Friday, September 08, 2006

Arius and Athanasius

I'm reading A Short History of Christianity by Stephen Tomkins and it's very interesting. It makes me wish I had taken more courses that cover this type of stuff in seminary but I was a former art student rebelling against the call of God. Why would I want to take a course in church history or theology or apologetics or hermeneutics (which, I was disapointed to find out, had nothing to do with Herman Munster). Ironically, it turns out that some of my favorite classes were Old Testament Survey and Systematic Theology. That doesn't mean I aced them all but I did okay for myself.
Anyway, back to Arius and Athanasius. These two guys couldn't get along. I won't go into details because I wouldn't be able to explain it correctly. Let's just say they couldn't agree on issues surrounding the divinity of Christ. Athanasius was for Christ as deity, Arius against. In the end, Arius lost. Amidst all this history, I found these few sentences of particular interest.
"Doctrinal propaganda war spread throughout the east. Arius wrote pop song with lines like 'the essence of the Father is foreign to the Son.' Their arguments were parodied on the pagan stage."

I find it funny that the arguments of Christians were parodied by pagans back then because that never happens nowadays. And we Christians don't do anything that's worth making fun of. I don't know where Jon Stewart and SNL and all these other funny people are getting their material. They must just be making it all up.
Jon Stewart: "Did Pat Robertson or Benny Hinn do anything funny this week?"
Writers: "No Jon.
Jon Stewart: "Well, then make some stuff up. We need material.
Writers: "Yes Jon.

As Dr. Evil would say, "Riiiiiiigggggghhhhhht." I started reading this book because I'm on a quest to try and find out why the church is so screwed up today. It looks like we're just following in our forefathers footsteps. I feel much better now...I think?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

agreed. i took the same comfort when i finally studied Church history here at Truett. when you realize that the Church has pretty much been screwed up from the beginning, it may not give you hope, but it least gives me comfort that we are not alone in our brokenness. the Church is messed up because by its very nature it is filled with messed up people. duh. i guess i shoulda figured that out a long time ago, too.

Anonymous said...

agreed. i took the same comfort when i finally studied Church history here at Truett. when you realize that the Church has pretty much been screwed up from the beginning, it may not give you hope, but it least gives me comfort that we are not alone in our brokenness. the Church is messed up because by its very nature it is filled with messed up people. duh. i guess i shoulda figured that out a long time ago, too.