The Systematic Normativity of Nicene Theology☆

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.