Christianity and Nationalism in the Later Roman Empire

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916. Excerpt: ... PREFACE In these days, some personal explanation is needed to justify the publishing of an historical essay. On going down from Oxford in 1913, I was able--through the kindness of the President and Fellows of S. John's College and the Trustees of the Aubrey Moore Studentship--to plan out for myself a long period of research work in certain foreign Universities. It was my intention to spend the first year of the time in Paris; the second year in Freiburg, Wurzburg, and Munich; and, possibly, a third year in Kieff, Moscow, and Petrograd. This essay is--in its present state--part of the result of the year spent in Paris. I chose Paris because I thought that--in spite of the English tradition to the contrary--French scholarship was wider, deeper, and more balanced than German. A closer acquaintance with the work of French scholars more than justified this choice. I found--in the sphere of late Roman history--little or nothing of the political bias that has distorted nearly every word written by Germans about the first six centuries of the Christian era. vi PREFACE These preferences have been overwhelmingly reinforced by the events which have happened since the close of the academical year 1913-14. And while I had expected to spend these last two years in the pursuit of further knowledge, I have found myself once again on French territory, fulfilling the obligations of English citizenship. I am now taking advantage of a period of sick leave in England to publish this essay, in the hope that it will suggest lines of thought valuable for the present day. The problem under discussion is: How far was the struggle between Orthodoxy and Heresy, in the later Eoman Empire, really a political struggle between the central authorities of the Empire and the different Dat...