Join Jacobs Premium: https://www.thenathanjacobspodcast.com/membership The book club (use code LEWIS): https://www.thenathanjacobspodcast.com/offers/aLohje7p/checkout This is part two of a three-part series examining the philosophical commitments embedded in the seven ecumenical councils of early Christianity. In this episode, Dr. Jacobs explores the metaphysical foundations of Nicene and Constantinopolitan theology, including hyalomorphism, moderate realism, the doctrine of the hypostasis, and the distinction between creation and eternal generation. He’ll walk through how the early church fathers developed sophisticated philosophical positions on the nature of God, creatures, causation, and the individual that were integral to Christian theology rather than later Greek additions. All the links: Substack: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenathanjacobspodcast Website: https://www.nathanajacobs.com/ X: https://x.com/NathanJacobsPod Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0hSskUtCwDT40uFbqTk3QS Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nathan-jacobs-podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nathanandrewjacobs Academia: https://vanderbilt.academia.edu/NathanAJacobs 00:00:00 Intro 00:02:15 The Seven Ecumenical Councils wverview 00:04:42 No ancient divide 00:21:42 Ancient Christians saw Christianity as philosophy 00:29:39 Dispelling the progress narrative 00:38:21 The Arian disput & metaphysical commitments 00:39:16 What it means to be "created" 00:43:12 Hylomorphism: form & matter 00:52:24 Metaphysical realism and the law of contradiction 01:03:07 Are creatures material? 01:04:38 Biblical foundations for these commitments 01:09:20 From Nicaea to Constantinople 01:11:51 The doctrine of the hypostasis 01:14:00 Moderate realism: Aristotle vs Plato 01:23:10 The individual as its own reality 01:32:15 On "Not Three Gods" 01:42:32 The distinction of causes: begotten, not made 01:51:27 Efficient vs formal cause 02:00:05 Per se vs per accidens causality 02:02:39 Eternal generation & procession
