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<title>Constantinian shift</title>

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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Constantinian shift</span></span>

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<p>The <b>Constantinian shift</b> was, according to some <a href="Christian_theology" title="Christian theology">theologians</a> and <a href="Ancient_history" title="Ancient history">historians of antiquity</a>, a set of political and theological changes that took place during the <a href="Christianity_in_the_4th_century" title="Christianity in the 4th century">4th-century</a> under the leadership of Emperor <a href="Constantine_the_Great" title="Constantine the Great">Constantine the Great</a>. <a href="Rodney_Clapp" title="Rodney Clapp">Rodney Clapp</a> claims that the shift or change started in the year 200.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The term was popularized by the <a href="Mennonite" class="mw-redirect" title="Mennonite">Mennonite</a> theologian <a href="John_H._Yoder" class="mw-redirect" title="John H. Yoder">John H. Yoder</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> He claims that the change was not just freedom from persecution but an alliance between the <a href="State_church_of_the_Roman_Empire" class="mw-redirect" title="State church of the Roman Empire">State</a> and the Church that led to a kind of <a href="Caesaropapism" title="Caesaropapism">Caesaropapism</a>. The claim that there ever was a Constantinian shift has been disputed; <a href="Peter_Leithart" title="Peter Leithart">Peter Leithart</a> argues that there was a "brief, ambiguous 'Constantinian moment' in the fourth century", but that there was "no permanent, epochal 'Constantinian shift<span style="padding-right:.15em;">'</span>".<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="The_Shift">The Shift</h2></div>

<p><a href="Constantine_the_Great" title="Constantine the Great">Constantine the Great</a> (reigned 306–337) adopted <a href="Christianity" title="Christianity">Christianity</a> as his system of belief after his victory at the <a href="Battle_of_Milvian_Bridge" class="mw-redirect" title="Battle of Milvian Bridge">Battle of Milvian Bridge</a> in 312.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The following year, 313, he issued the <a href="Edict_of_Milan" title="Edict of Milan">Edict of Milan</a> with his eastern colleague, <a href="Licinius" title="Licinius">Licinius</a>. The edict legalised Christianity alongside other religions in the <a href="Roman_Empire" title="Roman Empire">Roman Empire</a>.

In 325 the <a href="First_Council_of_Nicaea" title="First Council of Nicaea">First Council of Nicaea</a> signalled consolidation of Christianity under an orthodoxy endorsed by Constantine. While this did not make other Christian groups outside the adopted definition illegal, dissenting <a href="Arianism" title="Arianism">Arian bishops</a> were initially exiled. But Constantine reinstated <a href="Arius" title="Arius">Arius</a> just before the heresiarch died in 336 and exiled the Orthodox <a href="Athanasius_of_Alexandria" title="Athanasius of Alexandria">Athanasius of Alexandria</a> from 335 to 337. In 380 Emperor <a href="Theodosius_I" title="Theodosius I">Theodosius I</a> made Christianity the Roman Empire's <a href="State_religion" title="State religion">official religion</a> (see <a href="State_church_of_the_Roman_Empire" class="mw-redirect" title="State church of the Roman Empire">State church of the Roman Empire</a>). In 392 Theodosius passed legislation prohibiting all <a href="Paganism" title="Paganism">pagan</a> cultic worship.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>During the 4th century, however, there was no real unity between church and state: in the course of the <a href="Arian_controversy" title="Arian controversy">Arian controversy</a>, <a href="Arianism" title="Arianism">Arian</a> or semi-Arian emperors exiled leading Trinitarian bishops, such as <a href="Athanasius" class="mw-redirect" title="Athanasius">Athanasius</a> (335, 339, 356, 362, 365), <a href="Hilary_of_Poitiers" title="Hilary of Poitiers">Hilary of Poitiers</a> (356), and <a href="Gregory_of_Nyssa" title="Gregory of Nyssa">Gregory of Nyssa</a> (374<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>); just as leading Arian and <a href="Anomoean" class="mw-redirect" title="Anomoean">Anomoean</a> theologians such as <a href="A%C3%ABtius_(theologian)" class="mw-redirect" title="Aëtius (theologian)">Aëtius</a> (fl. 350) also suffered exile.

