Creation, Salvation, and the Roman Empire. Some remarks on the theological origins of the cosmopolitan power in the thought of Paul Orosius

Abstract

The central concept in Paulus Orosius's political reflections in the work, History Against the Pagans, is the universal power of the Roman emperors. This concept is part of a long tradition of Christian thinkers who granted universalistic value to empire. In this context, the question was posed: what theological arguments allowed Orosius to justify this authority? The course of the argument demonstrated that Orosius derived the legitimacy of the existence of a worldly centre of power, in this case the power of the Roman emperors, from theological findings, namely reflections on creation (protology) and salvation (soteriology).