BTW, I just this morning got my hands on my first physical copy of the book. The printer overnighted us a few review copies. The main shipment is due in later this week, and I'm supposed to sign more than a thousand of them next week. Whew!
Author: Jimmy Akin
Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."
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14 thoughts on “VIDEO: Did Constantine Found the Catholic Church?”
Is there a companion DVD to the book? These short videos look like they could be part of a larger documentary. Right now I’m paused at the 0:23 mark. I hope that’s not the look on your face as you read my question.
The purpose of the videos–right now–is to promote the book. They are likely to be used in other ways in the future–e.g., as bonus materials on a DVD set on the Church Fathers. Just f’rinstance.
Jimmy, I recommend you get a sling for your arm and stock up on ice. You’re gonna need ’em next week.
Jimmy, any idea when Mass Revision will be available?
My guess is shortly after the first of the year, based on where things are now. Jan-Feb time frame. March at the latest.
Like. And, I wish, again, that this could be shared with the History Channel people (the same ones who keep talking about the gnostic gospels and other things that make Christianity seem like something it isn’t…).
You need to be a guest expert for one of those shows to set the record straight, I think.
On the bright side, even a thousand signatures means no more than three thousand words of writing. Heck, that’s not even equal to 100 times of writing “I will not do X in the classroom without permission.”
Will there be an ebook version?
Would love to be able to get this through Audible. There’s a decided lack of faithful Catholic titles available as audiobooks.
I saw the name “Marcus Grodi” and I thought it was Marcus Brody, lovable bumbler from the Indiana Jones movies.
Not that he wouldn’t make a totally awesome introduction writer…
Very good video, Jimmy! Thanks!
Could you clarify your statement about Constantine not being such a good Christian? I believe he is a canonized Saint of the Church, so, what did you mean?
God bless!
Could you clarify your statement about Constantine not being such a good Christian?
Georgette,
Constantine waited until his deathbed to be baptized (a fairly common practice at the time), so he wasn’t even in the Church, officially, until then. That does not mean he could not be a saint, but here is some commentary from Wikipedia.
As to the problem in the Latin Church, again, from Wikipedia: Constantine had known death would soon come. Within the Church of the Holy Apostles, Constantine had secretly prepared a final resting-place for himself.[230] It came sooner than he had expected. Soon after the Feast of Easter 337, Constantine fell seriously ill.[231] He left Constantinople for the hot baths near his mother’s city of Helenopolis (Altinova), on the southern shores of the Gulf of İzmit. There, in a church his mother built in honor of Lucian the Apostle, he prayed, and there he realized that he was dying. Seeking purification, he became a catechumen, and attempted a return to Constantinople, making it only as far as a suburb of Nicomedia.[232] He summoned the bishops, and told them of his hope to be baptized in the River Jordan, where Christ was written to have been baptized. He requested the baptism right away, promising to live a more Christian life should he live through his illness. The bishops, Eusebius records, “performed the sacred ceremonies according to custom”.[233] He chose the Arianizing bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, bishop of the city where he lay dying, as his baptizer.[234] In postponing his baptism, he followed one custom at the time which postponed baptism until old age or death.[235] It was thought Constantine put off baptism as long as he did so as to be absolved from as much of his sin as possible.[236] Constantine died soon after at a suburban villa called Achyron, on the last day of the fifty-day festival of Pentecost directly following Easter, on 22 May 337.
[Later]
Main article: Donation of Constantine Latin Rite Catholics considered it inappropriate that Constantine was baptized only on his death-bed and by a bishop of questionable orthodoxy, viewing it as a snub to the authority of the Papacy. Hence, by the early fourth century, a legend had emerged that Pope Sylvester I (314–35) had cured the pagan emperor from leprosy. According to this legend, Constantine was soon baptized, and began the construction of a church in the Lateran Palace.[267] In the eighth century, most likely during the pontificate of Stephen II (752–7), a document called the Donation of Constantine first appeared, in which the freshly converted Constantine hands the temporal rule over “the city of Rome and all the provinces, districts, and cities of Italy and the Western regions” to Sylvester and his successors.[268] In the High Middle Ages, this document was used and accepted as the basis for the Pope’s temporal power, though it was denounced as a forgery by Emperor Otto III[269] and lamented as the root of papal worldliness by the poet Dante Alighieri.[270] The 15th century philologist Lorenzo Valla proved the document was indeed a forgery.[271]
The Chicken
I’ve always viewed Christianity being GIVEN the Roman world (beginning with this moment) as a NT fulfillment of the OT archetype of Israel being given “land you did not toil for and cities you did not build” (Joshua 24:13), and greater, because it required no blood-shed (by the Christians).
