The Arian Antichrist: Interpreting the Beast with the Nicene Fathers

The Antichrist theme received significant attention from the time of the early church, as demonstrated in the writings of the church fathers. Multiple strands of interpretation developed in Christendom within 400 years of the resurrection of Jesus, and these varying positions would serve as the foundation for nearly all future interpretation of Revelation 13. Medieval … Read more

Gospel Roots of Nicene Christology

Faithfulness of the Nicene formulation to the canonical Gospels in its confession of the full deity and full humanity of Jesus Christ as the second person of the Trinity is surely assumed and affirmed by every orthodox believer who rises to the call in worship, “let us say what we believe.” Less sure is the … Read more

Are Creedal Christianity and Textual Criticism Friends or Foes?

Textual criticism is deeply fundamentally church history, yet it also presents an enduring challenge for the church. How can the church assert that it is founded upon the Scriptures while simultaneously engaging in the process of establishing the Scriptures themselves? This apparent paradox has been central to both orthodoxy and orthopraxy since the earliest days … Read more

The Virgin Mary: First, but not Final Theotokos

The virgin Mary’s obscurity in modern evangelicalism outside of Christ belies the significant role she played in early Christian debates, doctrine, and creeds. Though absent from the 325 A.D. version of the Nicene creed, Mary appears in the Constantinople version as well as the earlier Apostle’s Creed. Though she did not formally receive the title … Read more

Defending Nicea: The Doctrine of the Trinity in Ephesians

When the Nicene Creed in A.D. 325 highlighted the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father, it more broadly reaffirmed early Christianity’s belief in and commitment to the doctrine of the Trinity. This paper will seek to defend Nicea’s Trinitarian commitment through a close reading of Ephesians. Specifically, in conversation with recent formulations regarding Paul’s … Read more

The Menu Lacuna of Nicaean Creedal Cosmology Minus Apocalyptic Language in Hebrews

Current academic explorations considering God-creation background for the Christ atonement in Hebrews usually predicate on chosen cosmological features of Nicaean and later formulations, with later layers of philosophical thought filling gaps, and often leans on speculations in theological-philosophical matrix of thought. These Nicaean and later approaches to God and his problematic creation unravel tensions between … Read more