</p><p>Towards the end of the century, Bishop <a href="Ambrose_of_Milan" class="mw-redirect" title="Ambrose of Milan">Ambrose of Milan</a> made the powerful Emperor <a href="Theodosius_I" title="Theodosius I">Theodosius I</a> (reigned 379–395) do penance for several months after the <a href="Massacre_of_Thessaloniki" class="mw-redirect" title="Massacre of Thessaloniki">massacre of Thessalonica</a> (390) before admitting him again to the <a href="Eucharist" title="Eucharist">Eucharist</a>. On the other hand, only a few years later, <a href="Chrysostom" class="mw-redirect" title="Chrysostom">Chrysostom</a>, who as bishop of <a href="Constantinople" title="Constantinople">Constantinople</a> criticized the excesses of the royal court, was eventually banished (403) and died (407) while traveling to his place of exile.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Theological_implications">Theological implications</h2></div>

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</style><table class="sidebar sidebar-collapse nomobile nowraplinks plainlist"><tbody><tr><th class="sidebar-title">Separation of church and state in the history of the Catholic Church</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-image"><span class="skin-invert" typeof="mw:File"></span></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:transparent;border-top:1px solid #aaa;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">Overview</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content" style="border-top:1px solid #aaa;padding-bottom:0.25em;border-bottom:1px solid #aaa;">

<ul><li><a href="Two_kingdoms_doctrine#In_Roman_Catholicism" title="Two kingdoms doctrine">Two kingdoms doctrine<br>in Roman Catholicism</a></li>

<li><a href="Relations_between_the_Catholic_Church_and_the_State" class="mw-redirect" title="Relations between the Catholic Church and the State">Relations between the<br>Catholic Church and the State</a></li>

<li><a href="Integralism#Catholic_integralism" title="Integralism">Catholic integralism</a></li>

<li>Politics of Vatican City</li></ul></div></div></td>

</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:transparent;border-top:1px solid #aaa;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">Sovereignty and loyalty</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content" style="border-top:1px solid #aaa;padding-bottom:0.25em;border-bottom:1px solid #aaa;">

<ul><li><a href="Papal_deposing_power" title="Papal deposing power">Papal deposing power</a></li>

<li><a href="Sovereign_immunity#Holy_See" title="Sovereign immunity">Sovereign immunity § Holy See</a></li>

<li><a href="Dual_loyalty#Historical_examples" title="Dual loyalty">Dual loyalty § Historical examples</a></li>

<li><a href="Fourth_vow#In_the_Society_of_Jesus" title="Fourth vow">Fourth vow § In the Society of Jesus</a></li></ul></div></div></td>

</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:transparent;border-top:1px solid #aaa;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">Documents</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content" style="border-top:1px solid #aaa;padding-bottom:0.25em;border-bottom:1px solid #aaa;">

<ul><li><i><a href="Donation_of_Constantine" title="Donation of Constantine">Donation of Constantine</a></i></li>

<li><i><a href="Dictatus_papae" title="Dictatus papae">Dictatus papae</a></i></li>

<li><i><a href="Unam_sanctam" title="Unam sanctam">Unam sanctam</a></i></li>

<li><i><a href="To_the_Christian_Nobility_of_the_German_Nation#The_First_Wall:_Spiritual_Power_over_Temporal" title="To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation">To the Christian Nobility<br>of the German Nation</a></i></li>

<li><a href="Papal_Jurisdiction_Act_1560" title="Papal Jurisdiction Act 1560">Papal Jurisdiction Act 1560</a> (Scotland)</li>

<li><i><a href="Disputationes_de_Controversiis" title="Disputationes de Controversiis">Disputationes de Controversiis</a></i></li>

<li><i><a href="Mirari_vos" title="Mirari vos">Mirari vos</a></i></li>

<li><i><a href="Quanta_cura" title="Quanta cura">Quanta cura</a></i></li>

<li><i><a href="Syllabus_of_Errors" title="Syllabus of Errors">Syllabus of Errors</a></i></li>

