In this book, Carnegie Samuel Calian, who was baptized in the Eastern tradition and raised a Protestant, promotes greater dialogue and exchange among Christians of the East and West. He seeks to make Christians aware of the diversity of faith and offers suggestions and insight to this end.

Peter Brown, a known authority on Mediterranean civilisation in late antiquity, traces the growing power of early Christian bishops as they wrested influence from the philosophers who had traditionally advised the rulers of Graeco-Roman society. In the new ""Christian empire"", the ancient bonds of citizen to citizen and of each city to its benefactors were replaced by a common loyalty to a distant, Christian autocrat. This transformation of the Roman Empire from an ancient to a medieval society, Brown argues, is among the most far-reaching consequences of the rise of Christianity. In the last centuries of the Roman Empire, the power of the emperors depended on collaboration with the local elites. The shared ideals of Graeco-Roman culture (""paideia""), which were inculcated among the elite by their education, acted as unwritten constitution. The philosophers, as representives of this cultural tradition and as critics and advisors of the powerful, upheld the ideals of just rule and prevented the abuses of power. Between the conversion of Emperor Constantine to Christianity in 312 and the reign of Theodosius (379-395), however, both Christian bishops and uneducated monks emerged as competitors to the traditional educated elites. Claiming as Christians to be the ""true philosophers"", they asserted their own role in swaying the emperors to mercy and just rule. Brown shows how charity to the urban poor gave bishops such as Saint Ambrose a novel power base - the restless lower classes of the empire. The lines of power that led from local society to the imperial court increasingly fell into the hands of the church, as clerics exercised their power to ensure the peace in cities, secure amnesties, and convey to the emperor the wishes of his subjects. Brown also points out how churchmen expressed their new local power through violence against rivals: Jewish synagogues and Roman Temples were destroyed, and Hypatia, one of the few women with a public role as a philosopher, was lynched in Alexandria. Brown demonstrates how Christian teaching provided a model for a more autocratic, hierarchial empire: the ancient ideals of democracy and citizenship gave way to the image of a glorious ruler showing mercy to his lowly and grateful subjects. Drawing upon a wealth of material - newly discovered letters and sermons of Saint Augustine, archaeological evidence, manuscripts in Coptic and Syriac - he provides a portrait of a turbulent and fascinating era.

An Occult Study and a Key to the Bible Containing the History of an Initiate. "The only object of the following pages is to aid in dispelling the mists which for many centuries have been gathering around the person of the supposed founder of Christianity, and which have prevented mankind from obtaining a clear view of the true Redeemer, who is not to be found in history nor in external forms, but who can only be found within the interior temple of the soul by him in whom his presence becomes manifest." Contents: True History of Christ (An Allegory); Jehovah; Nazareth; Egypt; The Mysterious Brotherhood; The Higher Degrees; The Wisdom Religion; The Temptation; The Sermon Upon the Mount; Doctrines of the Christ Spirit; Herodias; Jerusalem; The Great Renunciation; The Temple; The Hero; the Final Initiation; The Church.

Between the deep valley which contains the Jordan river and the Dead Sea, and the hill country of Judea, in which Jerusalem and Bethlehem are situated, lies a narrow stretch of desert which evokes memories of great Biblical ascetics - Elijah and John the Baptist. The empty landscape and scriptural associations drew Christian ascetics in the third century. The new edition of this work by Cyril of Scythopolis provides perhaps our best source of information on the Palestinian monastic movement from AD 400-600. He gives a history not only of holy monks, but also of the Palestinian Church at the height of its power and prestige.

With the blend of art and learning that is the hallmark of his work, Peter Brown here examines how the sacred impinged upon the profane during the first Christian millennium.

The Psalms raise many difficult and controversial issues. Who are the enemies in the Individual Lament Psalms? How many Royal Psalms are there and what was the role of the king in the cult? What happened at the Autumn Festival? What makes a Psalm a Wisdom Psalm? Why are the Psalms arranged as they are and how far is it possible to date them? Can we make sense of the often obscure Psalm headings? What light is shed on the Psalms by other ancient Near Eastern texts? These and many other issues are judiciously evaluated by John Day in a wide-ranging volume.>

In these essays, Walter Brueggemann addresses the necessity for thinking about the shape and structure of Old Testament theology-and for the impact such thinking can have on the larger issues of contemporary life. Brueggemann draws on the work of persons from all disciplines and incorporates them in a seminal way in his theology. The work of persons in theology, psychology, the social sciences, politics, and the like often provides heuristic possibilities and even basic models for talking about the Old Testament. The Old Testament is seen to be something that has intelligible and significant worldly connections.

