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What was the impact of the conversion of Constantine on the history of Christianity
The rise of Christianity during the Roman Empire
The rise of Christianity during the Roman Empire
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Some accounts say the change from Paganism to Christianity was immediate following the Emperor Constantine legitimizing it in 313 CE. However this is not the case. The changes that arose were too complex for it to be just Emperor Constantine’s legitimization of Christianity. Even though Christianity was legitimized and it began to rise, paganism did not die out. It survived through the middle ages and the Renaissance. The main reason Christianity survived and grew is because the converts mainly consisted of patricians. They had the power to uphold it, and they saw that Christianity could open many political doors for them. Even so, many of the Roman communities outside of the major cities did not want to convert to Christianity. The masses
Polytheism celebrates the existence of many gods. Outside of major cities, people did not worship many gods. More often than not, people only worshipped one god. Monotheism acknowledges the existence of only one god. Monotheism shows that this one god has plane for all of humanity. Religions such as Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam are considered to be monotheistic in nature.
The Roman emperor Constantine legitimized Christianity in 313 CE. When Emperor Constantine legitimized Christianity, it made monotheism, as a whole, more attractive to those who sought after political power. The emperor replaced the Republican system with imperial bureaucrats. When the administration and power centralized, the emperor essentially became a god that ruled on earth. Monotheism pushing in society was not considered negatively drastic by society, because society was already changing. Having one god made things more relevant in society, rather than with multiple deities. Even though paganism survived through the middle ages and the Renaissance, it became overshadowed by the monotheistic religions, such as Christianity and Islam. So, due to the rise of monotheism and the opportunities that it could give to people in the political ream, monotheism triumphed over
From 300-600 CE The Roman Empire allowed new religions to be formed and universalized. The Religion that was associated with The Roman empire was Christianity. Christianity became the religion of Rome because of a man named Constantine who allowed Christianity to spread and flow throughout the empire create a harmony throughout the people. Constantine allowed for the Roman officials to adopt Christianity and this led to the building of the Constantinople. Christianity had basilicas which were opulent churches that were open to all which meant any person could go there allowing Christianity to be very universal. Christianity was also very appealing because the worshiped deity walked on land with the people. Christianity split and became the Roman Catholic church which consisted
However, this was different compared to Constantine who converted to Christianity and evangelized people to convert to Christianity as well. Constantine ruled as emperor from 306-337 A.D. and was the first Christian emperor of the time and credited
There is a lot of historical context that is involved with this topic which describes the struggles in Britain in converting the people into Christianity. Anglo-Saxons that came into Britain were originally pagan which consisted of them worshipping gods of nature and trees and rocks. They would pray to these gods for materialistic things such as a good harvest or to win an upcoming battle. The native people were Christian and because of the speed in which this conversion happened it is understandable that the Pope Gregory wanted all paganism out. This was a lengthy process that took many years to actually be accomplished. The process began in 597 when Pope Gregory sent St. Augustine in this mission which was a conversion into Christian ideas that was harsh and rapid. The Pagan churches were stripped from the gods they worshiped into places for Christianity to be worshipped. The entire conversion did not begin with the people but with the king himself first which was why the changes shoved into the pagan worshipers. After the last Pagan kin...
The rise of Christianity in Rome did not come easily. It came with much destruction and death. The spark of Christianity in Rome came from an appearance of Martyrs in Rome. Martyrs were people that were executed for going against the common beliefs of pagan (polytheistic) ways. (Tignor, 2011, p. 286) Because of these awful executions, Christianity is said to be based off of “the blood of martyrs.” One of their main ways of spreading Christianity was through the sharing of their writings and by 300 CE there was an exceptional amount of book production throughout Rome. (Tignor, 2011, p. 289) “Christianity operated as one among many minority religions in the Roman Empire, and on several occasions experienced widespread persecution, especially under the emperors Nero (r. 54–68), Decius (r. 249–251), and Diocletian (r. 284–305). However, the situation changed radically under the emperor Constantine (r. 306–337), who in 313 issued the Edict of Milan that made Christianity a legitimate religion in the empire.” (Melton, 2010, p. 634)
Gaius Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus, or Constantine, is commonly referred to as the fist Christian emperor of the Roman Empire and as the defender of Christianity. Such grand titles are not necessarily due for the reasons that people commonly think of them today.
