Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom
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About this ebook
We know that Constantine
- issued the Edict of Milan in 313
- outlawed paganism and made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire
- manipulated the Council of Nicea in 325
- exercised absolute authority over the church, co-opting it for the aims of empire
And if Constantine the emperor were not problem enough, we all know that Constantinianism has been very bad for the church. Or do we know these things? Peter Leithart weighs these claims and finds them wanting. And what's more, in focusing on these historical mirages we have failed to notice the true significance of Constantine and Rome baptized. For beneath the surface of this contested story there emerges a deeper narrative of the end of Roman sacrifice--a tectonic shift in the political theology of an empire--and with far-reaching implications. In this probing and informative book Peter Leithart examines the real Constantine, weighs the charges against Constantinianism, and sets the terms for a new conversation about this pivotal emperor and the Christendom that emerged.
Peter J. Leithart
Peter J. Leithart (PhD, University of Cambridge) is President of Theopolis Institute and serves as Teacher at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Birmingham. He is the author of several books, including?The Kingdom and the Power, Creator: A Theological Interpretation of Genesis 1,?Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom, and?Baptism: A Guide from Life to Death.
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Reviews for Defending Constantine
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- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman emperor, has too long been a whipping boy of nearly anyone who needed a scapegoat to pin their misgivings about Christian history on -- from John Howard Yoder, to whose theories Leithart dedicates a good part of this book to refuting, to Dan Brown, with his godawful "Da Vinci Code," to the extreme conspiracy nuts like Acharya S and Peter Joseph, maker of "Zeitgeist, the Movie." Constantine has been the boogeyman of those with a historical bone to pick -- or who think they have such a bone to pick -- for a very long time. Ask the average person about Constantine and chances are you'll hear about a cynical politician who manipulated the Church to serve his own ends and fabricated the New Testament and the divinity of Christ. Finally, with this wonderful book, all of those myths, from the extreme left to the extreme right, have been laid to rest in one fell swoop. This book is a must-read in the study of Christian history.
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