- 273 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
"A chronicle of one significant year in Christian history." — Kirkus Reviews In A.D. 381, Theodosius, emperor of the eastern Roman empire, issued a decree in which all his subjects were required to subscribe to a belief in the Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This edict defined Christian orthodoxy and brought to an end a lively and wide-ranging debate about the nature of God; all other interpretations were now declared heretical. It was the first time in a thousand years of Greco-Roman civilization free thought was unambiguously suppressed. Why has Theodosius's revolution been airbrushed from the historical record? In this groundbreaking book, acclaimed historian Charles Freeman argues that Theodosius's edict and the subsequent suppression of paganism not only brought an end to the diversity of religious and philosophical beliefs throughout the empire, but created numerous theological problems for the Church, which have remained unsolved. The year A.D. 381, as Freeman puts it, was "a turning point which time forgot." "A well-argued and -documented study of the rise of the monotheistic state in the late Roman Empire and its aftereffects." — Library Journal
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Information
Table of contents
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- I - DISASTER
- II - THE DIVINE EMPEROR
- III - FREE SPEECH IN THE CLASSICAL WORLD
- IV - THE COMING OF THE CHRISTIAN STATE
- V - TRUE GOD FROM TRUE GOD?
- VI - THE SWANSONG OF FREE SPEECH: THE THEOLOGICAL ORATIONS OF GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS
- VII - CONSTANTINOPLE, 381: THE IMPOSITION OF ORTHODOXY
- VIII - AMBROSE AND THE POLITICS OF CONTROL
- IX - THE ASSAULT ON PAGANISM
- X - EPIPHANIUS’ WITCHHUNT
- XI - ENFORCING THE LAW
- XII - AUGUSTINE SETS THE SEAL
- XIII - COLLAPSE IN THE CHRISTIAN WEST
- XIV - FAITH, REASON AND THE TRINITY
- CONCLUSION
- APPENDIX: THE CREEDS OF NICAEA (325), CONSTANTINOPLE (381) AND ATHANASIUS (c.430?)
- NOTES
- SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
- INDEX