How did a Jewish teacher executed around 30 CE become, within a few centuries, the centre of an elaborate theology defining him as fully divine? This article follows the development from Paul and the Gospels through Marcion, Irenaeus, Arius, Athanasius, Constantine and the great councils of the fourth and fifth centuries.
A close reading of the Nicene–Constantinopolitan Creed reveals how little of it reflects the actual teaching of Jesus. Instead, it draws heavily on Paul, John, and fourth-century metaphysics shaped by imperial needs. This article examines why Christianity drifted so far from Jesus’ ethical message and how doctrine replaced the original moral vision of the Gospels.