Christian History, Dogmatics

The Theological World of the Nicene Controversy

Church History

In this course, we will explore the theology of the supporters of Nicaea as they sought to articulate and forge orthodox Christianity from the Council of Nicaea to the Council of Chalcedon in the years 325-451. Taught by Dr. Matthew Hoskin. Runs 1/11-3/20/21. 

Description

This Church History course will be taught by Dr. Matthew Hoskin. This course will run from January 11 through March 20. The syllabus is available here.

The Nicene Creed is embraced as an essential statement of Christian faith across the major confessions of Christianity—Protestants, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and the Church of the East all embrace this succinct summary of Christian doctrine. However, in the turbulent fourth century, such a wide-ranging embrace was not the case. In this course, we will explore the theology of the supporters of Nicaea as they sought to articulate and forge orthodox Christianity from the Council of Nicaea to the Council of Chalcedon in the years 325-451. The theologians who fought for Nicaea and who established how to interpret its creed are also among the greatest foundational theologians for Christianity, East and West, Greek, Latin, and Syriac, to this day.

Matthew Hoskin received his Ph.D. in the History of Christianity from the University of Edinburgh in 2015. His expertise is in the field of ancient Christianity (Patristics) with a focus on Leo the Great, Christology, and canon law in the fifth century, and he has a background in Classics and research that extends across the Middle Ages. He lives in Thunder Bay, Ontario, with his wife and children where he is Coordinator of Liturgy and Education at The Urban Abbey (www.urbanabbey.ca) and blogs semi-regularly at http://thepocketscroll.wordpress.com.

Online only, runs 10 weeks, meeting 2 hrs./wk. via videoconference + online discussion board. Register to reserve your spot and schedule will be set after a poll of participating students; if the class time does not fit your schedule, you will be eligible for a full refund. Note: all classes are offered dependent on demand and require a minimum of four participating students. This is a graduate-level seminar. Although a Bachelor’s degree is not a necessary pre-requisite for this course, students should come prepared to do graduate-level work.