The First Christian Centuries: Council of Nicaea

Traces the history of the church ca. 325-451 A.D., concentrating on the theologians.

Lewis Ayres offers a new account of the most important century in the development of Christian belief after Christ. He shows how the doctrine of the Trinity was developed, and in particular argues that a conception of God's mysteriousness and spiritual progress towards understanding is central to that doctrine.

Nicaea - the site of the First Ecumenical Council (325) and the capital of the Byzantine Empire in exile during the Latin occupation of Constantinople (1204-1261) following the Fourth Crusade - has an important, albeit neglected, role in ecclesiastical and political history. With this book, Professor Clive Foss - a meticulous historian - takes a significant step in rectifying that neglect. As he tells us, his initial objective was to provide a comprehensible English translation of the two thirteenth century encomia delivered by Theodore Laskaris and Theodore Metochites. The intent was to make these important sources accessible to the contemporary readers; and in this he has succeeded notably. But, in addition, there is a major bonus. The initial objective blossomed into a history of Nicaea from the third to the fourteenth centuries, which will interest general readers of history and the specialist as well.

Khaled Anatolios offers a historically informed theological study of the development of the doctrine of the Trinity, showing its relevance to Christian life and thought today. --from publisher description.