Created or uncreated: The influence of philosophy and cultural normatives on the development of opposing interpretations of Christ as Logos leading up to Nicaea

This thesis evaluates the influence of philosophy and cultural normatives on the development of opposing interpretations of the Logos, and its effect on soteriology, leading up to the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea 325 CE. The Council needed to answer the question--- Is the Son a product of essence (uncreated) or will (created)? Four main influences are the basis for two different models regarding the generation of the Son: hermeneutics; different interpretations of Platonic subordinationism; the influence of Stoicism on deification; and the influence of Aristotle's philosophy on christology and soteriology.