Lessons from Constantine

A key pressure point from Conservative Christians is a seeming call for “Christian Nationalism.” That idea suggests some version of domination and control by Christianity and Christian concepts. I understand that not everyone who is a Conservative politically feels this way, and even some who are Christians who are Conservatives would argue they don't mean "Christian Nationalism." However, as I have explained in the podcast episodes so far, when we look at the general idea typically expressed (at least as how I have heard it or read it), they do mean some level of governing and cultural control, even dominion (hint, hint) over society. So, another way to say what is being asked for is to say they want a version of “Christendom.” 

The concept of Christendom emerges in the years after the Roman Empire collapsed in the West.  So…we can say “its been done before" and there are lessons for us in the early 21st century.  I urge us not to try this again. In a careful examination of what Christendom was, the evidence from history demonstrates that the Christian faith became a warped or devolved version of the faith that Jesus described and was lived out by adherents in the first 300 years after Jesus.

To figure out what happened, we need to do some examination of Roman Empire history, looking at the impact of the Emperors Diocletian and Constantine.  It is with Constantine that everything shifts, one of those major moments in world history where a single individual makes a decision upon which the story changes.  His decision relative to Christianity will impact both the Empire and the Christian faith itself.

I hope that you are enjoying the podcast so far. Please send any questions to [e-mail] if you'd like Matthew and I to answer.  We are thinking there might be interest in a Q&A episode, and we'd love to oblige.