The Christendom Shift - Part 2

NOTE: If you haven't listened to last week's episode, you should listen to it before you listen to this episode. There is some useful background material there, and you will understand this episode better if you listen to last week's episode first.

 

Last week we started talking about series of shifts that took place beginning in the early 300s AD that changed the nature of the way churches functioned in the world pretty much from then on, and not necessarily for the better. Church historians call this the Christendom Shift. It's a shift that took place from the period of pre-Christiandom (the first three centuries AD), to Christendom (everything after the early AD 300s).

 

And like most societal changes, this didn’t happen overnight; it actually took about 100 years, but if we were going to try to put a starting point on it, it’d probably be when Constantine became emperor. Before Constantine, Christianity was subversive and counter-cultural, and in many ways, it was hard to be a Christian. And within a century of Constantine, it’s punishable by death to NOT be a Christian. After Constantine’s time, Christianity has a huge impact on mainstream culture. And that in turn changed Christianity. And we talked at length about Constantine in last week’s epiosode.

 

So there are about eight ways in which Christianity changed after Constantine. And we talked about four of those last week, and we’re going to talk about the other four this week.

 

I am deeply indebted for much of my understanding of all this to the work of Alan Kreider, who was an Anabaptist Menonite scholar. He passed away just a few years ago, but he wrote a number of books and articles about early Christianity and the Christendom shift that have been really helpful to me. There is a link below to a book he wrote in 2007 that sums up most of this pretty well. It’s called The Change of Conversion and the Origin of Christendom.

 

Join me today as we discuss:

1. How the church moved from seeing themselves as resident aliens to seeing themselves as residents after Constantine.

2. How the church viewed Jesus differently in Christendom than they did in pre-Christendom.

3. How Christian assemblies changed both in form and in function after Christendom, and how that affected the transformation of Christians.

4. How mission changed after Christendom.

5. Why all of this matters, and how much of these issues continue to influence Christianity even today.

 

God’s church — as he designed it — is wonderful! His Kingdom is the most heavenly thing you can experience on earth. Living in relationship with God’s redeemed and transformed people is simple, it’s safe, it’s energizing, and it’s so very attractive to people. God’s power in us to be his arms and his feet and his hands and using us to bless the world is the greatest adventure you will ever live. God’s ways are perfect, and they lead to all of his blessings` — for us, and for the world. Don’t cheapen that or diminish it by settling for less in any of the ways the church of the fourth century did. Don’t do it. Please.

 

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Thanks for listening!

 

And remember, you are greatly loved.

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Resources for Today’s Show:

1. Alan Kreider, The Change of Conversion and the Origin of Christendom (2007).