Research Proposal Outline

The pre-Constantinian church was a religion which was persecuted, and was always at odds with the imperial authorities. During the time when the church was prevalent, it managed to create its own authority structures including courts and laws. By the third century, the Roman Empire featured no other religious groups which showcased the same power within it as the Christian bishops. This research will argue that later on after the development of the persecutions against the Constantanian church, the importance of having a clear line between religious and political authority was established. Therefore, the relationship between the church and the state before and during this period was worse, but after the settlement, everything became clear and they began getting along.

The research will start by analyzing the reasons behind the pre-Constantanian church’s action to take over political roles. It will consider how these impacted the relationship between these two authority figures and how the people were affected. Thereafter, it will consider how the agreement was prepared and the key features of the settlement. Lastly, it will analyze how this changed the relationship between the state and the church. The paper will conclude by comparing the state before and after the Constantanian Settlement.

A theoretical framework will be developed to assist in this analysis. It will include a literature review of 6 sources, two of which are primary sources and the rest secondary sources. The results from the research conducted by these authors will be considered to act as guideline for the rest of the research project that will also be theoretical in nature. This is because it will feature the works of other scholars, as well as an analysis of relevant websites.

 Bibliography

Cashmore, D. & Maclachlan, D. (2008). Render to Constantine?.Stimulus: The New Zealand Journal of Christian Thought and Practice, 16 (4). <http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=196435450808099;res=IELHSS>ISSN: 1171-7920.

Frend, W. (1993). Constantine’s Settlement with the Church and its Legacy. The Modern Churchman, 6 (1). DOI: 10.3828/MC.6.1.32

Harrington, T. (2017). “Discipline and Order in the Pre-Constantinian Church: The Constantinian Settlement of the Fourth Century,” The Catholic Lawyer: 34(2). http://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/tcl/vol34/iss2/6

McThenia, A. (1991). Civil Resistance or Holy Obedience–Reflections from within a Community of Resistance. HeinOnline.

Schmid, B. (2005). Sexuality and Religion in the Time of AIDS. Retrieved from http://www.arsrc.org/downloads/uhsss/schmid.pdf

Tinder, G. (1997). Augustine and the Limits of Politics. By Elshtain Jean Bethke. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1996. 143p. $21.95. American Political Science Review, 91(2), 432-433. doi:10.2307/2952372

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