Christianization Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==== Constantine and the goal of Christianization==== {{main|Historiography of Christianization of the Roman Empire}} The Christianization of the [[Roman Empire]] is frequently divided by scholars into the two phases of before and after the conversion of [[Constantine I (emperor)|Constantine]] in 312.{{sfn|Siecienski|2017|p=3}}{{refn|group=note|There have, historically, been many different scholarly views on Constantine's religious policies.{{sfn|Drake|1995|pp=2, 15}} For example [[Jacob Burckhardt]] has characterized Constantine as being "essentially unreligious" and as using the Church solely to support his power and ambition. Drake asserts, "critical reaction against Burckhardt's anachronistic reading has been decisive".{{sfn|Drake|1995|pp=1, 2}} According to Burckhardt, being Christian automatically meant being intolerant, while Drake says that assumes a uniformity of belief within Christianity that does not exist in the historical record.{{sfn|Drake|1995|p=3}}{{paragraph break}} Brown calls Constantine's conversion a "very Roman conversion".{{sfn|Brown|2012|p=61}} "He had risen to power in a series of deathly civil wars, destroyed the system of divided empire, believed the Christian God had brought him victory, and therefore regarded that god as the proper recipient of religio".{{sfn|Brown|2012|p=61}} Brown says Constantine was over 40, had most likely been a traditional polytheist, and was a savvy and ruthless politician when he declared himself a Christian.{{sfn|Brown|2012|pp=60β61}} }} Constantine did not support the suppression of paganism by force.{{sfn|Leithart|2010|p=302}}{{sfn|Wiemer|1994|p=523}}{{sfn|Drake|1995|pp=7β9}}{{sfn|Bradbury|1994|pp=122β126}} He never engaged in a [[purge]],{{sfn|Leithart|2010|p=304}} and there were no pagan martyrs during his reign.{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=74}}{{sfn|Thompson|2005|pp=87, 93}} Pagans remained in important positions at his court.{{sfn|Leithart|2010|p=302}} Constantine ruled for 31 years and despite personal animosity toward paganism, he never outlawed paganism.{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=74}}{{sfn|Drake|1995|pp=3, 7}} Making the adoption of Christianity beneficial was Constantine's primary approach to religion, and imperial favor was important to successful Christianization over the next century.{{sfn|Bayliss|2004|p=243}}{{sfn|Southern|2015|pp=455β457}} Yet, Constantine did not institute many christianizing changes, and those measures he did enact did little to Christianize civic culture.{{sfn|Lim|2012|pp=499-500}} According to historian Michelle Renee Salzman, there is no evidence to indicate that conversion of pagans through force was an accepted method of Christianization at any point in Late Antiquity. Evidence indicates all uses of imperial force concerning religion were aimed at heretics (who were already Christian) such as the [[Donatism|Donatists]] and the [[Manichaeism|Manichaeans]] and not at non-believers such as Jews or pagans.{{sfn|Stocking|2000|p=135 fn.68}}{{sfn|GarcΓa-Arenal|Glazer-Eytan|2019|p=19}}{{sfn|Salzman|2006|pp=268β269}}{{sfn|Marcos|2013|pp=1β16}}{{refn|group=note|In his 1984 book, ''Christianizing the Roman Empire: (A.D. 100β400)'', and again in 1997, [[Ramsay MacMullen]] argues that widespread Christian antiβpagan violence, as well as persecution from a "bloodthirsty" and violent Constantine (and his successors), caused the Christianization of the Roman Empire in the fourth century.{{sfn|MacMullen|1984|pp=46β50}}{{sfn|Salzman|2006|p=265}} Salzman describes MacMullen's book as "controversial".{{sfn|Salzman|2006|p=265}} In a review of it, T. D. Barnes has written that MacMullen's book treats "non-Christian evidence as better and more reliable than Christian evidence", generalizes from pagan polemics as if they were unchallenged fact, misses important facts entirely, and shows an important selectivity in his choices of what ancient and modern works he discusses.