The Council of Nicea and the New Testament 3/7/11

Today, in the beginning of class, we learned a little bit about St. Perpetua and Felicity. Perpetua was a woman of Christian beliefs, but her father did not want her to convert, because it was a dangerous thing. Her and her servant (it was not illegal or wrong back then), Felicity, both had a newborn child when they were killed. This must have been an extremely hard decision, either their kid or their faith. We also learned a little bit of background information about the Council of Nicea. Christians did in fact believe Jesus was divine before the Council of Nicea. Also, we have records of St. Paul writing 20-30 years after Jesus, 250 years before Nicea, proving the NT was assembled before Nicea. Nicea was the first ecumenical council, or the first world wide gathering of Catholic bishops. There have been 21 of these total, the most recent being Vatican Council II from 1962-1965. The language used in mass was also changed in 1962 to English from Latin. Constantine wanted to unify his empire with this council. He also wanted to address the issue of the Adrian heresy. This was an idea that claimed Jesus was more than human, but less than God. Athanasius represented the orthodox Christian beliefs, and taught Jesus as human and divine. There are many differences between the Da Vinci Code and history. First is that the Da Vinci Code said the council of Nicea was held to determine Jesus' divinity. However, Jesus' divinity was discussed, whether he was created by God or another part of God. The Da Vinci Code also says that Constantine wanted to strengthen the new Christian tradition. This is in part correct, as he wanted to strengthen the Christian tradition, but it was not a new tradition. The Da Vinci Code also says that the council was the first time anyone saw Jesus as divine. This is not true, because St Paul's writings and other NT books describe Jesus as divine before the council.