A hermeneutical approach to the formation of doctrine, based on the writings of Rowan Williams

Abstract

”’Arianism’ has often been regarded as the archetypal Christian deviation, something aimed at the very heart of the Christian confession (Williams 2005:1).” With these words archbishop Rowan Williams (1950 -) begins his magnum opus: Arius – heresy and tradition. The first edition of this book was published in 1987, and has since then been published in a second edition (2001), and a third impression (2005). While the book deals with the Arian heresy, what made it stand out was how it portrayed Arius as someone who perhaps had been given an unjustly bad rap. As he began saying, this event strikes at the heart of the Christian confession – and thus any re-presentation of Arius is a touchy one. So why do it? Why not let the past be the past? The answer to this is also found in that first phrase: this has to do with the heart of the Christianity.