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Presenter: Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing

A single line—“There was a time when he was not”—ignited one of the most consequential debates in Christian history. We open with the shared words of the Nicene Creed and follow the thread back to crowded halls near the Bosporus, where bishops gathered under an emperor’s gaze to settle what felt unsayable: one God, three persons, no shortcuts. Along the way, we pull apart the analogies that seem helpful (the three hats, the board of directors) but quietly bend the truth, and we sit with Arius long enough to understand why his view protected something real even as it risked losing the heart of the gospel.

We talk frankly about Constantine’s motives and why politics and prayer collided in the fourth century. Legal tolerance made underground arguments very public, and public arguments demanded careful words. That’s how phrases like “true God from true God,” “begotten, not made,” and “of one being with the Father” took shape—not as ivory-tower flourishes but as guardrails for worship and the logic of salvation. If Christ is not fully God and fully human, the hope Christians stake their lives on starts to crumble. The councils at Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381) become less distant events and more like family meetings whose minutes still guide how we pray, teach and sing.

We also map where we’re heading next: digging into what “we believe” commits us to, how the Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son,” and why the creed gives more airtime to the Son and the Spirit than to the Father. The tone stays curious and grounded—no claim to having all the answers, just a community trying to speak truthfully about a God who exceeds our categories and meets us in flesh and breath. Stay through the closing prayers and you’ll hear why doctrine is never abstract for us; it shapes how we carry one another.

If this journey helps you think or pray more clearly, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves history and theology, and leave a review with the creed line that challenges you most. Your reflections help guide where we go next.

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