Where can I read a SCHOLARLY explication of the claim that the Roman Catholic church was founded in 325 AD?

Question

Several people online here have made the claim that the Roman Catholic church was founded in 325 by Constantine. I would like to find a detailed, SCHOLARLY statement of this claim -- book length, with footnotes, the whole nine yards. Scholarly. Detailed. A graduate-level course bibliography would be a good answer to my question.

Please don't explain the claim here. Just bibliographic info, please.

Also, please don't refute the claim here. If you can point me to a detailed, scholarly, SPECIFIC refutation of the claim, fine. But I'm not interested in general histories of the early church that don't specifically address this claim -- I have several histories of the early church.

Did I mention I'm interested only in SCHOLARLY works? :-)

Is there some way I can make my question any clearer? any more precise? If so, please share it with me here or via email.

I looked at Mato's link but didn't find anything about the 325 claim.

The link that Ray T provided is a conventional historical piece about Constantine.

Googled and came up with:
http://www.angelfire.com/ms/seanie/papacy/constantine.html which is a refutation of the 325 claim.

So is http://www.ancient-future.net/constantine.html

This is sorta the 325 claim: http://www.exorthodoxforchrist.com/constantine.htm and it mentions "Vicars of Christ:" by Peter De Rosa, which seems to be about entirely different stuff and seems polemical rather than scholarly.

This item is more a claim that Constantine inserted pagan stuff into Christianity: http://www.geocities.com/seapadre_1999/reincarnation533AD3.html Mentions "The Two Babylons." From the 1930s; see Woodrow's turnabout on this book: "The Babylon Connection?"

http://wposfm.com/HTML%20files/Bible%20Chronology.htm This Chronologoy has an entry "325 Emperor Constantine established the Roman Catholic Church" But no sources given

http://www.confiteordeo.info/convert4.htm A site by a former Baptist who converted to Catholicism says: "Many Protestants believe that the Catholic Church did not come into being until the fourth century, when Emperor Constantine legitimized Christianity in the Roman Empire. They believe that somehow, Christianity was a pure religion until A.D. 325 when Constantine converted to Christianity. At this point, he "Romanized" it and somehow corrupted the faith of all of the believers. This same theory teaches that the Christian faith was brought back to purity through the Protestant Reformers when Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the church in Wittenburg in the sixteenth century and started the Protestant Reformation." If it's a widely held belief it would seem that there would be some scholarly or at least pseudo-scholarly work that would make the claim at length. Maybe I'll hunt for church histories written by Southern Baptists.

As in most any web or publications one needs only one name and then one can follow links. Thanks to Mr. Keating I found the name Loraine Boettner and thence to William Webster, and thence to Catholics who dispute with Wm. Webster. So I'm in the network of mutual web and book references that will enable me to understand this claim and its context in some detail.

Answer 1

This site has lots of information that is totally referenced.

http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/index.html

Answer 2

This is probably the confusion based upon the first council the catholic church held. The council of Rome was supported by Constantine to provide structure to the church as well as establish a canon for the bible. Before this time Christians gathered at great risk to their own lives since Christianity was outlawed. This was where the Catholic church came into the open.

Answer 3

That claim would be a gross error. Historically it is simply not possible to speak intelligently about any thing like a 'Roman Catholic Church, until AT LEAST the 7th or 8th century! There were certainly Bishops in Rome prior to that time, but it was not until Gregory consolidated such power, and made simply unprecedented claims, that there even existed an entity we could identify as the Roman Catholic Church.

Answer 4

The Catholic Church was established in 33AD by Jesus Christ, not Constantine. Jesus placed His church into the hand of Peter. Christ left the naming of His church up to Peter

Around or about 45 AD, Peter went to Rome and from there lead the Catholic Church. As of today, there have been 263 Popes in direct succession to Peter. The position of Pope was established by Christ and the office has been maintained in an apostolic manner since the time of Christ. Although the Church has fragmented since the time of Christ with various leadership centers emerging, the apostolic line of succession in the Church is seated in Rome until this very day.

Answer 5

You will find the answer at the following links:

The Theological Works of Fr. William G. Most
http://www.catholicculture.org/library/most/

http://scripturecatholic.com/index.html

http://www.catholic.com/

http://home.inreach.com/~bstanley/



The Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans (110 A.D.)
Chapter 8:

"See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the CATHOLIC CHURCH. It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast; but whatsoever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid."

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0109.htm

Answer 6

You can't read it because it doesn't exist. The only things that exist are denominational screeds based on speculation and political claims.

That being said, the Catholic Church was not founded in 33AD, either. If any extant Church was founded at that time, it was the Orthodox Church, and the Catholic Church is a schism that abandoned Orthodoxy in the 11th century.

Answer 7

First of all....if you find any such documents - they are nonsense. That entire notion is nonsense. The First Council of Nicea had nothing to do with "founding" any church. The Creed of Nicea is clear...there is only one Church from the beginning. The Council was called to combat the heresy of Arianism. No more, no less. Look at the documents of Nicea for yourself.

The seminal work on the topic (although the Chadwick Penguin series (below) is what I use to teach Intro to Ecclesiology) is "Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, ed. Norman P. Tanner"

Answer 8

Go to a library and check out a good book on this subject. Any thing you find on line will be subject to question. I have a good book called "The Faith, A History of Christianity". Stay away from Denominational propaganda. Oxford makes a good Christian History book as well.

Answer 9

Sorry but you Just wont find anything because it doesn't exist. Read the history of Constantine. Thats the trouble with proving an untruth.

Answer 10

I tried to answer by e-mail, but for whatever it would not go through.

Here is a good start:
http://www.roman-emperors.org/conniei.htm
Beyond this you can Google:
history + Constantine.

Good luck.

Answer 11

Try these:
+ http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.vii.i.html
+ http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/nicea1.txt

With love in Christ.