Ah, another Sunday, and the topic is . . . religion, what else?
There is more than a little controversy surrounding Roman emperor Constantine and Christianity. (No! Tell me it isn’t so!)
His conversion involves a miraculous vision appearing to Constantine. This was reported on by no fewer than four people in positions to report what Constantine claimed. Now, the fact that these are four wildly different accounts when they should all be very similar tells us that Constantine was a storyteller, or bullshit artist, whatever.
Historians aren’t doing much better. For example, according to Bart Ehrman, Constantine converted to Christianity in 312 CE (The Triumph of Christianity, pg. 13 of the hardbound version). Wikipedia, on the other hand, states “Just before his death in May 337 CE, it is claimed that Constantine was baptized into Christianity. Up until this time he had been a catechumen for most of his adult life. He believed that if he waited to get baptized on his death bed he was in less danger of polluting his soul with sin and not getting to heaven.”
Wikipedia goes on to say “Although Constantine lived much of his life as a pagan and later as a catechumen, he began to favor Christianity beginning in 312, finally becoming a Christian and being baptized by either Eusebius of Nicomedia, an Arian bishop, as attested by many notable Arian historical figures, or Pope Sylvester I, which is maintained by the Catholic Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church.”
Constantine has historically been referred to as the “First Christian Emperor” and he did favor the Christian Church. While some modern scholars debate his beliefs and even his comprehension of Christianity, he is venerated as a saint in Eastern Christianity, and he did much for pushing Christianity towards the mainstream of Roman culture.
Now I am always leery of deathbed conversions reported by churchmen. So many have been claimed to have been converted on death’s door, which later have been proven to be false, including Charles Darwin, most prominent atheists, etc. If Constantine wanted to die a Christian, and the excuse not to be baptized/converted sooner concocted by Constantine or apologists is that he didn’t want his soul sullied before he died, is brilliant if cockamamie, one does have to wonder why Constantine made sure all of the steps were taken to deify himself after his death as was the practice of Roman Emperors. How much could Constantine have believed in the One True God™ if he wanted to make sure he became a god after he died?
One historian argues that Constantine supported Christianity because many of his soldiers had converted and it was a way to bolster his position with his armies. Soldiers were closer to the bottom of Roman culture than the top and Christianity appealed to the downtrodden, so it makes some sense. And the Roman practice for centuries was to fold into its pantheon the gods of conquered peoples, so showing some respect wasn’t hard to do.
Another historian claimed that Constantine or his advisors admired the control Bishops had over their “flocks.” I assume the Council of Nicaea disabused them of that admiration as the bishops bickered like school children.
So, was Constantine the First Christian Emperor? About as much as he was the messiah and other claims. Such labels are the work of Christian Historians shaping history to their own likings. And, basically they are meaningless. Having a perfect description of his role in the growth of Christianity would prove nothing, and the churchmen wouldn’t like it, as they prefer things to be fuzzy, so their professional spin doctors, uh apologists, can “interpret” the situations more to the church’s liking.
I am an avid reader, not fast just persistent. I enjoy greatly fantasy and science fiction works and I learned early on a simple lesson: don’t start a multi-volume work until they are all available. I learned this in college. I acquired a copy of The Fellowship of the Ring (the infamous Ace Paperback version) and while I had trouble getting going once I did, I stayed up quite late for several nights only to learn that it was the first volume of a trilogy. Like a maniac I drove to my favorite bookstore and was able to get The Two Towers, but they had run out of the third volume. So, I searched avidly as I tore through the second volume, finding the third volume just in time.
I followed this rule for a long time. I also broke that rule because several of may favorite authors wrote trilogies of trilogies, sometimes more. One of my favorites, C.J. Cherryh, has written 21 volumes in her Foreigner series (putting her on a path to a trilogy of trilogies of trilogies). I read each one when it comes out; they are just too good. (This series is like an old movie serial short, each book starts up where the previous one left off . . . and I have read all of her other works, too, many, many dozens of them.)
