The Awakening of Constantine Christianity and Empire The

The “Awakening” of Constantine

Christianity and Empire: The History of Persecution • The Modern Myths • The Actual Facts (which are bad enough!) • The New Testament • The Emperor Nero (64 CE) • Decius (249 -251 CE) • Diocletian (303 -313 CE) • Pleas for Tolerance!

The Emperor Constantine • Upbringing • Birth: ca 273 CE • Early Life • Diocletian and The Tetrarchy (293 CE) • The Usurper Maxentius and The Civil War • The Battle at the Milvian Bridge (312 CE) • Constantine’s Conversion: October 28, 312!

Constantine’s Vision(s) • The Accounts • The Pagan Panegyric (310 CE): Apollo and Sol Invictus • Eusebius’s Life of Constantine (339 CE): “By this sign conquer” • Lactantius, Deaths of the Persecutors (315 CE): The night before battle • A Possible Synthesis

Central Questions • Was Constantine’s Conversion “Genuine” ? • Pagan Imagery on His Coins • Not Behaving as a Christian! (Family murders!) • A Death Bed Baptism • Was Constantine’s Conversion “THE” Key to the Success of Christianity? • Did Constantine Make Christianity the Official State Religion?

The New Christian Empire • Church and State Under the New Christian Emperor • Church and State Throughout All of History • Constantine: Emperor and Christian • Benefits Bestowed • Direct Involvement (the Arian Controversy) • The Family of Constantine down to Julian the Apostate • Theodosius I (379 -95 CE) and the Legislation of Christianity • Christian Intolerance • The Bold New World

Was Christianity a Triumph?