When Jesus Became God is written by Richard Rubenstein suggests that Jesus was divine, but they do not insist upon it. Hundreds of years after Jesus ' death, the Church councils made Jesus ' divinity a central tenet of belief among many of his followers. When Jesus Became God is a narrative of the history of the Christians ' early efforts to define Christianity by convening councils and writing creeds. Rubenstein is most interested in the battle between Arius, Presbyter of Alexandria, and Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria. Arius the leader of the Arians said that Christ did not share God 's nature but was the first creature God created. Athanasius said that Christ was fully God and at the Council of Nicea in 325, the Church Fathers came down on Athanasius 's side and made Arius 's belief become a heresy.

Rubenstein 's brisk, incisive prose brings the councils ' 4th-century Roman setting fully alive, with riots, civil strife, and public debates. Rubenstein is also personally invested in the meaning of these councils for religious life today. Digging back in history, Rubenstein learns that before the Arian controversy, "Jews and Christians could talk to each other and argue among themselves about crucial issues like the divinity of Jesus. They disagreed strongly about many things, but there was still a closeness between them." But when the controversy was settled, Rubenstein notes, "that closeness faded. To Christians, God had became a Trinity and heresy had became a crime.