Political religion

A.H.M. Jones notes that most of the considerable religious fervor of the third and fourth centuries was devoted to other-worldly, escapist religion. That makes the triumphalism of Constantine’s Christian faith all the most striking. Constantine regularly expresses the belief that service to the Supreme God, the Christian God, will guarantee the success of his empire. He was attracted to Christianity partly because it proved to be so effective in this world, because it was a political religion in an age of apolitical religion.