Mission and Conversion: Proselytizing in the Religious History of the Roman Empire - Paperbackby Martin Goodman (Author) This is a controversial and important new examination of the origins of Christian mission, set against the background of ancient Judaism and the pagan culture of the Roman Empire. The author invites a total reconsideration of the grounds for religious conversion in both Christianity and Judaism. He suggests that mission was not inherent to either early Judaism or Christianity, and was only sporadically practiced in antiquity