Arius vs the Nicene Council

Discussion Leadership and Presentation

Introduction

In his book The Theology of the Presence and Absence of God, Anthony Godzieba provides a detailed analysis of the various ways that God can be experienced as both present and absent in our lives. He begins by exploring the concept of the “hiddenness” of God, noting that even though we may not always be able to see or hear God, He is always with us. Godziebaexplains that the mystery of God requires our participation; we cannot really know God as present unless we are willing to engage with Him. It is when we are not open to the mystery of God that His absence becomes a problem for us. He notes that people often ask, “Where is God?” and, “Who is God?” (pg.181) In my section, which is “The Trinitarian Rule of Faith and Its Interpretation,” Godzieba tackles this question of “Who is God?” and explains God in terms of the Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Spirit.

Chapter 4 section 3

The purpose of Godzieba in this section is to explore what the Fathers of the Church said about the Trinity so that we today can more fully understand where this doctrine of the Trinity came from and what it is supposed to mean. He provides historical context to a very important element of the Faith, which answers the question, “Who is God?” In doing so, Godzieba appeals to Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, and several of the early councils, like the one in 325 (pg. 225) that condemned the Arian position. The Arian position and its condemnation by the Church in Antioch in 325(pg. 225) shows how serious the question about the relationship between Father, Son, and Spirit was and is—for to get just one aspect of that relationship wrong is to open the door to all sorts of theological and practical errors that could in the end cause one to lose faith. The Church’s mission has always been about safeguarding the deposit of faith, and so it is Godzieba’s purpose to provide support for that mission by framing the question of “Who is God?” in a historical context that helps us today to see why we believe what we do. He shows how the Nicene council was very focused on making it clear that only certain views of God’s personhood would be accepted in the Church.

What Godzieba is Saying

Godzieba goes into the significance of the Arian heresy, as it essentially served as the “crisis of the ancient church’s Platonism”—but he also describes the Council of Nicaea and how it represented a “parallel crisis of scriptural interpretation [which] had to be faced as well.”[footnoteRef:2]Godzieba goes on to explain that it was really a question of subordination of the Son to the Father. Logically, the Nicene Fathers said, the Son is subordinate to the Father, but ontologically there is no subordination—meaning, the Father and the Son are the same in terms of divinity. Godzieba likely found this interesting because there were others in the Church, like Arius, who had a different view on the matter (p. 232). But it was the view of the Nicene Fathers that the Son should be understood as doing the will of the Father on earth, which is why they promoted the idea that “Christ saves us by the power of the Father and gives us a share in the eternal life of God.”[footnoteRef:3] [2: Anthony Godzieba, A Theology of the Presence and Absence of God (Liturgical Press, 2018), 232.] [3: Anthony Godzieba, A Theology of the Presence and Absence of God (Liturgical Press, 2018), 232.]

Godzieba is discussing this issue at this point in the text because it connects the preceding chapter on natural theology to the following chapter, which is on the presence and absence of God. It represents the Christian response to the problem of God for the modern world, and it represents it by having the reader go back to the points in the early Church when the question of “Who is God?” was being answered and clarified (p. 232). People in the modern world might not understand the relevance question because they don’t see it as something that still needs to be asked. They think that ship has sailed. They don’t realize that it is a question that has been asked by many different people throughout history—and many people have had different views—but those views have been hashed out, and turned over, refined, and argued over. People today might feel that the matter is settled and there is nothing to think about—but that is wrong. There is a lot to think about, for, as Godzieba shows, it is really a journey of discovery that we all have to go on—all of us reliving that process of refinement that the Church underwent at pivotal moments, such as during the Nicene Council. Today’s people could see this invitation to journey towards embracing the question of “who is God” if they realized that the ship has not yet sailed—everyone may board and be part of that discovery.

Connecting to Previous Sections in the Book

This section (4.3) connects to previous sections by showing how the early Church ultimately responded to the natural philosophy of the time. The early Christian Church faced many challenges as it sought to establish itself in the Roman world. One of these challenges was the widespread popularity of the Platonic philosophy of naturalism. This philosophy taught that the material world is an imperfect copy of an ideal, spiritual world. Many early Christians were drawn to this philosophy because it offered a way to reconcile their belief in God with the observed evidence of suffering and death in the world. The Church responded to this challenge by developing its own understanding of naturalism, which emphasized that the material world is not an imperfect copy of an ideal spiritual world, but rather that it is good and created by God. The Church also taught that while the material world is subject to suffering and death, there is hope for a spiritual life after death. This teaching helped to convince many people that Christianity was a true and viable religion. Godzieba takes this context and applies it to the question of “Who is God?” and shows how the Trinitarian Rule of Faith came to be the standard of the early Church.

How This Section Advances the Main Themes of the Book

The two big themes of the book are “Who is God?” and how can God be known or experienced in such a way that His presence feels real. This section advances those themes because it shows that faith in the Trinity is a rung in the ladder that takes us up to God. In other words, the Trinitarian Rule of Faith is a key principle in Christianity that helps to answer the question of “Who is God?” Basically, the rule states that there is one God who exists as three Persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This doctrine helps to explain how God can be both fully transcendent and fully immanent. One way to understand this is to think of the Father as the source of all things, the Son as the one who mediates between God and humanity, and the Holy Spirit as the one who brings about transformation within us. And yet at the same time they are all equal, eternal, and divine—i.e., one God. Yes, it is a mystery, but by understanding the Trinity even in our own small way, we can better comprehend who God is and how He can be known to us.