Deciding: Conscious Efforts to Convert

            The conversion of Paralios from his native paganism to Christianity is most easily looked at through the lens of the cultural nuances of the time. Christianity was slowly gaining followers in the few centuries after the death of Christ. Romans were mostly content to let these monotheists alone until it seemed that the pax deorum had been broken. With the good fortune of the Roman Empire declining, the people and rulers turned on the Christians and demanded not that they give up the worship of their god, but that they also sacrifice to the Roman gods who protected the empire and its interests. During these times, the conversion rates must have been much lower, as public sermonizing and open conversion were quite improbable.  Following this time, Christianity was accepted and then embraced as Rome’s main religion.

            Even before the time of Jesus and the Christians, the beginnings of the decline of Roman paganism can be seen. Marcus Tullius Cicero claims that by his time there were scores of gods, both the old gods of Rome and new ones constantly being deified or invented. Cicero first discusses and then refutes both Stoicism and Epicureanism. He says, “What can compare with the absurdity either of endowing mean and unshapely objects with the honors of divinity, or of ranking among the gods men already cut off by death, whose worship would have had to consist entirely in mourning?” (Cicero, De Natura Deorum XV). He opposes the clearly widespread invention of new gods and goddesses, though he does not oppose religion itself. He comments that religion is useful as a social tool for controlling and relegating the behaviors of mortals. He details the beginning of the Romans leaving behind paganism in their search for truth and philosophy. He himself is very critical of all things which are not tangible and thus his opinion is perhaps not entirely indicative of the entire Roman Empire’s belief system. Yet as a representative of the system of the system and age in which he both learned and lived, and taking into account the influence he carried with his rhetoric, it seems likely that his opinions were shared by at least a portion of the population. With the decline of the Roman religion already at hand, the conversion of the people from paganism to Christianity is more readily believable.

            Ramsay MacMullen declares that people were attracted to Christianity because of miracles and that the people seeing these miracles “believed in the word, on the very instant, and leaving all, followed” (Paganism in the Roman Empire, 95). He postulates that mass conversions must have occurred for the numbers of those converted to have grown so rapidly. He quotes Marcus Aurellius as proof that people only believe in the gods when there is proof of their impact on the realm of mortals. He insists that the very core of conversion is belief and that without belief, one would not convert. So, despite the abundance of cults and secret religions, Christianity won out over the other religions on account of its miracles and the abundant proofs God offered men of the time toward his existence. His theory is supported by the story of the sterile wife in Paralios’ conversion. Asclepiodotus wished for children and, being unable to have any, he sought divine assistance. First, he takes his wife to the temple of Isis (or a demon using that name and persona). After offering numerous sacrifices, his wife remained sterile. At the bidding of people at the temple, he “had intercourse with the stone statue which represented Isis and then, after the stone, he had intercourse with his wife” (Scholasticus, pkt. 132). When this also fails, he eventually pays a woman for her child and tells everyone that a miracle was performed.  Paralios is convinced by this story and offers it as proof of paganism. His belief in paganism is reinforced by this fabrication. MacMullen’s theory about miracles begetting conversion is therefore supported by this story.

            Yet the problem with this theory is that when Paralios tells the story to Stephen, he disregards it because there is still no concrete proof. Stephen has not seen the miracle himself and dismisses it because the woman would also be giving milk. This logic seems very rational, but the text does not indicate that either man determined for themselves that the mother did or did not give milk, and so this dismissal of the miracle is as arbitrary as the original fable itself. Both lack tangible proof of any kind. However, Paralios accepts Stephen’s rationale and asks the pagan philosophers. They are unable to convince him of the validity of the story and, as a result, Paralios then leaves behind paganism. MacMullen says that these same kinds of miracle stories are told on both sides of the spectrum. There are Christian miracle stories of turning water to wine et cetera which MacMullen cites as being evidence of mass conversions that drove the number of Christians in Rome to higher and higher numbers.

Following this incident, the demon/goddess, Isis, appears to Paralios in a dream and stirs up trouble between him and a friend. When Paralios attempts to get answers from the deity, he waited for a long time and offer(ed) a number of sacrifices, Paralios became irritated and no longer had any doubts about the falsity of the evil doctrines of the demons (Scholasticus, pkt. 134).  He then begins to convert entirely to Christianity.  Therefore, it seems that Paralios first converted partially to paganism on account of the miracle he believed to prove the existence of the pagan gods and then, when he thinks about the miracle and the story itself, he recants his conversion. So while MacMullen may have the right idea in thinking that conversions are led by miracles, it seems that this story of Paralios suggests this is a false and temporary conversion.

Rodney Stark offers a different theory as to the immense growth of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. He suggests that the growth can be mapped out mathematically and followed through to its completion along the lines of social networks. He disagrees with MacMullen on the matter of mass conversion, claiming instead that these mass conversions are not needed to explain the phenomenon. He first attempts to quantify the number of converts in an effort to graph the rate of conversion. To begin, he assigns a conservative number of 1000 Christians in the year 40 A.D. He then says that “40 percent per decade seems the most plausible estimate of the rate at which Christianity actually grew during the first several centuries. He cites the excavations of a third century house church as evidence of the growth spurt which seems to have occurred between 250 and 300 AD. Stark checks his figures against a number of sources which are modern and ancient, as well as biblical and secular.  He then goes on to argue against the theory of mass conversion saying that spontaneous crowd conversion “assumes that doctrinal appeal lies at the heart of the conversion process. But modern social science… claim(s) that most people do not really become very attached to the doctrines of their new faith until after their conversion” (Stark, 14).  Therefore, he argues that it is not the miracles which attracted people, but something else entirely.

