ABSTRACT
At least since the Apostle Peter’s response to the Sanhedrin, as Acts 5 tells it, that followers of Christ must obey God rather than men, the definition of Christian orthodoxy and orthopraxis has been a social and political as well as a theological issue. When the Roman Emperor Constantine began to promote Christianity in the fourth century, he also assumed a prominent role in shaping Christian teaching. In the eighth century, Charlemagne’s father, Pepin, parlayed a papal pronouncement regarding the right ordering of political affairs into a palace coup issuing in the Carolingian dynasty. Centuries later, Pope Innocent III claimed authority to arbitrate European diplomacy the basis of the injunction in Matthew 18 that disputes between Christians should be taken to ‘the church’ for resolution.
