Rev. Dr. Glen L. Thompson (Milwaukee, USA)

Fellowship and the Council of Nicaea

The Great Commission given to the disciples at the time of Jesus’ Ascension and the Pentecost Day that followed ten days later made it clear that Christ’s Church was to encompass people from all nations and that the widespread groups of believers were meant to see themselves as part of one universal Church. This unity or koinonia could only be accomplished through regular communication between geographically, linguistically, and ethnically disparate groups and through brotherly negotiation of customs and viewpoints. The circulation of letters between congregations and the meetings of church leaders (councils or synods) were two of the main methods by which this koinonia was achieved. While local and regional meetings were increasingly common in the first three centuries, larger gatherings were hindered by difficulties of travel and lack of recognition by the government. When Constantine finally consolidated control over the entire Roman Empire in 324, the Church and its leaders not only found a secure place in society but were also enabled to freely gather in councils. By that time, however, numerous schisms and heresies had divided the Church and forced it to officially bar some clergy from taking part in the liturgical, sacramental, and administrative acts of koinonia. Constantine himself saw the “general” council of 325 to be held at Nicaea as an opportunity for Christians from across the Roman oikomene—and even for some outside its northern and eastern borders—to meet and function as the one, holy, ecclesia of God. Having provided background on the biblical doctrine of fellowship and how it was practiced in the first three centuries, this paper will examine how it was put into practice by the participants at Nicaea and how this subsequently became a model for the worldwide Church. The gathering of Christian leaders from widespread geographical areas, the vigorous debate over doctrinal discussions, the excommunication of those who differed in their teaching, the stress on a public adherence to approved teaching yet allowing dissidents to repent and be welcomed back, the united public worship and celebration of the sacraments, the concern over commonality in ritual and calendar, the leniancy shown to schismatics who wished to reunite with the Church, the decisions regarding regional administration and other clergy guidelines, the approval of canons, the subscribing to a creed—all these were among the methods that a biblical koinonia around the “rule of faith” was fostered at the council and in the following centuries. A re-examination of the council’s actions will then be used in evaluating the breakdown of some of these practices in recent times.

Curriculum Vitae

Rev. Dr. Glen L. Thompson completed a Bachelor of Arts in pre-seminary studies at Northwestern College (Wisconsin) in 1972 and graduated with a Master of Divinity from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 1977. During the 1975–1976 school year, he studied Coptic at Uppsala University and Hebrew at Stiftelsen Biblicum in Sweden. He also studied Syriac at the University of Wisconsin. His first ministerial assignment was as a missionary in Zambia where he also served as an instructor in New Testament and Church History at the Lutheran Seminary in Lusaka from 1977 to 1983. In 1983, he enrolled at Columbia University in New York City, where he earned a Master of Arts (1984), Master of Philosophy (1986), and Doctor of Philosophy (1990), all in the field of ancient history. His doctoral thesis was a study of fourth-century papal correspondence under Prof. Roger Bagnall. During those years he also served as a Lutheran pastor in New York City. After spending some years as a Latin instructor and developing cross-cultural ministerial training programs for the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, he served as a professor of history at Wisconsin Lutheran College from 2002 to 2011. He then moved to Hong Kong to become the Academic Dean and Professor of History at Asia Lutheran Seminary until his retirement in 2020. During his ministerial and teaching career, Dr. Thompson regularly presented papers at the annual meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the North American Patristics Society. He has published numerous articles and books centering on St. Paul’s mission journeys, the early papacy, and early Christianity in China. His most recent volume, Jingjiao: The Earliest Christian Church in China (Eerdmans, 2024), a study of the Church of the East’s early missions to China, won an Award of Merit from Christianity Today magazine as one of the top books of Christian history for 2024. Dr. Thompson is also well-known for the website Fourth-Century Christianity (www.fourthcentury.com) which he develops with his students. It contains a wide variety of texts and study helps on the early Church, many involving the Council of Nicaea. His widespread travel in Europe and the Greco-Roman world has led him to co-direct another long-term project (together with Mark Wilson) to re-map the first-century Roman road system that was used by Paul and the other apostles. In his retirement, Dr. Thompson lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (USA) with his wife of 48 years, Beth, spending time with his children and grandchildren while still researching, writing, traveling, and lecturing.

