Christianity

Download Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the by Peter J. Leithart PDF

By Peter J. Leithart

We all know that Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 outlawed paganism and made Christianity the professional faith of the Roman Empire manipulated the Council of Nicea in 325 exercised absolute authority over the church, co-opting it for the goals of empire And if Constantine the emperor weren't challenge adequate, we know that Constantinianism has been very undesirable for the church. Or will we recognize these items?

Peter Leithart weighs those claims and unearths them in need of. And what's extra, in targeting those historic mirages we've got did not realize the genuine value of Constantine and Rome baptized. For underneath the outside of this contested tale there emerges a deeper narrative of the top of Roman sacrifice--a tectonic shift within the political theology of an empire--and with far-reaching implications. during this probing and informative ebook Peter Leithart examines the genuine Constantine, weighs the fees opposed to Constantinianism, and units the phrases for a brand new dialog approximately this pivotal emperor and the Christendom that emerged.

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Additional info for Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom

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65 No wonder the tarnished old world had been restored to gold: the political system of the empire was, at long last, in harmony with the nature of things. The notion that the Tetrarchy matched the structure of the cosmos was reinforced by the associations of the Tetrarchs with traditional Roman gods, an association that arose from religious as well as political motivations and, in the eyes of Christian observers like Lactantius, represented a dangerous innovation. 66 Diocletian took the honorific title Iovius and named Maximian the head of the “Heraculian” branch of the imperial college.

182. 60 Quoted in Van Dam, Roman Revolution, p. 359. , pp. 239-40. indb 45 8/27/10 1:35:07 PM 46 Defending Consta ntine Between them, the two Augusti and the two Caesars divided up the empire and got to work. Constantius organized the subjugation of Britain. Before Constantius could cross the Channel, Carausius was dead, but Constantius successfully defeated his assassin, Allectus, restoring Britain to the Roman orbit. The Western Augustus, Maximian, put down a rebellion in North Africa, while Diocletian, the Eastern Augustus, secured Egypt.

20-23. 18 Drake, Constantine and the Bishops, p. 118. , 47. , 48. 21 Corcoran, “Before Constantine,” p. 43; see also Cameron, Later Roman Empire, p. 42; Burckhardt, Age of Constantine the Great, pp. 51-52; MacMullen, Constantine; Raymond Van Dam, The Roman Revolution of Constantine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), p. 17. indb 34 8/27/10 1:35:05 PM Jupiter on the Throne 35 Just as important was the revision of citizenship that took place with the Antonine Constitution of 212. Promulgated by Caracalla, this edict granted citizenship to all free residents of the empire.

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