572 - The Emperor Theodosius and the Establishnent Of Christianity

The Emperor Theodosius and the Establishnent Of Christianity
By N. Q. King
133 pp., I map. Philadelphia, The Westminster Press, 1961. $4.00.
(The Library of Christian History and Doctrine.)

Theodosius L following Constantine, helping to prepare the way for Justinian, is one of the great imperial names in the early history of the new Christian Roman Empire. Author of the edict Cunctos populos which defined orthodox belief by law and made heresy a public crime, and exponent of the imperator filius ecclesiae concept, Theodosius marks an epoch in the formative era of the relationships of Church and State.

Dr. King, an Anglican clergyman trained at Oxford and Nottingham, Professor of Divinity at the University College of Ghana since 1955, has provided the best recent monograph in English on Theodosius. He offers a perceptive study of the councils of 381 and the following years which put an end to Arianism and produced our "Nicene" Creed, and his account of the emperor's proceedings against paganism is judicious. The rather scanty evidence for Theodosius' personal religion is carefully examined.

The author has made good use of his opportunity to observe the religious tensions which arise as the newly independent states in Africa and Asia emerge. He writes (p. 9) that "These new nations and the Muslim, Buddhist, Christian or Communist groups within them can learn from the fourth-century Roman settlement what happens to a religion when it takes over or is taken over by the State and what happens to the State. . . . in a benevolent State, where does cooperation with the government become dangerous for both partners? . . ." Professor King's Christian

573 - The Emperor Theodosius and the Establishnent Of Christianity

concern for these problems makes his book, more than an antiquarian study.

Among other topics, the book has to deal with the fundamental subject of the official character and attributes of the Christian Roman Emperor. Some readers may feel that while Professor King has understood and indicated correctly tile legal and theological bases of Theodosius' activities, his concern to focus attention on Theodosius has led him without realizing it to take for granted factors which should have been brought out more clearly. The student of Theodosius' policies needs to have in mind the political philosophy of the Christian Empire as set forth by Eusebius, the classic treatment of which is Norman H. Baynes' article "Eusebius and the Christian Empire," published in 1933 and reprinted in Baynes' Byzantine Studies and Other Essays (London, 1955). This picture of the Christian Emperor as vice-gerent of God on earth, responsible for both the spiritual and the material welfare of his subjects, explains the imperial use of force to produce religious uniformity, which, as Dr. King observes (pp. 32, 94-95), may seem strange to us in the light of New Testament teaching. The justification for the use of force, in tile minds of Constantine and his successors, is clearly shown in the imperial documents quoted, for example, by F. Dvornik, "Emperors, Popes and General Councils," Dumbarton Oaks Papers, VI (1951), pp. 1-23.

These comments are offered in recognition of the excellence of a book which all students of early church history, of Theodosius' reign, and of the problem of Church and State, Will have to consult.

Glanville Downey
Dumbarton Oaks
Washington, D. C.