The decline of the Roman empire was an important event of the fourth empire. During the same time period, the Christian church gained great power and influence; however, this movement is sometimes less acknowledged as the decline of the Roman empire is more historically promoted. In the chapter, “The Conversion of Christianity” by Peter Brown and in Larry Hurtado’s book, The Earliest Christian Artifacts, information and examples regarding Christianity’s role in taking over the Greco-Roman world are presented. Although both Brown and Hurtado have the same objective to highlight upon the positives of Christianity during the time, they utilize different approaches to do so.

Brown demonstrates the impact of Christianity by describing various leaders and events which impacted culture and society as a whole, while Hurtado depicts their major influence through their preference for codices. Both topics are meant to elucidate Christianity’s great influence on society, their tones differ greatly. Their tone contrasts one another because they direct their pieces to differing audiences. They are similar in the sense that both assume that their audiences already know a sufficient amount of history to understand the time period they are discussing, but Brown strictly focuses on his opinion and strategically collects evidence which defends his perspective. For instance, when Brown introduces that Christianity prepared to absorb a whole society during the fall of the Romans, he claims this even to be “the most important aggornamento in history of the Church.” Brown clearly demonstrates that he believes Christianity was one of the most important influences in the culture of the fourth century, and does not include any information that may oppose this point of view. In this way, his evidence is slightly biased.

In contrast, Hurtado displays his work in an informative and straight-forward manner. He does not intend to put forth his work in order to influence others’ opinion, but rather utilizes an immense amount of statistics, theories, and other forms of evidence which captures all perspectives. For example, Hurtado introduces many individuals who created hypotheses as to why the Christians preferred to use codices and even displays his own ideas; however, he includes the information which can disprove these beliefs to underscore that there is no true answer. In addition, Hurtado includes many footnotes which further demonstrates his credibility and unbiased style.

Brown is much more opinionated and focused on influencing others’ thinking, whereas Hurtado is more factual and covers all beliefs or judgments. Both Brown and Hurtado work is meant to portray the major impact that Christianity had on culture during the time, but they accomplish their purposes in different manners.