Constantine was the first Christian emperor of Rome. I think his impact on Christianity was a good one. During his rule, Christianity became the dominant religion of Rome. He had people see Christianity in a new light. He was a nicer emperor which had to make people wonder why he was so much nicer. Although there were a couple of things Constantine did that weren’t exactly good, I, overall, think he had a good influence on the church. He made sure Christians weren’t being oppressed anymore, he ordered that Sunday be established the same legal rights as pagan feasts, that feasts in memory of Christian martyrs be recognized, and Sunday was declared the day of rest which meant markets were banned and public offices were closed. Constantine also allowed Christians to compete for high government positions and had greater acceptance into general civil society. Also, He supported the church financially and gave it land. He granted privileges to clergy like begin released from paying certain taxes. Constantine didn’t decide doctrine, the bishop did. Constantine only applied it. If it weren’t for him, I don’t think there would be as many Christians today. Constantine made Christian the dominant religion of the western world today.
Constantine did make a huge impact on the history of Rome, it is because of him that Christianity is the dominant religion in the roman empire. I think that Constantine was a good influence on the church. After publishing the Edict of MIlan he became greatly involved in the church. Constantine declared Sunday’s to be a day of rest and after 300 years of Christian prosecution Christians were allowed to worship without fear of being caught or persecuted. He allowed Christians to have better political jobs, more rights and people started to view Christians as equal and less like social misfits. He also make laws and rules to protect the Christian’s. He make a law that forbade Jews to stone other Jews who converted to Christianity. Constantine made feast days in celebration of Christian martyrs. However some can argue that Constantine’s political involvement may have created some diversity in the church. While I don’t think that was a good for the church or the people, I do think that in the end Christianity still is the dominant religion. The church hasn’t collapsed because of him. Christian’s are also not thought off as misfits in most areas. So while there were bad effects in the church due to Constantine's conversion I think the good outweighs the bad.
In my opinion, Constantine’s conversion to Christianity was not genuine. Though Constantine had a profound impact on the early church, his example is not one that should be widely emulated. Constantine’s “conversion” took place when he saw a vision at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. After his victory in that battle, Constantine supposedly thought of himself as a Christian. The Edict of Milan was issued in 313 A.D. This edict, ordained by Constantine, states (in easily accessible terms,) that "we should let both the Christians and all others follow whatever religion they wanted to, so that whatever God there is in heaven may be happy and pleased with us and with all our subjects." And this is where we start to see a problem. In this decree we see no clear indication of Constantine’s “Christianity;” instead, we get a glimpse at his real motive for his conversion. Nothing is wrong with wanting to please God; that is something we should all strive for daily. But Constantine was doing it for the wrong reason. In his mind, if he was going to gain victories with help from the Christian God, he was going to do everything in his power to stay in favor with that God. To Constantine, being a Christian wasn’t about having a personal relationship with God and serving Him to glorify His name; it was all about politics. Constantine had many advisors telling Him what the Christian God would want him to do, just to ensure favor with God. That’s not how it works. All Constantine was worried about was himself, and what he could do to please the God of the Christians. Although Constantine did many great things such as putting a stop to Christian persecution, releasing the church from paying taxes, and openly embracing Christianity, in the end he had an overall negative effect on the church because his heart was in the wrong place.
Before emperor Constantine, circumstances were looking pretty grim for the Christians. Many Roman emperors didn’t like Christians because they refused to participate in emperor worship. They didn’t always actively seek out Christians, but often they considered Christianity a crime. Thousands of Christians, died under Nero’s reign alone. Later, their temples were destroyed, and parts of the bible were burned. Life for Christians in the Roman emperor wasn’t looking so great. Then Constantine took the position as emperor. Suddenly, everything changed. When Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, Christians were freed from persecution. No longer did they have to keep their beliefs a secret or die because of their faith. When Constantine became emperor, the situation for Christian’s, all over the Roman empire, changed for the better. No one knows for certain whether Constantine truly was a Christian. Could Constantine have had a positive effect on the Church even if he didn’t truly know God? Think about Cyrus the Great. He wasn’t necessarily one of God’s people, but God used him to free the Jews from Babylonian captivity. In the same way, Constantine gave freedom to God’s people, and benefited the Church, whether or not he was Christian.
