Princeton in Europe Lecture, Diarmaid MacCulloch 'What if Arianism had won?'

The fourth annual Princeton in Europe Lecture -- Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch asks 'What if Arianism had won?'

The most noticeable and remarkable thing about Western Europe in what we call the Middle Ages is its cultural and religious unity, united by a common alignment with the Pope in Rome, and a common language for worship and scholarship. Western Europeans tend to take this united medieval phase of their history for granted, but it is unique in human history for a region to be so dominated by a single form of monotheistic religion and its accompanying culture for a thousand-year period. The dominance of the Church which looked to the Bishop of Rome was a freak in human experience, albeit a freak with profound consequences for the present day.

With this exercise in counterfactual history, Diarmaid MacCulloch draws on his experience of writing and filming an overview history of Christianity to consider how easily matters might have been different in the Christian West. He identifies Martin of Tours as a key figure, but also speculates on the perfectly plausible event of an Arian outcome to Western Christianity's emergence from the ruins of the Western Roman Empire.

[jordanparsons]

You know it's a university seminar when every question in the Q&A is a dissertation

[JamieHuman]

Sir Diarmaid is fast becoming one of my favourite historians to listen to. Thanks for the lecture

[ecclesiastes]

A very interesting and well presented corrective/alternative to the received narrative of the Roman Catholic church regarding the Arians and their standing in the history of Christianity.

[rickpeuser]

I love Professer MacCullogh!  Delightful lecturer and a wonderful historian!  

[lillisolaoire]

Great lecture. A pity the questions were not miked. I could barely hear them.

[Oli-jmfc]

This was a superb lecture, thanks for posting.

[علي-شثب]

The title should be "What if Arianism won in Europe"because the Arians in Syria, Egypt, North africa an Spain for a period of time won by accepting a similar faith(Islam)

[andrewsapia]

it was not steamrollered through the Nicene counsel by Constantine. that is a factual error. The Bishops, many of whom had been tortured for their faith were independent of the Emperor. He presided but didn't make theological decisions.

[loganstrait]

If the Son and the Father were equal, then the words "Father" and "Son" would have no meaning at all and could not be seperate persons at all but rather seperate manifestations of One God.

[JohnVKaravitis]

Cliffs Notes, please.  Would we have been better off or worse?


EDIT:  I tried, but couldn't get past the middle.  Honestly, delivery is as important as content.  If you lose your audience, you're just congratulating yourself on how "smart" you are.

[johnathanha]

First, I do not agree with that Catholics are obliterated by Arianism. In fact, Catholics were trying to keep the faith in the trinity. That is why they fought against Arianism.

Second, although Luther was trying to take example in St Augustine, his later followers diverted away from St Augustine in order to separate their faith away from Catholics.

[hOPistos]

Life in the Christian world would've been much better if Arianism would've won.

[antonius]

i don't agree Jews had a better position in the orthodox countries or under orthodox monarchs.
i still seeking the answer on the question what would happen if Arianism had won.
I think nothing would have changed in the structure of the church nor society.

[microcosm]

Islam won with the eastern Roman Empire because of the pure monotheism that they believed for centuries from the apostles and later from the arians. Eventually, Islam will win in the West for the same reason and because the religion better preserves morality than the modern political tradition.

[G-T]

The Arian belief concerning the 'Trinity' is still preached by the doctrine of Jehovah Witnesses! 

[gk-qfhv]

The Title of the lecture is "what if the Arians won", and then he calles Islam "the elephant in the room".
No sir. Islam is the WHOLE ROOM. Because islam IS WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED when Arians won in the east (against the Bizantine persecution of the non catholics).

[TomorrowWeLive]

If decentralisation is a barrier to persecution, how do you explain Islam, probably the most decentralised religion on earth, and also indisputably the most viciously intolerant? Their persecutions were so successful that unlike Christian heresies Islamic 'ghulaut' (ironically meaning
extremist') sects (which differed from orthodox Islam in only the most trivial ways) survive only as names. At least the Catholics attempted to persuade their heretics to recant and Christian heresies were able to survive for centuries.

[davidmcdonald]

Sometimes I am such a dummy, I originally thought the topic was "what if Arminianism had won" !

[aness]

God (Allah)say:
Surely, disbelievers are those who said: "Allâh is the third of the three (in a Trinity)." But there is no Ilâh (god) (none who has the right to be worshipped) but One Ilâh (God -Allâh). And if they cease not from what they say, verily, a painful torment will befall on the disbelievers among them.
Quran

[ems]

Interesting hypothetical ... But i rather doubt that Christianity itself would have been much different beyond the theological framework of arianism itself. I just am not convinced that what drives religion and religious institutions is theology. Yes, theology can consume religious institutions. It can yield and sometimes resolve conflicts. But it's the matrix of power, social and economic forces that drives the desire for religion, adherence to it, and the force it has in history.