George M. Eberhart, senior editor of American Libraries, offers a critique of Charles Freeman's A.D. 381: Heretics, Pagans, and the Dawn of a Monotheistic State: "A.D. 381 explores the crucial year of 381, when the Council of Constantinople ratified the edict of Roman Emperor Theodosius I, who decreed in 380 that the Nicene version of the Christian Trinity would become state religion in the east. . . Freeman points out that the Council's decision was far from democratic and in fact was a politically expedient move by the Nicene bishops to extend their power as Theodosius attempted to patch the cracks in the empire. This seemingly obscure decision had the effect of stifling free discussion of a spiritual matters and scientific knowledge for centuries to come and ushered in an orthodoz partnership of church and state that lasted until the Renaissance." - College and Research Library News, June 2009.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
More Praise for A.D. 381 by Charles Freeman
George M. Eberhart, senior editor of American Libraries, offers a critique of Charles Freeman's A.D. 381: Heretics, Pagans, and the Dawn of a Monotheistic State: "A.D. 381 explores the crucial year of 381, when the Council of Constantinople ratified the edict of Roman Emperor Theodosius I, who decreed in 380 that the Nicene version of the Christian Trinity would become state religion in the east. . . Freeman points out that the Council's decision was far from democratic and in fact was a politically expedient move by the Nicene bishops to extend their power as Theodosius attempted to patch the cracks in the empire. This seemingly obscure decision had the effect of stifling free discussion of a spiritual matters and scientific knowledge for centuries to come and ushered in an orthodoz partnership of church and state that lasted until the Renaissance." - College and Research Library News, June 2009.
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