Role Playing and the Council of Nicaea

Role Playing and the Council of Nicaea: Text

Based on research of the participants of the Reacting to the Past simulation of the Council of Nicaea, participants created a series of posts and video speeches to present their cases to the council. I assumed the role of Puritanus, a composite character, and as such I had to research other characters and the viewpoints of the Alexandrian faction regarding the issues discussed and debated at Nicaea. Included in my research was thorough examination of the Nicene Creed and passages from the New Testament to support the views of my character and the faction he supported. Attached here is the text of two of those discussions: one was a statement to Emperor Constantine and an opening speech given to the entire council.

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In preparation for the Reacting to the Past simulation, graduate students conducted an examination of current literature on the impact of simulation and role-playing games on learning. Besides increased engagement with the material, both primary and secondary, one conclusion that I found research to support was the increase in code changes of participants to create a sense of empathy that allows participants to understand primary sources that "seem alien to our contemporary worldview," allowing them to appreciate historical context and view the sources through a different lens.

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Based on our participation in the Reacting to the Past simulation: Council of Nicaea, I created this series of lessons where students prepared, researched and participated in a modified activity in place of the full simulation of the game. In order to increase student engagement and gain a deeper understanding of the historical context that shaped Christian doctrine and its interpretation of the bible, students participated in an activity called "Speed Dating: Council of Nicaea Edition". As a final assessment, students generated a text conversation to compare the views of the participants at the Council and wrote a debrief based on the information they gathered.

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Role Playing and the Council of Nicaea: Work

Reflection

My participation in an Reacting to the Past simulation in HIST 501 The Classical World of Greece and Rome. The simulation was set at the Council of Nicaea and my role in the simulation was Puritanis, a composite character. The goal of the simulation was for the characters to ultimately debate and decide several issues that were debated in Nicaea: The nature of God and the Trinity, issues of establishing Bishopric and Church hierarchy, and to create the unifying creed. We were all expected to research our roles (my role as a composite character required me to research the debates and Alexandrian philosophy of Christian doctrine, rather than an actual participant) and, while not heavy on primary research, it did have one primary source that I was forced to address in a different way than I ever had to before. That source was the Bible, specifically the Nicene Creed. I was raised in a mainstream Catholic family and attended a number of Catholic primary schools in my formative years. I was fairly well versed in Catholic doctrine and the Church’s biblical interpretation and had, in school and church alike, recited the Nicene Creed countless times. But, although aware of it as a historical document as a history professional, I had never been asked to examine the context of its creation. This activity required me to look at the Bible and the Creed in a historical context that I had been fairly unaware: that of competing factions from within the early Christian Church that were as political as they were spiritual. In listening to the speeches of the many participants at the Council of Nicaea and hearing Arian philosophy, I was forced to reckon with, not only skills in argumentation, negotiation and logic, of spiritual doctrine that was fractured along Christian “party” lines, but I was also required to consider the influence of a powerful secular and political voice at the Council, namely that of the looming presence of Constantine. In a fairly profound way, I reexamined the Nicaean Creed that had, for some time at least, been part of my daily life. Looking through a historical lens, I had to also view it as the product of intense debate, negotiation, politicking, and the historical and dynamic forces of its time. The exercise also challenged how I had previously taught the role of the early Christian Church in the Roman Empire and the early Middle Ages. That, in fact, the Church was not always a unified, and monolithic institution. That the views on Church doctrine and dogma were as diverse as the territory and peoples in the many dioceses of Europe and the Levant. In effect, the exercise illustrated historical, religious, and political nuances in Western Europe that I had never considered or was aware of and the importance of putting the events that may seem familiar to my students in context.

Role Playing and the Council of Nicaea: Text