ABSTRACT
There is a strong and noteworthy correlation between the Germanic barbarians and Homoian believers in the Late Antique world. When Germanic groups converted officially, they did so to Homoian Christianity, from the Goths in the late fourth century until the late fifth when the Franks broke the pattern. The Gothic translation of homoios in the New Testament is galeiks. Champions of Homoianism within the Roman Empire were often either Germanic themselves or patronised by Germanic individuals or groups. Perhaps most significantly, long after Homoianism and other forms of the non-Nicene Christianity had ceased to be a living issue among Romans, Germanic peoples and states remained Homoian officially and in practice. A correlation of this type requires an historical account. This chapter considers possible means of accounting for this correlation, will suggest a new, linguistic possibility, and explores the limits of linguistically informed history and theology.
