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Schaff, Philip. (2014). "Chapter III.Alliance of Church and State and Its Influence on Public Morals and Religion." In History of the Christian Church. (The Complete Eight Volumes in One). Volume 3, Nicene and Post-Nicene Christianity A.D. 311-600, from Constantine the Great to Gregory the Great. (pp. 1856-1908). (Original work published 1889). Amazon Kindle Edition. (Personal Library).
"§18. Influence of Christianity on Civil Legislation. The Justinian Code." (pp. 1871-1875).
Having dealt with the influence of the State on the Church, Schaff observes that the status changes begun by Constantine also allowed the Church to have an influence on the State. He sees these influences in terms of liberating the society from customs which tended toward "egotism, revenge, and retaliation" and a focus on "mere material prosperity" (Schaff 2014, p. 1871). Christian morality and its societal benefits could now be considered in the public square. Schaff portrays this process as starting as early as the second century, but actually flourishing in the fourth century (Schaff 2014, p. 1872). Now universal human rights and the inherent dignity of humans began to enter political thought. Urging civil government to recognize the need to care for the poor and powerless became an important movement for the Church (Schaff 2014, p. 1873).
Schaff notes that these reform movements were contradictory to social custom and the overall structure of Roman society (Schaff 2014, p. 1873). Schaff describes an important role of the Church as that of restraining evil. He maintains that a cursory examination of Christianity in comparison with paganism or Islam will demonstrate the difference.
As with other reforms, Schaff identifies the reign of Constantine as the point of change, despite Constantine's many failures (Schaff 2014, p. 1873). The new element was a growing concern with showing mercy. Schaff takes this to be the case, at least to some extent, even with Julian, who derived his concern for the poor and prisoners from the Christianity which he hated (Schaff 2014, p. 1874).
The values of government, after Constantine's time, gradually came to reflect more of the Christian value placed on human dignity, though in the eastern empire the government tended to be harsher and more despotic (Schaff 2014, p. 1874). We know this partly because of the (fragmentary) collections of law texts codified in the first half of the fifth century, prepared at the order of Valentinian III, then, about a hundred years later, by Justinian I (Schaff 2014, p. 1875). Many of the articulated principles were still in use in Europe at Schaff's time. These laws were strongly influenced by the values of early Christians, who had gained a place in the civic life of the Roman empire.