Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Introduction
- Part I The Christian revolution: ascent to power
- 1 How Christianity came to power
- 2 Churches of east and west in the early Middle Ages
- 3 Christendom : the western church in power
- Part II The modern revolution: compromises with power
- Conclusion
- Chronology
- Notes
- Index
- References
1 - How Christianity came to power
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2015
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Introduction
- Part I The Christian revolution: ascent to power
- 1 How Christianity came to power
- 2 Churches of east and west in the early Middle Ages
- 3 Christendom : the western church in power
- Part II The modern revolution: compromises with power
- Conclusion
- Chronology
- Notes
- Index
- References
Summary
The Word of God [Jesus Christ] … is the Lord of All the Universe; from whom and through whom the king, the beloved of God, receives and bears the image of His Supreme Kingship, and so steers and directs, in imitation of his Superior, the helm of all the affairs of this world.
So wrote Eusebius (c. 260–c. 339), bishop of Caesarea, in celebration of thirty years of imperial rule by the Roman emperor Constantine. Three centuries had passed since the death of Jesus. Eusebius had reason to rejoice. Under Constantine Christianity had changed its status from being a cult within the mighty Roman empire to being an officially tolerated religion. Encouraged by Christians such as Eusebius, Constantine had readily accepted the status of deputy of Christ. With the blessing of the ‘Supreme King’ in the heavens, his ambition to become supreme king on earth was gaining new impetus and legitimacy.
One of the most skilful, powerful and ruthless of the Roman emperors, Constantine had harboured ambitions to unify and expand the Roman empire even before his ‘conversion’ to Christianity in 312. During the course of his long reign – from 306 to 337 – his commitment to Christianity increased until it became the favoured religion of the empire. The reasons appear to have been political as well as personal. Christianity offered something unique in the ancient world: an exclusivist, universalist, monopolistic monotheism focused on a single all-powerful God. Roman religion was generally pluriform and tolerant.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- An Introduction to Christianity , pp. 9 - 60Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004