BBC Radio Discussion & an Australian magazine on Nicea

What’s up with that weird Angel/bird/snake thing? Is that supposed to be Arius?

At BBC – Radio 4 In Our Time – The Nicene Creed – A somewhat gassy and academic but nonetheless listenable discussion. Here’s the Real Audio file link. (I thought I listened to this in another audio format, but I can’t find any such files at the moment.)

Then we’ve got “Great Moves of God: The Nicene Creed” at the Australian Sight magazine. This story spins the Nicea council as being the arch-logician, perhaps rationalist scripture-twisting Arians vs. the modest, faithful upholders of Christ’s deity.

An authority is quoted here as saying: “The participating bishops merely affirmed the historic and standard Christian beliefs…”.

I think this last statement is not just misleading but demonstrably false. Further, the whole account is warped by the author’s allegiances, although the article contains some good information as well, which is why I pass it along.

Was that council, or part of it, or its resulting creed a “Great Move of God”? Read Hanson (if you have a lot of time), Ayres (if you have a good bit of time), or Rubenstein (if you have a few hours), and decide for yourself. If you’re interested in the Arians as such, the best place to start is probably with Wiles.