Journal: Journal of Ministry and Theology
Volume: JMAT 25:1 (Spring 2021)
Article: A Critical Examination Of The Church’s Reception Of Emperor Constantine’s Edict Of Milan Of AD 313
Author: Jeremiah Mutie

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A Critical Examination Of The Church’s Reception Of Emperor Constantine’s Edict Of Milan Of AD 313

Jeremiah Mutie

Abstract: Although it is logical that every prudent politician will ignore the largest religious movement in his or her time at his or her own peril, Christians of every age will be better served if they critically evaluate their reception of each major policy that is clearly aimed at their benefit. With this background, this article will attempt to critically examine the reception of Constantine’s edict by the church in the years immediately following its enactment. Two early exhibits will be brought to bear here: the Donatist controversy and the Arian controversy. Looking at these exhibits demonstrates that, while Christians had every reason to celebrate the enactment of the edict, down the road, an uncritical adoption of the emperor’s policies and favors towards the church opened a door for an unhealthy marriage between earthly powers and the church, proving detrimental in the ensuing years. As such, the church’s reception of the Edict of Milan continues to be a lesson to Christians of every age in their relationship with the political leadership of their time.

Key words: Constantine, Edict of Milan, Donatist Controversy, Arianism, Nicea

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Introduction

Church historian Robert L. Wilken begins his review entitled “In Defense of Constantine” with these words: “The ritual pronouncement of anathemas against Constantinianism has become so commonplace that the historical

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Constantine (A.D. 288?–337) has slipped from our sight.”2 What Wilken is getting at here is the immense attention that has been given to the “negative” implications of Emperor Constantine and his policies toward Christianity as evidenced in subsequent Constantinian scholarship. Indeed, the place of Constantine in Christianity has been continually debated.

For the most part, the argument has been that, in accepting the offer of toleration from Constantine together with all the favors that came with the conversion of Constantine, Christianity lost her authentic Christian witness. For example, in his work entitled The Politics of Jesus, after listing a number of problems that were a result of Constantine’s interaction with Christianity, the pacifist Obery M. Hendricks concludes,

Unfortunately, this is not all. Constantine’s adoption of Christianity as the de facto religion of the Roman Empire had another result as well: it sped the Church’s slide down the slippery slope of assimilation to the social mores and values of Greco-Roman cul...