Tim Whitmarsh

The compelling, provocative account of how the Christian religion conquered the Roman Empire and how Rome in turn shaped Christianity—it's the story of how religion and politics combined to lay the foundations for the Western world. How did Christianity, starting out as a minor offshoot of Judaism, grow into an international faith that shaped the world as we know it?...

How new is atheism? In Battling the Gods, Tim Whitmarsh journeys into the ancient Mediterranean to recover the stories of those who first refused the divinities. Long before the Enlightenment sowed the seeds of disbelief in a deeply Christian Europe, atheism was a matter of serious public debate in the Greek world. But history is written by those who prevail,...