2–4 September 2025 · Cape Town, South Africa
About the conference
Celebrating Nicaea, 1,700 years on.
The speakers include a diverse group of pastors and theologians from various Reformed churches who have organised this conference to celebrate the Council of Nicaea and strengthen the church in its central conviction: God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This shapes the way we believe, shapes our Christian lives, moves our love, directs our worship, and stirs our hope.
Background
Why the Council of Nicaea?
The Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.) met one thousand seven hundred years ago. The dispute to be settled centred on the heretical teachings of an Alexandrian presbyter, Arius (c. 256–336), originally from Cyrene, who opposed the orthodox teaching of Alexander of Alexandria (d. 328). The received teaching since the time of the New Testament was that Jesus is the eternal God, not created, and indeed the one by whom all things were made. Arius attempted to synthesize Christianity’s teaching concerning the Son of God with Neoplatonic ideas of the demiurge, thus denying that the Son of God is eternal and uncreated.
What is sometimes overlooked is just how African this controversy was. Several of the leading figures involved in this controversy were Northern Africa, including: Tertullian (155–220 AD), Origen of Alexandria (185–253), Alexander of Alexandria (d. 328), Athanasius (296–373), and Didymus the Blind (313–398). Even the great Augustine of Hippo (354–430) came from Northern Africa and there he produced On the Trinity (416) that continued to be one of the most influential books on the doctrine of the Trinity in the West.
The Programme
Fifteen talks over three days.
Every talk was recorded. Follow the Watch link on any session below, or see them all on YouTube.
Day 01
Tuesday 2 September
13:15
What has Nairobi to do with Nicaea? The importance of the doctrine of the Trinity in Africa
JB Krohn
Day 02
Wednesday 3 September
09:00
Arius Redivivus? Lessons from Athanasius for Combating Arianism Then and Now
Frederik Mulder
Day 03
Thursday 4 September
09:00
Nicaea as Normative Trinitarianism in Puritan Theology and Polemics: Francis Cheynell (1608–1665) and the Nicene Fathers
Riaan Boer
Voices from the Reformed and Evangelical Tradition
The Speakers
Listed alphabetically by first name.
Adriaan Neele
PhD, Utrecht University and Theological University Apeldoorn
President, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary
Antonio Coppola
MDiv, Westminster Theological Seminary
Academic Dean, Mukhanyo Theological College
Carel Pienaar
MTh, North West University
Pastor, Gracefields Church, Fish Hoek
Corné Blaauw
PhD, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Senior Pastor, Kraaifontein Baptist Church, Cape Town
Daniel Simango
PhD, North West University
Principal and Lecturer in Old Testament, Bible Institute of South Africa
Frederik Mulder
PhD, Radboud University
Founding Director, Institute for Reformation in South Africa
JB Krohn
DTh, Stellenbosch University
Lecturer in Systematic Theology, Mukhanyo Theological Seminary and the Bible Institute of South Africa; Founder and Director of KRUX
Mark Jones
PhD, Leiden University
Senior Pastor, Faith Reformed Presbyterian Church
Paul Hartwig
PhD, University of Pretoria
Senior Pastor, Lakeside Chapel, Betty’s Bay, Cape Town
Peter Smuts
PhD, Westminster Theological Seminary
Senior Lecturer in New Testament, Bible Institute of South Africa
Riaan Boer
MTh, George Whitefield College
Theological Education Coordinator, Presbyterian and Reformed Church of South Africa
Shayne de Lange
MTh, Pretoria University
Associate Minister, Honeyridge Baptist Church, Johannesburg
Simon Jooste
PhD, Stellenbosch University
Pastor, Reformed Church Southern Suburbs
Thapelo Khumalo
PhD, North West University
Lecturer in Church History, George Whitefield College
