IMC 2009: Sessions
Session 1020: Arianism Revisited: Homoians and Homoousians in Late Antiquity, I - The Basic Problems - Trinitarian Theology and its Enemies
Wednesday 15 July 2009, 09.00-10.30
| Organiser: | Thomas Brown, School of History, Classics & Archaeology, University of Edinburgh |
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| Moderator/Chair: | Walter Pohl, Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, Universität Wien |
| Paper 1020-a | The Creed of Rimini and the Place of 'Arianism' in a Nicene World (Language: English) Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Hagiography, Historiography - Medieval, Political Thought |
| Paper 1020-b | Wulfila and Friends: The Early Arians and the Mission to the Goths (Language: English) Index terms: Biblical Studies, Ecclesiastical History |
| Paper 1020-c | Arians Holy and Unholy: The Early Arian Hagiographical Tradition (Language: English) Index terms: Biblical Studies, Ecclesiastical History |
| Abstract | Ruled a heresy by the First Council of Nicaea in 325 Arianism was in the focus of theological as political conflicts and struggles throughout Late Antiquity. The position that God the Father and the Son did not exist together eternally with all its variations became a major problem in the 5th and 6th centuries. Military, barbarian elites (Goths, Vandals, Burgundians, and many others) adopted this creed and some tried to reintroduce it in the mediterranean Roman provinces. For short while after 359 Arianism was accepted by the imperial authorities. Peter Heather argued lately, that the term 'homoian', meaning conservative pre-Nicaean Christian theology fitted better than Arian. We know only a few pieces of this Christian faith as catholic scholars did good work in making it forgotten. Many aspects of Arianism and its political implications have not yet been analysed adequately by historians. Our sessions want to fill this gap. |