Women and Children First: Reconfiguring the Roman Family

The Empire faced a crisis in the year 9 A.D. Romans were not reproducing. They weren’t even marrying. Caesar Augustus recognized that this posed a dire threat to the Roman way of life—the empire’s cultural and intellectual heritage, and its homeland security. He made new laws to encourage fertility. He even proposed a pagan “theology of the body.” His successors made more laws. All failed, and eventually it was Christianity that restored and revived the Roman family and Roman world. Here’s the fascinating story of how it happened.

LINKS

Mike Aquilina, The Christian family’s radical roots https://angelusnews.com/faith/the-christian-familys-radical-roots/

Mike Aquilina, How young people shaped Christianity https://angelusnews.com/faith/how-young-people-shaped-christianity/

Mike Aquilina, The Church’s original social justice struggle https://angelusnews.com/faith/the-churchs-long-fight-against-abortion/

Mike Aquilina’s website https://fathersofthechurch.com

Mike Aquilina’s books https://catholicbooksdirect.com/writer/mike-aquilina/

Theme music: Gaudeamus (Introit for the Feast of All Saints), sung by Jeff Ostrowski. Courtesy of Corpus Christi Watershed http://www.ccwatershed.org

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