Alyssa Roat Contributing Writer 2021 14 Jan Many centuries ago, a man named Arius stirred major controversy in the church with his claim: Jesus Christ was created and finite, not of equal divinity with the Father. This became known as the heresy of Arianism. However, repudiation and rejection of his claim did not come easily. Even today, we may find ourselves falling into Arianism. What Is Arianism? The fundamental issue at stake in Arianism is whether or not Jesus the Son and God the Father are coeternal and equal in deity. Traditional Arianism holds that Jesus was created by God as the first act of creation. A letter from the late fourth century Arian bishop of Milan, Auxentius, states, “One true God… alone unbegotten, without beginning, without end, eternal, exalted, sublime, excellent, most high creator, epitome of all excellence... who, being alone… did create and beget, make and establish, an only-begotten God [Christ].”