Season 1 • Episode 6
LatestIn the final episode, host Jonathan Phillips explains how Rome exerted its fullest effort to eradicate Christianity. The faith grew stronger as the empires and emperors weakened. It would be the conversion of one man - Constantine the Great - that would fully transform the fortunes of the Christian faith.
Jonathan Phillips attempts to find the answer to the question: How did Christianity grow and develop from just a small, Jewish sect to the largest, and majority, dominant religion of the West?
Production
Actually filmed on ancient roads—rare for budget docs.
Writing
Phillips asks questions the Church prefers unanswered.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Phillips is a rare TV historian who trained as a Byzantine specialist, not a theologian—explaining his skepticism toward institutional narratives.
The series aired on PBS during peak 'historical Jesus' controversy (2015), when Reza Aslan's Zealot and various archaeological scandals made biblical history suddenly mainstream debate.
US
