The Church in the Age of Constantine

The Church in the Age of Constantine In the Age of Constantine, Christians experienced for the first time official recognition and support. The Roman Empire used religion not only as cement to unite its different populations, but as a means to win divine favour as well. When this mechanism was threatened by doctrinal dissensions or regional rivalries, the Emperor would intervene, contributing to the supremacy of one persuasion. In the twentieth century, European Christianity lost its dominant position. Critics, seeing dominance as foreign to the Gospel’s nature, blame the Constantinian Age as a time of error and fall. However, African and Asian Christians are fascinated by its successful inculturation. Such discussions demand examination, and in The Church in the Age of Constantine, Johannes Roldanus provides a refined theological screening of the doctrinal and ethical thinking during the fourth century. Roldanus uses the concept of ‘contextualisation’ to appreciate this process. He makes clear that, however much the winning positions were dependent on the interfering of the State, the theological reflection nevertheless followed its proper course, conditioned as it was by various understandings of Salvation in Christ. There was a natural concern to relate salvation to the most important elements of the existing culture. This study aims to help students and interested lay-people to focus on the essentials and to form an unprejudiced opinion on this crucial period of history. Johannes Roldanus is Professor Emeritus at the University of Groningen. The Church in the Age of Constantine The theological challenges Johannes Roldanus First published 2006 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2006 Johannes Roldanus This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN10: 0–415–40903–9 (hbk) ISBN10: 0–415–40904–7 (pbk) ISBN10: 0–203–96833–6 (ebk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–40903–2 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–40904–9 (pbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–96833–8 (ebk) A Károli Gáspár Református Egyetem Hittudományi Karának, hálám jeléül a 2000-ban adományozott doktori címemért. Contents List of abbreviations ix Acknowledgements xi Map showing the spread of Christianity over the antique world xiv–xv Introduction 1 The Great Turn 1 The chronological frame 2 Contextualisation 3 The agents of contextualisation 8 1 Earlier contextualisation 11 The Christians and the Roman Empire and society 11 Ethical standards and group morality 16 Connecting with philosophical themes 19 Responding to religious feelings and needs 22 2 Crisis and recognition 26 Introduction 26 The reform by the last pagan emperors and its failure 27 Politics and religion in Constantine 34 The Christianisation of public life 41 3 The Church Fathers assess the change 45 Introduction: three voices 45 Lactantius 48 Eusebius of Caesarea 52 Athanasius of Alexandria 63 Conclusions 67 viii Contents 4 Defining Christ’s relation to God 69 Introduction: two tracks of investigation 69 The critical theological situation in the east and its causes 71 The Council of Nicaea and its aftermath (324–40) 79 Development of Christological reflection (341–53) 86 Breakdown and resurgence of the Nicene Party (353–63) 96 Retrospective view on the period 342–63: evidences of contextualisation 106 5 Christianity matures 114 Introduction to the last decades and the emperors (364–97) 114 The final phase of the Arian struggle; external events (364–82) 117 The final phase of the Arian struggle; doctrinal results 123 The reception of the Creed of Nicaea-Constantinople; its ecumenical status 138 New trends in the relationship between the Church and the Emperor 142 6 External and internal repercussions 152 Introduction: repercussions of the Imperial and Romanised Church 152 Christianity beyond the Roman borders 152 The prime of ascetic and monastic life 159 Liturgical life and Christian commitment 165 Epilogue 179 Notes 184 Selected bibliography 214 Index of notions, persons and places 217 Index of patristic references 225 List of abbreviations Ambr. Ambrose Ep. Epistulae Fid. De Fide ad Gratianum Athan. Athanasius of Alexandria ApolConst. Apologia ad Constantium ApolFug. Apologia de Fuga Sua EpFest. Epistula Festivalis Gent. Oratio contra Gentes HistAr. Historia Arianorum ad Monachos Inc. Oratio de Incarnatione Verbi OrCAr. Orationes tres Contra Arianos Ser. Epistulae ad Serapionem VitAnt. Vita S. Antonii ClAl. Clement of Alexandria Paed. Paedagogus Protr. Protrepticus Cypr. Cyprian CathEc. De Catholicae Ecclesiae Unitate Cyr. Cyril of Jerusalem Cat. Mystagogical