Exodus requires the consideration not only of historical but also of institutional and theological questions. Since such disparate materials have all been brought together into one presentation, it is necessary also to look at the literary function and formulation of the book. In the light of these discussions it is possible to come to a clearer appreciation of the kind of work Exodus is.>

Bede's commentary on the Book of Acts is one of his earliest exegetical works (usually dated between 709 and 710) and one of his most popular and influential. None of the Latin Fathers of the Church had written a commentary on this book, and those which existed in Greek were unlikely to have been known in the West. Bede became the authority on Acts for countless subsequent students of Scripture. The breadth of Bede's mind, the diversity of his interests, and the thoroughness of his research are all mirrored in this work. Allegory is freely interspersed with practical commentary, textual analysis with mystical interpretation. Far from being a quaint relic of outdated exegesis, the commentary can be of practical use to modern Christians who read it in the spirit in which it was written: meditation on the workings of God.

This unique work - no other work yet available in English treats this subject - illustrates the contribution of these Councils in the development and formulation of Christian beliefs. It then shows how their legacies lingered throughout the centuries to inspire - or haunt - every generation.

The first translation into English of one of Gregory's eight books of miracle stories, which contains a series of anecdotes about the lives of confessors.

The first translation into English of Life of the Fathers, a collection of twenty lives of saints which lives present a cross-section of the Gallic Church and are a counterpart to the secular society described in Gregory's History of the Franks.

This highly accessible book discusses how the early Jewish and Christian communities went about interpreting Scripture.

The Library of Early Christianity is a series of eight outstanding books exploring the Jewish and Greco-Roman contexts in which the New Testament developed.

As perceived by the average Roman citizen, the early rites and behavior of Christians laid them open to charges of cannibalism, immorality, and the practice of magic and conspiring and fomenting rebellion aganst the state.

The early church fathers rejected these accusations and portrayed pagans as victims of misinformation or perpetrators of ill will. Benko proposes to give the pagans the benefit of the doubt and analyzes their charges against Christianity under the premise that they may have been right within the context of the times. He has provided a persuasively argued and refreshing if controversial perspective on the confrontation of the pagan and early Christian worlds."

This small book, the last work of a world-renowned scholar, has established itself as a classic. It provides a superb overview of the vast historical process by which Christianity was Hellenized and Hellenic civilization became Christianized.

Jaeger shows that without the large postclassical expansion of Greek culture the rise of a Christian world religion would have been impossible. He explains why the Hellenization of Christianity was necessary in apostolic and postapostalic times; points out similarities between Greek philosophy and Christian belief; discuss such key figures as Clement, Origen, and Gregory of Nyssa; and touches on the controversies that led to the ultimate complex synthesis of Greek and Christian thought.

Using a thorough, integrated biblical theology to make sense of the 'master story' of Scripture, Allan J. McNicol explores the nature and importance of the Bible's abiding narrative of the persistence of God's promises to his people, and their hope of final triumph. Special attention is given to the often contentious claim that these early followers of Jesus presumed that they stood in full continuity with Israel, the historic people of God, and were claiming that many of God's promises were coming to fulfilment among them. McNicol presents a closer analysis of the texts as he shows how the theme of the people of God fits into the wider literary productions of these major New Testament writers.

In the year 394 seven monks from Palestine made a difficult journey through the Egyptian desert, drawn there by stories of remarkable men. What they found in the communities living far up the Nile Valley fully accorded with their expectations, and in the account written by one of their number we have a rare contemporary source of information about the lives of these Desert Fathers. The witness of the monks in the face of a corrupt and declining, though nominally Christian Empire, and the roots of monasticism in fourth century Egypt, are subjects of steadily growing interest in the Church in the twentieth century. In her long and illuminating introduction Sister Benedicta Ward SLG explores the background of these traveller's tales and their encounters with the great men of the Desert, and places the account in its literary context alongside the complementary text of the 'Sayings' of the Fathers and the later, more sophisticated literature. She indicates throughout the social impact of the Fathers and the lasting truths discovered by these simple men in their way of holiness. This translation of the Historia Monachorum by Norman Russell is the first available in English, and will be of absorbing interest for the general reader as well as for students.

