Historians have over time argued whether the conversion of Constantine was genuine as some are of the idea that the vision he said he saw could have been just a reflection of the sun on ice crystals otherwise known as the halo effect.
Others argue that the fact that he always exhibited soundness and also the fact that he did not recount this vision to anyone until after he had won the war is evidence to the fact that he was not using the story to gain acceptance and therefore, it is authentic. The conversion of Constantine into Christianity took place during the war that he fought against Maxentius, who was not only his co-emperor, but also his brother.
He was specifically convinced that military might, could not win him the war and therefore, he set out to find a more powerful deity hence his quest for divine assistance1. During his prayer for divine intervention, he received a vision of the midday light with the inscription, ‘in this sign you will be victorious’.
He believed this to be a sign from God and henceforth set out to order that the symbol of the intersection of the Greek letters chi and rho, which were his saviors’ name to represent his army.
This conversion helped Christians as they were now safe from persecutions and it also opened the way for the adoption of Christianity as the religion of the state. The church leaders and the missionaries benefited from gifts and grants from the state to advance Christianity too.
It is said that the fall of the western empire had major effects on Christianity and among the effects were; while the prominent Romans fled to the east, the bishop of Rome became the new prominent person who was recognized as the ruler of Rome even by the barbarians.
His moral authority increased as was evidenced when he was summoned as an arbitrator when the emperor disagreed with the bishop of Constantinople. Since his authority was unchallenged, he took over the responsibility of the emperor. This period set the stage for the papal system.
The church was also allowed to educate and convert the barbaric tribes into Christianity and some of these barbarians ended up becoming good religious leaders and even missionaries. Of particular interest was the conversion of Clovis who was the king of the Franks, which was followed by the conversion of three thousand of his men2.
This set the stage for widespread adoption of Christianity and served to boost missionary efforts as even more tribes that were far away were targeted. However, this has been criticized as a move by Clovis to gain political acceptance.
As noted in the article, Heretical Christianity did work to promote Islam as most of the heresies were doctrines that had disputed the existence and acceptance of Jesus Christ as a son of God. Islam in itself had borrowed some of its teachings from some Judaic sources as well as these heresies that conflicted with the teachings of the New Testament.
They particularly opposed the deityfication of the Virgin Mary as it was suggested by Catholicism and of particular interest is their opposition of Jesus Christ as a son of God, a notion that had been already advanced by the heretical Christians3.
There is also the evidence presented by the Quran that heretical groups had particular influences on Muhammad and his thinking. It is said that the advent of Islam was informed by the doctrine of trinity which Muslims claim was invented by the council of Nicea.
Bibliography
- Franz-Steiner, Verlag. “The evidence of the conversion of to Christianity: book 16 of the theodosian code.” Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte (1993): 66-78. Web.
- Ferguson, Everett. “Baptism in the early church: history, theology, and liturgy in the first five centuries”. Journal of Religious Studies Review 36 issue 1, (2010): 82. Web.
- Gartenstein-Ross, Daveed. “No Other Gods before Me: Spheres of Influence in the Relationship between Christianity and Islam.” Denver Journal of International Law and Policy 33 (2005): 223-234. Web.