Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall Of the Roman Empire

     I would like to begin by encouraging everyone to read, as a way of corrective to Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Christopher Dawson's essay, "Edward Gibbon and the Fall of Rome."  Contrary to Gibbon, Dawson recognized that, in the history of the the Western world, there is no more momentous occurrence than the spread of Christianity.  It is this event which gives social and political meaning to the division of history into B.C. and A.D.
     Adler, in his introduction to the Gibbon's reading, argues that the replacement of paganism by Christendom represents a profound, perhaps the most profound, change in the moral and spiritual character of western life as it revolutionized society and human life.
     It certainly seems very intentional that Adler begins his reflections of Gibbon's writing in this manner particularly because he points out Gibbon's general skepticism.  Adler also recognizes that it is an unfair and indeed an unwise procedure to speak in any summary manner about such a work of such a massive scale.   With a work so large in scope, by reading just a few chapters of that work could easily lead to misreadings.  Adler selected the portion he did because he points out that the Roman emperors during the first 200 years of Christianity are worth understanding.  Adler, also encourages the readers who are reading Gibbon's massive work  to read the works of history by Tacitus and Livy.  I believe that Adler did this as additional corrective to Gibbon. 
     It is indeed striking to realize that from 180 A.D. to 323 A.D. there were twenty-five emperors. Adler makes it pretty clear that Gibbon's attitude towards Christianity is indeed less than friendly and objective.   However, Adler states that Gibbon does not hide this bias (154). 
     Some questions that Adler encourages us to consider as we make our way through this work. 
1) How does the rise of Christianity relate to the decline and fall of the Roman Empire?
2) Is Gibbon a determinist in his view of history?
3) Does Gibbon seem to think that history moves in a pattern that is unchangeable according to laws of its own nature so that it accomplishes its own end?
4) What were the strengths and weaknesses of the Christian religion?