The Evolution of Jesus Christ: How Early Christians Shaped The Way We See Jesus Today

In the 4th century CE the Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as members of a single God Head became the official belief of Christianity. That was 300 years aftter Jesus' crucifixion. But what were the beliefs about the nature of Jesus during the preceding 300 years? This book explores those beliefs by analyzing the material written during that period. What did the various authors, including the writers of the New Testament, think about the nature of Jesus? Based on these writings, it seems that the most common beliefs from 30 CE to the 4th century evolved from a belief that Jesus was the Messiah, a title that did not suggest divinity, to the belief that, while divine, Jesus was subservient to God the Father, to the belief that Jesus was the equivalent of God the Father. The 4th century event that cemented the Doctrine of the Trinity into Christianity was the Council of Nicea in 325 CE which produced the Nicene Creed. This book contains a history of that Creed and an analysis of it.