The Failure of Nicaea? Struggles of Faith in a Christianizing Culture

Although the Council of Nicaea has given the year 325 something like canonical or even sacrosanct status in Christian history, it would in reality be several decades before the decisions of that council were acknowledged as truly authoritative. Particularly between the 350s and 370s, successive Roman emperors strongly favored rival positions, especially in the Homoian tradition. Not until after 378 did Nicene principles return in full force under the Emperor Theodosius. In understanding these changes, I stress the strongly providentialist views of the era, and the sense that the divine will could be discerned through great worldly triumphs or catastrophes, such as decisive battles, dramatic climatic events, or failed harvests. The fact that such interpretations were so strongly applied to understanding Christian theological controversies is powerful testimony for the rapid pace of Christianization during the fourth century and its establishment in vernacular cultures. This paper also stresses the very long continuity of anti-Nicene positions among the Germanic barbarian kingdoms that remained in existence though the early seventh century.