<li><i><a href="Dignitatis_humanae" title="Dignitatis humanae">Dignitatis humanae</a></i></li>

<li><i><a href="Church%E2%80%93state_relations_in_Argentina" class="mw-redirect" title="Church–state relations in Argentina">Church–state relations in Argentina § 2005<br>Episcopal Conference document</a></i></li></ul></div></div></td>

</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:transparent;border-top:1px solid #aaa;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">Historical controversies</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content" style="border-top:1px solid #aaa;padding-bottom:0.25em;border-bottom:1px solid #aaa;">

<ul><li> / <a href="Constantinianism" title="Constantinianism">Constantinianism</a></li>

<li><a href="Investiture_Controversy" title="Investiture Controversy">Investiture Controversy</a></li>

<li><a href="Society_of_Jesus" class="mw-redirect" title="Society of Jesus">Society of Jesus § Political intrigue</a></li>

<li><a href="Cisalpinism" title="Cisalpinism">Cisalpinism</a> vs. <a href="Ultramontanism" title="Ultramontanism">Ultramontanism</a></li>

<li><a href="Americanism_(heresy)#American_response" title="Americanism (heresy)">Americanism<br>(heresy) § American response</a></li></ul></div></div></td>

</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:transparent;border-top:1px solid #aaa;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">20th-century topics</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content" style="border-top:1px solid #aaa;padding-bottom:0.25em;border-bottom:1px solid #aaa;">

<ul><li><a href="History_of_Christian_thought_on_persecution_and_tolerance#The_mid-20th-century_Spanish_model" title="History of Christian thought on persecution and tolerance">History of Christian thought on persecution<br>and tolerance § The mid-20th-century<br>Spanish model</a></li>

<li><a href="Letitia_Dunbar-Harrison" title="Letitia Dunbar-Harrison">Letitia Dunbar-Harrison</a></li>

<li><a href="Christian_anarchism#Catholic_Worker_Movement" title="Christian anarchism">Christian anarchism § Catholic<br>Worker Movement</a></li></ul></div></div></td>

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<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:transparent;border-top:1px solid #aaa;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">Current topics</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content" style="border-top:1px solid #aaa;padding-bottom:0.25em;border-bottom:1px solid #aaa;">

<ul><li><a href="Evo_Morales_and_the_Roman_Catholic_Church" class="mw-redirect" title="Evo Morales and the Roman Catholic Church">Evo Morales and the Roman Catholic Church</a></li>

<li><a href="Radio_Maryja#Involvement_in_politics" title="Radio Maryja">Radio Maryja § Involvement in politics</a></li>

<li><a href="Laudato_si'#Impact_on_the_United_States_political_system" title="Laudato si'">Laudato si' § Impact<br>on the United States political system</a></li>

<li>Catholic social teaching</li>

<li><a href="Conscience_clause_in_medicine_in_the_United_States#Catholic_doctrine" title="Conscience clause in medicine in the United States">Conscience clause in medicine in the<br>United States § Catholic doctrine</a></li>

<li><a href="Canon_915#Politicians_consistently_promoting_permissive_abortion_or_euthanasia_laws" title="Canon 915">Canon 915 § Politicians<br>consistently promoting permissive<br>abortion or euthanasia laws</a></li>

<li><a href="W._Francis_Malooly#Bishop_of_Wilmington,_Delaware" title="W. Francis Malooly">Bp. W. Francis Malooly on Canon 915</a></li>

<li><a href="Edward_James_Slattery#Illegal_immigrants" title="Edward James Slattery">Bp. Edward J. Slattery § Illegal immigrants</a></li></ul></div></div></td>

