Once Catholicism became the official state religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th century, it became highly dangerous to question or deviate from imperial doctrinal definitions.
Imperial authorities enforced a strict monopoly on thought by carrying out systematic book burnings, completely destroying the philosophical refutations written by early critics like Celsus and Porphyry. As a result, modern academic knowledge of these ancient counter-arguments is limited to surviving snippets quoted inside the church's own refutation books.
- Porphyry (3rd century philosopher) wrote a 15-volume refutation of Christianity, the gospels and resurrection
- Celsus (2nd century philosopher) rejected the impossible concept of the resurrection
The imperialistic power of the church, and its stranglehold on intellectual endeavours was such that the above books and many more perished in the pious book burnings in the 4th century. Today, our knowledge of these books is limited and known through the refutation books which had to quote the destroyed books.
Once Christianity was established as the state religion, it became dangerous, as a subject of Rome, to question the doctrinal version of events.
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