The Myth of Constantine's Catholic Coup

The truth about the First Ecumenical Council and the role of Constantine

Recently a friend and I landed on the topic of the Council of Nicea and the Roman Emperor Constantine. He repeated the common narrative that the Constantine intervened at the council of Nicea, giving a “Catholic faction” power and making them the Imperial Church. This narrative usually goes on to claim that Constantine forced a particular Biblical Canon on the Church, which the heroic Reformers corrected. This is the typical trope used by both Protestant pastors and atheists alike and is crucial to Protestantism’s claims to legitimacy. The problem with this narrative is that it’s completely ahistorical.