When Christianity was Pro-Woman, Pro-Child, and Pro-Slave

A while back I tweeted this:

Michael F. Bird @mbird12

I miss the good old days when the Romans hated Christians for being pro-women, pro-slave, and pro-child.

Such a statement may strike some people as incredulous. That is because, at one level, Christianity has been a religion of patriarchy, there have been truly horrific instances of the sexual abuse of children in the church, and the Bible was used to argue for slavery in the antebellum south. One cannot deny such things.

But I want to point out that in the context of the Roman empire, Christianity was perceived as ludicrous precisely because it was pro-woman, pro-child, and pro-slave.

In fact, one pagan critic of Christianity, the philosopher Celsus, ridiculed Christianity as a stupid and servile religion that only attracts and attaches itself to the dregs of society: women, children, and slaves.

This statement [from Celsus] also is untrue, that it is "only foolish and low individuals, and persons devoid of perception, and slaves, and women, and children, of whom the teachers of the divine word wish to make converts." Such indeed does the Gospel invite, in order to make them better; but it invites also others who are very different from these, since Christ is the Saviour of all men, and especially of them that believe, whether they be intelligent or simple; and "He is the propitiation with the Father for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

What was it about Christianity that made it attractive to slaves, women, and children? Why was Christianity one of the preferred religions of the powerless and have-notes, spirituality, support, and solace for those at bottom end of the pyramid of power and privilege, why did it appeal to the disempowered and dominated?

It might be hard to believe that now, but, in its day, Christianity was considered not only a religion but a social system of values that declared that victims were the true victors, that the first will be last and the last will be first, the meek will inherit the earth, true power is mercy not violence, masters should wash the feet of slaves, a husband’s body belonged not to himself but to his wife, child-like faith was what was need to enter the kingdom of God, and there is no hierarchy at the Lord’s table.

If I may riff off Tom Holland, this is the social revolution that Christianity caused in Roman empire, and while it might not look like the egalitarianism and equality that we cherish today, I’d argue that without the Christian revolution we would never have had the revolution of rights and equalities that we enjoy today.

The looming question is, what do we have to do today to capture the same spirit of the first Christian generation, so the pagan or secular critics will look down on us as a miserable lot of slaves, women, and children.