The Council of Nicaea. A Political and Intellectual History

The Council of Nicaea

A Political and Intellectual History

The Council of Nicaea stands as one of the most decisive turning points in the history of Christianity. Yet, within Turkish historical scholarship, it has long remained a largely neglected subject—particularly when considered through the lenses of Roman political history and ancient intellectual history. To date, the council has not been examined as an independent topic within these frameworks. The limited number of studies that do address Nicaea neither offer a comprehensive historical narrative nor evaluate the council’s textual production from an intellectual-historical perspective.

As a result, Turkish historiography continues to fall short not only in answering fundamental questions—such as what actually transpired at the Council of Nicaea, how debates were conducted, and how its decisions were interpreted and reinterpreted across subsequent centuries and cultures—but also in providing the historical context necessary to pose these questions in the first place.

This collective volume seeks to address this gap. By offering a coherent and interdisciplinary discussion of the Council of Nicaea and its broader political, theological, and intellectual dimensions, the book aims to make a modest yet meaningful contribution to Turkish scholarship on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the council.