Advent in Uncertain Times, by Glenn Arbery

In these uncertain times, we are constantly being urged to historicize Christ, as though He were merely a symbolic figure in a moribund and culturally discredited system of thought. But Advent reminds us of the deep promise of the Nicene Creed. He was, He is, and He is to come. In this Advent, we await His birth, the newness that affirms and realizes the promise of His gift.

 In The Holy Fire, his book about the early Church in the Near East, the British writer Robert Payne describes the beginning of the Council of Nicaea in the year 325. The Emperor Constantine, who convened the bishops, wanted unity. He publicly burned, unread, the many complaints and petitions he had received from combatants on both sides of the Arian controversy that divided the Church. …