Arianism Among The Germanic Tribe Summary

The focus of this book was narrower than the title suggests. It should have been entitled: Arianism among the Germanic Tribes. The book seeks to explain the Germanic (barbarian) acceptance of Trinitarian Christianity within their own world views and time line. Marilyn Dunn notes that the Germanic tribes had a concept of one god, or one supreme "being" or "spirit." This correlates with God the Father who is revealed by his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the prime being revealing this one supreme God to them, but Jesus Christ was not of the same substance (homoousia) with God the Father as in Trinitarian theology. Rather, as in Arian theology, Jesus Christ was of similar substance (homoiousia).

The fear was that Trinitarianism

Religion in general was based on a sense of how gods, spirits or natural features felt to be imbued with special power affected the lives of peoples or individuals. Stones, springs, trees and lakes were thought to be able to cure sickness in people or animals or help guarantee a good harvest; people were surrounded by minor supernatural beings who might, if propitiated, help them. There were different levels of divinity, represented as having different ranges of power and activity; and the most powerful god of all, who had created the earth and sky, was generally far removed from the trials and tribulations of ordinary mortals. I do think a case can be and has been made for the saints taking the place of "lower divinity" gods and sacred

The Spirit, she suggested elsewhere, was conceptualized by homoians as a ‘superior angel’ (39)." This doctrine of a tiered version of the Christian Trinity, with its different levels of activity and relationships with humans bears a striking structural resemblance to the non-Christian intuitions of divinity of the Germanic peoples; i.e., a relatively remote creator God, and an intermediary level of divinity which had greater interaction with humans, and a lower one still, in which spirits or lesser beings were also active on earth (100).”

Ulfila’s intention was to move people beyond what we might describe as ‘entry level Christianity’. It was his mission to teach people Christian doctrine and before the formulation of the homoian creed. Ulfila had a difficult mission, but it did succeed in introducing Christianity to the Goths and other Germanic tribes which at this time were considered to be barbarians by peoples within the Roman Empire. I also add that history reveals that the Germanic Arians eventually converted to Catholic