The Systematic Normativity of Nicene Theology☆

Abstract

The 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Council is an opportune moment to consider the possibility that the production and defense of the Nicene confession represent the fruition and manifestation of a way of doing theology that is perennially valid and normative precisely with respect to its systematic integration of the contents of Christian faith. In this paper, I argue that the Nicene controversy should be viewed as an event of ‘systematic’ theology insofar as it presented a creative re-integration of Christian faith, and I show how Nicene trinitarian doctrine encompassed distinct approaches to biblical exegesis, liturgical theology, and moral theology.