La legitimación cristiana de la dinastía constantiniana:: la teología política de Eusebio de Cesárea

Abstract

The legalization of Christianity as a cult religion during the reign of Constantine substantially modified the relationship that the Christian ecclesiastical hierarchy maintained with the Roman secular power. The new era of cooperation and consensus was celebrated by the Christian intellectual circles through different discursive instruments, which aimed to ingratiate themselves with the attitude taken by the emperor towards the Christian community. In this sense, one of the most representative discursive tools of this context was the political theology elaborated by Eusebius, bishop of Caesárea. Using an amalgam of pre-existing religious and political elements, Eusebius built a theology that would make it possible to legitimize the power of the Constantinian dynasty. In this work, we will analyze these elements that allowed the crystallization of the Eusebian political discourse and its significance within the conception of Roman imperial power at the beginning of the 4th century.