How well received was christianity in the ancient roman world- at least up through the end of the 3rd century

Well, in Rome at first Christianity was not accepted at all, but eventually through state sponsorship it became the state religion. You can see how it was not accepted at first through the crucifiction of Jesus

i would think it's industries and hydroelectric power

consider an orange peel: if you want to try and lay it flat, you have to stretch it, we know exactly how things are being stretched or squashed at any given point. we have many different map projections because each has different patterns of some projections can even preserve certain features of the earth without