|
There's no need for an extended review here -- Dungan's given us a nice, easy to read look at the role of Constantine in the history of Christianity. Was he the Darth Vader who created Christianity? Far from it -- his role was more like that of an Ann Landers.
Perhaps Constantine's most important act was a passive one. Sources like Dan Brown say he collated the New Testament and essentially determined the canon. Dungan says at most, Constantine put a kibosh on canon development by ordering that 50 copies of the New Testament be made; and once that happened, who would dare add or subtract from what was copied? The thing is, Constantine placed the order but there's no sign he filled out the purchase request. He ordered the copies, not the content.
Beyond this, Dungan offers a primer on the formation of the NT canon; I didn't find a great deal that was new (indeed, nothing to add to our own essay on the canon but the bit on Constantine) but it's still an excellent source, right up there with Metzger and Patzia.
|