The Way to Nicaea

by John Behr

This series traces the reflection provoked by Christ's question, "Who do you say that I am?" from the earliest days of Christianity to the Seventh Ecumenical Council. No student of theology can avoid the problems tackled in this period. They range from the most fundamental issues, concerning how Christ is known and the standard by which responses to him can be evaluated, to the subsequent reflections regarding his relationship to God and to us. Through original and penetrating analyses of selected figures and controversies, Behr presents not only the history of theological reflection, but a sustained analysis of the essential elements of the resulting theology.

This first volume treats the initial three centuries of the Christian era. Part I examines the establishment of normative Christianity on the basis of the tradition and canon of the Gospel, and briefly sketches the portrait of the Scriptural Christ inscribed in the New Testament. Part II analyzes selected figures from the second period, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr and Irenaeus of Lyons, considering how they understood Christ to be the Word of God. Part III turns to the third century, treating Hippolytus and the debates in Rome, Origen and his legacy in Alexandria and the Council of Antioch, in a continued examination of Christ as the Word of God. it is these debates that form the background for the controversies and Councils of the following centuries, to be examined in subsequent volumes.

Genres: Theology, History, Church History, Religion, Christianity, Christian, Nonfiction

261 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2001

About the author

Fr John Behr is Regius Professor of Humanity at the University of Aberdeen. He previously taught at St Vladimir’s Seminary, where he served as Dean from 2007-17; he is also the Metropolitan Kallistos Chair of Orthodox Theology at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam and the Amsterdam Center for Orthodox Theology.

Fr John hails from England, though his family background is Russian and German – and clerical on both sides. From the Russian side, his great-grandfather was sent to London by Metropolian Evlogy to serve there as a priest in 1926; his father was also a priest, ordained by Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom), as are his brother (at St Paul’s Monastery on Mt Athos) and his brother-in-law (Sts Cyril and Methodius, Terryville, CT). His maternal grandparents met at Karl Barth’s graduate seminar in Basel, and served in the Lutheran Church in Germany, where his grandfather was a Lutheran pastor.

After completing his first degree in Philosophy in London in 1987, Fr. John spent a year studying in Greece. He finished an M.Phil. in Eastern Christian Studies at Oxford University, under Bishop Kallistos (Ware), who subsequently supervised his doctoral work, which was examined by Fr. Andrew Louth and Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury. While working on his doctorate, he was invited to be a Visiting Lecturer at St Vladimir’s Seminary in 1993, where he has been a permanent faculty member since 1995, tenured in 2000, and ordained in 2001. Before becoming Dean in 2007, he served as the editor of St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly, and he still edits the Popular Patristics Series for SVS Press.

His doctoral work was on issues of asceticism and anthropology, focusing on St Irenaeus of Lyons and Clement of Alexandria, and was published by Oxford University Press (2000). After spending almost a decade in the second century, Fr John began the publication of a series on the Formation of Christian Theology (The Way to Nicaea, SVS Press 2001, and The Nicene Faith, SVS Press 2003). Synthesizing these studies, is the book The Mystery of Christ: Life in Death (SVS Press, 2003). In preparation for further volumes of his Formation series, Fr John edited and translated the fragments of Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia, setting them in their historical and theological context (OUP 2011). More recently Fr John published a more poetic and meditative work entitled Becoming Human: Theological Anthropology in Word and Image (SVS Press, 2013) and a full study of St Irenaeus: St Irenaeus of Lyons: Identifying Christianity (OUP, 2013). Most recently he has completed a new critical edition and translation of Origen’s On First Principles, together with an extensive introduction, for OUP (2017), and John the Theologian and His Paschal Gospel: A Prologue to Theology (OUP 2019). He is currently working on a new edition and translation of the works of Irenaeus.

His other passion is cycling, especially restoring and riding vintage bicycles including a historic Hetchins and a Dursley Pedersen. The Tour de France dominates the Behr family life during July, dictating the scheduling of important family events. Fr John’s wife, a Tour de France enthusiast and armchair cyclist, teaches English at a nearby college, and their two sons and daughter are being taught to appreciate the finer points of French culture: the great “constructeurs” of the last century, La Grande Boucle, and … cheese.

