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Christian History Magazine—Issue 85: The Council of Nicaea: Debating Jesus’ Divinity is unavailable, but you can change that!

In 325 A.D., Emperor Constantine called together Christian bishops from across the empire to the city of Nicaea for a council that would have an immeasurable impact on the subsequent development of Christian theology. At the Council of Nicaea, bishops debated Jesus’ divinity and produced the Nicene Creed, still recited by churches today. Learn about the issues that gave rise to this great council...

The creed you may recite in church each Sunday is not the original creed as crafted by the Council of Nicaea in 325. It is, in fact, a more developed version of the creed as issued by the Council of Constantinople in 381. The original Nicene creed had fewer clauses and a much simpler theology of the Holy Spirit. It also had an “anathema” or legal condemnation that directly attacked the Arian position. The later council dropped this to make the creed more universally applicable. To compare the two