My latest translation. Available on my blog.
Christian Number and its Implications by Keith Hopkins
This paper is an experiment in both method and substance. Substantively, I want to show that, in all probability, there were very few Christians in the Roman world, at least until the end of the second century. I then explore the implications of small number, both absolutely, and as a proportion of the empire's total population.
One tentative but radical conclusion is that Christianity was for a century after Jesus' death the intellectual property at any one time of scarcely a few dozen, perhaps rising to two hundred, literate adult males, dispersed throughout the Mediterranean basin. A complementary conclusion (of course, well known in principle, but not often explored for its implications) is that by far the greatest growth in Christian numbers took place in two distinct phases: first, during the third century, when Christians and their leaders were the victims of empire-wide and centrally organized persecutions; and then in the fourth century, after the conversion of Constantine and the alliance of the church with the Roman state under successive emperors. The tiny size of the early church, and the scale and speed of its later growth each had important implications for Christianity's character and organization.
Read Translation (in Spanish)