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Abstract
This article critically probes the early entanglement of imperial power and Christian orthodoxy through engagement with Peter Leithart’s Defending Constantine and selected African theological responses to Nicaea. Moving beyond conventional applications of ancient creeds to modern contexts, it interrogates how imperial-theological alliances at Nicaea forged enduring Church-State paradigms that continue to inform and, at times constrain the church’s public witness. Framed by Allan Boesak’s notion of “Kairos consciousness,” the article revisits the contested legacy of Nicaea within the shifting terrain of World Christianity and raises pressing questions for the decolonisation of ecumenical theology.
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“Engaging Economic Globalization as a Communion: A Working Paper of the Lutheran World Federation.” Pages 21–50 in Communion, Responsibility, Accountability: Responding as a Lutheran Communion to Neoliberal Globalization. Edited by Karen L. Bloomquist. LWF Documentation 50. Geneva: Lutheran World Federation, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12424/173201.
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“Policy Reference Committee II, Report 8.4, Appendix II: Globalisation.” Pages 254–261 in Together on the Way: Official Report of the Eighth Assembly of the World Council of Churches. Edited by Diane Kessler. Geneva: WCC Publications, 1999. http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/assembly/or-8d-e.html.
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Atansi, Chukwuemeka A., David M.M. Lewis, and Diane B. Stinton. “Christology.” Encyclopaedia – African Christian Thought, African Theology Worldwide. https://african.theologyworldwide.com/component/content/?view=category&id=40#Stinton2015
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Atsen, Isuwa Y. A Tapestry of Global Christology: Weaving a Three-Stranded Theological Cord. Carlisle: Langham Publishing, 2022.
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Ayres, Lewis. Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology. Oxford; New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004.
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Bediako, Kwame. Theology and Identity: The Impact of Culture upon Christian Thought in the Second Century and in Modern Africa. Regnum Studies in Mission. Oxford: Regnum, 1999.
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Boesak, Allan Aubrey. Kairos, Crisis, and Global Apartheid: The Challenge to Prophetic Resistance. Black Religion/Womanist Thought/Social Justice. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
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Boesak, Allan. “Kairos Consciousness.” Kairos Southern Africa, 25 March 2011. http://kairossouthernafrica.wordpress.com/kairos-consciousness/. Accessed 1 May 2025.
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Bongmba, Elias. “Rethinking Power in Africa: Religious and Theological Perspectives.” Pages 167–197 in idem, The Dialectics of Transformation in Africa. New York, NY; Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403984586_8.
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Brinkman, Martien E. Progress in Unity? Fifty Years of Theology Within the World Council of Churches, 1945–1995: A Study Guide. Louvain Theological & Pastoral Monographs 18. Louvain: Peeters Press, 1995.
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Burckhardt, Jacob. Constantine the Great. Translated by Moses Hadas. Berkeley; Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1983 [1949].
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Drake, H.A. “The Elephant in the Room: Constantine at the Council.” Pages 111–132 in The Cambridge Companion to the Council of Nicaea. Edited by Young Richard Kim. Cambridge Companions to Religion. Cambridge; New York. NY: Cambridge University Press, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108613200.006.
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Drake, H.A. “The Impact of Constantine on Christianity.” Pages 111–136 in The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine. Edited by Noel Lenski. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521818389.006.
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Drake, H.A. Constantine and the Bishops: The Politics of Intolerance. Baltimore, MD; London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.
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Eusebius Pamphilus. The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine: From AD306 to AD337. Christian Roman Empire Series 8. Merchantville, NJ: Evolution Publishing, 2009.
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Ezeh, Uchenna. Jesus Christ the Ancestor: An African Contextual Christology in the Light of the Major Dogmatic Christological Definitions of the Church from the Council of Nicea (325) to Chalcedon (451). Studies in the Intercultural History of Christianity 130. Bern; Frankfurt a.M.; New York, NY: Peter Lang, 2003.
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Ezigbo, Victor I. Re-Imagining African Christologies: Conversing with the Interpretations and Appropriations of Jesus in African Christianity. Princeton Theological Monographs Series 132. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2010.
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Gassmann, Günther. “Toward the Common Expression of the Apostolic Faith Today: Introduction to a Faith and Order Project.” Pages 93–154 in What Should Methodists Teach? Wesleyan Tradition and Modern Diversity. Edited by M. Douglas Meeks. Nashville, TN: Kingswood Books, 1990.