I believe that Constantine had a bad influence of the church. Even though he helped Christianity grow, by keeping followers safe from persecution and many other things, in the end he created the corruption of Christianity. By granting special privileges, freedom, and gifts to the Christians, Constantine infected the churches’ morality. People were more attracted to the church because of special privileges and favoritism that Constantine offered, rather then really believing the truth of the gospel. In the end people who did not even believe in the church, ended up joining anyway. Thousands of unsaved people became baptized and started calling themselves "Christians." They did not understand that water baptism does not make someone a true Christians. The church gained in quantity of numbers but it lost the quality of true believers. Constantine also allowed pagan practices to sneak into Christianity. For example, he replaced the biblical Passover with Easter, a popular holiday, established in ancient springtime fertility celebrations. Additionally, Constantine allowed the honoring of pagan images and statues, but gave them "Christian" names. Constantine started compromising the beliefs of Christianity and that damaged the church. Many of the same things Constantine did to promote Christianity actually promoted corruption and hypocrisy of the church and that is why Constantine had a bad influence of the church.
Was Constantine’s conversion to Christianity authentic? Well, he may have seen the sign of Christianity in the sky before the Battle of Milvian Bridge, but I don’t believe that he understood what being a Christian actually meant. After his success in battle, Constantine truly thought that since God was on his side, he would be on God’s side. Unfortunately, for Constantine, this meant the wrong things. He tried to make as many people as possible convert to Christianity, punishing those who wouldn’t and praising those who did. Not only does the Bible teach about dishonest religion, but it also warns against favoritism. So, although the persecution of Christians halted under Constantine’s reign, I believe that his overall effect on the church itself was negative. He stopped the slaughter of Christians as well as the gladiatorial games, as well as making Sunday an official day of rest. But while Constantine did his best to further the church, he succeeded only in numbers but not in souls. He donated money and built places for Christians to worship, supposedly using the taxes of all non-Christians. He promoted Christians in office and demoted non-Christians. He lavished worldly things on those who outwardly expressed their love of God. His doing this, however, forced and bribed people into a false Christianity, which ultimately led to major corruption in the church.
I believe Constantine had a bad influence on the church. He was the first emperor of Rome that was a Christian or believed in Christianity. Constantine made Christianity legal, which led to ending about three hundred years of persecution of Christians. He also stopped the bloody gladiator shows. I think even though Constantine made Christianity a legal religion in Rome that did not mean that he was a good influence for the church. Constantine made the Christians feel no longer rejected for their religion but, accepted by the Roman people. He had churches and places were the Christians could go and worship. Even though Constantine accepted Christians and their belief but it didn't necessarily mean that he was a Christian himself or that he shared Christ to the people. Constantine really had a bad influence on the church for when he had the churches built. Many people started joining them some because they embraced the truth and others because it was the popular thing to do. This might have even given some people a bad example of what Christianity was. Even though Christianity triumphed over the Pagan religion, Pagan ideas still crept into the church. So overall I believe that Constantine might have changed the Christians view about Romans and made a change in history but he still ended up being a bad influence for the church.
Constantine’s impact on Christianity was a mixture of good and bad. He encouraged Christianity and gave promotions to Christians, but he also began persecuting pagans. Constantine was a man whose spiritual state is uncertain. Some of his theology was not in line with the things Jesus taught. But he also seemed to embrace Christianity.
Prior to Constantine’s reign, Galerius (who ruled from 305 to 311) passed the Edict of Toleration. This edict ended the persecution of Christians. Licinius (who ruled from 308 to 324) started to accept and collaborate with the church. So Constantine neither ended persecution in Rome nor was the first emperor to help the church. Rather, he expounded on Galerius’ and Licinius’ concepts, and expanded Christianity. He did this in three ways. He tore down pagan temples, printed many Bibles, and built several churches.
