The Catholic Historical Review

The Catholic Historical Review 86.3 (2000) 483-485

Book Review

When Jesus Became God:
The Epic Fight over Christ's Divinity in the Last Days of Rome

Ancient and Medieval

The theological debates and political maneuvering that took place in the fourth century concerning the development of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity are related in a dramatic, provocative, and eminently readable fashion by Richard Rubenstein. Although Rubenstein himself is neither a theologian nor an historian, he is generally well read in the pertinent recent literature in English. A professor of conflict resolution and public affairs at George Mason University, Rubenstein applies his skills at analyzing social and religious conflict to produce a vivid and engaging account of the dispute between the priest Arius and his bishop Alexander which quickly spread beyond Alexandria in Egypt to embroil the Mediterranean world from east to west in this controversy.

Commendable in this book are: the vivid portrayals of the major personalities involved, imperial and ecclesiastical, the interactions described between and among them, the presentation of the soteriological beliefs of both Arians and Nicenes that made each side so passionate in defending its own views and in vigorously rejecting the views of its adversary, the generally successful attempt at making the very technical theological terms in this debate accessible for non-specialists, and the theological conclusion that what the Cappadocian Fathers contributed and the Creed of Constantinople enshrined in 381 was that the Christian doctrine of God as Trinity was radically distinctive when compared with Greco-Roman Neoplatonism and Judaism.

At least three general themes are apparent in Rubenstein's work. First, the Council of Nicaea in 325 marked "the last point at which Christians with [End Page 483] strongly opposed theological views acted civilly toward each other" (p. 87). Owing to the acrimony of the Arian controversy in the next fifty-six years and the imperial coercion throughout, but especially by Theodosius in demanding conformity with the Constantinopolitan formulation of 381, in the end adversaries were vilified as "unrepentent sinners: corrupt, malicious, even satanic individuals" (p. 88). A major reason for Nicene Christianity's victory was the support of the powerful Emperor Theodosius in enforcing its Trinitarian doctrine in the Roman world. This, in turn, says Rubenstein, led to other forms of repression against non-Christians, namely, pagans and Jews. While there are elements of truth in these claims, the period before Nicaea was not as pacific among Christians as Rubenstein implies: the fierce and ad hominem disputes between Christians such as Irenaeus and Terullian, on one side, and Gnostics, on the other, are but one example. Also, what Rubenstein downplays in the acceptance of the Trinitarian doctrine of Constantinople in 381 is the role of people's liturgical and devotional life in affirming the equality of the divinity of the Son and the Holy Spirit with the Father, as exemplified in Basil of Caesarea's work On the Holy Spirit.

Second, Rubenstein interprets the split between Nicene and Arian Christians as reflecting "a rough division between those more in need of a powerful, just ruler [Nicenes] and those more in need of a loving advocate and friend [Arians]" (p. 146). Certainly, in general at the onset of the controversy, as Gregg and Groh's work Early Arianism indicates, such an assertion is accurate. But Rubenstein goes on to say that Nicene Christianity's faith in a "majestic Christ incorporated into the Godhead" as articulated in the Council of Constantinople, was grounded at least in part in "its pessimistic view of human nature" (p. 224). This is a gross oversimplification, especially given the role of the Cappadocians (Basil and the two Gregories) in the theological formulations of the Council of Constantinople. They were far from pessimists! They espoused many of Origen's views and had much to say...