I did make a mistake, however, when I was sucked into the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. The author warned us that he planned on the thing to be 12 volumes. And if you look at the publication history (see below), you can see that the final 14 volumes took almost 23 years to publish. The problem with this kind of work is that it may never be finished. (Will George R.R. Martin ever finish Game of Thrones?) In the case of Robert Jordan, he died before the series was finished! But he left copious notes and Brandon Sanderson was hired to finish/write the last three volumes (which he did brilliantly).
Each book averages 306,277 words and 702 pages, which was good because there was like 21 months to wait for the next volume (on average). But I don’t read that slowly so when the next volume came around, it was many months since I finished the last one.
The Wheel of Time Publication Schedule
The Eye of the World January 15, 1990
The Great Hunt November 15, 1990
The Dragon Reborn October 15, 1991
The Shadow Rising September 15, 1992
The Fires of Heaven October 15, 1993
Lord of Chaos October 15, 1994
A Crown of Swords May 15, 1996
The Path of Daggers October 20, 1998
Winter’s Heart November 7, 2000
Crossroads of Twilight January 7, 2003
Knife of Dreams October 11, 2005
The Gathering Storm October 27, 2009
Towers of Midnight November 2, 2010
A Memory of Light January 8, 2013
Totals 11,898pp (PB) / 10,173pp (HB) 4,410,036 words 19d 5h 25m reading time
So, for my last birthday, I gave myself a gift. I had since given away my hardbound copies of the Wheel of Time books, so I purchased the Kindle versions and I am re-reading the series. I am currently in volume six. And I am frankly amazed.
I wonder if this is how people with Alzheimer’s disease feel. It is as if I am reading this for the first time. I do remember most of the main characters, but much of the details about them I remembered incorrectly or not at all.
And I love long books. I have read Tolkien’s trilogy many times (as well as listening to the audio versions several times (while commuting). But the number of characters and storylines in this work borders upon the bizarre. And, like many male authors, I find his characterizations of his female characters shallow. I have to ask myself whether half of the characters and storylines advance the narrative at all and we would be better off without them. One count lists 2,782 characters in the series, 148 of which are point of view characters at one point or another. I wish Jordan had followed the Rule of Parsimony, like Jack Vance, say, and trimmed this down to six or seven volumes.
I find myself skipping through parts that drag, being able to pick up the narrative fairly easily down the road. And, yes, things are always more complicated than we think, but this is supposed to be an entertainment, not a lesson in realpolitik.
I am enjoying the effort but find myself shifting to another book for a while when the plot drags. On my eBook reader, another book is just a tap away and I, as usual, have several dozen “in progress.”
A recent survey (from the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution) found that most Republicans surveyed view themselves as either Christian nationalist sympathizers (33%) or adherents (21%). While most Democrats lean toward rejecting Christian nationalism, with 36% of them indicating they are skeptics of the ideology and 47% saying they reject it.
I wonder whether these are the same Republican Christians who insist that their God gave us free will so we could choose to be saved by Jesus or not (thus solving the Problem of Evil, don’t you know). Apparently these Republicans don’t want us to have the free will their god granted us. They want us all to be Christians whether we want to be or not.
Is great puzzlement!
Uncommon Sense 
Conservatives Explain Why They Support ‘National Divorce’ Of Red, Blue States
Tags: conservatives, hypocrisy, Marge Greene, Republicans, The Onion, The Red-Blue States Divorce
The Onion provided some reasoning on this topic in an article with the above title. Most of their contributions were semi-lame however. Here is a sampling.
They even got some celebrity conservatives to chime in.
As I said, not up to The Onion’s usual high standards (although the one about the burden of having to spend all those federal funds is pretty good).
They left off a number of good reasons I am sure are making the rounds in conservative circles, for example . . .
Note The Onion is a satirical magazine. They make all this shit up, just like Fox News, except they tell you that they are making their shit up, unlike Fox News.