Covers the emergence of hermeneutical questions in the patristic period.

Crucifixion - in the ancient world and the folly of the message of the cross.

Origen was the greatest intellectual in the third century church, and the most influential of all the Greek Church Fathers. His writings covered many different subjects, including commentaries on most of the books of the New Testament and many of the Old Testament. Late in his life, in the mid-third century, he wrote a Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. This was the first commentary ever written on this Gospel so far as we know. It covered the entire Gospel in twenty-five books. Only eight of these books have been preserved in the Greek language in which Origen wrote. A Latin translation made in the sixth century has preserved the contents of several additional books. There are, furthermore, numerous fragments from the commentary preserved in ancient writings. Of this mass of material, only five of the eight books preserved in Greek have ever been translated into English, plus one fragment. This new translation, therefore, is the first translation into English of the entirety of the Greek and Latin remains of this important commentary, including most of the fragments. The translation is in modern English and includes brief annotations. The introduction sets the commentary in the context of Origen's life. It is his last preserved exegetical work. Evidence is presented that suggests that it post-dates the Contra Celsum, long considered Origen's last work. The Commentary on Matthew is a very important work, therefore, giving us access to Origen's most mature theological thinking.

When Jesus of Nazareth began proclaiming the kingdom of God early in the first century, he likely had no intention of starting a new religion, especially one that included former pagans. Yet a new religion did eventually develop-one that not only included non-Jews but was soon dominated by them. How did this happen? Jesus Followers in the Roman Empire by Paul Duff offers an accessible and informed account of Christian origins, beginning with the teaching of Jesus and moving to the end of the first century. Duff's narrative shows how the rural Jewish movement led by Jesus developed into a largely non-Jewish phenomenon permeating urban centers of the Roman Empire. Paying special attention to social, cultural, and religious contexts-as well as to early Christian ideas about idolatry, marriage, family, slavery, and ethnicity-Jesus Followers in the Roman Empire will help readers cultivate a deeper understanding of the identity, beliefs, and practices of early Christ-believers.

In this second volume of translations from the Iberian Fathers appear the works of two seventh-century writers. From the first of these, bishop Braulio of Saragossa, a figure in Visigothic literature second only to St. Isidore of Seville, comes an extensive collection of letters. These are variously addressed to Isidore himself, to other ecclesiastics, to Pope Honorius, and to King Receswinth; friends and relatives were the recipients of seven letters of consolation. Braulio's letters are joined by the Life of a near contemporary, St. Emilian, and by a valuable list of the writings of Isidore, under whom Braulio studied. Fructuousus of Braga is represented by two monastic rules. The first of these was composed for Compludo, a foundation made by Fructousus himself; the other rule is a general or common one. Two other writings dealing with monastic practice accompany these rules, together with a letter to King Receswinth. Nearly all of the material presented here by Professor Barlow is new to English readers, and all of it offers a lively and wide-ranging insight into conditions prevailing in the seventh century among the people, lay, clerical, and religious, of what later became Spain and Portugal.

The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Apocrypha addresses issues and themes that arise in the study of early Christian apocryphal literature. It discusses key texts including the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Peter, letters attributed to Paul, Peter, and Jesus, and acts and apocalypses written about or attributed to different apostles. Part One consists of authoritative surveys of the main branches of apocryphal literature (gospels, acts, epistles, apocalypses, and related literature) and Part Two considers key issues that they raise. These include their contribution to our understanding of developing theological understandings of Jesus, the apostles and other important figures such as Mary. It also addresses the value of these texts as potential sources for knowledge of the historical Jesus, and for debates about Jewish-Christian relations, the practice of Christian worship, and developing understandings of asceticism, gender and sexuality, etc. The volume also considers questions such as which ancient readers read early Christian apocrypha, their place in Christian spirituality, and their place in contemporary popular culture and contemporary theological discourse.