This article provides a brief historical overview of the relationship between church and state over two millennia. The primary focus is on the significant transformations and modifications in the relationship between the church and the state. This is based on an analysis of the relevant passages in the Christian Holy Scripture about dealing with state authorities. After that, the decisive stages in the history of the Christian churches will be presented in overview, starting with the conflicts with the Roman Empire in ancient times, from the persecution of Christians to their rise to the state religion, the special role that Western Christianity was able to assume after the upheavals of the migration period, the medieval conflict between the papacy and the emperors, the modern-day incisions made by the Reformation and colonialism, the era of state church models up to the separation of church and state in the mod-ern age and the challenges posed by the totalitarian systems in the 20th century. As far as possible, the programme also provides a glimpse beyond the European horizon to non-Western churches.