DCHindley wrote:...
Isk,
IMHO, it was just Christians of that period trying to reconcile popular Greek cosmological speculation (basically some variation of Plato's concept of first/eternal principals, ranging from one to several) and what the church was now saying god was like. The account of the Debate with Adamantius shows that folks in the 4th century at least were interested in such things, probably in reaction to popular understandings of Marcion's concept of the nature of things.
However, I do not think that the Arian debate was thinking of Marcion anymore. I think that Western and Eastern spheres of the Christian movement had come to terms with Marcion in somewhat different ways, and the Arian debate was the way the matter further worked itself out.
Constantine wanted a unified Christian movement, so the organizers of the Council if Nicaea went out of their way to talk the participants into coming to some sort of negotiated solution that everyone could, in good conscience although not happily, adopt. Perhaps this is why it seems, now, so convoluted.
DCH
Jesus was made God by a process like the one you suggest, but why would anyone initiate that process?
There is nothing in the gospel of Mark to suggest that Jesus is God .Paul in Romans 9: 4-5 says Jesus is a man sent by God.
Romans 9:4
They are descendants of Israel, chosen to be God's sons; theirs is the glory of the divine presence, theirs the covenants, the law, the temple worship, and the promises.
Romans 9:5
The patriarchs are theirs, and from them by natural descent came the Messiah. May God, supreme above all , be blessed for ever! Amen.
The Oxford Study Bible
https://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/books/ref ... 7QodT5QCOg
When did the making of God begin?.