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The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of ad 381 was a key statement in the context of the theological controversies and confessional atmosphere of the fourth-century church.
Alexander Irving explores Christian belief about God, creation and redemption, as it is expressed in the Creed. He thereby contributes to the continuing task of the church's self-examination of its talk about God.
Irving shows the importance of tradition and the intrinsic relationship between thought in the church today and thought in the church across time. He sets the Creed in its historical and theological contexts, and connects its theology to some areas of contemporary theological inquiry.
The Creed sets out the basic parameters of Christian belief. While the specifics of what is believed within those parameters are not determined, there is an internal logic to the Creed's presentation of the Christian faith. The contrast between God's internal and external relations is the theological motif that gives particular shape to the Creed, which expresses an expansive vision of the generosity of God, with his relation to creation grounded in his being as love.
List of abbreviations x
Introduction 1
Nicaea and the fourth century 2
What is a 'confession of faith'? 3
What are the major creeds? 7
Why are the creeds resisted? 9
Why do creeds exist and would it matter if they did not? 14
1 Tradition 21
Tradition and the gospel 21
Tradition and Scripture 31
The reciprocity of Scripture and tradition 36
2 Christian confessions in the second and third centuries 50
Catechesis and baptismal confession 51
Western and Eastern creeds 60
The emergence of the conciliar creeds 64
3 Arius and Alexander of Alexandria 67
The problem of categorization 67
Theological tensions behind the Arian controversy 72
The controversy between Arius and Alexander of Alexandria 83
4 'Begotten from the essence of the Father':
from Nicaea to Constantinople (1) 108
The defeat of Arius 108
Fighting in the dark? 126
5 'The Son is like the Father': from Nicaea to Constantinople (2) 153
The rise of 'Neo-Arianism' 153
Rival factions 156
Homoian ascendency 169
6 'Genuine from the Father, as life from fountain, and radiance
from light': from Nicaea to Constantinople (3) 177
Athanasius' alliance-building efforts 177
The gathering momentum of rapprochement 184
Basil of Caesarea and the mechanics of a pro-Nicene consensus
(359-78) 191
Consolidation of Nicene ascendency 209
7 Athanasius of Alexandria: a theological study 222
God and creation: Against the Greeks and On the Incarnation 223
Developing a trinitarian hermeneutic: Discourses Against the Arians 228
The divinity of the Holy Spirit 249
Conclusion: working dogmatic comments 261
Transitive and non-transitive relations 261
Self-revelation 266
The oneness of God 268
The triune creator and redeemer 274
Bibliography 284
Index 303