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<p>Critics of state-aligned Christianity often point to the ascension of Constantine as the beginning of <a href="Caesaropapism" title="Caesaropapism">Caesaropapism</a>: according to this critique, the official Christianity of the Roman state rapidly became a religious and metaphysical justification for the existence, exercise, and expansion of worldly political power, ultimately facilitating earthly Christian empire both for Rome and its successors across <a href="Christendom" title="Christendom">Christendom</a>. Similar criticisms are levied by <a href="Christian_anarchism" title="Christian anarchism">Christian anarchists</a>, who claim that the Constantinian shift triggered the <a href="Great_Apostasy" title="Great Apostasy">Great Apostasy</a> by transforming the religion into a means for preserving the ruling elite's power and justifying violence.<sup id="cite_ref-CA_9-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-CA-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p><a href="Augustine_of_Hippo" title="Augustine of Hippo">Augustine of Hippo</a>, who originally had rejected violence in religious matters, later justified it theologically against those he considered heretics, such as the <a href="Donatists" class="mw-redirect" title="Donatists">Donatists</a>, who themselves violently harassed their opponents.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Before him, <a href="Athanasius" class="mw-redirect" title="Athanasius">Athanasius</a> believed that violence was justified in weeding out heresies that could damn all future Christians.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> He felt that any means was justified in repressing <a href="Arianism" title="Arianism">Arian</a> belief.<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In 385, <a href="Priscillian" title="Priscillian">Priscillian</a>, a bishop in Spain, was the first Christian to be executed for heresy, though the most prominent church leaders rejected this verdict.

</p><p>Theologians critical of the Constantinian shift also see it as the point at which membership in the Christian church became associated with a social concept of citizenship, rather than reflecting one's internal decisions and feelings. American theologian <a href="Stanley_Hauerwas" title="Stanley Hauerwas">Stanley Hauerwas</a> notes the shift as forming part of the foundation for the contemporary American conception of Christianity, one that is closely associated with <a href="Patriotism" title="Patriotism">patriotism</a> and <a href="Civil_religion" title="Civil religion">civil religion</a>.

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<ul><li><a href="Antichrist#Pre-Reformation_Western_Church_accusers" title="Antichrist">Antichrist</a></li>

<li><a href="Constantinianism" title="Constantinianism">Constantinianism</a></li>

<li><a href="Christianity_in_the_Roman_Empire" class="mw-redirect" title="Christianity in the Roman Empire">Christianity in the Roman Empire</a></li>

<li><a href="Divine_right_of_kings#Reformation-period_conceptions" title="Divine right of kings">Divine right of kings</a></li>

<li><i><a href="Donation_of_Constantine" title="Donation of Constantine">Donation of Constantine</a></i></li>

<li><a href="Erastianism" class="mw-redirect" title="Erastianism">Erastianism</a></li>

<li><a href="Great_Apostasy" title="Great Apostasy">Great Apostasy</a></li>

<li><a href="Historicism_(Christianity)" title="Historicism (Christianity)">Historicism (Christianity)</a></li>

<li><a href="Persecution_of_pagans_in_the_late_Roman_Empire" title="Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire">Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire</a></li>

