Friday, July 1, 2016

Ancient Civilizations Chapter 6 Reviewing Objectives

- Christianity's acceptance as a legal religion changed it in profound ways. Why was this?

       Christianity's acceptance as a legal religion came when Constantine announced the Edict of Milan. This allowed freedom of religion to all citizens of Rome, however Constantine preferred the Christian religion, so Christians got special treatment and benefits. Now that Christianity could be practiced publicly, the different communities of Christians realized that there were differences in what they were practicing. They needed to unite, compile their beliefs and scriptures into one religion, and set up a chain of command. The church set up bishops who governed the churches of the city, and they had to set up a capital city of the Church. All of this led to the Council of Nicea where church leaders met and discussed the discrepancies of the different beliefs in Christianity. In short, Christianity was changed in profound ways because, now that it was public, people could gather and unify their beliefs of Christianity to set up one official religion and hierarchy for the Christian religion. The author of Western Civilizations describes Christianity as going "From Illegal Sect to Imperial Institution" (pg. 193)

1 comment:

  1. How or even should a historian evaluate the "authenticity" of the conversion of Constantine?

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