Happy new year to all my love!Hope everyone has a fantastic new year!
Is there a companion DVD to the book? These short videos look like they could be part of a larger documentary. Right now I’m paused at the 0:23 mark. I hope that’s not the look on your face as you read my question.
The purpose of the videos–right now–is to promote the book. They are likely to be used in other ways in the future–e.g., as bonus materials on a DVD set on the Church Fathers. Just f’rinstance.
Jimmy, I recommend you get a sling for your arm and stock up on ice. You’re gonna need ’em next week.
Jimmy, any idea when Mass Revision will be available?
My guess is shortly after the first of the year, based on where things are now. Jan-Feb time frame. March at the latest.
Like. And, I wish, again, that this could be shared with the History Channel people (the same ones who keep talking about the gnostic gospels and other things that make Christianity seem like something it isn’t…).
You need to be a guest expert for one of those shows to set the record straight, I think.
On the bright side, even a thousand signatures means no more than three thousand words of writing. Heck, that’s not even equal to 100 times of writing “I will not do X in the classroom without permission.”
Will there be an ebook version?
Would love to be able to get this through Audible. There’s a decided lack of faithful Catholic titles available as audiobooks.
I saw the name “Marcus Grodi” and I thought it was Marcus Brody, lovable bumbler from the Indiana Jones movies.
Not that he wouldn’t make a totally awesome introduction writer…
Very good video, Jimmy! Thanks!
Could you clarify your statement about Constantine not being such a good Christian? I believe he is a canonized Saint of the Church, so, what did you mean?
God bless!
Could you clarify your statement about Constantine not being such a good Christian?
Georgette,
Constantine waited until his deathbed to be baptized (a fairly common practice at the time), so he wasn’t even in the Church, officially, until then. That does not mean he could not be a saint, but here is some commentary from Wikipedia.
As to the problem in the Latin Church, again, from Wikipedia:
Constantine had known death would soon come. Within the Church of the Holy Apostles, Constantine had secretly prepared a final resting-place for himself.[230] It came sooner than he had expected. Soon after the Feast of Easter 337, Constantine fell seriously ill.[231] He left Constantinople for the hot baths near his mother’s city of Helenopolis (Altinova), on the southern shores of the Gulf of İzmit. There, in a church his mother built in honor of Lucian the Apostle, he prayed, and there he realized that he was dying. Seeking purification, he became a catechumen, and attempted a return to Constantinople, making it only as far as a suburb of Nicomedia.[232] He summoned the bishops, and told them of his hope to be baptized in the River Jordan, where Christ was written to have been baptized. He requested the baptism right away, promising to live a more Christian life should he live through his illness. The bishops, Eusebius records, “performed the sacred ceremonies according to custom”.[233] He chose the Arianizing bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, bishop of the city where he lay dying, as his baptizer.[234] In postponing his baptism, he followed one custom at the time which postponed baptism until old age or death.[235] It was thought Constantine put off baptism as long as he did so as to be absolved from as much of his sin as possible.[236] Constantine died soon after at a suburban villa called Achyron, on the last day of the fifty-day festival of Pentecost directly following Easter, on 22 May 337.
[Later]
Main article: Donation of Constantine
Latin Rite Catholics considered it inappropriate that Constantine was baptized only on his death-bed and by a bishop of questionable orthodoxy, viewing it as a snub to the authority of the Papacy. Hence, by the early fourth century, a legend had emerged that Pope Sylvester I (314–35) had cured the pagan emperor from leprosy. According to this legend, Constantine was soon baptized, and began the construction of a church in the Lateran Palace.[267] In the eighth century, most likely during the pontificate of Stephen II (752–7), a document called the Donation of Constantine first appeared, in which the freshly converted Constantine hands the temporal rule over “the city of Rome and all the provinces, districts, and cities of Italy and the Western regions” to Sylvester and his successors.[268] In the High Middle Ages, this document was used and accepted as the basis for the Pope’s temporal power, though it was denounced as a forgery by Emperor Otto III[269] and lamented as the root of papal worldliness by the poet Dante Alighieri.[270] The 15th century philologist Lorenzo Valla proved the document was indeed a forgery.[271]
The Chicken
I’ve always viewed Christianity being GIVEN the Roman world (beginning with this moment) as a NT fulfillment of the OT archetype of Israel being given “land you did not toil for and cities you did not build” (Joshua 24:13), and greater, because it required no blood-shed (by the Christians).
Happy new year to all my love!Hope everyone has a fantastic new year!