Charles Freeman's A.D. 381 Reviewed in Houston Chronicle

Charles Freeman provocative new book, A.D. 381, is reviewed by Steven Alford in the Houston Chronicle: "In two books, The Closing of the Western Mind and A.D. 381: Heretics, Pagans, and the Dawn of the Monotheistic State, Charles Freeman has sought to trace the process through which the West abandoned the Greek ideal of free, rational inquiry, replacing it with the assumption that orthodox Christianity was the only avenue for discovering truths about the world. With this transition, credulity replaced reason and blind adherence to orthodoxy replaced open speculation about the nature of spiritual and earthly life. The Closing of the Western Mind focused on the broad thesis that the Greek rationalist tradition had been destroyed by the politicization of the Christian church by the state, while A.D. 381 focuses more closely on the important transitions that took place in the relationship between Church and state in the last thirty years of the fourth century. . . Clearly written, well organized, and compellingly argued, A.D. 381 provides an absorbing window into “one of the most important moments in the history of European thought.”

Charles Freeman's A.D. 381 Reviewed in ForeWord Magazine

ForeWord magazine offers a review of A.D. 381: "In A.D. 381: Heretics, Pagans, and the Dawn of the Monotheistic State, the historian Charles Freeman pitches us into a world in which a magnificent diversity of opinion and extensive intellectual networking were quashed in 381, when Emperor Theodosius superseded Constantines Edict of Toleration. It stated, no one shall be denied freedom to believe as he deems best suited to himself. But after defeat at Adrianople in 378, when Emperor Valens died on the battlefield fighting the Goths, the Empire desperately needed a single supportive Church, not a divisive set of quarreling Christian communitiesand Theodosius was determined to create it. He decreed, all peoples shall practice that religion which the divine Peter the Apostle transmitted to the Romans And he required acceptance of the single deity of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, as promulgated in the Nicene Creed. Demented and insane non-acceptors would be smitten by Divine Vengeanceand imperial hostility. American presidential debates pale beside the intensity of the early Churchs theological set-tos in which victory brought power and political prestige. Typically, Theodosius Council of Constantinople failed to promote doctrinal peace: the bishops screeched on every sidea mob of wild young menlike a swarm of wasps. Freeman brilliantly recreates the late-Roman, early medieval world: Origen, Eusebius, Augustine, Ambrose, and other theo-politicos are active players, not textbook figures, while tolerance has a moving voice in Themistius and Symmachus. All is set against an evocative presentation of power, politics, war, and Church-building in the late Roman world, often of surprising modernity."

Charles Freeman's A.D. 381 in Kirkus Reviews

Kirkus reviews Charles Freeman's A.D. 381: Heretics, Pagans, and the Dawn of the Monotheistic State: "In 381, Emperor Theodosius decreed that all subjects of the Roman Empire were required to believe in the Christian Trinity. That same year, the First Council of Constantinople brought together Christian leaders to codify this belief in the Trinity as correct and accepted doctrine. Historians have taught for centuries that the Christian church harmoniously and all but simultaneously came to the decision that the Trinity was indeed true and orthodox belief, but Freeman (The Closing of the Western Mind, 2003, etc.) emphatically disagrees. Debate over the Trinity and over the nature of Christ was still quite alive during this period, he asserts Theodosius, largely for reasons of state security, squelched this debate through official edicts, overlaid with a veneer of doctrinal concord through the Council of Constantinople. The author frames his argument as being about the freedom of intellectual debate and the free exchange of ideas. Before 381, he avers, the Greek tradition of open intellectual discourse and the Roman tradition of religious tolerance marked the empire and, indeed, all of the Western world. After 381, both traditions would be extinguished for more than 1,000 years. “The tragedy of Theodosius’ imposition and its aftermath lay in the elimination of discussion,” writes Freeman, “not only of spiritual matters but across the whole spectrum of human knowledge.” He stops short of passing judgment on Theodosius or any of the other personalities involved in this lively period. Instead, he hopes to see them in context, rather than as the two-dimensional characters history has long depicted. Questions remain, but Freeman does a good job in forcing a reexamination of this crucial turning point."

Charles Freeman's A.D. 381 in Library Journal

Charles Freeman's A.D. 381: Heretics, Pagans, and the Dawn of the Monotheistic State gets a glowing notice in the current issue of Library Journal: "Freeman's exceptional book is a continuation and refinement of his The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason, in which he argued that the alliance of the Roman Empire with the Christian Church in the fourth century C.E. closed down a vibrant tradition of intellectual and religious toleration. The critical point was in the titular year when Emperor Theodosius I banned disagreement over the nature of the Trinity, making religious dissent a state crime for the first time. Theodosius's action was unfortunate, argues Freeman: proponents of the Nicene Creed (i.e., that the three parts of the Trinity were coequal in substance) could find little support in the Bible for their position; debate on the question was still lively. In the next century, Augustine nailed the lid on discussion with his forceful dismissal of reason: all articles of faith were above discussion. A.D. 381 is a well-argued and -documented study of the rise of the monotheistic state in the late Roman Empire and its aftereffects. Of the many excellences in Freeman's book, not least are the eloquence, grace, and subtlety of argument with which he presents his case."