“From Nicaea Through the Reformation: Nicaea’s Impact on Protestant Thought,” seeks to contribute to recent movements in theological retrieval. Examining the biblical and theological themes evident in the Protestant retrieval of early Christian theology in the Pre-Nicene period through the Reformation, provides insight into and impacts contemporary theological thought. The need for theological retrieval addresses a thirst among younger evangelicals for historical rootedness and angst within and pressure upon the evangelical church in the postmodern context. This need reflects the vision to return to classical Christianity to help uphold the Christian faith constructively against deconstruction in our postmodern times.
Renewed interest since the late 1960’s in the Doctrine of the Trinity continues into the 21st Century in response to the so called, “Forgotten Trinity.” There has been widespread reaction to the Doctrine of the Trinity as for some one of hostility, and for others, dismissal or indifference. To liberals and modernists, the concept of the Trinity seems quaintly irrelevant way of the thinking about the divine mystery. God’s trinitarian being for many modern Christians is far removed from what their faith is really about. The history of trinitarian thought enables us to think about God, the world, and reality in ways that one would have thought to be otherwise not possible. The Council of Nicaea in AD 325 is a watershed moment and a watershed event as evidenced by the periods being known as the Ante-Nicene and Post-Nicene periods. This conceptual development begins in the period leading up to the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 and its outworking continues through the subsequent writings and councils. To speak faithfully concerning the Trinity and the deity of Jesus Christ, within the boundaries of biblical faith and classical patristic sense, are projects of post-Reformation scholarship, both Catholic and Protestant. The paper retrieves and reflects on the Ante-Nicene biblical and theological arguments, the Council of Nicaea’s theological debate and theological affirmations, and its impact on protestant thought.