Throughout Constantine’s reign, he strongly enforced Christianity and made it more popular throughout the Empire. Constantine…
However, like most Christians, an understanding of his own Christianity would have most likely increased. It is clear that he supported Christianity because he believed the experience he had was divine and the victory his troops had won would not have been possible without the help of God. It does appear to be clear that Constantine’s conversion was convenient for his own aspirations; he did support a unity and “harmony” of the church and state and he pursued and implemented policies to end Christian persecutions and provide an inclusiveness and flexibility for Christians and extended poser to the authority of the church and his subjects.12 It may be prudent to hold judgment regarding the validity or authenticity of Constantine’s Christianity when one understands Constantine’s motives or actions. One such action which leads one to judgment is the fact that Constantine delayed his own baptism until near his death in 337 and that Constantine had his wife, Fausta, and his son Crispus murdered for political reasons. However, in Constantine’s mind, such actions may not have been contradictory but a necessity of the responsibly he may have felt for the religious welfare of his subjects and the state along with personal weakness from being simply human, despite his conversion. Individuals within scripture were at times no different. King David and Moses come to…
Religion played a role in the governments of the Byzantine Empire and Western Roman Empire. The emperors were highly involved with the religion and had the ability to make the rules. In the Byzantine Empire, the emperors ruled by the church and the government. The Christian idea of Iconoclasm played a huge role during this time. The laws were created by the emperors and enforced through government and religion. Similarly in the Western Roman Empire, emperors were involved in both the religion and government. They used religion to make people obey the laws. Overall, religion played a huge role in the governments of the Byzantine Empire and the Western Roman Empire.…
While circumstances were different for each, both Saul and Constantine converted to Christianity as a result of visions from Jesus. Like Saul (Paul), the Roman Emperor Constantine left a lasting impact on the role of Christianity in Rome. Apostle Paul is credited with writings and books of the New Testament as well as spreading the message of Christianity through his missionary journeys. Emperor Constantine built churches and is credited with the transfer of state patronage from Paganism to Christianity. Through their works, both the Apostle Paul (Saul) and Constantine the great provided lasting contributions to the spreading of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. In addition to their tributes to Christianity, Constantine continued to pay respect to old pagan traditions while Paul (Saul) also leaned toward a wider pagan…
The decline of China and Rome both shared similar economic strife in that they were both subject to barbarian and nomadic invasions, therefore having to spend large amounts of money on frontier defense; however, they differed in that the Han Empire collapsed in part due to the high taxes imposed on the peasant class resulting in a large peasant rebellion, such as the Yellow Turbans, while in Rome tax collections was in danger of abandonment as residents of the empire were few in number and in financial difficulty. In addition, the two empires were similar socially because of large epidemics, diseases, and plagues that caused a population decrease. Also, both experienced a cultural decay in intellectual creativity and innovations. Differences appear in that China shared common culture, such as the Chinese script, while Rome was more fragmented causing a less severe fall in China than Rome. Politically, the falls of both…
In the beginning stages of the faith converting to Christianity was not easy or simple. At the time the choice to convert beliefs was questionable and rather many people of the time blended their beliefs with new ideas creating new rituals and traditions. (page 504) Charlemagne in Capitulary on Saxony writes that followers of pagan worship who had ever performed in any acts of sacrifice or opposition to Christianity should be punished by death. Many times in the text Charlemagne warrants capital punishment to those that do not follow Christianity. It is clear that Charlemagne used his faith in Christianity only to secure his position of authority.…
After Jesus’ crucifixion, many of Jesus’ followers began to spread the word of their new religion modeled after the teachings and lifestyle of Jesus. But, as these followers went throughout the Roman world, they were met with persecution and ridicule. Although the Roman elite later adopted Christianity as the state religion, Christianity was first successfully adopted by the lower class and the Germanic tribes (Document G). Christianity helped the Roman subject to start questioning the ruling class’s impropriety and their indifference to inequality. Christianity led the fall of the Roman empire because it helped the subjects question the Roman authority, and to ultimately overthrow it.…
One is god and the other one is Jesus Christ. From this, Constantine was a Christian, because he began to believe god. Christian belief has already been a part of his life. This can be shown by his daily life. From this, he is a true Christian because he has put his belief been a part of his…
These new religions threatened the Roman Empire because they refused to make sacrifices to Roman gods. They were soon expelled from Rome and Emperor Vespasian began the…
Christians were an easy blame for disastrous events. In Asia Minor, the provisional governor, Pliny asked a group of Christians to reconsider their religion, and freed those who denied Christianity, while executing those who refused to. This did not stop the spread of Christianity, in fact many times in which Rome oppressed those who believed in one god, ended fueling a mindset to continue their practice, especially in the early stages of Christianity, when the Jews were being oppressed and enslaved for their particular beliefs. It was easy for Rome to blame the Christians because it was very different from their own beliefs, it affected their traditional values, roles, and sacrifices for the gods as people branched away from the old ideas, it was a quick blame. Those branching to new religions were traitors not only of the religion, but also of society as a…
During this time, Romans still believed in spirits, but they had also absorbed a lot of Greek mythology. Strict observance of religious rituals were continued by the state. By the time Christianity began, many cult religious deities (e.g. Mithras) and rituals had risen in prominence. These religions grew alongside the old religion. Christianity, on the other hand, came in as a cult religion that defied tradition and declared only one true God.…
The wars and plagues cost the Romans a lot, especially in lives. People died day after day and soon they were searching for a hope that the wars would end and that the tragedies that they had to endure would end. Christians believed in an afterlife of eternal happiness with their Heavenly Master. As they went around teaching others--mostly those that believed in a different religion or were pagans-- of their ways, people started to convert knowing that they had a hope to look forward to as the wars raged on and the plagues…
When we look back at Christianity over the years, there are several people who are remembered for their impact on the religion. The first most important figure was Jesus Christ. However, if we travel forward a bit, into the 4th Century we come across Constantine. Historians agree that Constantine served as an important component in the spread of Christianity. Constantine provided a mean for the word of God to be spread, an end to the masacres of the innocent christians, and a safe haven for those who practice this religion.…
It is believed that he was converted to Christianity in the year 312. There are arguments that his Christian conversion wasn’t truly sincere. There are two separate views of Constantine and his faith. On one hand some people believe his conversion was the result of the working out of the kingdom of God on earth. Others believe that his conversion was sincere but he could display all “true” Christian characteristics because of his political and military positions. In a dream Constantine saw an entity tell to paint a Christian symbol on his army’s shields and battle standards. Many believe this had much to do with his…
The crosses were means of torture and painful deaths. The crosses were kept up not to represent Jesus, but what Jesus did once. Through visions, Constantine sees Jesus, and he decided to put the cross on shields. The cross represents that your lord and savior died for my sins, and I wear it as his sacrifice. If Constantine would have never had this vision, would Christianity still have spread, and Jesus would play an important figure as he does today?…