Constantine plundered pagan temples for their treasures. This led to the depletion of public pagan influences. Christians could be in a continual comfort-zone. By doing this, Constantine attempted to purge Rome of non-Christians. But he also was doing the same thing the pagans had done to the Christians; he did not convert them in a loving manner, rather, he resorted to force.
During the reign of Constantine, many Bibles were printed. In 331, he hired Eusebius, a Roman historian, to deliver fifty Bibles to the Church of Constantinople. Athanasius, also referred to as St. Athanasius the Great, recorded about 340 Alexandrian scribes copying the Bible. Since Constantine had not had so many BIbles copied, it resulted in the spread of Christianity.
Constantine built many churches, most of them catholic. Some of these churches include the Hagia Sophia (which is one of the most important structures of the Byzantine architecture), the Church of St. Peter and , The Church of Santa Sabina in Rome, The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Once a religion becomes popular, there will be many true conversions (though there were many that were false), which calls for large meeting places. Constantine provided Christianity the room it needed to grow and expand.
Constantine encouraged the spread of Christianity, but in a way contrary to God’s. God is “slow to anger”, and “abounding in steadfast love”. Constantine sought to spread Christianity by tearing down and persecuting the pagans. It almost seems ironic. It is sad to see Constantine trying to please God in violence. Constantine was an emperor who sought to please spread Christianity, but by doing so, persecuting pagans.
In my opinion, Constantine was a positive influence on Christianity in Rome. Because, although Constantine’s own faith is debatable, he did allow the church to flourish and grow. Constantine’s involvement in the church aided in the church’s growth and the church was able to work through some of the issues many newly established church faces. Allowing Christianity to become one of the main religions in Rome also spurred on the spreading of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. When Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, Christianity became legal and persecution of the Christians became favored by the Roman law. It became safe for Christians to publicly proclaim their faith, without persecution.
Mr. Parker, since you would like us to research the causes of the collapse of Rome, are we going to do an in-class essay on what we think is the most plausible explanation out of the 11 causes, or are you going to give us one reason of collapse, and tell us to write an essay supporting that collapse?
You may have made it clear in class, but I became a little confused.
In my opinion Constantine's conversion to christianity (whether truly genuine or not) was ultimately a good thing. Before his rein, Christians had been severely treated because of their faith and persecuted unjustly. The Romans believed that christianity was a threat to them and their religion and so beginning in 250 AD Christians were persecuted all over the Roman empire. Thousands of God's chosen people died in so many terrible ways. However, after Constantine's conversion he issued the Edict of Milan which made Christianity legal. The people could worship God without fearing for their lives. They were protected by Roman law and even granted privileges. Even if Constantine himself was not truly a follower of God or if he did not completely believe in him, what he did for the Christians and the church saved many lives and kept innocent people from being persecuted unjustly. God was clearly using Constantine for his will and to liberate his people from the terrible fate they were facing at the hands of the Romans.
What would have happened to the Christians without Constantine? I think that is the greatest question that surfaces when examining Constantine’s reign. I believe Constantine had a large impact on the Christian church and, in general, influenced the church well. Without Constantine, who knows what would have happened to the Christian church. Before the Edict of Milan in 313, Christian persecution was widespread and horrifying. God’s people were being killed by wild beasts for public amusement, crucified, and burned by flames so the Romans could see at night. Whatever Constantine’s personal relationship with God, he was in a position to help the church and he did. As an emperor, he was able to financially aid God’s people by giving money and exempting many clergy members of certain taxes. He also returned land and money taken by Diocletian during the Great Persecution. Obviously, as the emperor, Constantine had a great amount of influence over the empire. When he stopped persecuting Christians, and even began helping them, I believe he made many Roman citizens much more open to the idea of Christianity. He paved a simpler way for the gospel to go forth. Christians could now show Christ and tell others about the gospel without the fear of being killed. This was an opportunity for the Christians to tell others the Good News like never before.