When he won the throne, similar to Emperor Han Wudi’s conversion to Confucianism in Han Dynasty China, converted to Christianity. Because of this conversion, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Christian way became very involved in government in the Roman Empire. Even though Christianity’s message is a sense of universal love, because of it intolerance of other religions, there was persecutions of pagans that lead to death. It was not until 450 CE. that a small majority of the Roman Empire was Christian. There ultimately was a split in the empire between the east and the west. The Western Empire struggled on its survival unlike the eastern Empire. The Eastern Empire strived because it stayed involved in Roman politics, administration, and armies. Because the east stayed involved within the government, they were able to last longer. The east was able to spread Christianity more effectively than that of the
As the greatest empire in the western world began to crumble one city at a time, the leader of the Roman Empire, Constantine, under pressure from external and internal sources moved the capital of Rome to Constantinople around 330 AD. The movement of the capital was after his conversion to Christianity in 312 AD, a growing religion throughout the empire despite being officially illegal. Constantine was not the devote saint that the church may speak of today, “from 312-320 Constantine was tolerant of paganism, keeping pagan gods on coins and retaining his pagan high priest title "Pontifex Maximus" in order to maintain popularity with his subjects, possibly indicating that he never understood the theology of Christianity” (Ferguson & Grupp, 1998). The first Christian Emperor claimed to have converted after a victorious battle with his brother and there are many that corroborate this story it appears highly suspicious to only promote Christian ideals and worship. Constantine was not even the Emperor that made Christianity the religion of the Roman people, but simply permitted religiou...
In conclusion, it is important to realize that it was not one single factor which was responsible for the spread of Christianity, all these figures came together to give the perfect platform for a new religion to develop, " Never before in the history of the race had conditions been so ready for the adoption of a new faith by the majority of the peoples of so large an area" (K.S Latourette).
First, monotheistic means the worshipping of one God. It would be hard to look at and explain
Constantine adopted Christianity on the eve of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 against his rival Maxentius. According to Eusabius, Constatine had a vision of the Chi Rho (initials of Jesus in Greek) , or of the cross , with the words “ under this sign you will conquer”. Constantine decided to take up the sign of Jesus as the symbol for the Roman Army and he won the battle. After securing his reign through conquest, Constantine turned his attention to legislature, he drew up the edict of Milan in 313, which allowed Christians the freedom to practice their religion, this edict is known as the edict of tolerance. Constantine was also very much involved with Christian doctrine, he summoned the council of Nicaea in 325 to reform the church which was being taken over by numerous heresies, this ecumenical council put in place the Nicean Creed; this creed reaffirms the divine nature of Christ and asserts that the father and the son are of the same nature. Constantine cemented a standard for the ruler as answerable to God for the salvation of his realm. The emperor had a duty to maintain doctrine, condemn heresy, and ensure sacred unity within the church. Another pivotal figure for Christianity is the Emperor Theodosius I (The Great) he effectively made Nicean Christianity the official state religion of the Roman
Christianity came into the world approximately two thousand years ago. It was persecuted at first, but atually became the offical religion in 381 A.D. "It is the spiritual force that conquered the Roman Empire; one of the decisive elements in the growth of Western civiliztion (Bunson 9). Throughout history Christianity has played a major role in changing our society into what it is today.
The mandate of Milan approved of Christianity in 313, and it became the state religion in 380. These acts ended centuries of persecution, but they also destroyed the traditional Roman values system. Christianity uprooted the polytheistic Roman religion, and gave the emperor a status, and also shifted focus away from the glory of the state and onto a sole god. Meanwhile, popes and other church leaders took a heightened role in political interests, further complicating the government. Other times the Romans persecuted the Christians because of their beliefs, which were popular among the poor.
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one God. There are three of the most influential monotheistic religions in world history today known as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These three religions share both vast similarities and differences. One significant similarity they share is the belief in one deity. The belief of one God gave many people guidance and purpose in their lives. For this reason, these three religions gained many followers and believers who had faith in God. Through faithfulness in God, many were promised eternal paradise. In the following paragraphs, I will explain the similarities and differences between the rituals, holy scripts, and salvation that these religions shared.
When Christianity became the religion in Rome, some people accepted the change and some people did not. Christianity was brought into the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine during his reforms after a period of crisis in the late Roman Empire. The change in Religion was too big of a modification to society for some people to handle, and instead stuck with the old Roman religion of polytheism. The change in religion caused internal chaos in the empire because not everyone accepted Christianity in empire when the religion changed. With Christianity becoming the new religion, it also changed where people saw who had power, which changed the people of Rome’s believe in the emperor to God because of the religion change. Before Christianity came to Rome, people believed in polytheism, so emperors were basically gods, so the change represents the acceptance of something else to believe in. While Christianity helped with the fall of Rome, the expansion of the empire also assisted in the fall of the Roman Empire.
Constantine’s conversion made him more tolerant of Christianity in Rome, allowing the Church to spread to other parts of his empire and to preach in public society. Constantine is praised as the emperor who made Christianity no longer anti-Roman. Had Constantine not converted and reformed Rome, the Church would have never been able to gain as much of a foothold in Rome and the West. His conversion ended the widespread persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire and greatly increased Christian power and influence in Rome. Additionally, his conversion contributed Roman law to the Catholic Heritage of the West, forming a basis of Western thought on law and justice. The time frame significant to Constantine and the Church stretches back to as early as Nero’s persecution in AD 64 all the way to after the death of Constantine in ca. AD 400, when paganism in Rome finally fell.