Freeman Charles, “The motives of Constantine” in A New History of Early Christianity (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1947), 225-333.
In his chapter “The motives of Constantine,” Freeman argues that the motive for legalizing Christianity by Constantine was to increase his support base, especially among Christians. After defeating Maxentius, Constantine still had to seek support to defeat Licinius, who still ruled the Roman Empire until his defeat in 324 (Freeman 227). Freeman draws his sources from Constantine’s confidant, Eusebius who wrote History of the Church. This points to the idea that Constantine had political motives to legalizing the church. However, by that time, religion still constituted a paltry population of the empire, with less wealth and influence, whose members ...
