Verrat an der Bibel? Der biblische Gottesglaube und das Homoousios

The article “Betrayal of the Bible? The Biblical Faith in God and the Homoousios” explores the question of whether the ὁμοούσιος of the Creed of Nicaea was an apostasy from the biblical faith in God. It is shown that the bishops at the Council wanted to explain and specify biblical monotheism with the Hellenistic term. Only the policy of Emperor Constantine leaves the biblical context in the aftermath of the Council. The statements of the pre-existence and consubstantiality of the Son with the Father can be interpreted in such a way that they correspond to Jesus’ self-understanding in the biblical testimony. It is possible to identify aspects of a “high Christology” in the religious selfunderstanding of Jesus’ time. This has consequences for a contemporary Christology that tries to think and argue in an Israel-sensitive way.