A homoiousian (from the Greek: ὁμοιούσιος from ὅμοιος, hómoios, “similar” and οὐσία, ousía, “essence, being”) was a member of 4th-century AD theological party which held that God the Son was of a similar, but not identical, substance or essence to God the Father. Proponents of this view included Eustathius of Sebaste and George of Laodicea. Homoiousianism arose in the early period of the Christian religion out of a wing of Arianism. It was an attempt to reconcile the seemingly irreconcilable views of the pro-Nicene homoousians, who believed that God the Father and Jesus his son were identical (ὁμός, homós) in substance, with the “neo-Arian” position that God the Father is “incomparable” and therefore the Son of God can not be described in any sense as “equal in substance or attributes” but only “like” (ὅμοιος, hómoios) the Father in some subordinate sense of the term.
Homoiousia (/ˌhɒmɔɪˈaʊsiə/ HOM-oy-OW-see-ə) is the theological doctrine that Jesus the Son of God and God the Father are of similar (ὁμοιο- homoio- or homeo-) but not the same substance, a position held by the Semi-Arians in the 4th century. It contrasts with the homoousia of orthodox Trinitarianism and the heteroousia of Arianism.
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Author: Wikipedia
Keywords: Homoiousian, Homoousian, Homoousion, Homoousios, homoiousios, Athanasius, Nicene Creed, Nicean Creed, Trinity, Deity of Jesus, Divinity of Jesus, Creed, Church Creeds, Nicea, Nicaea, Council of Nicaea, 325 AD, Council of Nicea, Arius, Arian, Arian heresy, Arian controversy, Arianism, Athanasian, Athanasian Creed
Bible reference(s): Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 28:19, Mark 12:32, 1 Corinthians 8:6, 1 Timothy 2:5, 1 John 5:7-8
Source: This article uses material from the Wikipedia article “Homoiousian,” which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.
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