John Helgeland, professor of religious studies and history, had his work described in the first volume of “The Cambridge History of Christianity: Origins to Constantine.” Helgeland said his work establishes the view that the three centuries before the reign of the emperor Constantine witnessed no such thing as Christian pacifism. A number of Christian churches from the pacifist tradition had simply assumed that, since Jesus Christ was a man of peace, his followers would take up his example. Life in the Roman Empire led the church in other directions. Helgeland said his work showed there were a number of military martyrs and built a catalog of such narratives, both historical and fictional.
While there were Christians who rejected military service, Helgeland said his work proved their objections were to the religion of the army. This religion had to be reconstructed through papyri and archaeological remains. Army religion, then, was related to the Roman Imperial cult and served as the vehicle for uniting the army with the empire. Until Constantine changed it to reflect Christian symbolism, many Christians regarded the army religion as an idolatrous betrayal of their loyalty to Christ.
Helgeland will present a Department of History, Philosophy and Religious Studies colloquium next spring reviewing this work and discussing finds such as the recently discovered Roman Army Camp at Megiddo in Israel.
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