Ben - thanks for the great post. I am going to read Odahl's book - it sounds interesting. I also read the posts that followed the review. This will sound incredibly simplistic compared to the
quality scholarly analysis on the board, but in Constantine, I find someone early on searching for the power behind the events of the world - and when he learned of a montheistic faith with a strong, powerful God - he liked it. He liked it because it meant the forces behind the actions of himself as leader and ultimately
Rome, were united with the powerful God. And he
had a direct line to God. Ultimately in
his last years, I think he came to also like the God Jesus spoke of - merciful, just, and personal to everyone. Some of
his edicts regarding immoral behaviors (although probably influenced by bishops and other behind the scenes folks) are so conservative that he seems like a modern day member of the religious right....
About the coins -
Sol, etc. I don't have any problem interpreting these actions. As he was a
military guy, and with most of the Senate as card carrying pagans, I would have been shocked to see an abrupt shift to a policy of no pagan
symbols, especially on coins. As
his confidence in Christianity evolved, so did
his symbols.
Constantine at times seems like almost a person with OCD, yet this string of patient shifts in public policy makes him a most complex
man...
Regarding
his lack of sainthood, agreed. I would have hated to be the P.R. guy for him after the
Fausta thing..... He reminds me of the
Robert DiNiro character in a film whose name escapes me - he played a highly flawed
Christian preacher - yet
still a
Christian. If Constantine got tattoos as a youngster, I am betting they were of
Jupiter .... Joe