It was a watershed moment for the Church. A few years before his death in , Constantine had already declared that Christianity was to be the new state religion. No one could hold any other belief. It was meant to unify the Empire as trade, law, taxation, and Roman culture had done. I think we should admit that this move has been a mixed blessing for the Church ever since. On the positive side of the ledger it finally sealed the end of the persecution of the earliest Christians.
The blood of the martyrs had been so eloquent that their witness caused even a few Emperors to ask what sought of love would see so many followers be prepared to die for their beliefs. It also saw the Church become a significant player in shaping the values of society, especially in the West. There is no question that Christianity moderated, cultivated, and humanized some of the worst Roman excesses. On the cost side, the Church became very powerful very quickly. Bishops started to wear the purple robes of the senators.
Churches took on the shape of the Roman Basilicas, while the government of the Church mirrored that of the Empire. Our liturgy imported all sorts of practices that were popular in the Roman temples. But he did not remain pagan, which from a Christian point of view was at least a blessing for Constantine.
The historical judgment is that of a mixed blessing. The Constantinian settlement was better than what preceded it — the age of persecution — and enabled the rise of the Christian Europe and Western civilization. Yet it also brought to the Church the capacity to impose, rather than to propose, the gospel. In the 1, years since, the freedom to propose without the power to impose has been an elusive balance. With the French Revolution, and other developments that opened the door to totalitarianism over the subsequent two centuries, the Church returned to a pre-Constantinian age of brutal persecution in many places.
At the same time, the rise of liberal democracy provided space for the Church to live as an evangelizer of culture rather than as a holder of power. Whether the rise of secular fundamentalism will permit that to continue is now a pressing question. The Church now seeks the liberty to proclaim the gospel, and no longer a Constantinian settlement. The Church is now post-Constantinian, but he remains an indispensable step in her history. Your go-to source for all the best Black Friday deals: tech, toys, fashion, mattresses, beauty, wellness, travel and more.
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