The Christians and the Roman Empire overturns the myth of an unrelenting persecution of the subversive, Christian ""outlaw."" Using contemporary sources and authentic documents - including imperial edicts and records of the deeds of non-legendary martyrs - Marta Sordi shows that the conflict was primarily religious and almost never political. The Christians actually continued to profess their loyalty to the Roman Empire during the periods of persecution, and the Empire, which almost never thought of the Christians as a threat to security, often found itself acting simply as the secular arm of religious authorities during these periods of social and cultural intolerance.