Catecheses Diogn. Epistula ad Diognetum Eus. Eusebius of Caesarea DE Demonstratio Evangelica HE Historia Ecclesiastica LausCons. Laus Constantini MP De Martyribus Palestiniae PE Praeparatio Evangelica VitCons. Vita Constantini GrNaz. Gregory of Nazianzum Ep. Epistulae Or. Orationes x List of abbreviations GrNyss. Gregory of Nyssa Apoll. Adversus Apollinatem Ep. Epistulae OrCatech. Oratio Catechetica Just. Justin Martyr Apol. Apologiae Dial. Dialogus cum Tryphone Judaeo Lact. Lactantius IrD. De Ira Dei MortP. De Mortibus Persecutorum Or. Origen Cels. Contra Celsum Hom. in Nm. Homiliae in Numeros Hom. in Ezk. Homiliae in Ezechielem Orat. De Oratione Tat. Tatian of Syria OrGr. Oratio ad Graecos Tert. Tertullian Apol. Apologeticum Iud. Adversus Iudaeos Orat. De Oratione ResCar. De Resurrectione Carnis Theod. Theodore of Mopsuestia Hom. Cat. Homiliae Catecheticae Acknowledgements The stimulus to write a study of Christianity’s turbulent course throughout the fourth century from the viewpoint of ‘contextualisation’ came to me from Africa. It is the result of lecturing in Cameroon and South Africa and, in a wider sense, of an experience of years as tutor of Church History in the Protestant Theological Seminary of Ndoungué, Cameroon. I observed that when engaged believers, both in Africa and in Europe, reflect on today’s position of the Church in society they often refer to the Age of Constantine as a period and a cause of corruption of the values for which Christianity was originally standing. On the other hand, from a modern missiological viewpoint, there is a positive interest in early Christianity’s ability to express its message in culturally understandable thought forms and actions, and in its readiness to assume co-responsibility for the public domain. I felt it a challenge to evaluate the crucial and determining ‘Age of Constantine’ from the angle of ‘challenge and response’, both terms being involved in the concept of ‘contextualisation’. Therefore, my first acknowledgement concerns the colleagues, students and church leaders who had to get along with me in those intensive African years. By virtue of her own great commitment to African people and to the call for solidarity with the underprivileged, my wife has been an inspiring com- panion all along my work for church, mission and university. I thank her warmly for encouraging me to undertake and achieve the present study. Various encouragements and good advice were received from my son Ulric and from colleagues and friends: Dr H.S. Benjamins, Revd A.H. Blom (Cape Town), Prof. Dr G.D.J. Dingemans and Prof. Dr C.J. Labuschagne. My special and deep thanks go to Dr P.J. Lalleman, Lecturer of New Testament and Academic Dean of Spurgeon’s College (London), who once took his doctor’s degree under my supervision. In his very kind and efficient way he has been of immense help, both in improving my imperfect English and in making the first contacts with the publisher. Central Europe’s ‘Great Turn’ of 1989 opened the door for scientific cooperation of the University of Groningen and its Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies with several homogeneous institutions in those countries. It is a great pleasure for me, as one of the inaugurators, that this cooperation is xii Acknowledgements still going on. I dedicate this book to the Theological Faculty of the Reformed Károli Gáspár University, Budapest, in gratitude to the colleagues there for the friendly contacts and for the awarding to me of a honorary doctorate. In compiling the indexes, I received valuable assistance from Dr Tomásˇ Novák (Diemen). Just after the completion of the text for this book, I learnt of the passing away of Prof. Gilles Quispel of Utrecht University, who led my first steps in the field of patristics. He was a great and penetrating scholar, whom I remember with thankfulness. The spread of Christianity over the antique world Introduction The Great Turn This is a study of the fourth century of the Christian era. It was a century of radical changes and much confusion for the adherents of the Christian faith and for their organisation, the Church. These changes and confusion in the first place affected those who lived in the Roman Empire, and they were the majority of all Christians.1 The remaining Christians found themselves in eastern neighbour states such as Persia and Armenia, or among the Visigoths, who settled on the northern defence lines (see Chapter 6, pp. 155–7). Shortly after 300, the Christians in the Roman Empire suffered a general persecution, ordered by the emperors, which was not equally severe in every place.

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