Reviews

[Ben Smitthimedhin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found a clean copy of Behr's The Way to Nicaea on the first floor of my university's library, untouched, waiting, seducing. The covers still unharmed, the pages not yet bent by curious fingers. It was Christmas break. Even after morning prayer, I was led away from reading for my thesis. One can only take so much Endo. It was between Behr and Bhikku Bodhi's In the Buddha's Words, but Christianity holds for me a soft spot—that ravishing Christ.

Diving into historical theology is like trying to buy stock when you don't know what Roth IRA means, especially when you're trying to understand the differences between each church father and each era. I remember reading Origen a couple months ago, thinking that he and I are not so different. He's just trying to understand the Son, and I am too. Yet I was surprised by his hermeneutic. How did he conclude that OT passages should be mined for deeper spiritual meanings beyond the word of the letter? A scandal for a man who's in love with the Ancient Near East, who 's always attempting to discover the "plain meaning of the text."

Behr's attempt to map out the kerygma's development and its eventual bloom into the Nicene Creed has been invaluable, providing a rich historical context for each church father, confirming the idea that even theology is contextual and sometimes reactionary (see Luther). Each father was, in some way, developing their theologies and creeds as a reply to the heretics of their day. Attempts to nail down who exactly Christ is and whether He is divine or human overwhelmed the discussions in this volume.

Familiarizing myself with Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Origen, and Paul of Samosata automatically gives me bragging rights. Thanks to Behr, church history seems less daunting. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm only on the first volume. We'll see what Behr has for us The Nicene Faith.

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe this book was just over my head, but I found the writing to be very meandering difficult to follow. Most of the chapters had no subheadings, but the ones that did were a lot easier to follow. However, despite the difficulty of reading it, I found this book to be a helpful survey of the 2nd and 3rd centuries of the church, explaining the theological trajectories that set the stage for the 4th century trinitarian and Christological debates.

[Matt Pitts · Rating 3 out of 5]

A worthy read, but not among my favorite books on the early church. I liked the overall approach, but there were a couple chapters I wasn’t really interested in. I’m still hoping to read the next volume.

[Josef Muench · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to the formation of Christian theology that focuses not on "development of doctrine" or finding certain "pre-Nicene" formulas in earlier writers, but takes each figure discussed within his own context and theological motives. Behr masterfully works through complicated textual and historical issues to provide a clear overview of how the orthodox Church proclaimed the man Jesus Christ "according to the Scriptures" as Lord.

[Debbi]

Yeah, I need another one of these books like I need a hole in the head, but I've been reading a Church history book heavily influenced by Western Protestantism and need a pre-Schism, pre-Reformation fix.

[Christian Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This opening book of this series focuses on the rise of Christianity after the final words of the New Testament had been penned. By tracing the rise of orthodox Christianity back to the early churches understanding of the Scriptures, primarily the Old Testament, Behr is able to articulate what paved the way for the early church as she headed to the great council of Nicaea. Behr notes that this way was first set in stone by the church first coming to a consensus as to what Scriptures to consider canonical, but he primarily focuses on the influence of the four Gospels. Behr then traces how the early church fathers understood what the Gospels said what about who Jesus was and how this connected to an orthodox teaching about Jesus due to the rise in heretical teachings about Christ. Behr consistently uses primary sources to articulate a lack of doctrinal progression from the last writings of the New Testament and to the patristic era. However, it is because of the absence of such progression that the Patristic went back to the Scriptures in order to pave the way to Nicaea.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this first volume of a multi-volume project, John Behr takes the reader on a journey through key writings and theologians from the ante-Niceness period. This work is not an exhaustive church history, instead Behr limits his study to specific fathers. Thus, we get Ignatius of Antioch and Justin Martyr as well as Origen but no mention of Tertullian or Cyprian. Further, the study is limited to Jesus’ question “who do you say that I am?” Behr is not interested in church governance or baptism or such things. The focus centers on the identity of Jesus, the Word of God, in relation to God the Father. Along with this there is a heavy emphasis on the interpretation of scripture to answer the questions.

