Posit 2 scenarios:
- Alexander Severus survives into, at least, middle age (if not old age) as Roman Emperor.
- Alexander formally decrees Christianity to be a tolerated Religion, if not outright converting himself.
What might this mean for Rome?
What might this mean for Christianity?
Consider, on the first, that Alexander had an excellent civil administration guiding his non-military policies (mainly because, as young as he was upon assuming the Imperium, he couldn't run the government) and all accounts indicate that he learned well from them. On the other hand, he seems to have been grossly negligent militarily in the few instances in which he took command of any forces.
On the second point, consider that Origen, the Christian theologian and philosopher, had dealings with the Imperial Family. Though his views would eventually prove quite controversial in the long run, and many of his theories were repudiated by the Church. With Imperial favor, his perspective might come to be more dominant in Christianity.