Nicaea Trilogy
Warren Lamb’s intriguing new book, Nicaea Trilogy, is a collection of three novellas set across hundreds of years, from the time of Jesus Christ to the era of the emperor Constantine and traces the origin and history of a pivotal codex as it passes hands and changes minds over the decades.
The dramatic backdrop of all three novellas is the growth and spread of the new faith called Christianity, as it’s witnessed by ordinary people (Christian and not), soldiers of the empire, civic functionaries, Christian leaders, and the passing pageant of emperors, from pragmatic, uninquisitive Vespasian to passionate, complicated Constantine and many far less familiar figures in between.
The book’s title suggests the key role the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 will play in the larger narrative and the significance of the codex as it makes its way through time, but Lamb does an excellent job of filling his story with early-Christian philosophical debates without bogging down the larger narrative’s momentum.
A solid, enjoyable read.
