Description
Make a movie about news reporting the conversion of Emperor Constantine
● The scene must be like breaking news.
○ You must describe the event. Why is it breaking news? What is the
significance of the event?
○ You must review Christianity's past as a persecuted church. Give examples.
○ What made Constantine convert to Christianity?
■ Constantine's conversion to Christianity is often attributed to a vision
he had before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 CE, where he
saw a cross in the sky with the inscription "In this sign, conquer," which
he interpreted as a divine sign from the Christian God.
■ Here's a more detailed account:
■ The Vision:
■ According to legend, before the Battle of Milvian Bridge against his
rival Maxentius, Constantine claimed to have seen a cross in the sky
with the inscription "In hoc signo vinces" (Latin for "In this sign,
conquer").
■ The Dream:
■ Some accounts also mention a dream that same night where Christ
appeared to him with the same sign and urged him to use it as a
protection against his enemies.
■ Interpreted as a Divine Sign:
■ Constantine interpreted this vision as a divine sign from the Christian
God, leading him to believe that his victory would be achieved under
the protection of this deity.
■ The Battle and Victory:
■ He then ordered his soldiers to paint the Chi-Rho (the first two letters
of "Christ" in Greek) on their shields and went on to win the battle,
which he attributed to the Christian God.
■ Political and Religious Significance:
■ Constantine's conversion had profound political and religious
consequences. He issued the Edict of Milan in 313 CE, granting
religious freedom to Christians and ending their persecution in the
Roman Empire. His actions paved the way for Christianity to become
the official religion of the Roman Empire in the following centuries.
■ Debate on Authenticity:
■ While this account is widely known, some historians and theologians
debate whether Constantine's conversion was genuine or if it was a
strategic political move to gain support from the growing Christian
population
○ Film the baptism or the rite of Constantine's conversion. Who were involved in
officiating the rite?
○ You must include a commentary and analysis of what's next?
■ What is the future of Christianity? Make predictions.
■ Is it good, bad, or neutral? Talk about all the possible implications.
It is good
The video must be about 6 minute long. Your script must be really detailed, as you will be
broadcasting a news.
You must source the Topic # 3 slides (slide 2 - 5) and the book, page 74 to 78.
Grading Rubric
Content (the film/script is drawn from the materials) --------------------- 10 points
Educational Value (the film is informative and arouses curiosity)------- 10 points
Organization (the film is coherent in its message) --------------------------- 10 points
Total ----------------------------- 30 points
News Reporter 1: Stella
News Reporter 2: Madeleine
Interviewer 1: Megan
Interviewer 2: Sofia
Interviewee 1: Alex
Interviewee 2: Angel
News Reporter 1: Good Evening Welcome to SAMSAM News Tonight we will be Covering the
new exotic fruit found in Hawaii that—-
News reporter 2: Wait it seems we have some new breaking news
News Reporter 1: Oh! Turns out they want us to cover the story on how emperor Constantine
has now made Christianity legal!He has also converted to Christianity
News reporter 2: Let's dive into it. Switching to you live with Sofia Lutero interviewing Dr. Dow
Interviewer 2: Hello everyone. I'm here with Dr. Alex Dow. please, explain to us what you know
about the new information regarding emperor constantine and his new law
Interviewee 1 (alex) : Here’s what I know…. Heh.. emperor constantine and his counterpart in
the east, Licinius allowed free exercise of all religions in the empire… and therefore christianity
became officially tolerated in the divided roman empire and special favors were even granted to
the church
News Reporter 1: Wow! Thank you Dr. Dow for that information. Let's switch over to Megan and
Angel to hear some background information about how life was like for the Christians before our
emperor changed things up.
Interviewer 1: Thank you Stella. Hello everyone, I'm here with Ms. Angel who will give us some
information about the past persecution of Christians. Take it away Angel.
Interviewee 2: Thank you Megan. Well to start us off, let's go back to the beginning of the
persecution. It started off with emperor Nero blaming Christians for the great fire that spread
across Rome. This resulted in all Romans hating Christians and therefore, the persecution
started. Christians were already much smaller than the Romans, so it was fairly easy to
overpower them. The Christians were burned alive, torn apart by dogs, and beheaded.
Anyways, there's some background information of how their life was like before our emperor
Constantine.
News Reporter 2: Thank you so much for that information Ms. Angel. Now, we're going to head
back to Sofia to talk about why emperor Constantine would ever convert.
Interviewer 2: Thank you Madeleine. Now here's what I know regarding this topic. Constantine's
conversion to Christianity is often attributed to a vision he had before the Battle of the Milvian
Bridge in 312 CE, where he saw a cross in the sky with the inscription "In this sign, conquer,"
which he interpreted as a divine sign from the Christian God. He then ordered his soldiers to
paint the Chi-Rho (the first two letters of "Christ" in Greek) on their shields and went on to win
the battle, which he attributed to the Christian God. This all resulted in Constantine’s idea to
become a Christian and to change the Roman empire to be Christian.
Thank you so much for that Sofia. Now were going to switch over to Megan who will show us
what Constantine's baptism looked like
Wow, what a moving baptism. Now we're going to hand it over to Megan one last time so she
can give us her prediction on what she thinks Christianity will become in the future.
Thank you Stella. I think Christianity will have many pros and cons. I believe the future of the
church will be strong but I fear other religions will have to undergo periods of persecutions the
same way that Christians did. Overall, I look forward to seeing how combining church and state
will turn out, and how it will evolve the church and its people. I hope the future is positive for all.
Thank you, and goodnight from SAMSAM news.