The Question of Constantine

In class today we talked about Constantine, his reign, and his importance in the Roman Empire/influence on Christianity. Although we did not elaborate on one of the many questions Mr. Moran proposed, I wanted to talk about one of them and try to answer it as best as possible. The question was: to what extent was Constantine a Christian? Was he a believer of the religion? As many historians and studiers of Constantine may try to delve into his history, religious backgrounds, and influences/influence in order to determine his actual participation and involvement with the religious force and efforts. As this may be a valid way to solve the unknown, there are two defects which must be strongly considered. First, it might be incredibly inefficient, time consuming, and almost impossible to figure out what is sought to be, as one must examine almost every angle of Constantine’s life, before, during, and after, as well as all of his surroundings, etc. Secondly, it can rationally be said (through previous knowledge and research done by many) that blatantly, we can never know for sure. Unless Constantine miraculously comes back and tells us exactly what he was thinking and what he did behind the scenes and in general history, there is no “possible” way to understand Constantine’s Christian involvement throughout his lifetime. Regardless, my argument/answer to this question is that--it doesn’t matter! and the question is somewhat valueless and will not lead anywhere. I think a better question to ask would be: What was Constantine’s effect on Christianity? Why did he have this effect? (that second part getting into the individual history stuff again but does not focus on his individual but rather his surroundings, his past, and his present histories/times). I say it does not matter (to the original question) not in the sense that I don’t care about Constantine, but more in the terms of through studying general patterns and themes of history we know why he would have done something, and that he did in fact have a profound effect on the religion. That’s exactly why it doesn’t matter! We know that Constantine had an enormous, vast effect on the religion of Christianity because he brought the religion to everyday-people’s terms and popularized it, “legalized” it in a sense, introduced it to go in accord with government and politics, and overall just allowed the religion to reach new heights through making the general population accept and practice/widespread the religion. Whether or not he was a Christian is beside the point! As he only officially converted on his deathbed itself, it may never be known if Constantine was an official Christian during his actual reign, and the extent to which he believed and practiced the religion is up in the air. But through history, we understand that Constantine had an extensive impact on the religion and even though he may not have been one, he opened up the door for and set million of other people throughout history on the path towards practicing, believing, and participating in the religion of Christianity. He marketed Christianity and created the investment opportunity for people to take during his time and onto the rest of time up until now; Constantine was a great Christian figure who set the movement of the religion that would play such a significant role throughout history to come. Now, the question comes out to be: does a religious figure need to be religious? What are the qualifications of a religious figure?