Receiving Nicaea
A Conference in Memory of Betsy Livingstone.
Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th November 2025
Overview
Receiving Nicaea' will further consider the Council’s later reception in the Church’s history, and the ongoing vitality of the Council’s doctrinal formulae – both in theological academia and in the spiritual life of the Church – today. This will include considering how saying and praying the Creed shapes the life of the Church, forms the Christian’s experience of God, and also equips the Church to engage with the challenges of the current time.
The conference will also include a performance of the Symbolum Nicenum (Credo) from Bach's Mass in B Minor BWV 232.
This Conference is held in memory of Betsy Livingstone (1929-2023), editor of The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church and Studia Patristica.
· NB. Those who would like an introduction to the origin of the Nicene Creed in preparation for 'Receiving Nicaea' may be interested in the study day that will be running on the Saturday prior to the conference (8 November). Further details are available here.
· Prof. Andrew Louth presented a lecture on 'Homoousios: The Making of a Key Theological Term' at Pusey House, which can be watched on our YouTube channel here.
SPeakers
Speakers include:
The Revd Prof Khaled Anatolios (Notre Dame).
Prof Mark Edwards (University of Oxford).
The Revd Dr Joseph Hamilton (Domus Australia, Rome).
Dr Brendan Harris (University of Oxford).
The Revd Prof Andrew Louth (Emeritus, Durham).
The Revd Prof Morwenna Ludlow (University of Exeter).
Dr Sara Parvis (University of Edinburgh).
The Revd Dr Mark Smith (University of Cambridge).
The Rt Revd and Rt Hon Rowan Williams.
Dr Brendan Wolfe (University of St Andrews).
Prof Johannes Zachhuber (University of Oxford).
Tickets
£55 full rate / £15 for students and unwaged. All tickets come with a livestream link which will be emailed to the ticketholder the day before the conference, which will also grant access to recordings of the talks.
Please email pusey.conference@stx.ox.ac.uk with any questions.
The conference will be preceded by a public lecture by The Rev'd Dr Mark Smith, Dean of Clare College Cambridge, at 4pm on the afternoon of Wednesday 12th November:
"Nicaea Then and Now:
The Council after 1,700 years."
The lecture will set Nicaea in its historical context, before focusing on the reception of the Council and Creed in subsequent centuries, and especially in the Anglican tradition. It will argue that the legacy of Nicaea has profound relevance to the Church’s life today, both as a rich statement of orthodoxy, and as a worked example of how continuity with the apostolic faith is expressed amid challenge and change.
We are only able to host our academic programme thanks to the generosity of donors great and small. We would like to acknowledge the Board of the Faculty of Theology and Religion for their general support.If you would like to support us, you may do so HERE
