Airs Thursdays at 7PM starting Feb. 6
The compelling six-hour series ANCIENT ROADS FROM CHRIST TO CONSTANTINE charts Christianity’s evolution from a small movement to the largest religion in the world, with more than two billion followers. Host Jonathan Phillips, an author and distinguished history professor at Royal Holloway, University of London, journeys into the fascinating world of the early Christians to explore the faith’s long struggle and triumph against the odds.
The series begins in Bethlehem where Phillips traces the journey of Jesus from birth through his life and resurrection. As the series unfolds, Phillips reveals the transformation of the Apostle Paul and his quest to bring Christ’s message to Asia and Europe; how the remaining apostles, except for John, are martyred for their unwavering beliefs in Christianity; and paganism’s decline in the Roman Empire as Christianity gains a foothold in the region.
Phillips also travels to Patmos, a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea, where John (one of the twelve Apostles), wrote the New Testament’s Book of Revelation in a cave; and to North Africa to tell the story of Perpetua, a young Christian martyr.
The series concludes with the Roman Empire’s inability to eradicate Christianity as well as Emperor Constantine’s conversion to the religion and ultimate patronage of the church.
