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re: Do you think Constantine's conversion to Christianity was a Cause or Effect of it' spread?
Posted on 12/17/19 at 9:05 am to Duffnshank
Posted on 12/17/19 at 9:05 am to Duffnshank
quote:
In short, Constantine’s move was mostly a political one to keep peace.
I don't know that I accept this, although it's what I used to think. I mean he openly praised the christian religion AS he was taking power, when all of his political rivals, almost the whole upper class, and the vast majority of his army were Pagans.
Again only about 10% or less of the empire was Christian and it was almost exclusively people in the lower class, I'm not sure how much the move would've helped him politically
This post was edited on 12/17/19 at 9:06 am
1
Posted on 12/17/19 at 9:25 am to Joshjrn
quote:
The average member of the unwashed masses gives very little individual thought to, well, just about anything. Their religious beliefs included. That's why, statistically speaking, you can estimate someone's religious beliefs fairly accurately if you simply know what geographic region of the world they were raised in. If you add the data point of the religion of their parents, your accuracy will rise even further.
You're not wrong. These are the types of people talked about in Revelation. The ones who "believe" without actually following any of the tenets of Christianity.
Revelation 3:14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see."
Posted on 12/17/19 at 9:25 am to Tiger1242
I don't think he actually converted. He saw it as a way of keeping peace in the Empire (if he "converts" then other Romans know Christians are now off-limits for killing).
Posted on 12/17/19 at 9:27 am to Tiger1242
10% of a population isn’t small, but I see what you mean. I would say that when he came into power practicing Christianity was still a death penalty. That would be a lot of killing, seems like he had the foresight to recognize this.
Posted on 12/17/19 at 9:58 am to Tiger1242
quote:
My question is, was the huge rise of Christianity in Rome in the 4th century AD a result of the policies and conversion of Constantine, or were the policies and conversion of Constantine a result of the rise of Christianity?
Both? I think the slow rise of Christianity is what caught Constantine's eye and then Constantine's knighting for it caught the attention of many more (thus spurring the growth).
Fun fact: Constantine built the first St. Peter's Basilica (it was eventually rebuilt just over 1k years later into what we still see today). In order to do this he covered the entire graveyard (it was a mixture of Christian and pagan graves and mausoleums) with fricktons of dirt then built what would eventually be come to be known as Vatican City (of which St. Peter's is a part). If you ever go to Rome you can tour them through a small-group tour the Excavator's office does (Ufficio Scavi), it's about $13 per person and well worth it.
Romans liked doing (and had respect for) big, impressive works and this certainly qualified. Christianity may have continued to grow without Constantine's help but I don't think it would have grown nearly as fast.
Posted on 12/17/19 at 11:21 am to Duffnshank
quote:
10% of a population isn’t small, but I see what you mean. I would say that when he came into power practicing Christianity was still a death penalty. That would be a lot of killing, seems like he had the foresight to recognize this.
Yea I'm sure that had something to do with it. It's worth mentioning probably that his mom was a christian, so maybe he did it all for her???
Also I think a lot of times we make the mistake of thinking about Roman Paganism as a "religion" but it's not really. Paganism is obviously Polytheistic so it's really 100's of different religions and worshiping different gods based on what you want or what they can do for you.
Sacrificing to/honoring a god you perceived to have helped you win a battle was very common, so since Constantine thought Jesus helped him win the battle of Milvian bridge and therefore the empire, it also makes sense he would then honor that god. So maybe he thought of Christianity as another cult to be respected and worshiped at times and not as a whole new religion to overtake all others
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