Download Constantine Revisited: Leithart, Yoder, and the by John D. Roth PDF

This choice of essays keeps an extended and venerable debate within the heritage of the Christian church in regards to the legacy of the Roman emperor Constantine the good. For a few, Constantine’s conversion to Christianity early within the fourth century set in movement a procedure that made the church subservient to the civil authority of the country, introduced a definitive finish to pacifism as a relevant educating of the early church, and redefined the nature of Christian catechesis and missions.

In 2010, Peter J. Leithart released a largely learn polemic, Defending Constantine, that vigorously refuted this interpretation. as an alternative, Leithart provided a thoroughgoing rehabilitation of Constantine and his legacy, whereas directing a rhetorical fusillade opposed to the pacifist theology and ethics of the Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder.

The essays accumulated the following according to Leithart replicate the insights of 11 best theologians, historians, and ethicists from quite a lot of theological traditions. They have interaction probably the most contentious matters in Christian church background in irenic style and on the optimum point of scholarship. In so doing, they assist make sure that the “Constantinian Debate” will stay full of life, major, and consequential.

“Does Constantine’s ‘baptism’ of Rome suggest the autumn of Christianity, or is it the version to stick with this day? Polemical writing often produces extra warmth than gentle. yet to Leithart’s nice credits, Defending Constantine has ended in a Yoderian rejoinder that's either nuanced and insightful. Constantine Revisited makes transparent the potential of charitable discussion concerning the implications of the confession that the church is the real polis created by means of God in Jesus Christ.”
—Hans Boersma, Regent College

“A splendidly insightful e-book on what Yoder means—and doesn't mean—by Constantinianism. It’s no longer approximately Constantine, yet idolatry within the fusion of church and kingdom and the lack of the gospel imaginative and prescient. Yoder’s argument may be replied through diagnosing how Christians rightly witness to the nation, or wrongly provide their venture over to the country. . . . nice fact, nice perception here.”
—Glen Stassen, Fuller Theological Seminary

“This is what an educational dispute may still glance like—passionate, wide-ranging, respectful, and magnificent. John Roth and his participants support all of us—in church buildings, the academy, and in better society—see what’s at stake in how Christians comprehend their dating with the paradoxical determine and period of Constantine. faraway from being a stale debate approximately occasions and concerns gone, this can be a important and critical exploration of an important value to modern issues and viewpoints on both sides of the numerous concerns concerned. this is often a simple booklet to suggest with enthusiasm.”
—Michael L. Budde, DePaul University

John D. Roth is Professor of historical past at Goshen collage, the place he additionally serves as editor of The Mennonite Quarterly Review and director of the Mennonite old Library. he's the writer of diverse books and articles on topics regarding the novel Reformation and modern Anabaptist and Mennonite theology, together with Teaching that Transforms: Why Anabaptist-Mennonite schooling Matters (2011).