The History of Buddhist Thought c31.252

c31.252

The Church was not only a society, but it was also a community of faith. It was a community which was united by a common belief in the divinity of Christ, and in the salvation which he had brought to the world. This faith was not merely a set of intellectual propositions, but it was a living reality, which transformed the lives of those who held it. It was this faith which gave the Church its strength, and which enabled it to survive the persecutions, and to emerge as the dominant force in the Roman Empire.