Is that the same Richard E. Rubenstein that writes for Al Jazeera?
I guess he missed a few notes in history concerning the early church and the divinity of Christ .
Polycarp (AD 69-155)
Now may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the eternal high priest himself, the Son of God Jesus Christ, build you up in faith and truth...and to us with you, and to all those under heaven who will yet believe in our Lord and God Jesus Christ and in his Father who raised him from the dead.
Ignatius (AD 50-117)
Ignatius, who is also Theophorus, unto her which hath been blessed in greatness through the plentitude of God the Father; which hath been foreordained before the ages to be for ever unto abiding and unchangeable glory, united and elect in a true passion, by the will of the Father and of Jesus Christ our God; even unto the church which is in Ephesus..........
Being as you are imitators of God, once you took on new life through the blood of God you completed perfectly the task so natural to you
Melito of Sardis (died c. AD 180)
He that hung up the earth in space was Himself hanged up; He that fixed the heavens was fixed with nails; He that bore up the earth was born up on a tree; the Lord of all was subjected to ignominy in a naked body—God put to death!...n order that He might not be seen, the luminaries turned away, and the day became darkened—because they slew God, who hung naked on the tree.
All these guys were well before the 300s before the Catholic Church. There are more .
Do some research .
One other question do you believe in the divinity of Christ Jesus?
Blessings
Bill