In Jerome and the Monastic Clergy, Andrew Cain provides the first full-scale commentary on the famous Letter to Nepotian, in which Jerome articulates his radical plan for imposing a strict ascetic code of conduct on the contemporary clergy. Cain comprehensively addresses stylistic, literary, historical, text-critical and other issues of interpretive interest. Accompanying the commentary is an introduction which situates the Letter in the broader context of its author's life and work and exposes its fundamental propagandistic dimensions. The revised critical Latin text and the new facing-page translation will make the Letter more accessible than ever before and will provide a reliable textual apparatus for future scholarship on this key writing by one of the most prolific authors in Latin antiquity.

The Irrational Augustine takes the notion of St Augustine as rigid and dogmatic Father of the Church and turns it on its head. Catherine Conybeare reads Augustine's earliest works to discover the anti-dogmatic Augustine, who values changeability and human interconnectedness and deplores social exclusion. The novelty of her book lies in taking seriously the nature of these early works as performances, through which multiple questions can be raised and multiple options explored, both in words and through their dramatic framework. The theological consequences are considerable. A very human Augustine emerges, talking and playing with friends and family, including his mother - and a very sympathetic set of ideas is the result.

The Council of Chalcedon in 451 divided eastern Christianity, with those who were later called Syrian Orthodox among the Christians in the near eastern provinces who refused to accept the decisions of the council. These non-Chalcedonians (still better known under the misleading term Monophysites) separated from the church of the empire after Justin I attempted to enforce Chalcedon in the East in 518. Volker L. Menze historicizes the formation of the Syrian Orthodox Church in the first half of the sixth century. This volume covers the period from the accession of Justin to the second Council of Constantinople in 553. Menze begins with an exploration of imperial and papal policy from a non-Chalcedonian, eastern perspective, then discusses monks, monasteries and the complex issues surrounding non-Chalcedonian church life and sacraments. The volume concludes with a close look at the working of "collective memory" among the non-Chalcedonians and the construction of a Syrian Orthodox identity. This study is a histoire evenementielle of actual religious practice, especially concerning the Eucharist and the diptychs, and of ecclesiastical and imperial policy which modifies the traditional view of how emperors (and in the case of Theodora: empresses) ruled the late Roman/early Byzantine empire. By combining this detailed analysis of secular and ecclesiastical politics with a study of long-term strategies of memorialization, the book also focuses on deep structures of collective memory on which the tradition of the present Syrian Orthodox Church is founded.

In this innovative study, Joshua D. Garroway offers a revised account of the origin of the all-important Christian word "gospel," yielding significant new insights into the development of early Christian history and literature. Long thought to have originated on the lips of Jesus or his disciples, "gospel" was in fact coined by Paul midway through his career to describe his controversial new interpretation of Jesus' death and resurrection. For nearly a decade after the crucifixion, the thoroughly Jewish Jesus movement demanded circumcision and Law observance from Gentile converts. Only in the early 40s did Paul arrive at the belief that such observance was no longer necessary, an insight he dubbed "the gospel," or good news. The remainder of Paul's career featured clashes with authorities over the legitimacy of the gospel, debates that continued after his death in the writings of Mark, Matthew, and Luke-Acts. These writings obscured the original context of the gospel, however, and in time the word lost its specific association with Paul and his scandalous notion of salvation outside the Law.

"Judas" is synonymous with "traitor." But a newly discovered ancient text of the Gospel of Judas offers a picture of Judas Iscariot radically different from the Church's traditional understanding of him, and maintains that far from being the infamous betrayer, Judas was actually Jesus's trusted friend and the recipient of secret revelation. Simon Gathercole's new book includes a translation of the ancient Egyptian text of the Gospel of Judas and a running commentary, and offers new translations of all the ancient evidence about Judas Iscariot and the Gospel attributed to him. It gets behind the hype which the Gospel of Judas has attracted, and looks at why the group which produced the work were in such bitter conflict with the mainstream Christian church, and shows how the document provides us with a window into the turbulent world of Christianity and Gnosticism in the century after Jesus.

This is the first of a four-volume ground-breaking study of Christological origins. The fruit of twenty years' research, Jesus Monotheism lays out a new paradigm that goes beyond the now widely held view that Paul and others held to an unprecedented 'Christological monotheism'. There was already, in Second Temple Judaism and in the Bible, a kind of 'christological monotheism'. But it is first with Jesus and his followers that a human figure is included in the identity of the one God as a fully divine person. Volume I lays out the arguments of an emerging consensus, championed by Larry Hurtado and Richard Bauckham, that from its Jewish beginnings the Christian community had a high Christology and worshipped Jesus as a divine figure. New data is put forward to support that case. But there are weaknesses in the emerging consensus. For example, it underplays the incarnation and does not convincingly explain what causes the earliest Christology. The recent study of Adam traditions, the findings of Enoch literature specialists, and of those who have explored a Jewish and Christian debt to Greco-Roman Ruler Cult traditions, all point towards a fresh approach to both the origins and shape of the earliest divine Christology.

