O'Donnell looks at 3rd and 4th century C.E. to examine the transition from paganism to Christianity in the Roman Empire. To the extent possible, he tries to open up the mindset of Roman citizens of the period and the role religion played in their lives. He shows that the notion of pagans and paganism is actually a Christian construct, meaning that the new religion, in order to define itself, elaborated a systematic pagan mindset to label what was really a diffuse cosmic understanding that varied enormously from place to place and across social classes. O'Donnell is unapologetically erudite but not formal. Thoughtful and not dull, but not an easy read, either.
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