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Constantine was the first Christian emperor of Rome. I think his impact on Christianity was a good one. During his rule, Christianity became the dominant religion of Rome. He had people see Christianity in a new light. He was a nicer emperor which had to make people wonder why he was so much nicer. Although there were a couple of things Constantine did that weren’t exactly good, I, overall, think he had a good influence on the church. He made sure Christians weren’t being oppressed anymore, he ordered that Sunday be established the same legal rights as pagan feasts, that feasts in memory of Christian martyrs be recognized, and Sunday was declared the day of rest which meant markets were banned and public offices were closed. Constantine also allowed Christians to compete for high government positions and had greater acceptance into general civil society. Also, He supported the church financially and gave it land. He granted privileges to clergy like begin released from paying certain taxes. Constantine didn’t decide doctrine, the bishop did. Constantine only applied it. If it weren’t for him, I don’t think there would be as many Christians today. Constantine made Christian the dominant religion of the western world today.
Constantine did make a huge impact on the history of Rome, it is because of him that Christianity is the dominant religion in the roman empire. I think that Constantine was a good influence on the church. After publishing the Edict of MIlan he became greatly involved in the church. Constantine declared Sunday’s to be a day of rest and after 300 years of Christian prosecution Christians were allowed to worship without fear of being caught or persecuted. He allowed Christians to have better political jobs, more rights and people started to view Christians as equal and less like social misfits. He also make laws and rules to protect the Christian’s. He make a law that forbade Jews to stone other Jews who converted to Christianity. Constantine made feast days in celebration of Christian martyrs. However some can argue that Constantine’s political involvement may have created some diversity in the church. While I don’t think that was a good for the church or the people, I do think that in the end Christianity still is the dominant religion. The church hasn’t collapsed because of him. Christian’s are also not thought off as misfits in most areas. So while there were bad effects in the church due to Constantine's conversion I think the good outweighs the bad.
In my opinion, Constantine’s conversion to Christianity was not genuine. Though Constantine had a profound impact on the early church, his example is not one that should be widely emulated. Constantine’s “conversion” took place when he saw a vision at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. After his victory in that battle, Constantine supposedly thought of himself as a Christian. The Edict of Milan was issued in 313 A.D. This edict, ordained by Constantine, states (in easily accessible terms,) that "we should let both the Christians and all others follow whatever religion they wanted to, so that whatever God there is in heaven may be happy and pleased with us and with all our subjects." And this is where we start to see a problem. In this decree we see no clear indication of Constantine’s “Christianity;” instead, we get a glimpse at his real motive for his conversion. Nothing is wrong with wanting to please God; that is something we should all strive for daily. But Constantine was doing it for the wrong reason. In his mind, if he was going to gain victories with help from the Christian God, he was going to do everything in his power to stay in favor with that God. To Constantine, being a Christian wasn’t about having a personal relationship with God and serving Him to glorify His name; it was all about politics. Constantine had many advisors telling Him what the Christian God would want him to do, just to ensure favor with God. That’s not how it works. All Constantine was worried about was himself, and what he could do to please the God of the Christians. Although Constantine did many great things such as putting a stop to Christian persecution, releasing the church from paying taxes, and openly embracing Christianity, in the end he had an overall negative effect on the church because his heart was in the wrong place.
Before emperor Constantine, circumstances were looking pretty grim for the Christians. Many Roman emperors didn’t like Christians because they refused to participate in emperor worship. They didn’t always actively seek out Christians, but often they considered Christianity a crime. Thousands of Christians, died under Nero’s reign alone. Later, their temples were destroyed, and parts of the bible were burned. Life for Christians in the Roman emperor wasn’t looking so great.
Then Constantine took the position as emperor. Suddenly, everything changed. When Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, Christians were freed from persecution. No longer did they have to keep their beliefs a secret or die because of their faith. When Constantine became emperor, the situation for Christian’s, all over the Roman empire, changed for the better.
No one knows for certain whether Constantine truly was a Christian. Could Constantine have had a positive effect on the Church even if he didn’t truly know God? Think about Cyrus the Great. He wasn’t necessarily one of God’s people, but God used him to free the Jews from Babylonian captivity. In the same way, Constantine gave freedom to God’s people, and benefited the Church, whether or not he was Christian.
