Abstract
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.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 241-270 |
Number of pages | 30 |
Journal | Journal of Early Christian Studies |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 26 Jun 2019 |