Overall, a must-read for any student of historical theology.

[Will Dezern · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted a book that outlined the way the early church thought about scripture and Jesus through the writings of the church fathers, and this book did that really well.

[J. Rutherford · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 20th century, and the 21st century thus far, has witnessed a renewed interest in the evolution of Christian theology in the 2nd through 5th centuries (and beyond, of course). The collection of fragmented works from the orthodox and heterodox parties in the 19th and 20th centuries have allowed a greater level of precision in this research, as have extensive studies of key figures, compilations of the acts from the Ecumenical councils and local synods, and the discovery and translation of significant works that to this point have not been extant (such as Nestorius' Bazaar of Heracleides). For these reasons, along with a generally supportive academic climate and the availability of the necessary sources, Patristic studies have flourished. One result from this flourishing of Patristic studies has been an overthrow of previously held narratives concerning the early debates, the parties involved, and—particularly—the meaning of "Orthodoxy." Into this milieu, John Behr began writing his 3-part series "Formation of Christian Theology" (2001 – 2004). (Though it promises further volumes, only two have appeared as of 2020.) In the forward to the first volume, The Way to Nicaea, Andrew Louth describes Behr as an Orthodox theologian who bridges the otherwise uneasy relationship between Orthodox theology and the critical approach characterizing contemporary theology and Biblical studies. Accordingly, this series is not conservative in the sense of passing on established narratives and dogmas but constructive, attempting to shed new light on the thinkers involved in and the contours of the early debates. Behr does so through the lens of Jesus' questions to his disciples, "Who do you think I am?"

There is great value in The Way to Nicaea. However, the paradigm through which Behr reads the Scriptures and the Fathers is problematic and inevitably will lead to the problems expressed in Rowan William's Arius and Lewis Ayres "Nicaea and Its Legacy": if Scripture is not propositionally normative in some sense and the authority of the counsels is not a given—if they are not normative by default—orthodoxy becomes a moving target at the mercy of the latest majority rule.

Read my full review on https://teleioteti.ca/?p=4139.

[Joel Wentz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this. Behr does something that experts in Christian history have a hard time doing (in my reading experience): take a pretty wide historical era (in this case, about three centuries), explore the "big ideas" of the time, but do so through specific deep dives into particular episodes or individuals. In this case, he focuses on people like Justin Martyr, Irenaeus and Origen. His writing is extremely clear, his research is top notch, and his historical synthesis and judgments are eminently fair and confident. This particular book guides the reader through the debates that were simmering around the ancient world, debates which truly "prepared the ground" for what would culminate in the Arian controversy and the Council at Nicaea. I'm extremely excited to read the next two volumes, as I feel quite confident that the full reading experience will provide context, depth, nuance and understanding as to what is so significant about this chapter in theological history. I love church history, and this book is up there with the best I've read.

[Zach Hedges · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this refreshing survey of earliest Christianity that takes its starting point from the fundamental question of Jesus, "Who do you say that I am?", John Behr demonstrates the fundamental continuity of the early church's confessional response to this question, answered "according to the scriptures," guided by the rule of faith, handed down in the tradition, and reflected in the writings of such key figures as Ignatius, Irenaeus, and Origen (and also in some more surprising ones). Highly recommended for anyone seeking an alternative to the received wisdom of Harnack, Bauer, and a modern critical scholarship which increasingly sees nothing but disorder and disunity in the life and faith of the early church.

[Liam Nolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and clear little book. Behr grounds theological reflection in Christ's question, "Who do you say I am?" On this foundation, he begins a biblically rich survey of the formation of Christian theology from the apostolic fathers to the late third century.

What particularly interested me throughout is how Behr demonstrates that the way a particular thinker conceives of the relationship between the prophets and the apostles is indicative of how they think of both the Son's relationship with the Father and God's relationship with Jesus' humanity. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in the development of theology prior to the fourth century, and I look forward to reading the next two volumes of this series.

[Chandler Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The native context for theological formulae is the engagement with Scripture.”

