Christianity beats people to death with its bare hands.

I thought it was interesting that the opening of Prudentius’ work provide so visceral an image of Christianity supplanting the old gods. The imagery makes the action of religious change into a heated and bloody battle.  The imagery of the old gods portrays their rites in a foul and disgusting manner; their mouths described as “sated on the blood of cattle” contrast with the image of Faith as some kind of proto Joan of Ark. The battle itself is described in a gruesome manner accentuating the violence of the clash. The raw imagery of a throat gasping for breath and eyes stomped marks out a very aggressive approach to the spread of Christianity. It was also interesting that Prudentius described faith as the one who first seeks out a fight. Faith’s challenge is both a sign indicating the bellicose nature of Christianity’s spread in Prudentius’ view and the reversal of the Roman ideal of not attacking without being attacked. The overall picture of Faith, while adorned with some positive aspects, extols faith and conversion as aggressive and violent acts. It will be interesting to see how else Prudentius approaches Christian material.