The Apostasy That Wasn’t
by Rod Bennett
Some Christians teach that soon after the apostles died, the Church went off the rails, and the true faith vanished for centuries. Rod Bennett, a convert, doesn't answer that claim with a stack of proof-texts. He answers it with a story, and what a story it is.
The setting is the fourth century and the Arian crisis. Arianism taught that the Son of God was a created being, and for a while it looked unstoppable. Emperors pick sides. Bishops are exiled. Councils clash. St. Athanasius holds the line, at times nearly alone. Bennett tells it with a novelist's pacing, and his point lands hard. This is what a real apostasy would have looked like, and the Church came through it holding the faith of Nicaea. Christians still profess that faith every Sunday in the Creed.
It suits inquirers from traditions that teach a “great apostasy,” history lovers, and anyone who wants to know where the Nicene Creed came from. It's narrative history, so it reads more like a drama than a textbook.
Key Takeaways
- What Arianism taught and why it mattered.
- How St. Athanasius and others held the line.
- Where the Nicene Creed came from.
- Why the Church came through the crisis with the faith intact.
It answers the claim that the early Church fell away, and it reads like a story.
