Constantine and the Council of Nicaea

Constantine and the Council of Nicaea PDF Author: David E. Henderson
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469631423
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 144

Get Book Here

Book Description
Constantine and the Council of Nicaea plunges students into the theological debates confronting early Christian church leaders. Emperor Constantine has sanctioned Christianity as a legitimate religion within the Roman Empire but discovers that Christians do not agree on fundamental aspects of their beliefs. Some have resorted to violence, battling over which group has the correct theology. Constantine has invited all of the bishops of the church to attend a great church council to be held in Nicaea, hoping to settle these problems and others. The first order of business is to agree on a core theology of the church to which Christians must subscribe if they are to hold to the "true faith." Some will attempt to use the creed to exclude their enemies from the church. If they succeed, Constantine may fail to achieve his goal of unity in both empire and church. The outcome of this conference will shape the future of Christianity for millennia. Free supplementary materials for this textbook are available at the Reacting to the Past website. Visit https://reacting.barnard.edu/instructor-resources, click on the RTTP Game Library link, and create a free account to download what is available.

Constantine and the Council of Nicaea

Constantine and the Council of Nicaea PDF Author: David E. Henderson
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469631423
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 144

Get Book Here

Book Description
Constantine and the Council of Nicaea plunges students into the theological debates confronting early Christian church leaders. Emperor Constantine has sanctioned Christianity as a legitimate religion within the Roman Empire but discovers that Christians do not agree on fundamental aspects of their beliefs. Some have resorted to violence, battling over which group has the correct theology. Constantine has invited all of the bishops of the church to attend a great church council to be held in Nicaea, hoping to settle these problems and others. The first order of business is to agree on a core theology of the church to which Christians must subscribe if they are to hold to the "true faith." Some will attempt to use the creed to exclude their enemies from the church. If they succeed, Constantine may fail to achieve his goal of unity in both empire and church. The outcome of this conference will shape the future of Christianity for millennia. Free supplementary materials for this textbook are available at the Reacting to the Past website. Visit https://reacting.barnard.edu/instructor-resources, click on the RTTP Game Library link, and create a free account to download what is available.

We Believe in One Lord Jesus Christ

We Believe in One Lord Jesus Christ PDF Author: John Anthony McGuckin
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830897240
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 215

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Who do you say that I am?" This question that Jesus asked of his disciples, so central to his mission, became equally central to the fledgling church. How would it respond to the Gnostics who answered by saying Jesus was less than fully human? How would it respond to the Arians who contended he was less than fully God? It was these challenges that ultimately provoked the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325. In this volume covering the first half of the article in the Nicene Creed on God the Son, John Anthony McGuckin shows how it countered these two errant poles by equally stressing Jesus' authentic humanity (that is, his fleshliness and real embodiment in space and time) and his spiritual glory or full divinity. One cottage industry among some historical theologians, he notes, has been to live in a fever of conspiracy theory where orthodox oppressors dealt heavy-handedly with poor heretics. Or the picture is painted of ancient grassroots inclusivists being suppressed by establishment elites. The reality was far from such romantic notions. It was in fact the reverse. The church who denounced these errors did so in the name of a greater inclusivity based on common sense and common education. The debate was conducted generations before Christian bishops could ever call on the assistance of secular power to enforce their views. Establishing the creeds was not a reactionary movement of censorship but rather one concerned with the deepest aspects of quality control. Ultimately, what was and is at stake is not fussy dogmatism but the central gospel message of God's stooping "down in mercy to enter the life of his creatures and share their sorrows with them. He has lifted up the weak and the broken to himself, and he healed their pain by abolishing their alienation."

History of the First Council of Nice

History of the First Council of Nice PDF Author: Dean Dudley
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Council of Nicaea
Languages : en
Pages : 138

Get Book Here

Book Description


A History of the Christian Councils

A History of the Christian Councils PDF Author: Karl Joseph von Hefele
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Council of Nicaea
Languages : en
Pages : 528

Get Book Here

Book Description


A Church History: To the Council of Nicaea, A.D. 325

A Church History: To the Council of Nicaea, A.D. 325 PDF Author: Christopher Wordsworth
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Church history
Languages : en
Pages : 530

Get Book Here

Book Description


A History of the Councils of the Church, from the Original Documents

A History of the Councils of the Church, from the Original Documents PDF Author: Karl Joseph von Hefele
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Councils and synods
Languages : en
Pages : 548

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Idea of Nicaea in the Early Church Councils, Ad 431-451

The Idea of Nicaea in the Early Church Councils, Ad 431-451 PDF Author: Mark S. Smith
Publisher: Oxford Early Christian Studies
ISBN: 0198835272
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 245

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Idea of Nicaea in the Early Church Councils examines the role that appeals to Nicaea (both the council and its creed) played in the major councils of the mid-fifth century. It argues that the conflict between rival construals of Nicaea, and the struggle convincingly to arbitrate between them, represented a key dynamic driving--and unsettling--the conciliar activity of these decades. Mark S. Smith identifies a set of inherited assumptions concerning the role that Nicaea was expected to play in orthodox discourse--namely, that it possessed unique authority as a conciliar event, and sole sufficiency as a credal statement. The fundamental dilemma was thus how such shibboleths could be persuasively reaffirmed in the context of a dispute over Christological doctrine that the resources of the Nicene Creed were inadequate to address, and how the convening of new oecumenical councils could avoid fatally undermining Nicaea's special status. Smith examines the articulation of these contested ideas of 'Nicaea' at the councils of Ephesus I (431), Constantinople (448), Ephesus II (449), and Chalcedon (451). Particular attention is paid to the role of conciliar acta in providing carefully-shaped written contexts within which the Nicene Creed could be read and interpreted. This study proposes that the capacity of the idea of 'Nicaea' for flexible re-expression was a source of opportunity as well as a cause of strife, allowing continuity with the past to be asserted precisely through adaptation and modification, and opening up significant new paths for the articulation of credal and conciliar authority. The work thus combines a detailed historical analysis of the reception of Nicaea in the proceedings of the fifth-century councils, with an examination of the complex delineation of theological 'orthodoxy' in this period. It also reflects more widely on questions of doctrinal development and ecclesial reception in the early church.

Remembering Nicaea

Remembering Nicaea PDF Author: Martin Shedd
Publisher: SBL Press
ISBN: 1628375868
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 341

Get Book Here

Book Description
Remembering Nicaea presents the first complete English translation of Anonymous Cyzicenus’s Ecclesiastical History, the fullest surviving account of the Council of Nicaea (325 CE). The introduction features new arguments for the dating of the text, a discussion of Anonymous Cyzicenus’s sources and their modification, and an evaluation of the larger purpose of the Ecclesiastical History as a unique and instructive source for the christological controversies of the fifth century CE. Appendixes include the text of the Byzantine epistolary supplement found in all manuscripts, the Pinakes, testimony about the work from the ninth-century patriarch of Constantinople, Photius, and the prefatory letter to the 1599 critical edition. This unique combination of history and legend preserves otherwise-lost sources for students and scholars of church history.

A Church History: From the Council of Nicaea to the Council of Constantinople

A Church History: From the Council of Nicaea to the Council of Constantinople PDF Author: Christopher Wordsworth
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Church history
Languages : en
Pages : 384

Get Book Here

Book Description


Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 1, Origins to Constantine

Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 1, Origins to Constantine PDF Author: Margaret M. Mitchell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521812399
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 796

Get Book Here

Book Description