The first full-length study to trace how early Christians came to perceive Jesus as a sinless human being. Jeffrey S. Siker presents a taxonomy of sin in early Judaism and examines moments in Jesus' life associated with sinfulness: his birth to the unwed Mary, his baptism by John the Baptist, his public ministry - transgressing boundaries of family, friends, and faith - and his cursed death by crucifixion. Although followers viewed his immediate death in tragic terms, with no expectation of his resurrection, they soon began to believe that God had raised him from the dead. Their resurrection faith produced a new understanding of Jesus' prophetic ministry, in which his death had been a perfect sacrificial death for sin, his ministry perfectly obedient, his baptism a demonstration of perfect righteousness, and his birth a perfect virgin birth. This study explores the implications of a retrospective faith that elevated Jesus to perfect divinity, redefining sin.

The Apostles in Early Christian Art and Poetry presents the first in-depth analysis of the origins of the representation of the apostles (the twelve disciples and Paul) in verse and image in the late antique Greco-Roman world (250-400). Especially in the West, the apostles are omnipresent, in particular on sarcophagi and in Biblical and martyr poetry. They primarily function as witnesses of Christ's stay on earth, but Peter and Paul are also popular saints of their own. Occasionally, the other apostles come to the fore as individual figures. Direct influence from art on poetry or vice versa appears to be difficult to trace, but principal developments of late antique society are reflected in the representation of the apostles in both media.

This book examines ideas of spiritual nourishment as maintained chiefly by Patristic theologians -those who lived in Byzantium. It shows how a particular type of Byzantine frescoes and icons illustrated the views of Patristic thinkers on the connections between the heavenly and the earthly worlds. The author explores the occurrence, and geographical distribution, of this new type of iconography that manifested itself in representations concerned with the human body, and argues that these were a reaction to docetist ideas. The volume also investigates the diffusion of saints' cults and demonstrates that this took place on a North-South axis as their veneration began in Byzantium and gradually reached the northern part of Europe, and eventually the entirety of Christendom.

In his writings and his career Gregory of Nyssa assumes many roles. He is a Christian Platonist, a spiritual guide for ascetics and those seeking the vision of God, as well as one of those who shaped the Trinitarian doctrine of God espoused at Constantinople in 381. But he is also a popular preacher and, paradoxically, someone unafraid of deeper speculations regarding the meaning of the Christian ideal. The translations in Part One illustrate these various concerns, but are not a sufficient basis for the thesis of Part Two, one that attempts to answer the question of how to describe the coherence of a thinker far from systematic. One solution is to appeal to Gregory's conviction that after this world all Christians, indeed all humans, will be united in diversity, and that this means that all are now on the one path to their destiny, however much their progress may differ. This answer does not pretend to solve all problems, nor does it rule out other approaches to Gregory's thought. But it locates Gregory's work in the liturgical and sacramental life of the church that includes ordinary as well as elite Christians.

The two-volume work The New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers offers a comparative study of two collections of early Christian texts: the New Testament; and the texts, from immediately after the New Testament period, which are conventionally referred to as the Apostolic Fathers.
The first volume, The Reception of the New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers, presents a comprehensive and rigorous discussion of the extent to which the writings later included in the New Testament were known to and used by each of the Apostolic Fathers. Contemporary research on the textual traditions of both collections is used to address the questions of textual transmission and reception.
The second volume, Trajectories through the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers, discusses broad theological, literary, and historical issues that arise in the comparative study of these texts, and which are of importance to the study of early Christianity. It deals with the most important current debates concerning both the Apostolic Fathers and the New Testament, such as baptism, Pauline theology, the function of apocalyptic elements, Church order, and Jewish and Christian identity.

This is the first English translation of Marius Victorinus' commentary on Galatians. Analytical notes, full bibliography, and a lengthy introduction make this book a valuable resource for the study of the first Latin commentator on Paul. No such comparable work exists in English; and this volume engages fully with German, French, and Italian scholarship on Victorinus' commentaries. A number of themes receive special treatment in a lengthy introduction: the relation of Victorinus' exegetical efforts to the trinitarian debates; the iconography of the apostle Paul in mid-fourth-century Rome; Victorinus' exegetical methodology; his intentions as a commentator; and the question of his influence on later Latin commentators (Ambrosiaster and Augustine).

