Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32941 in Books
• Published on: 2000-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Customer Reviews

Excellent study of Christian doctrine and conflict
I can't think of many other books about religious history that would justify 5 stars. What is different about this one is that it is written by a sociologist (specifically an expert in conflict resolution) who combines a very readable journalistic style with occasional penetrating insights into the psychology of the parties to the Arian-vs-Athananasian (ie. Unitarian-vs-Trinitarian) dispute of the 4th Century. The book starts off in pot-boiler style with a lynch mob of Athanasian Christians breaking into a jail to murder the bishop of Alexandria but quickly settles down into more scholarly mode.

It helps that the writer is Jewish, and therefore above the inevitable bias that (albeit unconciously) affects most other accounts of early church history. Nor is he squeamish about showing Christians poisoning and murdering each other - events which some historians seem to think insignificant relative to the doctrinal debate. It is particularly interesting to read Rubenstein's comments in the concluding chapters on how changes in the social (and military) situation of the Empire after the death of Constantine led to changing emotional needs among Christians - and this as much as the bully boy tactics of the Athanasians was an major reason why Jesus went from being "Son of God" ante-Nicaea to "God the Son" a generation later.

Rubenstein does not of course offer an overview of the development of Christian doctrine per se (for which see the standard work: The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God by R.P.C. Hanson) nor any analysis of the influence of pagan Egyptian theology on the development of the Trinity (see Triads and Trinity by J. Gwyn Griffiths).

Read this book to understand people, not Jesus!
Written with a grace of style that makes this book hard to put down, When Jesus Became God is far more than a mere history of Christology. The question that drives Rubenstein's story is why would essentially reasonable people who share a belief in the divinity of Jesus turn to open conflict, dehumanization of their opponents and violence in support of their point of view concerning the exact nature of Christ's divinity? His chronicling of the Arian-Athanasian controversy is an engaging history that explores these questions: Why did the contestants believe that toleration of serious religious differences seems grossly negligent? What about the contest prompted the contestants to move from attempts at persuasion to attempts to defeat the other side? How and why was the contest really resolved?

Anyone who reads this book to answer questions of the essential nature of Christ's divinity will be disappointed for Rubenstein's story is not a theological disputation. Anyone who wonders why those of us who are less than divine are willing to take up arms in defense of the truth as we see it will be fascinated and enlightened by this book. Read it!

Fascinating insight into the construction of Christianity
This is an excellent and scholarly introduction to the ideological debates of the fourth century. After Diocletian had revived Roman power, almost every Emperor decided that the Empire needed an an offical ideology the only problem being few could agree what it was to be. Diocletian himself preferred a revived paganism focused on the cult of Sol Invictus, the unconquered sun. He chose to persecute Christianity yet to no real effect. Constantine reversed his policy, adopting Christianity and shunning paganism, however he himself had little idea of the divisions within Christianity. To his annoyance, the ascent to power of Christian Bishops only caused schisms between the followers of Arius and those of the Nicene creed that was eventually to emerge triumphant, not before Constantine's successor Constius had backed Arius and his successor Julian willed a return to paganism.
At first the differences between the Arian and Nicene creed can appear trivial but Rubenstein does a terrific job of explaining the real issues that lay beneath them and how people use interpretations of mythology to engage in important philosophical debates. The extreme Arian position was that Christ was divine but he had become divine. It was dangerous philosphy to many of the Bishops that espoused the Nicine creed as it suggested that other ordinary people could become divine. They prefered the image of Christ as a perfect example that ordinary people could never live up to as it was an icon they could wield to justify their own power. It helps to explain Christianity as human construct and how it developed such self hating ideologies as the original sin.
It also helps explain the European penchant for constructing strict ideologies that they insist on inflicting onto other people. The 4th century deabtes in Christianity were reamrkable similar to the 19th and 20th century debates in Communism complete with splits and denouncements of the opposition. Eventually in the 4th century it was the threat of barbarian invasions that forced the Romans into unity. Its interesting that the decline and fall of the Empire in the West created Christianity, the creed that defined European civilization for another 1500 years.