Christianity Before Christendom

In our current public discourse, there are growing concerns about the relationship between church and state. The extreme versions on the right and left either supplant religion for other moral preferences or hope to return to some golden age of Christian Nationalism or Integralism. Living in a pagan world, the early church walked a different path, maintaining a positive vision of the civil authorities, but defending their right of the virtuous expression of religious activity. The following excerpt is from my book: Cultural Sanctification: Engaging the World Like the Early Church, that looks back to the political theology of the early church, before the rise of Constantine and the age of Christendom.