The catacombs of Rome have captured imaginations for centuries. This innovative study takes a fresh look at these underground spaces, and considers how art, space, texts, and practices can tell us more about the catacombs and the people who dug and decorated them.

Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Emeritus, is one of the most prolific catholic theologians of the contemporary era. He became Professor of theology at the age of 29, the youngest holder of a theological chair at that time. His theology not only draws from biblical-historical sources, but also includes philosophical-cultural ideas and modern scientific disciplines. While many of his books were already translated in various languages, his earliest works, namely his doctoral dissertation on Augustine's ecclesiology and his entire post-doctoral thesis on Bonaventure's concept of revelation, including the related essays, are still not available in English translation. These works are fundamental to the understanding of Ratzinger's theological reflection. In examining Ratzinger's earlier works and essays from the insights of his later publications, this book offers a complete re-reading (retractation) of Ratzinger's theological thought on revelation, Christology and ecclesiology. It also highlights Ratzinger's contribution to catholic theology, especially his theological input at Vatican II and beyond. The book includes a foreword by Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller, Prefect of the Congregation for Doctrine of Faith.

How were the Johannine books of the New Testament received by second-century Christians and accorded scriptural status? Charles E. Hill offers a fresh and detailed examination of this question. He dismantles the long-held theory that the Fourth Gospel was generally avoided or resisted by orthodox Christians, while being treasured by various dissenting groups, throughout most of the second century. Integrating a wide range of literary and non-literary sources, this book demonstrates the failure of several old stereotypes about the Johannine literature. It also collects the full evidence for the second-century Church's conception of these writings as a group: the Johannine books cannot be isolated from each other but must be recognized as a corpus.

In 2011, Frances Young delivered the Bampton Lectures in Oxford to great acclaim. She offered a systematic theology with contemporary coherence, by engaging in conversation with the fathers of the church - those who laid down the parameters of Christian theology and enshrined key concepts in the creeds - and exploring how their teachings can be applied today, despite the differences in our intellectual and ecclesial environments. This book results from a thorough rewriting of those lectures in which Young explores the key topics of Christian doctrine in a way that is neither simply dogmatic nor simply historical. She addresses the congruence of head and heart, through academic and spiritual engagement with God's gracious accommodation to human limitations. Christianity and biblical interpretation are discussed in depth, and the book covers key topics including Creation, anthropology, Christology, soteriology, spirituality, ecclesiology and Mariology, making it invaluable to those studying historical and constructive theology.

First published in 1919, From Tradition to Gospel introduced and established Form Criticism in New Testament scholarship, and it remains the classic description of the field. Dibelius outlines the twofold object of Form Criticism, firstly to explain the origin of the tradition about Jesus, and secondly to uncover with what objective the earliest Churches learnt, recounted and passed on the stories and sayings of Jesus, which gradually developed into the Gospel narratives. In doing so, he begins to answer questions as to the nature and trustworthiness of our knowledge of Jesus. As new sources come to light and new critical techniques are developed, the original investigation into the Gospels along Form-Critical lines is as relevant as ever.

Like the other Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles - stories of the exploits of the key figures of early Christianity - The Acts of Peter provides a window into the processes of oral and written composition that shaped early Christian narrative. The text most probably did not achieve the form of an extended written narrative until the mid-second century, undergoing repeated oral and written reformulation. In this book Thomas looks at the sources and subsequent versions of the Acts and argues that 'transmissional fluidity' - the existence of the work in several versions or multiforms - is a characteristic the Acts share with many related works, from the Jewish novels of Esther and Daniel to the Greek romance about Alexander the Great and the Christian Gospels of Jesus. The fluidity of these narratives, says Thomas, allowed them to accommodate the changing historical circumstances of their audiences.

Christianity in the late antique world was not imposed but embraced, and the laity were not passive members of their religion but had a central role in its creation. This volume explores the role of the laity in Gaul, bringing together the fields of history, archaeology and theology. First, this book follows the ways in which clergy and monks tried to shape and manufacture lay religious experience. They had themselves constructed the category of 'the laity', which served as a negative counterpart to their self-definition. Lay religious experience was thus shaped in part by this need to create difference between categories. The book then focuses on how the laity experienced their religion, how they interpreted it and how their decisions shaped the nature of the Church and of their faith. This part of the study pays careful attention to the diversity of the laity in this period, their religious environments, ritual engagement, behaviours, knowledge and beliefs. The first volume to examine laity in this period in Gaul - a key region for thinking about the transition from Roman rule to post-Roman society - The Religious Worlds of the Laity in Late Antique Gaul fills an important gap in current literature.

