I’ve dived into Richard E. Rubenstein’s When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome, and have really been enjoying it. It’s written by a Jewish professor of Conflict Resolution and Public Affairs, so it paints a very broad picture of the history of the Arian controversy. The biggest thing I’ve learned from this book about the Council of Nicea and surrounding personalities and events is that it’s a lot more complicated than you may have heard. You may have known, like I had, that the Council of Nicea (325) was when the Church declared Arianism, (the belief that Jesus was not fully divine,) heretical and wrote the Nicean Creed; well, yes, but… It’s a fascinating, intriguing, entertaining story. (We get to reenact it next weekend, and I’ve got the part of Arius!)
The writing home of David Soliday