A.D. 381: Heretics, Pagans, and the Dawn of the Monotheistic State“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 |
Contents
| 287 | |
| 296 | |
| 306 | |
| 319 | |
THE COMING OF THE CHRISTIAN STATE | 330 |
TRUE GOD FROM TRUE GOD? | 346 |
THE THEOLOGICAL ORATIONS OF GREGORY | 362 |
THE IMPOSITION OF ORTHODOXY | 375 |
EPIPHANIUS WITCHHUNT | 410 |
ENFORCING THE | 418 |
AUGUSTINE SETS THE SEAL | 9 |
COLLAPSE IN THE CHRISTIAN WEST | iii |
FAITH REASON AND THE TRINITY | xiv |
CONCLUSION | xxiii |
THE CREEDS OF NICAEA 325 CONSTANTINOPLE 381 | xxxii |
INDEX | 8 |
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Abelard accepted Alexandria Ambrose Ammianus Marcellinus ancient Antioch argued argument Arian Aristotle Arius Athanasius Augustine Augustine’s authority begotten belief Bishop of Rome Book Caesarea Cambridge campaign Chapter Christ Christian Christian Doctrine Church clergy condemned Constantine Council of Constantinople court Danube death debate decreed divine east eastern empire edict Epiphanius Eunomians Eunomius Eusebius Father fourth century Gaul God’s Godhead gospels Goths Gratian Greek Gregory of Nazianzus Gregory’s heresy heretics historian Holy Spirit Homoian homoousios human imperial intellectual issue Italy Jerome Jesus Justinian Late Antiquity later Latin Marcion Maximus Meletius Milan nature Nestorius Nicaea Nicene Creed Nicene faith Nicene Trinity Oration original orthodoxy Oxford pagan Palladius Paulinus persecution philosopher Plato Pope prefect Priscillian Quoted reason religion religious Roman Emperor Roman Empire scriptures Sozomen status subordinationism subordinationist substance survived Tanakh temples Testament texts Themistius Theodosius theologians theology Thessalonika toleration Torrance tradition Valens Valentinian western