"Zeitgeist" Online Movie: Part One

Refuted©

Posted: August 23, 2007

Did Constantine Establish All of the Politically Correct

Doctrines?

The narrator claims that the Roman Emperor Constantine established all of the politically correct doctrines. This is the same claim that Dan Brown makes in his book, The Da Vinci Code. Go here for a thorough examination of all of Dan Brown’s claims.

Regarding Constantine specifically, the New Testament scholar Dr. Ben Witherington III writes:

“What then did Emperor Constantine have to do with all of this process? Constantine ruled as Roman Emperor from about A.D. 313 to 337. The truth of the matter is that he didn’t take full control of the empire before 324, or very shortly before the Council of Nicea. This fact alone should make evident that most theological issues, including those about Christ’s nature, had taken a rather definite shape and trajectory before Constantine had anything to do with them…At the Council of Nicea, Constantine seems to have favored Christ’s true divinity, but he was no theologian, and it certainly wasn’t he who wrote the Creed of Nicea. Nor can it be said that he determined the canon. Constantine mainly pronounced the benediction on the deliberations that had already been formulated.” 1

Endnotes:

1. Ben Witherington III, The Gospel Code: Novel Claims About Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Da Vinci (Downer’s Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 2004), 63-64.

Continue to: The Dark Ages, the Crusades, and the Inquisition