Western Christian theology grew like a rogue branch splitting off the main trunk of the Christian community, like this branch on this tree. Photo credit: O12 | Pixabay.

Introduction

The Anástasis Center draws from Early and Eastern Christian theology to address problems in Western Christian theology.

Convictions rest on a foundation. The convictions that God’s justice is restorative, not retributive, and that Jesus’ atonement is a medical, not penal, substitution, rest upon the foundation of the doctrine of the Trinity.

Who God is defines everything God does. So who is God? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — and thus love by nature. The love within God — or the love God is — is the eternal relations and activity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

God is fundamentally other-centered. The biblical writings and story bear witness to God being motivated by other-centered love in both creation and redemption.

Therefore, divine justice must be restorative, not retributive. For the motivation projected onto God — that God must “satisfy His retributive wrath” — is a self-centered motivation. But God, by definition, is not self-centered. He always desires and wills the highest good of all His creatures with their partnership. As the biblical witnesses tell us, Jesus’ work of atonement is a healing of human nature, i.e. a Healing Atonement, or a Medical Substitution, not a Penal Substitution.

That is just one reason why the Triune God, as taught by the Christian leaders at the Council of Nicaea, is the source of our convictions.

Our Study Guide introduces the beginner to the Nicene Creed and also engages the experienced student of theology.

Walk Through Our Study Guide

This Study Guide shares some material with the section of our website on God’s Goodness. However, God’s Goodness explores God’s Triune nature in the biblical story and in our understanding as we respond to God. The Theology from Nicaea Study Guide discusses the early Christians’ struggle to articulate their experience of God, and highlights the split between East and West, starting with Augustine of Hippo.