Tom Holland on How Christianity Remade the World

In this episode of Honestly, historian Tom Holland explores the rise and lasting impact of Christianity. He argues that the crucifixion of Jesus, rather than his birth, was the crucial turning point that reshaped societal expectations. Holland traces how Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire, its adoption by Emperor Constantine, and its profound influence on Western culture—shaping events like the American and French Revolutions and even today's "woke" movements. He highlights Christianity's subversive nature and the ongoing struggle between its universal message and the exclusion of non-conformists, a topic that remains relevant. In closing, he notes that while Christianity's presence in the West is shrinking, it is experiencing remarkable growth in other parts of the world.