INSPIRATION from the fourth century was the aim of a conference held in Bossey, Switzerland, this week, on the theme of the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea — whose deliberations ultimately led to the adoption of the Nicene Creed.
A year of events to mark the anniversary, which falls next year, began at the Ecumenical Institute. Over three days, 130 academics, pastors, and other participants received more than 40 papers.
Topics included the Council’s contribution to ecumenical dialogue, its relationship to interfaith dialogue, the part played by women at Nicaea, gender justice, and the relationship between Christian faith and empire, Stephen G. Brown, the editor of the World Council of Churches (WCC) journal, The Ecumenical Review, reported.
“The deep concern at Nicaea to be faithful to the unity of God and to the unifying love of God is still a powerful and inspiring witness,” the WCC’s President from Europe, the Revd Dr Susan Durber, said in one of the six keynote addresses.
A Roman Catholic theologian from Germany, Dr Johannes Oeldemann, spoke about the Council’s outcome of a common date for Easter, although the use of different calendars now meant that Easter did not always coincide in East and West. “The coming decade offers a good opportunity to dedicate our ecumenical efforts to the complex challenge of finding a common Easter date, because the calendar will allow to celebrate Easter together every three years,” he said.
The Revd Dr Kathleen M. Griffin, a professor of church history in Buenos Aires, spoke of the legacy of the Emperor Constantine’s patronage: a marriage “between creed, sword, and empire that occurred at the Council of Nicaea”.
Professor Charidimos Koutris, of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, suggested that a renewed emphasis on the human nature of Jesus Christ, as discussed at Nicaea, could offer a solid basis for further ecumenical collaboration, and for bringing together people of every faith.
Professor Wong Wai Ching Angela, of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, spoke about inculturation. “If we accept that Nicene Creed was developed out of a particular context with a particular cultural environment,” she said, “it should be facilitating a continued conversation between performing symbolic acts of church unity and a conscious integration of the diverse practices of the various Churches in different cultures.”
Professor Masiiwa Ragies Gunda, in his keynote address, suggested that all Christian communities needed to engage in “an intentional reappraisal of the Nicene Creed for a decolonising ecumenical movement”. Professor Gunda is the WCC’s programme officer for overcoming racism, xenophobia, and related discrimination.
The year’s activities culminate in the Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order, to be held near Alexandria, in Egypt, next October, on the theme “Where now for visible unity?”