ebooks Ibn Fadlan's Journey to Russia: A Tenth-Century Traveler from Baghad to the Volga River by Ahmad Ibn Fadlan in History

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A thoroughly researched and vivid re-creation of one of the most critical periods in the history of Western religion The life of Jesus; and the subsequent persecution of Christians during the Roman Empire; have come to define what many of us know about early Christianity. The fervent debate; civil strife; and bloody riots within the Christian community as it was forming; however; is a story that is rarely told. Richard E. Rubenstein takes readers to the streets of the Roman Empire during the fourth century; where a divisive argument over the divinity of Jesus Christ was underway. Ruled by a Christian emperor; followers of Jesus no longer feared for the survival of their monotheistic faith; but they found themselves in different camps—led by two charismatic men—on the topic of Christian theology. Arius; an Alexandrian priest and poet; preached that Jesus; though holy; is less than God; while Athanasius; a brilliant and violent bishop; saw any diminution of Jesus' godhead as the work of the devil. Between them stood Alexander; the powerful Bishop of Alexandria; in search of a solution that would keep the empire united and the Christian faith alive.