In every discussion of the Church in history, the age of Constantine takes pride of place, less in view of a possible division of Church history into periods than in an attempt to assess this encounter of Church and State initiated by the Emperor Constantine (c. 285-337), which determined to some extent the outward form of the Christian Church for centuries, and perhaps still does. The “age of Constantine” is a historical category which has become a judgment of value — mostly negative; hence the various meanings of the expression.

If we are to be consistent, the analogy of the “age o…