My personal belief is that whether or no Christianity had a presence in the Empire, it was doomed to fail anyway. I have 4 chief reasons for this view.
1. Rome was already a house of cards due to being unable to figure out the issue of imperial succession. This was a carry over from the transition between Republic and Empire that was ultimately unable to be over come. If a general was sufficiently powerful, he could have the Senate name him Augustus. This would wind up leading to 26 men being declared emperor by the Senate in the span of 50 years during the Crisis of the Third Century.
2. The tension between the Latin dominated West and Greek dominated East increased as time went on. The Tetrarchy of Diocletian codified the East -West split, and the move of the capital to Constantinople solidified the divide (which arguably climaxed with the Fourth Crusade in 1204).
3. The economy of Rome was ultimately unstable because the Roman's were unable to handle inflation, and relied heavily on slave labor that was obtained through conquest. When the conquests stopped after the second century, the labor pool of slaves dried up. Diocletian attempted to control the inflation through price controls that were ultimately unsuccessful.
4. The Volkswanderung of the Germanic tribes and the Huns was arguably an event independent of the presence of Christianity. The migrations/invasions undermined the authority of the Empire, culminating both in 476 when Odacer dethroned Romulus Augustus and declared himself King of Italy, and in the Gothic War of 535 to 554.
1. Rome was already a house of cards due to being unable to figure out the issue of imperial succession. This was a carry over from the transition between Republic and Empire that was ultimately unable to be over come. If a general was sufficiently powerful, he could have the Senate name him Augustus. This would wind up leading to 26 men being declared emperor by the Senate in the span of 50 years during the Crisis of the Third Century.
2. The tension between the Latin dominated West and Greek dominated East increased as time went on. The Tetrarchy of Diocletian codified the East -West split, and the move of the capital to Constantinople solidified the divide (which arguably climaxed with the Fourth Crusade in 1204).
3. The economy of Rome was ultimately unstable because the Roman's were unable to handle inflation, and relied heavily on slave labor that was obtained through conquest. When the conquests stopped after the second century, the labor pool of slaves dried up. Diocletian attempted to control the inflation through price controls that were ultimately unsuccessful.
4. The Volkswanderung of the Germanic tribes and the Huns was arguably an event independent of the presence of Christianity. The migrations/invasions undermined the authority of the Empire, culminating both in 476 when Odacer dethroned Romulus Augustus and declared himself King of Italy, and in the Gothic War of 535 to 554.