Why the Council of Nicaea Still Matters for Asian Trinitarian Ontology

Does the Council of Nicaea still matter for developing Asian trinitarian ontologies? Yes. This paper examines the development of a faith-based ontology of a triune God, the centerpiece of the Nicene Creed. I advance the claim that the Nicene Trinitarian ontology is rooted in faith revelation that frames a novel construal of consubstantial (homoousios). From this, one can propose the concept of relation as a co-principle in being. Giulio Maspero calls this the objective genitive sense of the term trinitarian ontology: Christian thinkers made innovations on the dominant metaphysics of their time by discerning God's being according to revelation. Part of the failure of those who did not subscribe to the Nicene Creed (e.g. Arius) is their unbelief in a triune God. This unbelief, I will explicate, promoted ontologies that the Council would later anathematize as heresies. They are examples of ontology-driven faiths. This lesson from the Nicene case is necessary, so I shall argue, in developing sound Asian trinitarian ontologies.