Arius Heresy & Tradition
Rowan Williams
Number of quotes: 9
Book ID: 29 Page: 85
Section: 3C1
Arius had learned from the theodidaktoi, as others have learned from Pamphilus or Lucian, and he makes an implicit claim to be himself a teacher in this kind of succession. Part of his tragedy is that (even among his allies) the tradition of such school-centred Christianity is a dying one. De facto, the controversy becomes a matter of episcopal politics. Arius was an anachronism, asking that the Constantinian Church resolve its problems as if it were the federation of study- circles…
Quote ID: 510
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 29 Page: 86
Section: 3C1
The difference between the cases of Origen and Arius is that, whereas in the early- to mid-third century {22} it was possible to live with unresolved disciplinary or canonical disagreements, {23} by the second decade of the fourth century the visible harmony and uniformity of the church had become, as observed above, a question of public and legal interest.
Quote ID: 511
Time Periods: 34
Book ID: 29 Page: 86
Section: 3C1
Thus the history of Arius illuminates from one specific perspective the great shift in Christian self-understanding which we associate with the age of Constantine. We are witnessing a new development in Christian reflection on the boundaries and the definition of the Church.
Quote ID: 512
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 29 Page: 87
Section: 3C1
But in the larger cities of the empire, bishops were increasingly detached from the context of teaching, increasingly engaged in administering charities, building and maintaining churches, negotiating disciplinary issues with their colleagues {28}…
Quote ID: 513
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 29 Page: 88
Section: 3C1
How is this to be harmonized with the appeal to secular authority to resolve disputes over the things of God? The fact of central importance in understanding this is that Eusebius Pamphilus and many others did not regard Constantine’s authority as secular. On the contrary, the emperor was a God- inspired man, a true philosopher, {30} a teacher who directs his flock to heaven, and causes ‘schools of holy learning’ {31} to be set up. Church conflict is resolved by the virtual redefinition of the empire itself as a ‘school’ gathered around a charismatic royal teacher. No longer does the Church have to define itself as a pure and self- continuous community over against the world; the whole oikoumene now has its ‘bishop’ and pastor. {32}
Quote ID: 514
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 29 Page: 90
Section: 3C1
Before Constantine, the Church was simply not in a position to make universally binding and enforceable decisions. From Nicaea onwards the Church decided, and communicated its decisions, through the official network of the empire; it had become visible to itself, as well as to the world, in a new way. And to those concerned with enforcing agreed decisions, whether for the sake of the empire’s unity like Constantine or for the sake of theological integrity like Athanasius (and perhaps Eusebius of Nicomedia), the independent and actually or potentially recalcitrant ‘school’ group was inevitably redefined not merely as a sect, but as a body outside the framework of civilized society. The Church’s new ‘visibility’ meant that the wrong sort of Christian group was regarded pretty much as the Church itself had been regarded by the pagan empire, as something subversive of the sacred character of social life.
Quote ID: 515
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 29 Page: 109
Section: 3C1
Taken as a whole, these citations had apparently been used by Arius and his followers to establish three basic theological points:(i) The Son is a creature, that is, a product of God’s will;
(ii) ‘Son’ is therefore a metaphor for the second hypostasis, and must be
understood in the light of comparable metaphorical usage in Scripture;
(iii) The Son’s status, like his very existence, depends upon God’s will.
Quote ID: 516
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 29 Page: 177
Section: 3C1
As we have already seen, this is the theology of the Thalia – a remarkable and drastic reworking of a number of profoundly traditional themes. It is conservative in the sense that there is almost nothing in it that could not be found in earlier writers; it is radical and individual in the way it combines and reorganizes traditional ideas and presses them to their logical conclusions – God is free, the world need not exist, the Word is other than God, the Word is part of the world, so the Word is freely formed ex nihilo.
Quote ID: 517
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 29 Page: 247
Section: 3C1
‘Arianism’ is the polemical creation of Athanasius above all, who was determined to show that any proposed alternative to the Nicene formula collapsed back into some version of Arius’ teaching.
Quote ID: 518
Time Periods: 4
End of quotes