Constantine and the Bible

Prominent atheists insist that the Roman emperor Constantine never really converted to Christianity, pretended to adopt the faith as a political ploy and created the Bible at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. And all these claims are total garbage.

Further Reading:

David L. Duggan, Constantine’s Bible: Politics and the Making of the New Testament (Fortress: 2007)
Bart D. Ehrman, The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World, (Simon & Schuster: 2018)
Robin Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians, (Penguin: 1986)
Peter J. Leithart, Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom (IVP Academic: 2010)
Paul Stephenson, Constantine (Quercus: 2009)

[thomasc]

As a historian enthusiast, I am very impressed. I have read extensively on Constantine and Nicaea but you pointed out several items that I didn't know myself. It was humbling. Thank you!

[__.Sara.__]

I'm not in your target audience, but I really enjoy your videos!

[joshridinger]

excellent point that there was far more political pressure and convenience for constantine to pretend to be pagan or at least maintain plausible deniability and maintain certain pagan traditions after a genuine christian conversion, than there was for him to convert or pretend to convert to christianity in the first place.

[thedividepodcast]

Excellent and measured analysis! Really liked the background to the origin of the Council of Nicea myth elements. Should have known it goes back to Voltaire. He was Hitchensesque.

[robertbethell]

Seen a few of your videos now and just wanted to say thanks for your thorough concise work. Absolutely brilliant!

[evedillingham]

Thanks for your work and efforts to “get it right”! Much appreciated 👍🏿

[nebufabu]

Dan Brown, a renowned author, began sweating not knowing why...
ADD: Joe Rogan? Of all people to be connected to this topic he's... The least expected.

[joeychicago]

Thank you for your explanation of how the Bible was totally decided. Good to know and helps in strengthening the faith.

[topologyrob]

Wow I've never bothered to check out Joe Rogan and now I'm glad I saved my time - what a boor, and Boghossian is increasingly fanatical it seems.

[leoandolino]

Thanks for the clarity and accurate/interesting information on Constantine. It was only recently that I learned that he was baptized on his death bed which as you state was common in his day. It does show that his conversion was authentic.

[dianpink]

I didn't know what Rogan claims "everybody knows" about the Bible

[Andre_Louis_Moreau]

Thank you. I'm an atheist, and heard this, and bought it for decades. Didn't repeat it, though.

[fitzhamilton]

This is brilliant. Thanks so much for this.

In partial defense of Joe Rogan, I'll just say that the data on the pandemic, and the medical response to it, are pretty highly contested. My parents - both in their 70's, my father with health issues that amount to potential co-morbidities - have been taking the horse paste in monthly prophylactic dose - along with daily supplementation of vits D, C, Zinc, magnesium, selenium, etc. - since last spring, and have remained untouched by the virus, while many in our community who have followed the "official" recommended course of action and taken the vacks have become sick.. I've been taking the veterinary injectable solution orally on the monthly dose schedule, and have also had no issues, despite behaving normally and not masking since about October of 2020.. Hardly anyone here in Florida is masking or locking down this past year, and while I know many people who have been sick with flu symptoms, I know of no one who has died.. Two people close to me have suffered what may be serious vacks injuries, however.. Joe Rogan can be wrong about Christianity and Constantine, but more or less correct about many other things, is what I'm suggesting..

Also, while it is easy to be cynical about public professions of Christian faith by politicians and public figures like Trump, Obama, Bush, Pelosi, Biden.. particularly when their lives and policies depart form what many consider proper Christian ethics .. it is still really beyond our ability to judge them as to their actual sincerity.. The same principle applies to everyone, just as much as it does Constantine. Is someone truly faithful? We cannot see their hearts, and they all have their own consciences that will either justify or inculpate them on the question in the end.. The perennial principle that we cannot judge anyone else as to sincerity in faith always applies, just as much today as it does to those alive in the 4th and 5th centuries.

Beautiful scholarship, anyhow. Thanks for sharing it.

[jenaogirl]

Incidentally, I was prescribed Ivermectin for the treatment rosacea over 10 years ago. My rheumatologist did not give me a veterinary dosage - I am human.

[michaeldeierhoi]

As an agnostic I am concerned about hearing as many perspectives on subjects like this as possible. I have found that Hitchins while articulate seems have been driven to a rather extreme perspective on religion in general for reasons not clear to me. His attitude is virtually reactionary given his harsh and sometimes arrogant tone to others that attend debates he engages in. I have heard Hitchins even stoop to insulting a panel member that he was not even debating but lwas merely asking a question. These seemed to exceptions rather a consistent pattern. Regardless your criticism of Hitchins, Dawkins and Rogan were spot on imo. Your video is the most articulate and we'll researched of any that I have heard on this subject.

My only question is if you heard Noam Chomski's perspective on the role that Constantine played in the direction that Christianity took. Chomski in an excerpt from a longer video said that Constantine established a policy in Christianity that favored the rich instead of the poor as was the emphasized in the original gospels. This different take was the theme that was carried up the present day.

A hundred years or so ago a break out Christian group started the Liberation Theology church which returned to interpreting the gospels as they were originally told that emphasized the poor. LT became very prevalent throughout Latin America. The problem came about that the US intelligence saw a communist link to this group LT and was very invested in eradicating this religious influence because of the hysterical concern of communism becoming entrenched in the western hemisphere which would favor the Soviets. Thus aggressive military conservative governments were propped throughout many Latin American countries so as to subvert this perceived LT group being sympathetic to communism.

My own view is that LT adopted some beliefs and traditions that were similar to communism, but many communist elements were not ever adopted. So it seemed like classic over reach by the US government to link LT to communism simply because of similarities. Even if there was a link who are we to go in and subvert a foreign government to fit our agenda??

[ultimate-grand-tutorial]

is there a version with fixed audio levels? can't hear him over the music

[valgorie]

I have a video suggestion for you. I was inspired to suggest it when I watched AronRa's video, "How Palaeontology Disproves Noah's Flood". The video I suggest is "The History Of Biblical Literalism".
AronRa in his video claims that prior to when evolution was discovered in the early 1800s and the birth of modern palaeontology, all jews, christians and muslims are young earth creationists who believed the entire Bible literally. They believed that the Earth was only a few thousand years old, that God created the world in 7 literal days, and literally believed in stories like Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark and the Tower of Babel, and didn't view them as myths. Can you please do a video on whether this is true or not.

[jtoneal]

Your honest and thorough lecture is amazing sir.

[furpiginfidel]

So appreciate this channel

Atheist, but passionate about the Bible, and history, and not happy with people lying about it, and I say lying, because I'm certain that people like Dawkins, know that they are not telling the truth, and so many people see him and his type as paragons of truth and honesty

[mitchellmckain]

Love the articles even though some are a bit upsetting. I was raised in the non-believing world and the truth of many of these things were taken for granted. Personally I am a bit in-between. I am a classic agnostic with respect to objective knowledge of the existence of God, and yet I would put myself at 1.5 on the Dawkins scale. I am a theist who acknowledges that his belief in God is epistemically very little different that the belief others have in UFOs, psychics, ghosts, healing with crystals, and fairies. I am both a scientist (physicist) and a Christian (evangelical even), often fighting for the acceptance of evolution in the evangelical community. I also frequently defend atheism as a perfectly rational alternative rejecting the validity of all the arguments for the existence of God. I also have connections to the modern pagan community and have advocated celebrating the "so called" pagan roots of Christianity (oh well).