In the fourth century, religious disagreement had grown too large to manage locally. Belief fractured, authority splintered, and institutions faced a problem faith alone could not solve.This episode examines how religious councils functioned as decision-making bodies—who was allowed to participate, how consensus was shaped, and how doctrine was formally defined and enforced. Using the Council of Nicaea as a central case, it documents councils not as moments of revelation, but as institutional mechanisms designed to stabilize belief at scale.This channel does not argue faith.It documents structure.