Conversión y coacción sexual. La cristianización del Imperio Romano en la reciente historiografía anglosajona

Abstract

Taking as a starting point sorne of the most outstanding recent works of American and British historians, this article attempts to reconsider sorne permanent questions about the interpretation of the Christianization of the Roman Empire. These questions involve the various forms of religious conversion, relations between pagans and Christians and, especially, both the paradoxical role that women played in the historical process characterized by their subjection, and a general denial of everything involving the pleasure of the body. In this respect, both the christianization of woman, and her role in the first Christian Communities may act as a reliable reference to the real changes which took place within Roman Society. The results of this type of analysis could be more enlightening than those which have traditionally been considered decisive, such as the conversion of Constantine.