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BY THE TIME the men at the front of the mob smashed through the prison gates, the crowd had grown until it overflowed the square like water pouring over the sides of a full jar. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
BY THE TIME the men at the front of the mob smashed through the prison gates, the crowd had grown until it overflowed the square like water pouring over the sides of a full jar. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
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!
92 of 99 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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).
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
When Jesus Became God illuminated an era for me. Rubenstein managed to convey an epic struggle, both between paganism and Christianity, and within Christianity. Christians were divided between those who saw Jesus as a man with whose holiness and kinship to God elevated him and made him a model for mankind and those who saw him as wholly divine. Arius and his followers felt that the humanity of Jesus brought him closer to them--wheras Athanasius and his followers believed this view of Jesus was heresy. This book conveys the political struggles between these bishops and their allies, and between the bishops and emperors, and the religious struggle among priests, christian emperors, and laity to define the nature of Christ. As someone raised as a born-again Christian, I was amazed at how much controversy there was on the nature of Christ more than 300 years after the birth of Christianity--further, it was very interesting to read how engaged people were in the religious conflict of the time. They were engaged enough to have pitched street battles between mobs--Alexandrians took their religious conflicts seriously. I saw many parallels to religious and ethnic conflicts today. For example, persecutions by the Roman state divided those christians who tried to collaborate or flee and those who suffered--similar to the experience people of occupied countries in World War II, who faced similar problems after that conflict ended.
Although not someone who normally reads books on religious topics, this was one I could not put down. This book is a page-turner--really vivid and alive. At the end, I had a deeper understanding of the roots of Christianity and the power of faith to change empires such as Rome.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
When Jesus beame God.
My Muslim friend who runs the Indian take-away in our road recenly gave me an English Koran (Quran) and, in an appendix, there is discussion of the question of whether Jesus could... Read more
Published 10 months ago by dannyboy
The Nicene, the Nice and the not so Nice
I read this having previously read Bart D Ehrman 'Lost Christianities the Battles for Scripture and the Faiths we Never Knew', which is a good background to the preceding period in... Read more
Published on 31 May 2010 by Legal Vampire
The Arian Controversy Brought to Life
How do you take an abstruse, emotive and pivotal theological controversy that occurred in the early years of Christianity and turn it into a fast-paced, factual story without... Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2008 by A. O. P. Akemu
Exciting history
If you have ever asked if religous history can be exciting then suggest this book "When Jesus Became God: The Controversy That Split Christianity During the Last Days of... Read more
Published on 8 Nov 2007 by "Smith" Reader
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... Read more
Published on 12 Jan 2007 by mark ayers
scholarly and readable
For a long time, there has been a need for book like this - giving the unholy facts about the early era of turmoil in Christian belief. Read more
Published on 25 April 2000 by "brencoff"
what would jesus do?
I have read much on this subject, but this book is an excellent synthesis of the events in their historical context. Read more
Published on 3 Sep 1999
One of the best books I've read in a long long time
It takes genius to make such cerebral material not only comprehensible but gripping to a Kansas housewife (such as myself). One of the best books I've read in a long, long time.
Published on 31 Aug 1999
Rubenstein writes well
Rubenstein writes elegantly about the politics and turmoil in the declining days of the Roman empire, of which the Arian controversy was just one small part. Read more
Published on 30 Aug 1999
Prose of cinematic vividness
Writing prose of cinematic vividness, Rubenstein is able to make the most abstruse theological debates of Christianity's first millennium come alive--and render them... Read more
Published on 25 Aug 1999
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