From across Europe and even from North American, ancient historians, archaeologists, classicists, and specialists on Roman law came together to ponder the relationship between church and state long ago. An underlying theme of the 21 papers, 13 in English (none in Latin), is that from one end of the extended empire to the other, there was something recognizably Roman about the dozens or perhaps hundreds of distinct religions that were practiced; some of that homogeneity was due to Roman culture, but some also to the law. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)