Stark then offers an alternate theory for the reason people convert to a new belief structure. Through his efforts in witnessing modern conversion, Stark determines that “conversion is not about seeking or embracing an ideology; it is about bringing one’s religious behavior into alignment with that of one’s friends and family members” (16). In this way, he suggests that conversion occurs along social networking lines. First only people who are close to current members convert. This follows social science theories on the conformity of groups of people. As the social networks begin to branch out, more and more people are introduced to the religion. In the case of Christianity, as the numbers grew so did the number of people being exposed to the religion. In Rome, it was perfectly acceptable to worship the Christian god, and many undoubtedly tried out this new religion in their religious forays. As the practice spread, the acceptance of it and the familiarity with Christianity also spread.

            The conversion of Paralios can be examined with this theory in mind. Scholasticus tells his readers that Paralios was raised a pagan by two of his brothers.  He leaves their company to study abroad with the grammarian, Horapollon, who was “full of admiration for demons and magic” (Scholasticus, pkt. 130).  In his interactions with Horapollon, Paralios himself becomes more pagan, he conforms to the religious tendencies of his companion.  After some time, Paralios wishes to see his brother and does so, despite the warnings of his brothers against this very action. His brother, Athanasius, has been studying with Stephen, a man of Christian faith. Together they dispel the pagan notions which Paralios then still carries through persuasion and rhetoric.  Stephen tells Paralios to judge what he has said against what the pagans will tell him. In doing this, Paralios goes to men he does not know and has a conversation with them about their beliefs. He finds their responses lacking. This supports Stark’s theory about conformity. T he opinions of his brother and Stephen matter more to him than those of a random group of men with whom he shares no particular connection. When he hears the story of the “miracle”, Paralios is temporarily convinced. However, Stephen reasons that this cannot be true and Paralios is disappointed by the lack of concrete proof as to the truth of this story. He conforms a little more to the inclinations of those to whom he is more affiliated.

            The final straw, as it were, for Paralios is the deception of the demon/goddess. When this trouble interferes with his happiness, he recalls that “Stephen and Athanasius had both held long discussions with him about the perversities of evil demons” (133). In these discussions they warned against the very thing which Paralios himself experiences. After this, Paralios begins to truly convert. Stephen aids him in this conversion, encouraging him to cease offering his prayers to the Roman Gods and offer them only to the Christian god. Stephen hoped “to accustom him, little by little, to true doctrines” (134). He denounces the pagan gods who have failed him and conforms to the god of his brother and friend.  Thus, Stark’s model of conversion seems to hold relatively true. Paralios is first introduced to Christianity by his brother and then slowly his ideas about belief and religion change. At first he is reticent and holds on to paganism, but he grows more accustomed to it and eventually abandons his former religion in favor of it.

            In determining a theory to explain the conversion of Paralios, it is helpful to look at the conversion of the Roman people en masse. At the time of Constantine, approximately ten percent of the population had already converted. Constantine and his successors set about integrating Christianity into the cultural and political system of Rome. By combining the holidays and customs of paganism and Christianity, the people of Rome were more easily converted to a religion which they already halfway practiced. They were able to retain their celebrations and the things to which they were accustomed. The pagan Romans were only giving up monotheism in exchange for all that Christianity offered as well as a conformity to what was socially acceptable. From this perspective, Paralios did little else but to cease offering his prayers and sacrifices to many gods and instead offered them only to one. The miracles still existed to be awed by, the social network was still in place, and he was accepted by his peers for doing so.  In short, he lost nothing by converting and gained alliance with people whose opinions were of consequence to him.

            In addition, perhaps the decision to convert had taken place before any of the events which Scholasticus relates. While studying the pagan grammarian, Paralios decides to go and see his Christian brother. His brothers have warned him against this, on account of Athanasius’ religion. Therefore, I deduce that some danger of conversion already existed. By making this decision, Paralios consciously decides to seek out, or at least opens himself up to, this new religion. This argument implies that conversion is a conscious effort, that one does not randomly convert amidst a crowd. Or perhaps, one can convert in a crowd, but that this conversion cannot be total until the individual agrees that he/she will maintain this belief as a permanent part of his/her own belief system. Consequently, by being exposed to Christianity, the seeds were already planted for conversion. Familiarity and comfort with its doctrines and lifestyle slowly acclimates Paralios to Christianity and allows him to finally choose to convert. He does not do so automatically, he first reasons his way through and determines that his former religion is lacking and the new one is more compatible with his own changing ideas.

            In conclusion, I found MacMullen’s theory to be plausible only for the short term, for perhaps the initial and/or public conversion. Following that moment, conscious effort by the individual is required for the new convert to continue to accept the ideals and manners. Stark’s theory of conformity is easier to accept, on the basis that Christianity can only have grown at such rates with an active social network. Human efforts spread the religion and close ties between families cemented it. However, his theory fails to take into account that a religion must be fundamentally compatible and reflect the ideas of the time in order to work. The times of Rome were changing and a new religion was needed. Paganism had already begun its decline and Christianity rose to supplant it. The manner in which this occurred surely included both some larger conversions and also a great deal of private religious discussions among friends. However, it required that each person decide that they agreed with the basic tenets and that they found it compatible with the lifestyle that they were already leading. Rome had set it herself up to only function with religion assisting it. Religion served a social function, giving people a reason to celebrate and gather. controlled and stabilized the populous, giving them a set of basic rules and guidelines to follow. As Roman paganism became less stable, a new foundation was needed upon which the empire could rest.