I believe that Constantine had a bad influence of the church. Even though he helped Christianity grow, by keeping followers safe from persecution and many other things, in the end he created the corruption of Christianity. By granting special privileges, freedom, and gifts to the Christians, Constantine infected the churches’ morality. People were more attracted to the church because of special privileges and favoritism that Constantine offered, rather then really believing the truth of the gospel. In the end people who did not even believe in the church, ended up joining anyway. Thousands of unsaved people became baptized and started calling themselves "Christians." They did not understand that water baptism does not make someone a true Christians. The church gained in quantity of numbers but it lost the quality of true believers. Constantine also allowed pagan practices to sneak into Christianity. For example, he replaced the biblical Passover with Easter, a popular holiday, established in ancient springtime fertility celebrations. Additionally, Constantine allowed the honoring of pagan images and statues, but gave them "Christian" names. Constantine started compromising the beliefs of Christianity and that damaged the church. Many of the same things Constantine did to promote Christianity actually promoted corruption and hypocrisy of the church and that is why Constantine had a bad influence of the church.
Was Constantine’s conversion to Christianity authentic? Well, he may have seen the sign of Christianity in the sky before the Battle of Milvian Bridge, but I don’t believe that he understood what being a Christian actually meant. After his success in battle, Constantine truly thought that since God was on his side, he would be on God’s side. Unfortunately, for Constantine, this meant the wrong things. He tried to make as many people as possible convert to Christianity, punishing those who wouldn’t and praising those who did. Not only does the Bible teach about dishonest religion, but it also warns against favoritism.
So, although the persecution of Christians halted under Constantine’s reign, I believe that his overall effect on the church itself was negative. He stopped the slaughter of Christians as well as the gladiatorial games, as well as making Sunday an official day of rest. But while Constantine did his best to further the church, he succeeded only in numbers but not in souls. He donated money and built places for Christians to worship, supposedly using the taxes of all non-Christians. He promoted Christians in office and demoted non-Christians. He lavished worldly things on those who outwardly expressed their love of God. His doing this, however, forced and bribed people into a false Christianity, which ultimately led to major corruption in the church.
I believe Constantine had a bad influence on the church. He was the first emperor of Rome that was a Christian or believed in Christianity. Constantine made Christianity legal, which led to ending about three hundred years of persecution of Christians. He also stopped the bloody gladiator shows. I think even though Constantine made Christianity a legal religion in Rome that did not mean that he was a good influence for the church. Constantine made the Christians feel no longer rejected for their religion but, accepted by the Roman people. He had churches and places were the Christians could go and worship. Even though Constantine accepted Christians and their belief but it didn't necessarily mean that he was a Christian himself or that he shared Christ to the people. Constantine really had a bad influence on the church for when he had the churches built. Many people started joining them some because they embraced the truth and others because it was the popular thing to do. This might have even given some people a bad example of what Christianity was. Even though Christianity triumphed over the Pagan religion, Pagan ideas still crept into the church. So overall I believe that Constantine might have changed the Christians view about Romans and made a change in history but he still ended up being a bad influence for the church.
Mr. Parker, are we supposed to post our essays?
Constantine’s impact on Christianity was a mixture of good and bad. He encouraged Christianity and gave promotions to Christians, but he also began persecuting pagans. Constantine was a man whose spiritual state is uncertain. Some of his theology was not in line with the things Jesus taught. But he also seemed to embrace Christianity.
Prior to Constantine’s reign, Galerius (who ruled from 305 to 311) passed the Edict of Toleration. This edict ended the persecution of Christians. Licinius (who ruled from 308 to 324) started to accept and collaborate with the church. So Constantine neither ended persecution in Rome nor was the first emperor to help the church. Rather, he expounded on Galerius’ and Licinius’ concepts, and expanded Christianity. He did this in three ways. He tore down pagan temples, printed many Bibles, and built several churches.
