Example: Winning the Barbarians

We are tantalized by reflection that so much was accomplished by informal and almost unconscious sharing of the gospel— e.g. the news and authority of the blessing being extended to all Gentile nations. How much better might it have been if the Romans —during that brief hundred years of official flourishing of Christianity (310-410) prior to the first Gothic invasion of the city of Rome— had been devoted to energetic and intentional missionary effort. Even a little heretical Christianity prevented the Barbarians from that total disregard of civilization which was to be shown by the Vikings in the third period. Perhaps a little more missionary work might have prevented the complete collapse of the governmental structure of the Roman Empire in the West. Today, for example, the ability of the new African states to maintain a stable government is to a great extent dependent upon their degree of Christianization (that is, both in knowledge and morality).

However, hear this argument.    

The cultural disintegration came about, some anthropologists would say, because of the impact the "higher" culture had on the "lower" one. This is not a pejorative judgment. It is a recognition that the barbarians had not built cities. They didn't have the kind of art — painting and sculpture and ceramic work — that was characteristic of the Greco-Roman world. Reading and writing were almost unknown to the barbarians. As any such culture encountered the Greco-Roman world which had all of those things, it would tend to disintegrate. In this situation, Christianity may have made the rapid advances it did because it was able to serve as a positive force in spurring cultural advances. Latourette says, "As it won over the barbarian invaders from the north, Christianity became a major stimulus in stirring them to produce an advanced civilization." Thus, Christianity may have won relatively quick acceptance because it served as a catalyst in cultural rebuilding. Rather than being a destructive threat, Christianity had become a friend to the barbarians' culture. It was thus something to be embraced rather than fought against.