Behr’s book is an excellent window into the theological and christological developments of the pre-Nicene period of church history. Some students of church history may be tempted to think or assume that a Nicene understanding of the Trinity was commonplace in the early church, but Behr shows the theological diversity and struggles that emerged in the early church’s journey towards a Nicene definition. Behr also highlights the exegetical and deeply biblical nature of pre-Nicene theological reflection. Wonderful read! I especially loved his treatment of Origen.

[Justin D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Truthfully, I may not have been prepared to read this book. Most of parts 2 and 3 went over my head and in fact, I think may have given me some wrong ideas about the church, Trinity, and Gospel.

Probably you would need a good grasp on Orthodox Christian theology before starting this book.

I went into this hoping to have the early writers explained to me but instead it was more of a discussion on the disagreements of the early writers. Thus an uneducated laymen like me had a hard time understanding who is correct.

What I did take away from it though is that the road to Nicaea was a confusing time. I should probably read some more primary sources.

[Zach Brandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Key takeaways:


- Canon is the rule/criteria of truth more than it is the list of scriptures in this time period. So it involves the scriptures coupled with the gospel interpretation of those scriptures. The gospel message, scripturally explained, is the canon (or rule/criteria of truth).

- Tradition is the gospel (canonical/correct) interpretation of scripture. It doesn’t contain anything foreign to the scriptures but is rather the way it is to be interpreted.

- The Nicene faith didn’t just pop up out of nowhere, nor was it the obvious development of biblical teaching. Different contexts, methodologies, and presuppositions led to different conclusions.

[Christian A Moulton · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you would like a good introduction to theology, this, aside from reading the Bible is where you should start. Don't go jumping into St Basil or the St Gregories, let alone later writers like John of Damascus or simeon the new theologian. Instead, get a good overview of the earlier context. Jumping right into later theologians is like trying to understand Donald Trump's politics without the context and intellectual history of conservatism and fundamentalism for the previous 50 years. It just wouldn't make sense and you're faking it. Start with Fr John. It works.

[Carson Harraman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dense and difficult to unpack at times, this is still a masterful introduction to patristic theology. Behr’s axiom, that Christian theology is always in the business of returning to its first principles (the Scriptures), should comfort any Protestant who thinks Orthodoxy doesn’t take the Bible seriously. Behr’s definitions for the Scriptural Christ and the way theology came about exegetically is incredibly valuable, and even if the rest doesn’t persuade you, Behr’s expertise on Irenaeus is worth the price of admission.

[Ramez Rizkalla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fr. John Behr is truly a gifted and brilliant writer! Not only does he masterfully lay out all the pre-Nicene positions clearly, and critically analyzes them, but he paints a clear and beautiful picture that allows the reader to mentally see what and who is being discussed. I can't recommend this book enough to anyone who's remotely interested in how the Church did (and should continue to do today) theology in the pre-Nicene period.

[Andrew Youssef · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is remarkable in terms of presenting details and quotes. However, it needs a lot of work in terms of organization and utilization of subheadings to ease following in long chapters. Also, the book needs to further explain the Greek texts it often utilizes as most non-academic readers wouldn’t be able to relate to it.

[Marc Schelske · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been wanting to understand the development of Trinitarian theology, and this is an excellent starting point. It’s thick with primary references, but presented in a way that is still pretty accessible for an academic work of theology and theological history.

[Evan Leister · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing an intro book to a two part main book seems excessive but I did learn a lot from this.

I think this is gonna help greatly in my dive into the popular patristics series even if it's not something I'm going to "use" knowledge wise on a regular basis.

[Phillip Howell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid book. I didn’t love it but it is good. Well researched. Not too hard to heard. Clear outline and points are being made.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chapters on Origen and Irenaeus were excellent.

[Noah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished the book and reread it right on the spot. Excellent writing and clear points. Excited for volume 2

[Kathleen Krynski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really solid! Looking forward to the next 2 books.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent in understanding how we came to what constitutes Christian dogma

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seamless prose with talented scholasticism...a win all around

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best work on pre-Nicene theology I have read.

[Brian Glass · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good tour of the development of theology leading up to the Nicene council.

[Dougald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think every Christian should have to read this series by Behr just so they know more about Christ and the early issues that arose in the Church.