“Was Jesus Christ God on earth, or was he something else? Three hundred years after the crucifixion, Christians still had not made up their minds about this.” This was what the Arian controversy was all about.
I am not a history buff so parts of this book were very challenging for me, but the matter posed by the title of the book is viewed as an unspeakable heresy and therefore an invitation to investigate.
I could not do better than the church father Gregory of Nyssa in describing the atmosphere which surrounded the Arian controversy: “If in this city you ask a shopkeeper for change, he will argue with you about whether the Son is begotten or unbegotten. If you inquire about the quality of bread, the baker will answer, ‘The Father is greater, the Son is less.’ And if you ask the bath attendant to draw your bath, he will tell you that the Son was created ex nihilo [out of nothing].”
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Author: Barbara Buzzard
Keywords: Athenasus, Athenasios, Athenasius, Athanasous, Athanasian Creed, Deity of Jesus, Divinity of Jesus, Trinity, Athanasius of Alexandria, Athanasius, Nicene, Creed, Church creeds, Nicene Creed, Nicean Creed, Nicea, Nicaea, Council of Nicaea, 325 AD, Council of Nicea, homoiousios, Homoousios, Homoiousian, Arius, Arian, Arian heresy, Arian controversy, Arianism, First council of Nicea, First council of Nicaea, Constantine, Trinitarian, God in three persons, When Jesus became God
Bible reference(s): Deuteronomy 6:4, Psa 110:1, Matthew 28:19, Mark 12:32, Luk 20:42, John 1:1-3, Joh 10:30, Joh 8:58, John 10:33-36, Joh 20:28, Acts 2:34, 1 Corinthians 8:6, 1 Timothy 2:5, 1 John 5:7-8
Source: “A Review: When Jesus Became God,” 21st Century Reformation.
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