Ancient Rome

The Roman Empire was unparalleled in the ancient world. With strong a military, technological development, and widespread infrastructure, Rome easily became the undisputed superpower of the Mediterranean. Lurking underneath this greatness was a deadly secret that caused the eventual collapse of the empire. The secret that eroded Rome, as outlined by Francis Schaffer in How Should We Then Live?, was the civilization’s understanding of God.
Rome’s initial understanding of God laid the groundwork for the civilization’s fall. For a worldview to shape a person’s actions, a detailed description of God’s existence and his qualities must be outlined. From one’s definition of God, all other basic worldview questions are related and understood; therefore, the actions of Romans individually and collectively are linked to the civilization’s definition of the divine. In noting the development of this definition in Rome and Greece, the author Francis Schaeffer (1976) states the civilizations initially, “tried to build a society upon their gods. But these gods were not big enough because the...


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...ization’s decline.
In conclusion, the understanding of God in Roman civilization provided the cause of the society’s decline. The concept of the gods provided no moral template for the Roman people, while the Caesars unsuccessfully tried to establish peace around the worship of their emperorship. While the story of Rome is one of great success and tragic loss, the civilization’s history highlights the importance of God in one’s worldview. With a basis of who God is, a person articulates morality, reality, and humanity’s role in history.