How did roman civilization help shape early christian faith?

Answer 1

They institutionalized the faith into a religion, adding festivals, man-made laws, pagan customs, and enforcing doctrines. The Christian faith was turned from a movement of living a passionate life by the Holy Spirit into a institution of stone walls, thoughtless rituals, and man-made dos and don'ts.

Answer 2

After the destruction of the western Roman Empire, the church in the West was a major factor in the preservation of classical civilization, establishing monasteries, and sending missionaries to convert the peoples of northern Europe, as far as Ireland in the north. In the East, the Byzantine Empire preserved Orthodoxy, well after the massive invasions of Islam in the mid-7th century. The invasions of Islam devastated three of the five Patriarchal sees, capturing Jerusalem first, then Alexandria, and then finally in the mid-8th century, Antioch.