To commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.), the Thomistic Institute invites paper proposals for its commemorative Spring 2025 Thomistic Circles conference on “Nicaea After 1700 Years: Looking Back and Looking Forward.”
Featuring:
Fr. Khaled Anatolios (University of Notre Dame)
Prof. Gary Anderson (University of Notre Dame)
Prof. Lewis Ayres (Angelicum / Durham University)
Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P. (Dominican House of Studies)
Each session concludes with time for Q&A. Light refreshments, including snacks and coffee, will be served between the lectures.
What? A two-day conference on the theme of the theology and legacy of the Council of Nicaea, featuring plenary sessions and breakout paper presentations.
Where? Dominican House of Studies (487 Michigan Ave. NE, Washington, D.C. 20017)
When? Friday, February 7 to Saturday, February 8, 2025
Graduate Colloquium: We are pleased to offer a colloquium for current graduate and advanced undergraduate students concurrent with the Thomistic Circles Conference.
Conference Schedule:
Friday, February 7th
2:30 PM - Nicaea’s ‘Christological surplus, or, How to remember the creed’
Prof. Lewis Ayres | Durham University
4:00 PM - Is the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in ‘Accordance with the Scriptures’?
Prof. Gary Anderson | University of Notre Dame
Saturday, February 8th
9:15 AM - Paper Presentations
Panel 1:
Phōs ek phōtos: The “thickening” of God’s Word in the Nicene Creed (Fr. Jordan Schmidt, O.P. | Dominican House of Studies)
The Importance of a Divine Logos: Nicaea's Response to Neoplatonism (William Hunter | University of Notre Dame)
Panel 2:
The Arians’ Advocate: Scripture and the Implicit Victory of the Nicene Magisterium (Maria Sermersheim | University of Notre Dame)
Foretelling the Mystical Eucharist: St. Maximus the Confessor on the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (Fr. John Gavin, S.J. | College of the Holy Cross)
Panel 3:
Looking Through Nicaea: The Relationship Between Faith and Theology (Scott Athey | Dominican House of Studies)
The Impact of Nicene Terminology on Trinitarian Theology (Ishmael Adibuah | Università Pontificia San Tommaso D’Aquino)
Panel 4:
Niccolo Machiavelli, Arian? (John-Paul Heil | Mount St. Mary’s University)
“I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill”: The First Ecumenical Council of the Church as Continuity and Beginning (Joseph Poznecki | Dominican House of Studies)
Panel 5:
"That We May Love the As Yet Unknown God": Augustine's "Trinity of the Mind" and the Development of Pro-Nicene Theology (Samuel Korb | University of Notre Dame)
“Incarnate Lordship”: Thomistic Approach Towards Professing Christ as King of the Universe (Filip Veber | University of Ljubljana)
10:45 AM - Thomas Aquinas on the Nicene Creed
Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P. | Dominican House of Studies
1:30 PM - Nicene Existential Theology: Then and Now
Fr. Khaled Anatolios | University of Notre Dame
3:00 PM - Quodlibetal Session
Call for papers
We invite proposals on themes concerning the Council of Nicaea itself, the events, ideas, and theological claims that gave rise to it, and its reception and significance in the patristic, medieval, and modern periods. We also welcome submissions that engage the principles, legacy, and ongoing significance of Nicaea for contemporary theology and for the Church more broadly.
The deadline to submit a paper proposal has passed.
This event is in person only. If you cannot make it to the conference, be sure to listen to the lecture recordings after they are published on the Thomistic Institute podcast.