This volume represents Renan's Hibbert Lectures in 1880. It is only in the earlier part of the third century that the Greek mind, in the persons of Clement of Alexandria and of Origen, really laid hold of Christianity. I hope to prove to you that in the second century Rome exercised a decisive influence on the Church of Jesus. --from the first lecture Contents 1. In What Sense Is Christianity the Work of Rome? 2. The Legend of the Roman Church: Peter and Paul 3. Rome, the Centre of Growing Ecclesiastical Authority 4. Rome, the Capital of Catholicism