Journal: Christian Apologetics Journal
Volume: CAJ 09:1 (Spring 2011)
Article: Making (Up) History: Fact, Fiction, and the First Council of Nicaea
Author: Justin L. Petersen

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CAJ 09:1 (Spring 2011) p. 67

Making (Up) History:
Fact, Fiction, and the First Council of Nicaea

Justin L. Petersen

When Dan Brown’s book, The Da Vinci Code, was published in 2003, it sent shockwaves of confusion through much of the Christian community and exited many conspiracy theorists. At a particularly climactic moment in the novel, very broad assertions are made about what happened at the first ecumenical council of the Church—the council of Nicaea—and how that one council changed the course of Christian theology and history. Of course, The Da Vinci Code is a novel, a work of fiction, and should therefore be excused for its wild theories. However, Brown went a step further than many novelists do and inserted a list of “facts” at the start of the book, as if to give the impression that while the story may be fiction, the historical claims it makes should be considered, at least somewhat, legitimate. The goal of this article is not to present an apologetic against The Da Vinci Code and its theories. Numerous articles doing just that were written right after Brown’s book was first published. Rather the objective here is to address the creeping problem in modern historical scholarship of

CAJ 09:1 (Spring 2011) p. 68

putting agenda ahead of the pursuit of truth, especially regarding Church history. Brown’s novel is not necessarily an example of this problem, but rather a symptom. This article will examine the council of Nicaea through the use of primary and secondary historical sources while examining some of the claims modern historians are making about what happened. In the course of this examination we will sift fact from fiction and hopefully gain a clearer, more accurate understanding of just what did take place at Nicaea in the summer of 325 A.D. In the final analysis, the conspiracy theorists—both historians and novelists—will be proved wrong when the evidence shows that, in terms of Christian faith and doctrine, nothing new was created at the Council of Nicaea. Before digging into the sources and addressing the theories, it would be prudent to lay the historical foundation surrounding the convening of Church leadership at Nicaea.

Historical Foundation of the Council of Nicaea

For nearly three centuries after the birth of the Christian Church in Jerusalem, the followers of Jesus of Nazareth were considered menaces to both the Roman Empire and the Jewish communities within it. Therefore, Christians were persecuted by both Roman and Jewish authorities in the many cities where they lived. These persecutions by the Romans reached their worst at the end of the second and beginning of the third centuries AD. However, in an unexpected turn of circumstances, the Roman emperor, Constantine and his co-emperor, Licinius, ...

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