The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Imperial Christianity by D. G. Hart

if the English Parliament had not called the Westminster Assembly, would Presbyterians have doctrinal standards on the order of the Confession of Faith and Catechisms? Some other assembly of Scottish or English Presbyterians may have decided to meet and generate doctrine, church polity, and guides for worship. If they had, their documents would not likely have attained the stature that comes with the imprimatur of the civil magistrate. The same point applies to Nicaea, even more so. Would the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant churches have the same standard of Trinitarian orthodoxy without a Roman emperor, no matter how shaky his profession, convening a council and then adding his stamp of approval to the bishops’ creed? Of course, God gave Scripture to the church without needing a civil magistrate to make it acceptable or authoritative, though the King James Bible does indicate that civil magistrates add stature even to the Word of God. Either way, the spread of Christianity around the world owed greatly, even if not exclusively, to emperors who fought wars against rivals and controlled territories.