Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom by Peter J. Leithart Page B
Authors: Peter J. Leithart
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intimidation. His response to the chalice episode was usually that it did not matter since Ischyras was not a priest and therefore the chalice was not holy. Anyone with small children will recognize the maneuver, a denial that is as good as an admission.
"Socrates Ecclesiastical History 1.34, p. 96; Hanson, Search for the Christian Doctrine, p. 263.
"Hanson (Search for the Christian Doctrine, p. 263) notes that we do not know why Athanasius was exiled. Ayres (Nicaea, p. 103) says that the last straw was the charge that Athanasius threatened to interrupt the transport of grain from Alexandria to Constantinople. See also Jones, Constantine and the Conversion ofEurope, pp. 163-64.
33Raymond Van Dam, The Roman Revolution of Constantine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), p. 257.
14 This is Drake's plausible thesis.
32 Ulysses.
35John Howard Yoder, The Priestly Kingdom: Social Ethics as Gospel (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1984), p. 144.
36Ibid., pp. 201-2, n. 3.
37Ibid., 140.
38R. R. Reno, "Stanley Hauerwas," in Blackwell Companion to Political Theology, ed. Peter Scott and William T. Cavanaugh (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006), p. 310.
41Michael Cartwright, introduction to Yoder, The Royal Priesthood: Essays Ecclesiological and Ecumenical, ed. Michael G. Cartwright (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), p. 10.
42Yoder, Priestly Kingdom, p. 245, n. 3.
391bid., p. 311.
40Ibid., p. 312.
431 return to the contradictions between Yoder's historiographic theory and practice in chapter 13.
44John Howard Yoder, Christian Attitudes to War, Peace and Revolution, ed. Theodore J. Koontz and Andy Alexis-Baker (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2009), p. 58. Gilbert Dagron (Emperor and Priest: The Imperial Office in Byzantium, trans. Jean Birrell [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003], p. 135) attributes the phrase to Lucifer of Cagliari, a fourth-century bishop.
46Ibid., p. 71.
47On the development of baptismal liturgy, see Paul Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). The elaborate catechetical rites of the fourth century look for all the world like efforts to do something quite different from what Yoder claims. Far from making "it easy for people to get in" (Yoder, Christian Attitudes, p. 71), the church is responding to the post-Constantinian growth and mainstreaming of the church by making sure that baptismal candidates know what they are getting into. Yoder's claim is also refuted by the well-known fourth-century practice of delaying baptism, sometimes, as in Constantine's case, until near death. Not only did the church not accommodate unquestioningly to Constantine; at some points, it overreacted in the opposite direction!
49Ibid., p. 59.
45Ibid., p. 60.
48Yoder, Priestly Kingdom, p. 158.
50Ibid., p. 324.
"Michael j. Hollerich, "Religion and Politics in the Writings of Eusebius: Reassessing the First `Court Theologian,'" Church History 59 (1990): 309.
54Hollerich, "Religion and Politics," p. 313-15.
52Ibid., p. 313; Barnes, Constantine andEusebius, p. 266.
s3Eusebius Life 3.33.
"Ibid., p. 318; cf. Frank S. Thielman, "Another Look at the Eschatology of Eusebius of Caesarea," Vigiliae Christianae 41 (1987): 226-37.
56From "Politics of the Cross Revisited," Carter's blog.
57Dagron, Emperor and Priest, p. 135. He adds, "We may suspect that the rhetoric of Eusebios [sic] was specifically intended to detach the new sovereign from `caesaropapism' by systematically locating imperial priesthood within the Christian empire, certainly, but outside the Church and by treating it as a metaphor."
58Rufinus Church History 10.8.1-2. Quoted in Van Dam, Roman Revolution, pp. 331-32.
59Van Dam, Roman Revolution, pp. 335-42.
6oR. A. Markus, Saeculum: History and Society in the Theology of Augustine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970).
61John Howard Yoder, Preface to Theology: Christology and Theological
"Socrates Ecclesiastical History 1.34, p. 96; Hanson, Search for the Christian Doctrine, p. 263.
"Hanson (Search for the Christian Doctrine, p. 263) notes that we do not know why Athanasius was exiled. Ayres (Nicaea, p. 103) says that the last straw was the charge that Athanasius threatened to interrupt the transport of grain from Alexandria to Constantinople. See also Jones, Constantine and the Conversion ofEurope, pp. 163-64.
33Raymond Van Dam, The Roman Revolution of Constantine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), p. 257.
14 This is Drake's plausible thesis.
32 Ulysses.
35John Howard Yoder, The Priestly Kingdom: Social Ethics as Gospel (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1984), p. 144.
36Ibid., pp. 201-2, n. 3.
37Ibid., 140.
38R. R. Reno, "Stanley Hauerwas," in Blackwell Companion to Political Theology, ed. Peter Scott and William T. Cavanaugh (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006), p. 310.
41Michael Cartwright, introduction to Yoder, The Royal Priesthood: Essays Ecclesiological and Ecumenical, ed. Michael G. Cartwright (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), p. 10.
42Yoder, Priestly Kingdom, p. 245, n. 3.
391bid., p. 311.
40Ibid., p. 312.
431 return to the contradictions between Yoder's historiographic theory and practice in chapter 13.
44John Howard Yoder, Christian Attitudes to War, Peace and Revolution, ed. Theodore J. Koontz and Andy Alexis-Baker (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2009), p. 58. Gilbert Dagron (Emperor and Priest: The Imperial Office in Byzantium, trans. Jean Birrell [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003], p. 135) attributes the phrase to Lucifer of Cagliari, a fourth-century bishop.
46Ibid., p. 71.
47On the development of baptismal liturgy, see Paul Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). The elaborate catechetical rites of the fourth century look for all the world like efforts to do something quite different from what Yoder claims. Far from making "it easy for people to get in" (Yoder, Christian Attitudes, p. 71), the church is responding to the post-Constantinian growth and mainstreaming of the church by making sure that baptismal candidates know what they are getting into. Yoder's claim is also refuted by the well-known fourth-century practice of delaying baptism, sometimes, as in Constantine's case, until near death. Not only did the church not accommodate unquestioningly to Constantine; at some points, it overreacted in the opposite direction!
49Ibid., p. 59.
45Ibid., p. 60.
48Yoder, Priestly Kingdom, p. 158.
50Ibid., p. 324.
"Michael j. Hollerich, "Religion and Politics in the Writings of Eusebius: Reassessing the First `Court Theologian,'" Church History 59 (1990): 309.
54Hollerich, "Religion and Politics," p. 313-15.
52Ibid., p. 313; Barnes, Constantine andEusebius, p. 266.
s3Eusebius Life 3.33.
"Ibid., p. 318; cf. Frank S. Thielman, "Another Look at the Eschatology of Eusebius of Caesarea," Vigiliae Christianae 41 (1987): 226-37.
56From "Politics of the Cross Revisited," Carter's blog.
57Dagron, Emperor and Priest, p. 135. He adds, "We may suspect that the rhetoric of Eusebios [sic] was specifically intended to detach the new sovereign from `caesaropapism' by systematically locating imperial priesthood within the Christian empire, certainly, but outside the Church and by treating it as a metaphor."
58Rufinus Church History 10.8.1-2. Quoted in Van Dam, Roman Revolution, pp. 331-32.
59Van Dam, Roman Revolution, pp. 335-42.
6oR. A. Markus, Saeculum: History and Society in the Theology of Augustine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970).
61John Howard Yoder, Preface to Theology: Christology and Theological
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