How did Christianity become global? Join Paula Fredriksen for six fascinating lectures on its early rise.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE GIFFORD LECTURES ARE TAKING PLACE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH INFORMATICS FORUM - NOT INSIDE ST GILES’ CATHEDRAL

Conversions of Christianity
In its earliest form, belief in the coming Kingdom of God emerged within late Second Temple Judaism. Yet within a few generations, this message spread far beyond its Jewish roots, forming predominantly Gentile movements and reshaping ideas of belief, power, and identity. How did “orthodoxy” emerge, and with what political and social consequences? How did one god come to dominate an empire filled with many gods? Across six lectures, this series traces Christianity’s dramatic transformation—from a small Jewish messianic movement to a force at the heart of the late Roman state—by situating it within the vibrant religious, cultural, and political world of the ancient Mediterranean.

Paula Fredriksen is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Aurelio Professor of Scripture emerita at Boston University. She is also Distinguished Visiting Professor emerita in the Department of Comparative Religions at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which awarded her an honorary doctorate in 2018.

Educated at Wellesley College, Oxford University, and Princeton University, Fredriksen is a leading historian of ancient Christianity and the Roman world. Her scholarship explores the social and intellectual history of early Christianity and the complex relations between pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Roman Empire.