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The Epilogue outlines general trends in the development of the Greek slogan of freedom from its inception in the fifth century to the Hellenistic period and through its diverse uses by the Romans. Professing their support for Greek freedom gave the Romans a valid excuse for defending their interests in Greece and for claiming a special place in Greek affairs as the “champions of [Greek] freedom” and, therefore, as the “common benefactors” to all the Greeks. The Romans put the slogan of freedom forward to justify aggressions against Antiochos III, Nabis, Perseus, and the Achaean League. The slogan of freedom turned into the basis for relations between Rome and those individual Greek communities that pledged their loyalty to Rome in return for the status of a free city, thus supporting the foundation of the Roman Peace.

There are differences as well as parallels between Roman and post-enlightenment imperial experiences. Romans had many shared assumptions in common with those they colonized. Later strife between Christianity and Rome was not because Christians were or were perceived as political rebels. It was about religion. Romans accused Christians of superstitio and meant it. Pax Romana depended upon pax deorum. Rome’s part was pietas — honoring the gods. Christians (atheoi), by refusing to honor the gods, endangered the empire. Roman imperium was often violent and exploitative, though not more so than other polities of its time; it also had positive elements, notably a measure of peace and security. Men like Pliny, Virgil, and P. Petronius regarded defense of Roman peace as a matter of honor. We must beware of colonizing the past. Jesus, Josephus, Romans, and Jews should be listened to for their own sake before we attempt to apply what they say to ourselves.

The Introduction outlines the basic paradox addressed in this book. On the one hand, transatlantic relations appear to be in a constant state of crisis; the “death” of the transatlantic partnership has been declared with confidence many times over. On the other hand, the links that bind the United States and Europe together—institutional, cultural, political, military—have so far prevailed. In short, the Introduction asks whether the transatlantic partnership of liberal democracies has become more fragile in the three decades since 1990? The Introduction foreshadows the major argument of the book: that the transatlantic relationship draws its long-term strength from the constant disagreements. Last, the Introduction outlines the book’s structure and defines the conceptual framework used.

The popular literature of the era helps shed light on attitudes toward divine guidance. Unfortunately, aside from Paul’s letters there are no documents from first-century Corinth. However, as residents of a cosmopolitan Roman city, attentive to learning and rhetoric, the great writers would have been well known, especially Homer, Virgil, and Horace. Homer (Iliad and Odyssey) was the most influential writer; he reflected deeply on the questions posed by divine interaction with human beings. Virgil’s Aeneid, with a Roman perspective, likewise pondered the snares of divine guidance, concluding that the gods enlist heroes like Aeneas to fulfill divine purposes for Rome, not to vindicate the heroes or make them happy. In Horace religion is a much less pervasive theme and life is more independent of the gods, but he lifts up the Pax Romana and Augustus as the fulfillment of the divine plan.

Besides its massive impact on the institutional side of Catholic higher education, World War II affected the thinking of Catholic educators. We have already touched upon this dimension in noting how the war and postwar growth required them to expand their horizons and redouble their efforts in research, fundraising, and administration generally. Here we look more closely at how Catholics were affected by the great ideological revival of democracy that accompanied the war. This kind of influence was sometimes explicitly noted by Catholic leaders, as when Archbishop Richard Gushing of Boston called attention to the “neo-democratic mentality of returning servicemen and the university-age generation generally”; others recognized that it created problems since the Catholic church was so widely perceived as incompatible with democracy and “the American way of life.” We shall postpone examination of controversies stemming from this source to the next chapter, turning our attention in this one to the assimilative tendencies reflected in Catholics’ new appreciation for liberal democratic values, and to the major curricular concerns of the era which were also affected by the war. In no area did the democratic revival have a more profound long range effect than in the impetus it lent to the movement for racial equality and civil rights for African Americans. The publication in 1944 of Gunnar Myrdal’s An American Dilemma marked an epoch in national understanding of what the book’s subtitle called “the Negro problem and modern democracy.” Myrdal himself stressed the importance of the wartime context, which made it impossible to ignore racial discrimination at home while waging war against Nazi racism. At the same time, increasing black militance, the massive migration of African Americans to northern industrial centers, and above all the great Detroit race riot of 1943—reinforced by the anti-Mexican “Zoot Suit” riots in Los Angeles the same summer—suddenly made the improvement of race relations an imperative for American society as a whole. By the end of the war, no fewer than 123 national organizations were working actively to “reduce intergroup tensions,” and the civil rights movement began a steady advance that led directly to the great judicial and political victories it won in the fifties and sixties.

The chapter discusses the Roman emperor, the administration of the empire, and the imperial cult. It defines the terms “imperium,” and “imperator” and their changing definitions in the Augustan era. It considers the empire as a network of roads, laws, trading partners, and ethnicities, and also the ways religion traveled and spread through these networks through the actions of religious entrepreneurs. It discusses diaspora urban Judaism and its integration within the empire. It presents the division of the empire into senatorial and imperial provinces and their administration of law, along with the collection of taxes through provincial officials and tax farmers. It treats civic patronage by elected officials in the form of liturgies in return for honors. The imperial cult as religious devotion and a ritualized means of communication between the emperor and provincial elites and the high frequency of imperial language and imagery in the New Testament are discussed.