A good question about Christendom

W.H. Chellis asks (De Regno Christi):

"Was Christendom an accidental mistake? Did a shrewd and manipulative Pagan politician named Constantine sully the purity of Apostolic Christianity? This is an increasingly popular reading of history. Is it accurate?"

To answer this question about history, one would need to look at history; in other words, looking at the Bible is not enough.

My own research in this area has been greatly aided by two works:

• Church and State in Early Christianity by Hugo Rahner
• The Laity and the Life of the Counsels by Hans Urs von Balthasar

No. The caricature of Christendom is not accurate. It overlooks the dream of Origen and the feistiness of the other theologians and bishops in the Age of Martyrs. It also overlooks Ambrose of Milan and Hilary of Poitiers, both of whom contended with the Constantinian state.