Constantine plundered pagan temples for their treasures. This led to the depletion of public pagan influences. Christians could be in a continual comfort-zone. By doing this, Constantine attempted to purge Rome of non-Christians. But he also was doing the same thing the pagans had done to the Christians; he did not convert them in a loving manner, rather, he resorted to force.
During the reign of Constantine, many Bibles were printed. In 331, he hired Eusebius, a Roman historian, to deliver fifty Bibles to the Church of Constantinople. Athanasius, also referred to as St. Athanasius the Great, recorded about 340 Alexandrian scribes copying the Bible. Since Constantine had not had so many BIbles copied, it resulted in the spread of Christianity.
Constantine built many churches, most of them catholic. Some of these churches include the Hagia Sophia (which is one of the most important structures of the Byzantine architecture), the Church of St. Peter and , The Church of Santa Sabina in Rome, The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Once a religion becomes popular, there will be many true conversions (though there were many that were false), which calls for large meeting places. Constantine provided Christianity the room it needed to grow and expand.
Constantine encouraged the spread of Christianity, but in a way contrary to God’s. God is “slow to anger”, and “abounding in steadfast love”. Constantine sought to spread Christianity by tearing down and persecuting the pagans. It almost seems ironic. It is sad to see Constantine trying to please God in violence. Constantine was an emperor who sought to please spread Christianity, but by doing so, persecuting pagans.
Sorry Mr. Parker, I looked a little closer at the comments and found out we were supposed to post our essays, but I may be mistaken.
In my opinion, Constantine was a positive influence on Christianity in Rome. Because, although Constantine’s own faith is debatable, he did allow the church to flourish and grow. Constantine’s involvement in the church aided in the church’s growth and the church was able to work through some of the issues many newly established church faces. Allowing Christianity to become one of the main religions in Rome also spurred on the spreading of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. When Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, Christianity became legal and persecution of the Christians became favored by the Roman law. It became safe for Christians to publicly proclaim their faith, without persecution.
Mr. Parker, since you would like us to research the causes of the collapse of Rome, are we going to do an in-class essay on what we think is the most plausible explanation out of the 11 causes, or are you going to give us one reason of collapse, and tell us to write an essay supporting that collapse?
You may have made it clear in class, but I became a little confused.
In my opinion Constantine's conversion to christianity (whether truly genuine or not) was ultimately a good thing. Before his rein, Christians had been severely treated because of their faith and persecuted unjustly. The Romans believed that christianity was a threat to them and their religion and so beginning in 250 AD Christians were persecuted all over the Roman empire. Thousands of God's chosen people died in so many terrible ways. However, after Constantine's conversion he issued the Edict of Milan which made Christianity legal. The people could worship God without fearing for their lives. They were protected by Roman law and even granted privileges. Even if Constantine himself was not truly a follower of God or if he did not completely believe in him, what he did for the Christians and the church saved many lives and kept innocent people from being persecuted unjustly. God was clearly using Constantine for his will and to liberate his people from the terrible fate they were facing at the hands of the Romans.
What would have happened to the Christians without Constantine? I think that is the greatest question that surfaces when examining Constantine’s reign. I believe Constantine had a large impact on the Christian church and, in general, influenced the church well. Without Constantine, who knows what would have happened to the Christian church. Before the Edict of Milan in 313, Christian persecution was widespread and horrifying. God’s people were being killed by wild beasts for public amusement, crucified, and burned by flames so the Romans could see at night. Whatever Constantine’s personal relationship with God, he was in a position to help the church and he did. As an emperor, he was able to financially aid God’s people by giving money and exempting many clergy members of certain taxes. He also returned land and money taken by Diocletian during the Great Persecution. Obviously, as the emperor, Constantine had a great amount of influence over the empire. When he stopped persecuting Christians, and even began helping them, I believe he made many Roman citizens much more open to the idea of Christianity. He paved a simpler way for the gospel to go forth. Christians could now show Christ and tell others about the gospel without the fear of being killed. This was an opportunity for the Christians to tell others the Good News like never before.
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