For this discussion board, before formulating your response, think about the way religion and state politics were combined before and after Constantine came to power. Ask yourself: how did his support of Christianity allow the religion to flourish? Today there is a strong emphasis for the separation of church and state. Yet, if there were a separation in the 4th century, could Christianity have grown so quickly and spread across the empire?
Once you have thought about the complicated relationship between church and state in the 4th century CE, post either why you think it was essential for Christianity’s success that there was no separation of church and state in the 4th century, or if you think it was a mistake to combine the church and state in the 4th century. Similarly, what do you think would have happened if Constantine made Christianity legal, but did not support it? Regardless, keep in mind that traditional Greco-Roman religion had always been combined with the state, and what was new was that Christianity was taking the place of traditional Greco-Roman religion, not the fact of a religion-state combination itself.
The goal of this post is to encourage you to look at causal relationships, thinking about cause and effect, how things unfold historically, and to postulate alternatives. Remember what Dr. Hellweg said in his lecture in week 1. History should not be taken for granted. Things could have turned out very differently if different choices were made, if the outcomes of events were different, or if circumstances were altered.
