"Beyond the Empire is a narrative which recounts the key role Rome had when Christians were discovering what it meant to live their faith as a recognized church. They were part of a city identified with an empire, which at first was self-assured but later in disarray. They learnt from it as well as partially transforming it.

This enabled the Church, when the empire crumbled, to open to the new peoples beyond the Alps, mediating what it had received from classical and biblical sources to the nucleus of the modern world being formed in Western Europe." "Beyond the Empire points out the similarities between the earlier period and ours; asks if Rome can have a similar function today; and shows how much of pagan and early Christian Rome are still extant."--BOOK JACKET.