Nicene Christianity: The Future for a New Ecumenism (Paperback)

~ Christopher Seitz (Editor)

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What was the relationship between the church, Scripture, and the creeds of the early church? What implications do these creeds, specifically the Nicene Creed, have in today¹s postmodern, ecumenical context?

Nicene Christianity presents some of the world¹s premier theologians in an exploration and exposition of the Nicene Creed and explores the practical implications of confessing the Creed as Christians, then and now.

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What was the relationship between the church, Scripture, and the creeds of the early church? What implications do these creeds, specifically the Nicene Creed, have in today's postmodern, ecumenical context? Nicene Christianity presents some of the world's premier theologians in an exploration and exposition of the Nicene Creed. It explores the ecumenical and practical implications of confessing the Creed as Christians, in the ancient world and in today's postmodern context.. Contributors: William J. Abraham Carl E. Braaten Augustine DiNoia Douglas Farrow Kathryn Greene-McCreight Colin Gunton Vigen Guroian Robert W. Jenson Ephraim Radner Philip Turner Christopher R. Seitz Alan Torrance John Webster Thomas Smail Susan K. Wood David S. Yeago Christopher Seitz is professor of Old Testament and theological studies at the University of St. Andrews. He is the author or editor of more than a dozen books, including Word without End.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Brazos Press (January 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587430215
• ISBN-13: 978-1587430213
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #889,022 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating, informative read, July 14, 2002

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nicene Christianity: The Future for a New Ecumenism (Hardcover)

Deftly edited by Christopher R. Seitz (Professor of Old Testament and Theological Studies, University of St. Andrews), Nicene Christianity: The Future For A New Ecumenism is a selection of scholarly essays by a sixteen erudite and knowledgeable contributors about the relationship between the ecumenical frameworks of contemporary churches and the Nicene Creed of the early Christian church. Exploring ecumenical and practical considerations with regard to the Nicene Creed in the modern day, Nicene Christianity is a fascinating, informative read, and a welcome, recommended addition to Christian Studies supplemental reading lists and academic reference shelves.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nicene Christian Identity ; Contra Simulacra of Postmodern Arianism, July 1, 2005

By	Didaskalex "Eusebius Alexandrinus" (Kellia on Calvary, Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews

Nicene Christianity:
'Nicene Christianity' is all about the relationship between contemporary churches and the ecumenical benchmark, with reference to the Nicene Creed of the early Christian church. For an AmeriCoptic catechetical teacher, Nicene Orthodoxy was formulated and defended in Alexandria by Athanasius and Cyril, when the Church was ecumenical, Catholic and Apostolic.
This is a fine, systematic and thematic book, written by 'Church-Class' Doctrinal theologues for in depth explorers of the core of Orthodox Christian faith, in today's postmodern world, viewed from an ecumenical perspective.


Essays; Soteriology to theology:
Here, the essay's Evangelical theology stresses the continuity with the New Testament, the creeds, and Protestant reformation. But rather than its emphasizes on the infallibility of Scripture, salvation, the cross, and, conversion, Nicene Christianity, is represented as the task for the Christian faithful and Ecumenical Church to witnesses and actively engage with the 'Good News', the Father's revelation in the Gospel of Jesus. The ideal (& Christian) way to affect the message is ecumenically, in humility and modesty. Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox proclaim much the same spirit which is in strong support to the 2001 conference, and the essays.

Contribution & Editorship;
Christopher R. Seitz, with other fifteen fine theologians present in this volume, a creative re-exposition of the Nicene Creed by many leading doctrinal and systematic theologians, who contributed to the Charleston conference. Every essay is a thoughtful expression of the theological mind of a unity of Church creed, within the creative diversity of personal and denominational perspectives.
If there is some tension in the general theme of few essays, it is rooted Barth's thesis of Evangelical Theology. The Bible and the creeds, look sometimes controversial and with competing claims to truthfulness (Take the Chaledonian Diophysite nature of Christ, without any true or apparent allusion to scripture).


'Credo Catenata' Sampler:
After an interesting first chapter by editor Seitz, on 'Our help is in the name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth,' the next four chapters have a central focus on the inquiry on Christological mystery.
Alan Torrance highlights the incoherence of Arianism; if Christ is not "of one substance with the Father," then humanity's encounter with the Son is not actually an encounter with God. Gunton underlines, meanwhile, that only God has the power over sin and consequently victory over death, to the disadvantage of the wanting Arian christology. Gunton claims it as a recurrent and contemporary revisited heresy, not merely an ancient schismatic history.
Jenson presents his view, on pre-foudation christology, in which the eternal Son has always been in fellowship with the Father prior to the incarnation. Athanasius has always declared: "There could not be a Father without His only begotten, eternal Son." The essays appeal to Scripture as much as to ecclesiastic history and Church tradition.

The Nicene Church:
Wm. Abraham spells it (I believe in One, Holy, Catholic, and apostolic church) in a short paragraph; "I began this way for two reasons. First, it illustrates a useful and long established way to focus our thinking about the church. It is very fitting and relatively easy to think in terms of images of the church. ... Second, the images employed here are intended to correct what is endemic in much thinking about the church, namely a tendency to idealize."