A message from Fr Peter.

The way the nature of Jesus Christ affects the manner faith is experienced and lived today

The recent use of the adjective ‘Arian’ by Boris Johnson on his election night to describe the obsessive concern by the press with the minutiae about his character was not a case of showing off his intelligence, as one commentator said, trying to defend him. However, the misuse of a term to imply the nitpicking over the unity in substance between the old Boris and the new Boris betrays both a classical education nurtured on that anti-Christian Edward Gibbon, but also of the latent inability of so many non-religious people to appreciate the significance of theological terminology.

The idea that ‘arian’ might seem the appropriate term only shows how little the concept of salvation means in today’s culture. Bishop Arius was a 4th century Bishop who denied the full divinity of Jesus Christ. He was only of like substance to the Father, not the same substance. If this was truly the case then Jesus could not save as God, and therefore Jesus is reduced to a moral exemplar, an extra-ordinarily good man, worthy of imitation, like so many other good people. The inability to understand the consequences of such terminology also marks John Julius Norwich’s otherwise learned history on Byzantium. The author therefore misses the heart of such theological argument, and its sometimes unfortunate excesses of mutual excommunication and violence.

Modern post-Christian Europe could well be described as ‘arian’, in that most Christians, including some practising Catholics, find it difficult to hold both on to the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, and to account for the existence of other religions. It is much easier to think of Jesus as certainly nearer to God than us, but not God exactly, thus leaving space for other faiths and chinks in the moral teaching of the Church.

The denial of the full divinity of Jesus Christ leads in turn to the rejection of the power of the Holy Spirit and the oneness of the Catholic Church. Far from being a minor theological quibble over words, the nature of Jesus Christ affects the way faith is experienced and lived today. If Christ’s divinity is diminished the power and direction of Pentecost is also questioned. The Holy Spirit is sent by both the Father and the Son to reinforce the simple message that God loves, as made clear in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Therefore those living at an ever increasing historical distance from the events in Judaea are not at an increasing disadvantage, which would be the case if the initial power of the Holy Spirit becomes more diffuse and lacks focus. The historical continuity of the Catholic Church, both in the fullness of its faith and its geographical extent, is no longer seen, for those who doubt the divinity of Jesus Christ in terms of divine providence but in terms of human power with all the connotations that this implies. The full divinity of Jesus Christ releases the Church from becoming the slave of fashion or power, to remain faithful to the original call of Jesus Christ to ‘come, follow me’.

Fr Peter Newby, Parish Priest