Publications and Works

- “Was Alopen a Missionary?,” in Hidden Treasures and Intercultural Encounters: Studies on East Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia, edited by Dietmar Werner Winkler and Li Tang, Vienna: LIT, 2009, 267–78. - “How the Jingjiao Became Nestorian,” in From the Oxus River to the Chinese Shores: Studies on East Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia, edited by Li Tang and Dietmar Werner Winkler, Vienna: LIT, 2013 (Orientalia-Patristica-Oecumenica, 5), 417–39. - “From Sinner to Saint? Seeking a Consistent Constantine,” in Rethinking Constantine: History, Theology, and Legacy, edited by Edward L. Smither, Eugene, OR: Pickwick Books, 2014, 5–25. - “Bauer’s Early Christian Rome and the Development of ‘Orthodoxy,’” in Orthodoxy and Heresy in Early Christian Contexts, edited by Paul A. Hartog, Eugene, OR: Pickwick Books, 2015, 213–34. - “The Pax Constantiniana and the Roman Episcopate,” in The Bishop of Rome in Late Antiquity, edited by Geoffrey D. Dunn, Burlington VT: Ashgate, 2015, 17–36. - The Correspondence of Pope Julius I: Greek and Latin text and English translation with introduction and commentary, Washington D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2015 (Library of Early Christianity, 3). - (with Mark Wilson), “The Route of Paul’s Second Journey in Asia Minor,” Tyndale Bulletin 67, no. 2 (2016): 217–46. - (with Mark Wilson), “Paul’s Walk to Assos: A Hodological Inquiry into its Geography, Archaeology, and Purpose,” in Stones, Bones and the Sacred: Essays in Material Culture and Ancient Religion in Honor of Dennis E. Smith, Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2016, 269–313. - Evangelical Christianity and the Chinese Church, Chinese edition: Hong Kong: Taosheng, 2018; English edition: Kindle ebook and Kindle paperback, 2018. - “The Daughter of the Word: What Luther Learned from the Early Church and the Fathers,” Perichoresis 17, no. 4 (2019): 41–56. - Bible Background: Geography, History and Daily Life in Bible Times, Chinese Edition: Hong Kong: Taosheng, 2015; reprint 2017; English edition: Kindle ebook 2017, and paperback 2019. - “The Structure of the Xi’an Stele,” in Artifact, Text, Context. Studies on Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia, edited by Li Tang and Dietmar Werner Winkler, Vienna: LIT, 2020, 161–93. - History of the Ancient and Medieval Church (to A.D. 1400), Chinese edition: Hong Kong: Taosheng, 2019; English edition: Kindle ebook and Kindle paperback, 2019. - “Strange Teaching in a Strange Land,” in The Church of the East in Central Asia and China, edited by Samuel Lieu and Glen Thompson, Turnhout: Brepols, 2020 (China and the Mediterranean World, 1), 143–62. - The Church of the East in Central Asia and China, edited by Samuel Lieu and Glen Thompson, Turnhout: Brepols, 2020 (China and the Mediterranean World, 1). - “Bible Study from the Middle Ages to the Reformation: Caricature and Reality,” Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly 119, no. 3 (2022): 196–206. - “Did Christianity (or St. Thomas) Come to First-Century China?,” in Byzantium to China: Religion, History and Culture on the Silk Roads. Studies in Honour of Samuel N.C. Lieu, edited by Ken Parry and Gunner B. Mikkelsen, Leiden: Brill, 2022 (Texts and Studies in Eastern Christianity), 519–45. - “The Cross and Jingjiao Theology,” in Silk Road Traces: Studies on Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia, edited by Li Tang and Dietmar Werner Winkler, Vienna: LIT, 2022, 355–74. - Readings from the Ancient and Medieval Church (to A.D. 1400), Chinese edition: Hong Kong: Taosheng, 2022; English Edition: Kindle e-book and paperback, 2022. - Jingjiao: The Earliest Christian Church in China, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2024. - In This Way We Came to Rome: With Paul on the Appian Way, Bellingham WA: Lexham, 2024.