<li><a href="Sacralism" title="Sacralism">Sacralism</a></li></ul>

</div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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</style><cite id="CITEREFClapp1996" class="citation book cs1">Clapp, Rodney (1996). <span class="id-lock-registration" title="Free registration required"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/peculiarpeoplech0000clap"><i>A Peculiar People</i></a></span>. InterVarsity Press. p. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/peculiarpeoplech0000clap/page/23">23</a>. <q>What might be called the Constantinian shift began around the year 200 and took more than two hundred years to grow and unfold to full bloom.</q></cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">e.g. in <cite id="CITEREFYoder1996" class="citation book cs1">Yoder, John H. (1996). "Is There Such a Thing as Being Ready for Another Millennium?". In Miroslav Volf; Carmen Krieg; Thomas Kucharz (eds.). <i>The Future of Theology: Essays in Honor of Jurgen Moltmann</i>. Eerdmanns. p. 65. <q>The most impressive transitory change underlying our common experience, one that some thought was a permanent lunge forward in salvation history, was the so-called Constantinian shift.</q></cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="Peter_Leithart" title="Peter Leithart">Peter Leithart</a>, <i><a href="Defending_Constantine%3A_The_Twilight_of_an_Empire_and_the_Dawn_of_Christendom" class="mw-redirect" title="Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom">Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom</a></i>, p 287.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Lactantius XLIV, 5</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Eusebius XXVII–XXXII</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Brown 2006, 60.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Theodosian Code, XVI.1.2</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFSchaff2007" class="citation book cs1 cs1-prop-long-vol"><a href="Philip_Schaff" title="Philip Schaff">Schaff, Philip</a>, ed. (2007) [1893]. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=E2NStO5kLqkC"><i>Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers</i></a>. Second. Vol. V. Gregory of Nyssa. Cosimo. p. vii. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-1-60206516-1</bdi><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2012-12-16</span></span>. <q>374[:] Gregory is exiled under Valens</q></cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-CA-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-CA_9-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFChristoyannopoulos2010" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Alexandre_Christoyannopoulos" class="mw-redirect" title="Alexandre Christoyannopoulos">Christoyannopoulos, Alexandre</a> (2010). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/ChristianAnarchism">"Christian Anarchism: A Revolutionary Reading of the Bible"</a>. <i>New Perspectives on Anarchism</i>. Lanham, Maryland: <a href="Lexington_Books" class="mw-redirect" title="Lexington Books">Lexington Books</a>. pp. <span class="nowrap">149–</span>168.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191227014831/http://evangelica.de/articles/the-donatists-and-their-relation-to-church-and-state/">"The Donatists and Their Relation to Church and State « Biographia Evangelica"</a>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://evangelica.de/articles/the-donatists-and-their-relation-to-church-and-state/">the original</a> on 2019-12-27<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2019-06-04</span></span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Olson, 172</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Barnes, 230.</span>

</li>

</ol></div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Further_reading">Further reading</h2></div>

<ul><li><a href="Timothy_Barnes_(classicist)" title="Timothy Barnes (classicist)">Timothy Barnes</a>, <i>Constantine and Eusebius</i>, 1981</li>

<li><i>Theodosian Code</i>, <a href="Henry_Bettenson" class="mw-redirect" title="Henry Bettenson">Henry Bettenson</a>, ed., Documents of the Christian Church, (London: Oxford University Press, 1943), p. 31. see: <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/theodcodeXVI.html">http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/theodcodeXVI.html</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070227120555/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/theodcodeXVI.html">Archived</a> 2007-02-27 at the <a href="Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></li>

<li><a href="Peter_Brown_(historian)" title="Peter Brown (historian)">Peter Brown</a>, <i>The Rise of Western Christendom</i> (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003),60.</li>

<li>James Bulloch, <i>From Pilate to Constantine</i>, 1981</li>

<li><a href="Eusebius_of_Caesarea" class="mw-redirect" title="Eusebius of Caesarea">Eusebius of Caesarea</a>, <i>Life of Constantine</i>, Library of Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, 2nd series (New York: Christian Literature Co., 1990), Vol I, 489–91. see: <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/conv-const.html">http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/conv-const.html</a></li>

<li>Alistair Kee, <i>Constantine Versus Christ</i>, 1982</li>

<li>Lactantius, Lucius Caecilius Firmianus, <i>On the manner in which the persecutors died</i> (English translation of <i>De Mortibus Persecutorum</i>) see: <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0296/_P18.HTM">http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0296/_P18.HTM</a></li>

<li><a href="Ramsay_MacMullen" title="Ramsay MacMullen">Ramsay MacMullen</a>, <i>Christianising the Roman Empire</i>, 1984</li>

<li><a href="Roger_E._Olson" title="Roger E. Olson">Roger E. Olson</a>, <i>The Story of Christian Theology</i>, 1999</li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div>

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<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20040506183821/http://www.angelfire.com/ky/dodone/SCon.html">Social Constantinianism</a> - an <a href="Evangelicalism" title="Evangelicalism">Evangelical</a> perspective on the Constantinian shift</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/patrology/heroes_of_4th_century_pt2.htm">Basil's Struggle with Arianism after Constantine.</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20081026010432/http://www.fourthcentury.com/index.php/imperial-laws-chart">Timeline of Fourth-Century Roman Imperial Laws showing the Constantinian shift</a></li></ul></div><div><div class="zim-footer">

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