Richard Rubenstein's When Jesus Became God

Alex Prevas
World History 1
2/20/18
Book Review
Richard Rubenstein is an educator and a Jew, Rubenstein relates the account of early Christianity's urgent inquiry: was Jesus human or heavenly? After the demise of Jesus, the Pagan Church made Jesus' heavenly nature a typical shared conviction among huge numbers of his followers. At this point is When Jesus Became God is about the historical backdrop of the Christians' initial endeavors to characterize Christianity by influencing chambers and composing statements of faith.
To start, Rubenstein is describing the fight between Arius, Athanasius, and Bishop of Alexandria. Arius is the pioneer and maker of the Arians. Arius said Christ did not share God's substance, but rather was the first person
Rubenstein, a scholar specializing in the analysis of violent religious and social conflict. He explains the elements of the theological struggle has reflected a monumental historical shift. Christianity, once a persecuted sect, became the Roman Empire's official religion. The Church councils then decide once and for all that Jesus was fully divine to believe anything else would become heresy. The Arians believed Jesus was "the holiest person who ever lived, but not the Eternal God.” On the other side were followers of Athanasius, who believed that Christ was fully God. After much strife, the Church adopted the Nicene Creed, which settled in favor of Athanasius and made the Arian belief heresy. The decision resonated long afterward. Rubenstein writes, Constantine does a great job leading into the break between the western and eastern Catholic Church and to centuries of distrust between Christians and Jews. Before the conflict, "Jews and Christians had disagreed strongly about many things. Though they participated in the same moral
Rubenstein puts it, "the primary doctrinal issue acted like an amplifying glass”. While perusing this entry I put forth numerous thoughts, "How might Christianity make the change from being abused to the now settled religion of Constantine's Roman Empire?" Who might resolve these differences and characterize conventionality? Arius and his religious conflicts with Athanasius and his supporters immediately swelled into fierce individual assaults. Rubenstein presents both of their perspectives so powerfully that it's so straight forward why Constantine was flipped by initial side, as he attempted to spare the congruity in the Church and the realm. The Council of Nicaea (325 C.E.) would soon resolve Christianity for the last time, however Constantine continued altering his opinion again, as did his successors. I discovered that Athanasius was exiled and afterward was brought back under five times previously his until his ultimate demise in 373. By 381, anybody supporting the Arian race or having Arian compositions had turned into a criminal and being an Arian was deserving of death. Christianity at long last won, however the regulation as of now had been planted for a noteworthy fight with the East seven centuries