Empire alignment is a theological crux that should trouble Christians.
Evidence
Given Rome’s treatment of Christians for a couple hundred years, indeed its slaughter of Christians, Jews, and other religious minorities, it unnerved me to consider why God would give a vision to a Roman emperor promising military victory. Did God do an about-face? What about all those Christians who died at the hands of Roman emperors before Constantine? Was it God’s plan all along to win over the most powerful person in the world at that time to now help Christianity flourish? Why didn’t Jesus use this same tactic and embrace imperial power? Why would God be interested in helping this emperor leading this particular empire to win this particular battle? Of course, there was and is no way to know what Constantine really saw or what it really meant. One thing, though, is for sure: the track record of Christianity aligning itself with empire in any time and place should unnerve Christians. — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 274
Categorization
- QUESTION: The author’s own questions about why God would favor an emperor who persecuted Christians are unresolved and worth pursuing.
- BMF: The unease about a persecutor emperor being divinely favored for a war victory echoes the tangle of divine mandate and military conquest in Gore Vidal’s Eighteen Seventy, where religious authority and state power corrupt one another.
- XREF: connects to: Centuries of Christian violence served protecting power and privilege — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 447; Fear-driven groups become the very threat they fear — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 417; Christians can oppose nationalism by serving rather than leading the marginalized. — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 328