What was the Council of Nicaea in 325 trying to settle, according to Martin Palmer?

Martin Palmer says the Council of Nicaea, called by Constantine the Great in 325, was trying to explain who Christ was and how one figure could be both divine and human. Three answers were in play: adoptionism, where God adopted the good man Jesus at his baptism; the view linked to Sabellius that Father and Son are mere aspects of one God; and Arius's teaching that God created the Son from nothing, making him lesser.

• Arius was a priest in Alexandria.
• Constantine wanted a united faith for an empire he had just united, though he did not make Christianity the official religion.
• Palmer says the Holy Spirit appears in the Nicene Creed almost as an add-on.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on In Our Time (2026-10-08). Read the whole episode summary →

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