Constantinianism

Constantine the Great.

Constantinianism refers to those policies said to be enacted, encouraged, or personally favored by Constantine the Great, a 4th-century Roman Emperor. In particular, it may refer to any of the following:

• Constantine's patronage of Christianity.
• The practice of state control of or influence over the Church, sometimes called Erastianism.
  • The notion that Roman Emperors have authority over the Church, sometimes called Caesaropapism.
• Identification of the Church with the Roman Empire^[1]
  • The Church's willingness to use the state's coercive power structures to assist in the Church's mission^[2]
  • A tendency to exuberance due of the subsequent rise of Christianity, sometimes called Christian triumphalism.
• The notion that Constantine received his mandate from God, as in the Divine Right of Kings.
• The practice of Religious tolerance as mandated in the Edict of Milan.
• The doctrines of the Council of Nicea, which Constantine promoted.
  • Constantine's alleged preference for Arianism over Catholicism, or Orthodoxy over heresy.
• The corruption of Christian doctrine that is alleged to have taken place during or because of the reign of Constantine, sometimes called the Great Apostasy or more particularly the Constantinian shift.
• Certain Roman Catholic criticisms of Separation of Church and State found, for instance, in the Syllabus of Errors.
• Certain Protestant doctrines such as Reconstructionism and Dominionism.

See also

• Christendom
• Constantine the Great
• Constantinian shift
• Diet of Worms
• First Council of Nicaea
• Religious liberty
• State church of the Roman Empire

References

1. Hagman, Patrik (2014). "The Constantinianism of the Free Church Tradition and the Promise of a New Asceticism". Between the State and the Eucharist: Free Church Theology in Conversation with William T. Cavanaugh. Wipf and Stock. p. 103. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
2. Nugent, John C. (2013). "A Yoderian Rejoinder to Peter J. Leithart's Defending Constantine". Constantine Revisited: Leithart, Yoder, and the Constantinian Debate. Wipf and Stock. p. 101. Retrieved 20 December 2014.

External links

• Anti-Constantinianism