The year 2025 is the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed. Formulated first in 325 AD during the Council of Nicaea, its final form did not emerge until 381 AD at the First Council of Constantinople.
An account of the fascinating history and theological implications of the Nicene Creed is worth reading. It broadens our understanding of the issues facing the Church at the time and gives insight into the significance of certain phrases. As Pope Leo XIV writes in his apostolic letter, In Unitate Fidei, the image of light was used in keeping with simple Biblical language:
The Council hereby adopted the biblical metaphor of light: “God is light” (1 Jn 1:3; cf. Jn 1:4-5). Just as light radiates and communicates itself without diminishing, so the Son is the reflection (apaugasma) of God’s glory and the imprint (character) of his being (hypostasis) (cf. Heb 1:3; 2 Cor 4:4). The incarnate Son, Jesus, is therefore the light of the world, and the light of life (cf. Jn 8:12). Through baptism, the eyes of our hearts are enlightened (cf. Eph 1:18), so that we too may be a light in the world (cf. Mt5:14).
This phrase and others, “God from God, Light from Light, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father,” were a defense against the widespread and influential Arian heresy. This heresy asserted that Jesus was not truly God, but created by the Father–who Arians believed was God alone. Contrary to that opinion, according to Dr. Tracy Rowland of the University of Notre Dame (Australia), the phrases from the Nicene formulation of the Creed asserted that Jesus is “of the same order of being” as the Father, and therefore is truly both God and man. There are deep theological implications in this doctrine reflecting a more precise understanding of the Son’s relationship with the Father and of His relationship to us.
Light as Metaphor
This phrase “light from light” was used as a metaphor to help explain the relationship between the Father and the Son, but also historically points to a universal use of light as a metaphor for God, the Transcendent, or simply ultimate reality. Light has played a significant role in physics and cosmology as well, with some claiming that our understanding of light is bound to our understanding of reality itself. This intimate relationship of light to both theology and science prompted the John Templeton Foundation to host a symposium in 2009, “Light from Light: Scientists and Theologians in Dialogue.”
In the introduction, one of the editors, Gerald O’Collins SJ, summarizes the intricate relationship of light to created reality. He links James Clerk Maxwell’s understanding of light as electromagnetic radiation to “the origin and evolution of the Universe.” Remnants of that initial burst of radiant energy occurring at the Big Bang, expanding rapidly outward, were discovered in the last century as the Cosmic Background Radiation.
In the first essay, Some Light from Physics, Dr. John Polkinghorne, physicist and Anglican priest, points out that the image of light is used repeatedly in the Bible. From John’s First Letter, we hear “This is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all” (1John 1:5). Jesus Himself proclaims “I am the light of the world” (John 8:18).
There is much to contemplate in the pages of this book, both theological and scientific. But two startling phenomena of light from our own planet might add to the richness of our appreciation for the role of light in nature.
Light from Life
It has been known for more than 20 years that zinc plays a significant role in mammalian reproduction. Increased sophistication of recording methods has revealed a remarkable phenomenon. Discovered first in mice, then in humans, and most recently in fish, the moment of conception is accompanied by a flash of light. Known as the “zinc spark,” it is caused by the release of zinc from a fertilized egg when activated by an enzyme from a sperm. This is recorded as a burst of light.
Teresa Woodruff, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, led the team investigating this phenomenon in humans. Due to ethical considerations, the eggs were not actually fertilized, but were exposed to the enzyme released by the sperm at the moment of conception. According to Woodruff, “to see the zinc radiate out in a burst from each human egg was breathtaking.”
Sparks fly at the moment of conception. What a startling phenomenon, one rich with layers of meaning.
Light from Sound
The pistol shrimp provides another startling example of light emerging from a remarkable process. This time, light is produced after the snapping of the large claw of the pistol shrimp, a creature smaller than your thumb.
The sudden snap generates an internal pressure drop that vaporizes the water inside the claw cavity, forming microscopic bubbles that immediately collapse to produce a sharp "crack" along with flashes of light and heat reaching over 8,000 °F (4,500 °C)! This extreme process, known as cavitation, creates a tiny shockwave that can knock out prey from over 6 feet (2 meters) away. (emphasis added)
The light is produced by a phenomenon known as sonoluminescence. UCLA’s Putterman Research Group describes it this way:
The energy of a sound wave in a fluid can concentrate by 12 orders of magnitude to create flashes of light that can be shorter than….a millionth of a millionth of a second. The flashes originate from hot spots that form inside bubbles that nucleate, expand, and crash in response to the traveling sound wave.
This short video captures the sound and light emitted during the process.
This startling phenomenon seems to defy the laws of physics–how can this tiny creature generate an amount of energy equivalent to the surface temperature of the sun?!
Light can startle, amaze, confound, and delight us whether we are contemplating spiritual realities, the complex realities of the cosmos, or even nature closer to home.