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Göranzon, Anders. “SACC Still in “Critical Solidarity” with the ANC?” Moruti, 28 December 2014. https://moruti.blogspot.com/2014/12/sacc-still-in-critical-solidarity-with.html. Accessed 18 May 2025.
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Grant, Robert. “Religion and Politics at the Council at Nicaea.” Journal of Religion 55, no. 1 (1975): 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1086/486406.
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Griffiths, Ryan D. “On the Limits of Empire.” International Politics (2025): 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-025-00675-z.
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Gwynn, David M. “Reconstructing the Council of Nicaea.” Pages 90–110 in The Cambridge Companion to the Council of Nicaea. Edited by Young Richard Kim. Cambridge Companions to Religion. Cambridge; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press 2021, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108613200.005.
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Hardt, Michael, and Antonio Negri. Empire. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press, 2000.
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Henderson, David E. Constantine and the Council of Nicaea: Defining Orthodoxy and Heresy in Christianity, 325CE. 2nd ed. Reacting to the Past. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2024.
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Irvin, Dale T. Hearing Many Voices: Dialogue and Diversity in the Ecumenical Movement. Lanham, MD; New York, NY; London: University Press of America, 1994.
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Jathanna, Gladson. Decolonising Oikoumene. Reimagining Church as Event: Perspectives from the Margins. Dehli: ISPCK, 2020.
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Kärkkäinen, Veli-Matti. “Nicene Christology for Today: Expressing Christ in Mystery & Metaphor.” Logos, Word by Word, Church History – Theology, 6 February 2025. https://www.logos.com/grow/hall-nicea-chalcedon-christology/
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Kim, Young Richard, ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Council of Nicaea. Cambridge Companions to Religion. Cambridge; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press 2021. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108613200.
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Kinzig, Wolfram. A History of Early Christian Creeds. De Gruyter Studium. Berlin; Boston, MA: De Gruyter, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110318531.
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Kombo, James Henry Owino. Theological Models of the Doctrine of the Trinity: The Trinity, Diversity and Theological Hermeneutics. Global Perspectives. Carlisle: Langham Global Library, 2016.
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Leithart, Peter J. Between Babel and Beast: America and Empires in Biblical Perspective. Theopolitical Visions 14. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2012.
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Leithart, Peter J. Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2010.
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Long, Stephen D. “Yoderian Constantinianism.” Pages 100–124 in Constantine Revisited: Leithart, Yoder, and the Constantinian debate. Edited by Stanley Hauerwas and Peter Leithart. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2013.
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Lyman, Rebecca. “Arius and Arianism: The Origins of the Alexandrian Controversy.” Pages 43–62 in The Cambridge Companion to the Council of Nicaea. Edited by Young Richard Kim. Cambridge Companions to Religion. Cambridge; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press 2021. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108613200.003.
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MacMullen, Ramsay. Constantine. Beckenham; New York, NY: Croom Helm, 1987.
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Maluleke, Tinyiko Sam. “Christ in Africa: The Influence of Multi-Culturality on the Experience of Christ.” Journal of Black Theology in South Africa 8, no. 1 (1994): 49–64. https://sahistory.org.za/archive/journal-black-theology-south-africa-volume-8-number-1-may-1994.
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Mana, Kä. Christians and Churches of Africa Envisioning the Future: Salvation in Jesus Christ and the Building of a New African Society. Theological Reflections from the South. Yaoundé: Editions Clé, 2002.
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Maspero, Giulio. “Nicaea: Hellenizing the Faith or Utilizing Philosophy?” Communio: International Catholic Review 51, no. 4 (2024): 672–684. https://doi.org/10.1353/cmm.2024.a956829.
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Mbiti, John. “Some African Concepts of Christology.” Pages 51–62 in Christ and the Younger Churches: Theological Contributions from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Edited by Georg F. Vicedom. Theological Collections 15. London: SPCK, 1972.
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Mugambi, Jesse N.K. African Christian Theology: An Introduction. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers, 1989.
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Mugambi, Jesse, and Laurenti Magesa, eds. Jesus in African Christianity: Experimentation and Diversity in African Christology. African Christianity 1. Nairobi: Initiatives, 1998.
