Roman Empire's Values Challenging the Kingdom of God's Values
The Roman Empire's values often stood in stark contrast to the values of the Kingdom of God, as understood by early Christian writers. According to Augustine, the Roman Empire's greatness was not due to the worship of its gods, but rather to the true God's providence [1]. In "City of God", Augustine argues that the Roman gods could not have contributed to the empire's expansion, as they were often propitiated by immoral acts.
In contrast, the early Christian writers saw the Roman Empire's values as being rooted in a pursuit of human glory and earthly power. Augustine notes that the ancient Romans were driven by a desire for glory, but this was still a virtue that the true God condescended to help, allowing the Roman Empire to rise to greatness [2]. The Roman values of patriotism, courage, and honor were seen as being in tension with the Christian values of humility, love, and self-denial.
Tertullian argues that the Roman Empire's power was not due to its gods, but rather to the providence of the one true God, who dispenses kingdoms as He sees fit [4]. This perspective is echoed by Augustine, who contends that the cause of the Roman Empire's greatness is neither fortuitous nor fatal, but rather the result of God's will [6].
The early Christian writers also critiqued the Roman Empire's methods of achieving greatness, which often involved violence and conquest. Augustine questions whether the Roman Empire's constant wars were truly desirable, or whether a more peaceful approach would have been preferable [7]. In contrast, the Kingdom of God is characterized by a different set of values, including love, forgiveness, and compassion.
The tension between the Roman Empire's values and those of the Kingdom of God is a recurring theme in patristic literature. According to Augustine, Christians should not boast about their own achievements, as the Romans had done great things for human glory and a terrestrial city [3]. Instead, Christians are called to live according to a different set of values, which prioritize the eternal city over the earthly one [5].
Sources
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 28.--WHETHER THE WORSHIP OF THE GODS HAS BEEN OF SERVICE TO THE ROMANS IN OBTAINING AND EXTENDING THE EMPIRE.: Therefore such gods, who are propitiated by such honors, or rather are impeached by them (for it is a greater crime to delight in having such things said of them falsely, than even if they could be said truly), could never by any means have been able to increase and preserve the Roman empire. For if they could have done it, they would rather have bestowed so grand a gift on the Greeks, who, in this kind of divine things,”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 12.--BY WHAT VIRTUES THE ANCIENT ROMANS MERITED THAT THE TRUE GOD, ALTHOUGH THEY DID NOT WORSHIP HIM, SHOULD ENLARGE THEIR EMPIRE. (part 1): Wherefore let us go on to consider what virtues of the Romans they were which the true God, in whose power are also the kingdoms of the earth, condescended to help in order to raise the empire, and also for what reason He did so. And, in order to discuss this question on clearer ground, we have written the former books, to show that the power of those gods, who, they thought, were to be wors”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 18.--HOW FAR CHRISTIANS OUGHT TO BE FROM BOASTING, IF THEY HAVE DONE ANYTHING FOR THE LOVE OF THE ETERNAL COUNTRY, WHEN THE ROMANS DID SUCH GREAT THINGS FOR HUMAN GLORY AND A TERRESTRIAL CITY. (part 5): of them, who had already been twice a consul, was expelled from that senate of poor men by the censor, because he was discovered to possess ten pounds weight of silverplate,--since, I say, those very men by whose triumphs the public treasury was enriched were so poor, ought not all Christians, who make common property of their ric”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 3: Tertullian — CHAP. XVII.(15)--CONCLUSION, THE ROMANS OWE NOT THEIR IMPERIAL POWER TO THEIR GODS. THE GREAT GOD ALONE DISPENSES KINGDOMS, HE IS THE GOD OF THE CHRISTIANS. (part 2): that they reigned, to whom also were assigned many to assist them.(3) Thus he who serves also makes masters, and the bond-slave(4) of Admetus(5) aggrandizes with empire the citizens of Rome, although he destroyed his own liberal votary Croesus by deceiving him with ambiguous oracles.(6) Being a god, why was he afraid boldly to foretell to him the truth that he must lose his kingdom. Surely those w”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 1: Augustine — Confessions, Letters — CHAP. III -- 16. But what am I to answer to the assertion made that many calamities have befallen the Roman Empire through some Christian emperors? This sweeping accusation is a calumny. For if they w (part 2): to secure the most t perfect bond of concord m the earthly common wealth, but also in order to the obtaining of eternal salvation, and a place in the divine and! celestial republic of a people which shall endure for ever--a republic to the citizenship of which faith, hope, and charity admit us; so that, while absent from it on our pilgrima”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 1.--THAT THE CAUSE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, AND OF ALL KINGDOMS, IS NEITHER FORTUITOUS NOR CONSISTS IN THE POSITION OF THE STARS.(2) (part 1): The cause, then, of the greatness of the Roman empire is neither fortuitous nor fatal, according to the judgment or opinion of those who call those things fortuitous which either have no causes, or such causes as do not proceed from some intelligible order, and those things fatal which happen independently of the will of God and man, by the necessity of a certain order. In a word, human kingdo”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 10.--WHETHER IT WAS DESIRABLE THAT (part 1): THE ROMAN EMPIRE SHOULD BE INCREASED BY SUCH A FURIOUS SUCCESSION OF WARS, WHEN IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN QUIET AND SAFE BY FOLLOWING IN THE PEACEFUL WAYS OF NUMA. Do they reply that the Roman empire could never have been so widely extended, nor so glorious, save by constant and unintermitting wars? A fit argument, truly! Why must a kingdom be distracted in order to be great? In this little world of man's body, is it not better to have a moderate stature, and health with it, than to attain th”