THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY PROTESTANTISM

Abstract

 This research adopts a dual focus and employs a strictly historical methodology. The first part examines the authority of church councils, particularly the Council of Nicaea and its TrinitarianChristological dogma, within the emerging and diverse Protestant ecclesiologies of the period 1517–1566. The development of this issue in Luther’s thought will initially be explored, from

* Università di Roma Tor Vergata e PUL.

496 Paralellus, Recife, v. 15, n. 37, jul./jdez. 2024, p. 495-552

the conflict over indulgences to the ecclesiological controversy concerning the authority of councils in the church, with particular attention to the nature and significance attributed to the Council of Nicaea. Here, even the pope is portrayed as subject to the decrees of faith established by a universal council (1517–1521). Subsequently, the official positions of key Reformation figures—Melanchthon, Luther, Calvin, and leaders of the Swiss Reformed Church—will be examined through their writings from 1530 to 1566, focusing on their views regarding the authority of universal councils, particularly Nicaea, in opposition to advocates of ‘Roman primacy’ and anti-Trinitarian evangelical movements (1530–1566). The second part of this research analyses, using historical methodology, the various radical and anti-Trinitarian movements in sixteenth-century ‘Protestant’ Europe that opposed the dogma of Nicaea. These include figures and groups such as the Anabaptists of Strasbourg, Miguel Serveto, Johann Campanus, Giorgio Biandrata, Lelio and Fausto Sozzini, Matteo Gribaldi, Giorgio Rioli, and Valentino Gentile. Attention is also given to the often violent campaigns led by ‘orthodox’ Protestant leaders in defence of the dogmatic truth of the Nicaean Trinity and Christology.