Parable Competition: Second Place
Second prize in the parable competition is being awarded to John Janzen for a short entry entitled Constantine’s Conversion -
The Emperor Constantine, facing the biggest battle of his reign, looked into the setting sun at the Lilvian Bridge and saw a vision of the Cross of Christ. As he gazed at the cross he heard a voice say “By this sign, conquer”.
The next day he gave up his reign as Emperor, surrendered all his many possessions, and went to live and work among the poor. And forever after he was known as one of the greatest heroes of the faith for his obedience to the voice of God.
I chose this short parable for second place as I liked how it took a central moment in the development of Christianity and employed it to explore the importance of interpretation. The apocryphal story from which this parable draws its power concerns an event that took place before the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312. It is said that Constantine witnessed a huge cross in the sky with the words ‘By this sign, conquer’. Constantine took heed and commanded his troops to adorn their shields with a sign of the cross. They won this important battle and, as such, Constantine converted to Christianity.
In this parable we are asked to reflect upon whether Constantine really understood what it meant to conquer by way of the cross, or whether his military might and earthly power caused him to misunderstand what it really means to conquer by way of the cross.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:02 am
A delightful and thought-provoking twist, John.
Congrats!
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:27 am
Well done John, I love this parable.
Peter you call this parable second place before the post and third place after it… Which is it?
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:29 am
Small mistake on my part, fixed! It is second place
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:39 am
Short and sweet! Love it.
September 3rd, 2009 at 10:42 am
brilliant!
September 3rd, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Yes, neat little parallel universe parable. Fits (kind of anyway) with something the Buddha said (paraphrased):
“One man conquers a nation. Another man conquers himself. The latter is the greater victory.”
I’m a Quaker by affiliation and a Quaker/Pagan blogger whom I admire recently posted this (re Constantine): Rome conquered Christianity.
That’s as succinct as I’ve found it so far. A slightly more verbose variant from Marcus J. Borg & John Dominic Crossan’s “The First Paul,” p. 177:
… At the end of the fourth century as Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire, a Jew might have responded like this (to Paul): “Now do you see the problem? Gentiles have swamped you, they have swallowed you. You think you have converted them, but they have converted you.” …
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