Western Civilization I / Unit 8 WC1 0728 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Classifying a Belief: Nicene, Arian, Gnostic, Pagan, Mystery Cult
The idea
The exam describes a religious position and asks what to call it. The method is two questions: is there one God, and what is Christ. One God, Christ fully divine and consubstantial: Nicene, orthodox after three twenty-five. One God, Christ created and lesser: Arian. One God, Christ a teller of secret knowledge, no wish to convert: Gnostic. Many gods, public rites: pagan, the Christians' word for polytheism. Salvation through secret rites to one god among many, memberships stackable: mystery cult.
In practice
Five cases. A Germanic king who worships Christ but holds him beneath the Father: Arian, the missionaries' legacy. A soldier initiated into rites of a sun god of rebirth while also honoring Jupiter: mystery cult, Mithras. A bishop reciting that the Son is of one substance with the Father: Nicene. A senator sacrificing at a temple in three seventy-nine: pagan, a year before Theodosius. A sect teaching that Jesus revealed hidden formulas to the few: Gnostic.
Where people slip
Clovis is the exception the exam likes. The Franks converted to Nicene Christianity while the other Germanic kingdoms were Arian, which is why the Church backed the Franks, and the anchor's spelling of Arian has nothing to do with the later racial term.
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