Constantine the Populist
It has long been acknowledged that although the reign of Constantine (d. 337 c.e.) brought new prosperity to the Christian churches, it was also an age of ever-escalating division. This essay suggests that recent scholarship on populism can help us to understand the role of conflict in Constantinian...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Johns Hopkins Univ. Press
[2019]
|
In: |
Journal of early Christian studies
Year: 2019, Volume: 27, Issue: 2, Pages: 241-270 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Konstantin, I., Römisches Reich, Kaiser ca. 280-337
/ Christianity
/ Schism
/ Rivalry
/ Populism
|
RelBib Classification: | CG Christianity and Politics KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity TB Antiquity |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
Summary: | It has long been acknowledged that although the reign of Constantine (d. 337 c.e.) brought new prosperity to the Christian churches, it was also an age of ever-escalating division. This essay suggests that recent scholarship on populism can help us to understand the role of conflict in Constantinian Christianity. Structured conflict, we suggest, had a recognized value as a tool for cultivating the loyalty of a following. The creation of factional loyalty, rather than spiritual unity, seems to have been the aim of the fourth-century Christian bishops and clergy. Yet it is less clear whether this goal was shared by the emperor himself. |
---|---|
ISSN: | 1086-3184 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of early Christian studies
|
Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/earl.2019.0020 |