u/Broue

I’m trying to understand the process by which Christianity moved from the margins of Roman society to the centre of imperial power, and eventually became one of the major institutions that survived the collapse of western Roman authority.

What political, social, and institutional factors allowed the Church to gain influence inside the Empire? And after Roman imperial government in the West weakened (and eventually disappeared), why was the Church able to preserve authority and continuity in a way many Roman political institutions could not? How did that survival shape its role in medieval Europe?