{{sfn|Barnes|1985|p=496}}{{paragraph break}} [[David Bentley Hart]] also gives a detailed discussion of MacMullen's "careless misuse of textual evidence".{{sfn|Hart|2009|pp=148β152}}{{paragraph break}} Schwarz says MacMullen is an example of a modern minimalist.{{sfn|Schwartz|2005|pp=150β151}} Schwarz suggests that minimalism is beginning to show signs of decline because it tends to understate the significance of some human actions, and so makes assumptions that are hard to support.{{sfn|Schwartz|2005|p=152}} As a result, "MacMullen's account of Christianization as basically an aggregation of accidents and contingencies" is not broadly supported.{{sfn|Schwartz|2005|pp=150β152}}{{paragraph break}} In [[Gaul]], some of the most influential textual sources on pagan-Christian violence concerns [[Martin of Tours|Martin, Bishop of Tours]] ({{Circa|371}}β397), the Pannonian ex-soldier who is "solely credited in the historical record as the militant converter of Gaul".{{sfn|Salzman|2006|pp=278β279}}{{paragraph break}} These texts have been criticized for lacking historical veracity, even by ancient critics, but they are still useful for illuminating views of violence held in late fourth century Gaul.{{sfn|Salzman|2006|p=279}}{{paragraph break}} The portion of the sources devoted to attacks on pagans is limited, and they all revolve around Martin using his miraculous powers to overturn pagan shrines and idols, but not to ever threaten or harm people.{{sfn|Salzman|2006|p=280}}{{paragraph break}} Salzman concludes "None of Martin's interventions led to the deaths of any Gauls, pagan or Christian. Even if one doubts the exact veracity of these incidents, the assertion that Martin preferred non-violent conversion techniques says much about the norms for conversion in Gaul" at the time Martin's biography was written.{{sfn|Salzman|2006|p=282}}{{paragraph break}} Archaeologist David Riggs writes that evidence from [[North Africa]] reveals a tolerance of [[religious pluralism]] and a vitality of traditional paganism much more than it shows any form of religious violence or coercion: "persuasion, such as the propagation of Christian [[apologetics]], appears to have played a more critical role in the eventual "triumph of Christianity" than was previously assumed".{{sfn|Riggs|2006|pp=297, 308}}{{sfn|Salzman|SΓ‘ghy|Testa|2016|p=2}}{{paragraph break}} According to Raymond Van Dam, "an approach which emphasizes conflict flounders as a means for explaining both the initial attractions of a new cult like Christianity, as well as, more importantly, its persistence".{{sfn|Van Dam|1985|p=2}} In the twenty first century, this model of early Christianization has become marginalized.{{sfn|Scourfield|2007|pp=2β4}}}} However, Constantine must have written the laws that threatened and menaced pagans who continued to practice sacrifice. The element of pagan culture most abhorrent to Christians was sacrifice, and altars used for it were routinely smashed. Christians were deeply offended by the blood of slaughtered victims as they were reminded of their own past sufferings associated with such altars.{{sfn|Bradbury|1995|pp=331, 346}} Richard Lim writes that "Putting an end to blood sacrifice ... thus became the singular goal of Christianization (Barnes 1984; Bradbury 1994, 1995)".{{sfn|Lim|2012|p=498}} There is no evidence that any of the horrific punishments included in the laws against sacrifice were ever enacted.{{sfn|Digeser|2000|pp=168β169}} There is no record of anyone being executed for violating religious laws before Tiberius II Constantine at the end of the sixth century (574β582).{{sfn|Thompson|2005|p=93}} Still, Bradbury notes that the complete disappearance of public sacrifice by the mid-fourth century "in many towns and cities must be attributed to the atmosphere created by imperial and episcopal hostility".{{sfn|Bradbury|1995|pp=345β356}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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