A. D. 381, Charles Freeman, Book - Barnes & Noble

A. D. 381, Charles Freeman, Book - Barnes & Noble
Been busy the last several months and haven't posted anything to this for awhile. When I was in the USA earlier this year I hit my favorite Barnes & Noble bookstore on the Plaza in Kansas City. Came up with some new titles, including this one. Simple title: A.D. 381
The premise of the book is that when emperor Theodosius got involved in a theological dispute in 381 that he used his political power to firmly establish the Nicene Creed and put down any "heretical" rivals, eventually with lethal force. The link above takes you to a brief overview of the book at Barnes & Noble. Freeman is a scholar of antiquity, not necessarily a religious scholar. It is an excellent read, and essential if you want to understand more of how the merger of church and state got started and is fundamentally wrong.
The book reinforces my view that "Christianity" has been co-opted from nearly the beginning by politics and involvement of the state. Sometimes we talk of the post-Constantine era after his vision before the battle of the Milvian Bridge. The Christ that I follow is not the author of war or violence. Theologians and historians of the Christian movement refer to "post-Constantinian Christianity" or also the "Constantinian Shift." Other than a very few churches (mostly Mennonite & related), virtually all of "Christianity" has allied itself with political and military power. Not sure which of Jesus' teachings they follow, but pretty sure it is not the Jesus I follow.
An excellent read. A.D. 381 will help you see a) how political power corrupted the early post-Constantine state; 2) that the Nicene Creed, beautiful that it is, was NOT agreed to by consensus and represents an early power grab by certain bishops of the time; 3) once the church has embedded itself with the state, lethal force can be expected to follow to exterminate any heretics; 4) with the Edict of Thessalonica, Theodosius put an end to free thought and free speech with respect to religion.
And finally, if you are wont to wonder about the Holy Trinity, better read this as well. I like many others feel that while the Trinity is pretty Nift(it)y, it is largely an invention of conflating a number of New Testament texts. The notion of a pre-existent Christ is not uniformly attested in the Four Gospels. A lot of blood has been shed over the topic and my hunch is that not a drop of that blood should be shed if we indeed follow Jesus the Christ.