collapse.
Edward Gibbon believed that Christianity had a major impact on the fall of the Roman Empire;
he had very good facts to back up his beliefs at the time. However, more information has come to light
and it is known that even though Christianity did play a role, it was not a major one.