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IDENTITY MATTERS: THE ETHNICITY OF THE CHURCH FATHERS AND THE FORMATION OF THE NICENE CREED

In Acts 17:26, Luke, inspired by the Spirit of God, records Paul proclaiming to the people of Athens that God “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.” This was part of a larger explanation from the apostle as to the reality that everyone, everywhere, is expected to utilize the natural gifts granted to them by God to make their way to a saving faith in him and the propitiation he would provide. This imperative, to inhabit all of the earth, is one which predates the sinful need of man for salvation, though, for we see even in the pristine, Edenic state of Adam and Eve a command from God for humanity to “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Gen 1:28b) Again, at Babel, we encounter a God in the act of dispersing the species after narrowly escaping the judgment of the Flood through God’s grace towards Noah and his family (Gen 11:1-9). God, it seems, is intent on having people all over the face of the globe. A natural consequence of this diversity in locales is the development of distinct people groups into national and ethnic identities. This process of ethnogenesis is one which has occupied anthropologists and sociologists for decades as they seek to understand how and why people become the distinct groups that they are. Theology, though, is the realm of the “why”, and while Genesis 11 and Acts 17 point to a portion of this why of ethnic diversity on the globe being that of a basis by which persons will pursue their creator, there is still the matter of the intention behind a sinless being also being directed towards a diverse inhabitation of the earth. A survey of cultural, philosophical, and religious elements that comprised the Sitz im Leben of the framers of the Creed, the proposed paper will show how the framework they constructed for the presentation and defense of orthodox faith in Christ demonstrates a portion of the purpose behind the mind of God creating human diversity.

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Recent Publications

The Spirit and Renewal (Part 1): Definitive & Progressive Sanctification - Sherif Fahim

'New Creation' in Paul - Sherif Fahim

Justification, Sanctification, and Union with Christ: Fresh Insights from Calvin, Westminster, and Walter Marshall - Sherif Fahim

Death in Second-Century Christian Thought The Meaning of Death in Earliest Christianity - Jeremiah Mutie

The Quest for Early Church Historiography From Ferdinand C. Baur to Bart D. Ehrman and Beyond - Jeremiah Mutie

The Book of the Twelve - David Fuller

Early Witnesses to the Syriac Text of Acts 15 with an Investigation into the Text of Acts 15 in the Didascalia Apostolorum and with and Appendix on the Western/Jacobite Peshitta Manuscript Tradition for Acts - Daniel McConaughy

The Star and the Magi in Jacob of Serugh and the Early Syriac Tradition - Daniel McConaughy

Saved by Grace through Faith or Saved by Decree? A Biblical and Theological Critique of Calvinist Soteriology - Geoffrey Robinson

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"To foster conservative Biblical scholarship by providing a medium for the oral exchange and written expression of thought and research in the general field of the theological disciplines as centered in the Scriptures." (Constitution, Article II.)

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