The narrative of Christianity’s impact on civilization has been under assault for decades, particularly in Western academic circles dominated by secularism and postmodernism. Yet, a curious shift is occurring. A new breed of secular and even atheistic historians are reevaluating the legacy of Christianity—not as an oppressive superstition, but as the foundational moral engine behind the freedoms, rights, and humanitarian ideals that modern societies hold dear. One of the most prominent voices in this reappraisal is British historian and atheist Tom Holland, whose bestselling book Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World argues that Christianity fundamentally transformed the Western world in ways few appreciate today.
This blog post will explore how Christianity has changed the world for the good, using Holland’s work as a springboard. We will then broaden the discussion with insights from other secular and Christian historians, showing that the Christian worldview has been—and remains—a civilizational force for justice, compassion, and human dignity.
Tom Holland’s “Dominion”: Christianity’s Unexpected Legacy
Tom Holland is no Christian apologist. His earlier works focused on the pagan world of Greece and Rome, often with admiration for their military and cultural accomplishments. But as he dug deeper into the ancient world, a disturbing realization hit him: the values he cherished—like equality, the dignity of the individual, care for the weak, and moral accountability—were alien to the classical pagan world.
In Dominion, Holland traces how Christianity upended the moral assumptions of ancient empires. The crucifixion of Jesus—a shameful, humiliating execution by Roman standards—became, to the early Christians, a symbol of divine power expressed through weakness. This turned the ancient honor-shame culture on its head.
“It is, at once, the most famous, and the most shocking, execution in history,” Holland writes. “To be a god—and to suffer as a slave! It was so contradictory as to be almost unthinkable.”
Holland explains how Christianity’s central moral revolution—elevating the poor, the oppressed, and the outcast—reverberated through Western culture. Concepts like universal human rights, the idea of moral progress, and the value of humility all stem from Christian theological soil. Even secular humanism, Holland contends, is unintelligible apart from Christianity’s influence.
Compassion, Hospitals, and Human Dignity
Historian Rodney Stark, in The Rise of Christianity and The Victory of Reason, builds on the theme by tracing how Christianity’s view of the imago Dei—the belief that all people are made in the image of God—led to radically compassionate responses to suffering. In contrast to the indifference of pagan elites toward the sick and the poor, early Christians risked their lives during plagues to care for the infected, seeing in the least of these the image of Christ.
This Christian ethic birthed the modern hospital movement. Stark documents how bishops in the early Church organized systematic care for the sick and established institutions that became the prototypes for hospitals. In the Middle Ages, monasteries provided medical care as a spiritual duty, a legacy that remains etched into the medical symbols we still use today—like the cross on ambulances and the names of hospitals (St. Jude, St. Mary’s, etc.).
The Sanctity of Life and the Abolition of Infanticide
Both Holland and Stark note how Christianity’s revolutionary view of human life clashed with pagan practices such as infanticide and exposure. In Greco-Roman culture, unwanted babies—especially girls—were routinely abandoned to die. Christianity categorically rejected this, teaching that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death.
By the fourth century, as Christian influence spread through the Roman Empire, the practice of exposing infants became illegal. This was not just social evolution—it was the result of the Christian insistence that even the least, the powerless, and the unborn are made in the image of God.
The Abolition of Slavery
Modern activists often attempt to blame Christianity for the existence of slavery, ignoring the historical fact that slavery was ubiquitous in every ancient civilization. What distinguished Christianity was not the immediate abolition of slavery, but its radical subversion of slavery’s moral foundation.
The Apostle Paul’s words in Galatians—“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free… for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28, ESV)—planted seeds that would ultimately crack the moral legitimacy of slavery. Holland notes how Paul’s appeal to Philemon on behalf of Onesimus was unheard of in the ancient world: a spiritual equal, not merely property.
This Christian ethic bore fruit centuries later in the abolition movements of William Wilberforce and other Christians in England and America. Historian David Brion Davis, a secular scholar, acknowledged that the Christian worldview was the bedrock of the anti-slavery movement.
Women, Marriage, and the Family
In the ancient world, women were often treated as property or second-class citizens. Female infanticide was widespread, and marital fidelity was expected only of women.
Christianity revolutionized this dynamic. The New Testament upheld the equal value of men and women before God. Wives were to be loved “as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25, ESV)—a radical command in its cultural setting. Early Christian communities welcomed female leaders and martyrs, and the Church became a refuge for women escaping abusive practices.
Historians like Kyle Harper (From Shame to Sin) demonstrate how Christian sexual ethics reshaped Roman society, restraining male dominance and exalting marital fidelity. Even if many modern feminists reject Christianity today, their demands for equality trace back to moral foundations laid by the Church.
Education and Literacy
The Christian emphasis on Scripture—on reading the Word of God—led to widespread literacy efforts, beginning in monasteries and expanding into cathedral schools and universities.
The very concept of the university, with its rigorous structure and curriculum, was a Christian invention. Oxford, Cambridge, the Sorbonne, and later Harvard and Yale were founded to train Christian clergy and scholars.
Even today, Bible translation efforts led by Christians contribute significantly to global literacy. As missiologist Lamin Sanneh noted, Christian missions often brought written language to oral cultures, not to dominate, but to empower through literacy and dignity.
Law, Justice, and the Modern West
Legal systems throughout Europe were profoundly shaped by Christian moral assumptions: objective truth, human dignity, the sinfulness of man (requiring checks and balances), and the rule of law.
Canon law provided a framework for modern legal thought. The idea that even kings are under a higher law flows directly from biblical teaching. English common law, so influential in the development of American constitutionalism, was steeped in a Christian understanding of justice and order.
Lord Acton, a Catholic historian, famously said, “Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.” This principle—moral liberty bound by higher truth—is a thoroughly Christian idea.
Modern Atheists Benefiting from a Christian Inheritance
Ironically, many contemporary secular progressives champion causes rooted in Christianity—while denying their origins. Holland comments that modern Westerners often assume they are “moral without God,” unaware that their definition of morality was shaped by the crucified God of Christianity.
Even atheists like Yuval Noah Harari (in Sapiens) concede that the concept of human equality is not a scientific fact but a theological idea rooted in the Bible. Without Christianity, there is no compelling reason to believe that all humans have equal worth or inalienable rights.
Conclusion: Christianity as the Wellspring of Western Good
Christianity has not been without its failures. Hypocrisy, corruption, and violence have occurred under the banner of the cross. But the transformative power of biblical Christianity—when rightly lived—has been undeniably positive for civilization.
Even secular historians like Tom Holland are now recognizing that the very values they cherish—compassion, equality, dignity, and justice—did not arise from Rome, Greece, or the Enlightenment. They are fruits of the Christian gospel.
As modern society drifts further from its Christian roots, it would do well to remember that the good it loves—the dignity of the individual, the elevation of the weak, the pursuit of justice—owes more to Jesus of Nazareth than to any emperor, philosopher, or revolutionary.
S.D.G.,
Robert Sparkman
christiannewsjunkie@gmail.com
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