Theorizing about Church and State in the Late Roman Empire

• In Event: God and Politics

Abstract

Political Theory does a poor job of taking the opinions of religious individuals and groups into account. Political Theory oftentimes is pro-secular (usually Pro-State), leaving the other side of the Church and State debate to historians. This paper looks at the relations of Church and State in the Late Roman Empire- i.e. the formative era of modern church-denominational divisions from a novel Political-Theoretical perspective- from the perspective of the religious persons often oppressed by the State. It is easy to look at how political forces created today's religious divisions; however, how do we explain the messiness of the modern divisions created in ancient times? A political model of religious history that is not statist or secularist is the goal of this paper. Particular attention to Christological debates in the 4th-6th-centuries AD will be paid. The Church of Antioch, set in today's modern Levant, will be the star of the show, rather than the more famous sees, Rome, Constantinople, and Alexandria. The main goal is to defend the pursuit of Political Theory by religious scholars who are usualyl marginalzied, even in the study of their own history, in Political Theory.

Author

• Christopher Binetti, None