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Naude, Piet. “Confessing Nicea Today? Critical Questions from a South African Perspective.” Scriptura: Journal for Contextual Hermeneutics in Southern Africa 79, no. 1 (2002): 47–54. https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.10520/EJC100575.
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Nyamiti, Charles. “African Christologies Today.” Pages 17–29 in Jesus in African Christianity: Experimentation and Diversity in African Christology. Edited by Jesse Mugambi and Laurenti Magesa. African Christianity 1. Nairobi: Initiatives, 1998.
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Pobee, John S. Towards an African Theology. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1979.
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Pobee, John Samuel, ed. Exploring Afro-Christology. Studies in the Intercultural History of Christianity 79. Frankfurt a.M.; Peter Lang, 1992.
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Punt, Jeremy. “Empire and New Testament Texts: Theorising the Imperial, in Subversion and Attraction.” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 68, no. 1 (2012), art. #1182, 11 pages. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v68i1.1182.
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Reed, Rodney L., and David K. Ngaruiya, eds. Who Do You Say That I Am?: Christology in Africa. Africa Society of Evangelical Theology. Carlisle: Langham Global Library, 2021.
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Rossing, Barbara R. “(Re)Claiming Oikoumenē? Empire, Ecumenism, and the Discipleship of Equals.” Pages 58–73 in Walk in the Ways of Wisdom: Essays in Honor of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza. Edited by Shelly Matthews, Cynthia Briggs Kittredge, and Melanie Johnson-Debaufre. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2003.
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Sakupapa, Teddy C. “The Trinity in African Christian Theology: An Overview of Contemporary Approaches.” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 75, no. 1 (2019), Art. 5460, 7 pages. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v75i1.5460.
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Sakupapa, Teddy Chalwe. “The Decolonising Content of African Theology and the Decolonisation of African Theology: A Decolonial Analysis.” Missionalia: Southern African Journal of Mission Studies 46, no. 3 (2018): 406–424. https://doi.org/10.7832/46-3-277.
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Sakupapa, Teddy Chalwe. “Tracking the Decolonial in African Christian Theology: A Southern African Perspective on Mission from the Margins as a Decolonial Mode of Mission.” International Review of Mission 112, no. 2 (2023): 202–217. https://doi.org/10.1111/irom.12476.
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Stinton, Diane. “Jesus Christ, Living Water in Africa Today.” Pages 425–443 in The Oxford Handbook of Christology. Edited by Francesca Aran Murphy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199641901.013.25.
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Vähäkangas, Mika. Context, Plurality, and Truth: Theology in World Christianities. Missional Church, Public Theology, World Christianity 9. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2020.
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Waruta, Douglas W. “Who Is Jesus Christ for Africans Today? Prophet, Priest, Potentate.” Pages 33–42 in Jesus in African Christianity: Experimentation and Diversity in African Christology. Edited by Jesse Mugambi and Laurenti Magesa. African Christianity 1. Nairobi: Initiatives, 1998.
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Weckwerth, Andreas. “The Twenty Canons of the Council of Nicaea.” Pages 158–176 in The Cambridge Companion to the Council of Nicaea. Edited by Young Richard Kim. Cambridge Companions to Religion. Cambridge; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press 2021. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108613200.008.
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World Council of Churches. Confessing the One Faith: An Ecumenical Explication of the Apostolic Faith as It Is Confessed in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381). Faith and Order Paper, No. 153. Geneva: WCC Publications, 1991. https://ia600403.us.archive.org/28/items/wccfops2.160/wccfops2.160.pdf.
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| Abstract Views | 477 | 221 | 21 |
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Search for other papers by Teddy C. Sakupapa in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
This article critically probes the early entanglement of imperial power and Christian orthodoxy through engagement with Peter Leithart’s Defending Constantine and selected African theological responses to Nicaea. Moving beyond conventional applications of ancient creeds to modern contexts, it interrogates how imperial-theological alliances at Nicaea forged enduring Church-State paradigms that continue to inform and, at times constrain the church’s public witness. Framed by Allan Boesak’s notion of “Kairos consciousness,” the article revisits the contested legacy of Nicaea within the shifting terrain of World Christianity and raises pressing questions for the decolonisation of ecumenical theology.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 477 | 221 | 21 |
| Full Text Views | 48 | 28 | 2 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 98 | 54 | 5 |
