Why people chose Christianity over Paganism in the middle ages

[Eneru112]

Is there a reason everyone just suddenly converted to Christianity in the early middle ages? What made them think Christianity was 'better' than Paganism?

[Lordinquisitor]

No expert on that matter; But christianity was sometimes spread through fire and the sword.

On other occasions it offered more political advantages and i`m certain a bad education, a bad life and the promise of eternal bliss are further reasons why people converted.

[Requies]

I suppose it was the rise of the Messiah on Earth. Maybe pagan gods were rather timid...

[NotYetRegistered]

The promise of a good life if you believed in Jesus after death appealed many people of the lower-class. Besides, the Roman Empire had made it it's state religion.

At least, that's what I think.

[John ''True Grit'' Wayne]

Well i think people who worshipped pagan things were attacked.Like witches were burned.

[Brain_in_a_vat]

I'm only speculating, but I would have thought because heaven and eternal happiness sounded mighty fine to the masses, who on the whole led appalling lives and died relatively young.

[John ''True Grit'' Wayne]

I'm only speculating, but I would have thought because heaven and eternal happiness sounded mighty fine to the masses, who on the whole led appalling lives and died relatively young.

Their lives did not get any better after converting.The black plague came and the pagans got the blame

[Brain_in_a_vat]

I was talking about the afterlife. No doubt heaven was very enticing considering the generally horrible lives of peasants and common folk in the middle-ages.

[Meneth]

The promise of eternal joy almost certainly helped.
Plus, Christianity was often spread through violence.
Also, it likely appealed to the ruling class, who could use its laws to control the populace.

[Mythos]

It didn't happen in the Middle Ages, more like late Antiquity. When Constantine converted there were around 5% Christians in the whole Roman empire. After him, more Roman emperors followed his faith and gradually made it so that Christianity was a requisite for serving in the imperial bureaucracy. Quite literally, religion trickled down from the emperors to the masses, especially in the east, less so in the west, probably because of less urbanisation in the west. The Goths' conversion to Christianity was because of the various treaties between them and the Romans and subsequent settlements of the Goths in the Empire.

[LSJ]

It makes sense how Christianity spread so much in its early years. The elite of the empire, which ruled most of Europe, and a lot of north Africa and the middle east, became Christian. If high society and the organizations that run the known world are Christian, it is no wonder that it trickled down. The cultures that came later either were absorbed into the already dominant religion of Christianity, or else influenced as neighbours through trade, and later subjugated by the newly Christian peoples.

Paganism in the middle ages was defeated by Christianity through the same mechanism, as well as through swords. In England during the 'viking' occupation, the leadership of the invaders converted. It was the kings and priests who were made Christian, and the religion quickly spread downward from them. In areas where this did not happen, like the Baltic, Christianity was forced upon the people.

Christianity didn't stay alive in the middle east and Africa because it was only a couple hundred years after the explosion of the religion in the Roman Empire that Islam came along, and did exactly what Christianity was doing, to Pagans outside of Europe.

[Stavroforos]

Because the Christians effectively manage to destroy the beliefs of the pagans, through either direct legislation or simply by not allowing pagans to become members of a society.

Or, in other words, Christ destroyed the pagan gods.

[Marie Louise von Preussen]

Christianity was a highly syncretistic and extremely popular cult. It's early adherents were often women and the downtrodden, and it is easy to see why a cult with such a mass appeal would spread like wildfire together with a fiery missionary drive. By comparison, the Roman state cults were neither missionary (one simply did not "convert" to the Roman pantheon, in the same way as one does not "convert" to Hinduism), nor were they easily accessible in their entirety to the masses, nor did they hold many points of appeal to them.

Add to it the fact that the dogmatic nature of Christianity lead to it pretty much levelling down the religious syncretism of the Empire into a desert, and many people simply lost their competing alternatives. By the time the Empire fell, it was so associated with the Roman ecumene that many tribes saw it as prestigious to adopt early Catholicism.

[Dr. Croccer]

The popular answer is by force, but that's a bit erroneous. Christianity was spread into Europe as much by peaceful missionaries, if not more.

[Phier]

Christianity has far more appeal than most Paganism I think. It makes more sense, is more personal, gives less chaotic rules and a better moral code.

My hunch is that it appealed to the women more than the men as well.

[Tiberios]

My country most likely adopted Christianity to prevent the HRE from having a justified reason to attack us. Then it gradually spread through the population.

[Chukada1]

I like Paganism. What is wrong with it?

[Meneth]

I like Paganism. What is wrong with it?

Maybe you should specify what kind of paganism? Or do you just like paganism in general?

[Marie Louise von Preussen]

It makes more sense, is more personal, gives less chaotic rules and a better moral code

I kindly disagree.

My hunch is that it appealed to the women more than the men as well.

And that's where you are right.

[Bucken]

I dislike Paganism, not evrybody can handle freedom in that way and just a few can easily spoil the whole concept