Echoes of empire: Nicaea’s legacy and the call to decolonise Orthodoxy

Abstract

This article critically probes the early entanglement of imperial power and Christian orthodoxy through engagement with Peter Leithart’s Defending Constantine and selected African theological responses to Nicaea. Moving beyond conventional applications of ancient creeds to modern contexts, it interrogates how imperial-theological alliances at Nicaea forged enduring Church-State paradigms that continue to inform and, at times constrain the church’s public witness. Framed by Allan Boesak’s notion of “Kairos consciousness,” the article revisits the contested legacy of Nicaea within the shifting terrain of World Christianity and raises pressing questions for the decolonisation of ecumenical theology