Fried Chicken. Spaghetti. Salads and Meatloaf. Potluck meals are the dangerously subversive means by which Christianity conquers the world. And it has always been that way. In the early 100s, the Roman emperor Trajan sent Pliny, a magistrate, to Northern Turkey to investigate this new religious group which was raising a disturbance, not just about matters of worship, but in the social and economic fabric of the area. Larry Hurtado picks up the story:
“Pliny reports that he also tortured a couple of Christitan women about what Christians did in their gatherings, a learning from them only that the Christians met “early on a fixed day” to chant “a hymn to Christ as to a god” and also took an oath committing themselves to upright behavior. Then, later in the day, they met again “to share harmless and ordinary food.” Even though he found no indication of criminal actions, Pliny nevertheless judged Christians as holding “a perverse and extravagant superstition.” He predicted that his firm actions would stem Christianity’s spread and resore the revenues of the pagan temples that were “almost deserted,” along with celebrations of the traditional rites of the gods.”