The first part of Nicaea and its Legacy offers a narrative of the fourth-century trinitarian controversy. It does not assume that the controversy begins with Arius, but with tensions among existing theological strategies. Lewis Ayres argues that, just as we cannot speak of one `Arian' theology, so we cannot speak of one `Nicene' theology either, in 325 or in 381. The second part of the book offers an account of the theological practices and assumptions within which pro-Nicene theologians assumed their short formulae and creeds were to be understood. Ayres also argues that there is no fundamental division between eastern and western trinitarian theologies at the end of the fourth century. The last section of the book challenges modern post-Hegelian trinitarian theology to engage with Nicaea more deeply.

This is the first edition of a translation into English of an Old French Commentary on the Penitential Psalms, made in the fifteenth century by Dame Eleanor Hull, wife of Sir John Hull, a retainer of John of Gaunt. Eleanor Hull was a devout laywoman, lady-in-waiting to the second wife of Henry IV, who spent some of her life in Sopwell Priory, a house of Benedictine nuns attached to St Albans Abbey. She is the first woman to have made translations into English whose name is known, and about whom there is any information. In addition to the commentary on the penitential psalms, she also translated a collection of prayers and meditations that is as yet unpublished. She is a significant figure in English literary history, who has remained virtually unknown until now.

This book brings the Cappadocian Fathers to life and explores their contributions to subsequent Christian thought. Melding together a thematic and individualized approach, the book examines Cappadocian thought in relation to Greek philosophy and the musings of other Christian thinkers of the time. The volume is unique in that it details the Cappadocian legacy upon the three central divisions of Christianity, rather than focusing on one confession. Providing a multifaceted assessment of the spirituality and beliefs of the fourth-century Church, contributors interweave historical studies into their philosophical and theological discussions. The volume draws together an international team of scholars from a variety of academic backgrounds including philosophy, theology, and Classics. The contributors bring their unique perspectives to bear on their analysis of the Cappadocians' theological contributions. Special attention is given to the Cappadocians' influence on pneumatology, Christology, and ethics. The Ecumenical Legacy of the Cappadocians sets the Cappodocians' theoretical views in relief against the political and historical background of their day, enlivening and vivifying the analysis with engaging biographical sketches.

It is the dream of every publisher to hit upon a project that will win praise for contributing to the intellectual and cultural life. Theology Today Ignatius of Loyola: Spiritual Exercises and Selected Works edited by George E. Ganss, S.J. with the collaboration of Parmananda R. Divarkar, S.J., Edward J. Malatesta, S.J., and Martin E. Palmer, S.J. preface by John W. Padberg, S.J. I close by asking God through his infinite goodness to give us the perfect grace to know his most holy will and fulfill it completely. May it please the Sovereign Goodness that everything be ordered to his holy service and continual praise. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) September 27, 1990 marks the 450th anniversary of the foundation of the Society of Jesus in 1540, and the year 1991 brings the 500th anniversary of the birth of its founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola. In these circumstances the present volume will contribute to the study of Ignatius' charism and of the ministries he initiated-in Christian education, foreign missions, and other fields. It presents his four major writings: the Autobiography and Spiritual Exercises in their entirety, and his Spiritual Diary and Constitutions of the Society of Jesus in selections so chosen as to give an overview of each work. It also offers ten samples of his almost 7,000 letters. Ample explanations are given in the introductions and commentaries by way of notes. The General Introduction is an intellectual and spiritual biography that sketches the fascinating steps by which, largely through mystical favors from God, Ignatius reached his inspiring worldview, with everything in it ordered to the greater glory of God. In his Exercises we find a synthesis of his chief spiritual principles, and in his Constitutions an example of his organizational ability. The Autobiography tells of his mystical illuminations and gifts, and the Spiritual Diary lets us peer deeply into his heart in his most intimate dealings with God. His writing reveals many facets of the warm personality of this influential saint.

* Written by a popular theologian and world-renowned commentator on religious affairs * Insightful accounts of pioneer thinkers such as Irenaeus, Origen, Athanasius and Augustine * A lively, engaging presentation for the non-specialist

This book reassesses the impact of Aristotle's moral and political philosophy on medieval scholastic thought. It examines the relationship between the common good and the individual good, and between the authority of the Church and the authority of the temporal ruler. The result is a major reinterpretation of the emergence of a secular theory of the state in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries.