¶ … Articles on the History of Christianity Christopher J. Haas' article "Imperial Religious Policy and Valerian's Persecution of the Church, A.D. 257 -- 260" was published within the scholarly journal Church History in 1983, and the author focuses his attention on the persecution of Christians by the Roman Emperor Valerian. According to Haas, one of the most compelling aspects of Valerian's persecution of Christians was the sudden shift in his official religious policy in the year 257 A.D. Haas asks in the article, "prior to that time the church was largely undisturbed, but the years 257 -- 258 witnessed a series of increasingly severe imperial edicts directed against Christianity. What prompted this sudden reversal of imperial religious policy in 257?,"1 and it is this question which forms the foundation of his subsequent scholarly inquiry. By reading this article, one learns that Valerian actually launched his campaign of persecution against Christians in absentia, as he had been taken captive during a failed incursion against the Persians in Antioch. Two letters sent back to Rome by Valerian before his imprisonment and execution by the Persians formed the basis of the outbreak of persecution which now bears his name, as the Emperor commanded that all Christian clergy perform sacrifices to the Roman gods, high-ranking church officials be summarily executed, and...

Christopher J. Haas "Imperial Religious Policy and Valerian's Persecution of the Church, AD 257-260." Church History 52 (1983): 134.
The article "Differentiated Responsibility and the Challenge of Religious Diversity" was written by David T. Koyzis and published within the Journal of Markets & Morality in 2002, with the author focusing his research on the interesting dichotomy between Christian evangelism and religious persecution against Christians throughout history. In particular, Koyzis examines the question of why modern Christians should remain tolerant of religious diversity in light of their own convictions, and in doing so the author points to the Pax Romana as an example of an age in which religious tolerance flourished to mankind's collective benefit. When Koyzis offers his prediction that "much as the early Irish monks of the sixth and seventh centuries came from the periphery of Europe and successfully reevangelized a continent still reeling from the collapse of the Pax Romana, we may yet see Western Christianity reinvigorated from without, as Korean, Chinese, African, Latin American, and Filipino Christians bear fresh witness to us of God's grace,"2 the implication is that the Pax Romana represents the proverbial peak of the gospel's spread across the globe. With the Roman Empire in…