Zum Verhältnis von Staat und Kirche in der Spätantike

When Christianity became a religio licita, it gradually assumed various functions in the Roman state, and profited from this. In four individual studies, Richard Klein attempts to show which functions the church assumed in politics, the economy and in social services. In the first study, he deals with the relevance of the episcopate for the state. In the second study, he questions whether the care given to the population was motivated by pagan generosity (one only has to think of »bread and circuses«) or by Christian love of one's neighbor. In doing so, he focuses on Constantine's period of office. In the third study, he shows how versatile and different the church's social activities were in late antiquity. He concludes with a case study of Ennodius. The works of the Bishop of Pavia show clearly how the concept of slavery changed.