An Ecofeminist Perspective on Ash Wednesday and Lent develops a conversation between classical historical Lenten practices and contemporary Christian ecofeminism. Building on David Tracy's definition of a religious classic, it includes a historical examination of the development of Lent and the Ash Wednesday rites beginning from wellsprings in the early church traditions of penance, catechumenal preparation, and asceticism through medieval and reformation expressions of the rite to their twentieth-century Episcopal iteration in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. In the discussion of ecofeminism, women's death experiences and current ecofeminist writings are used to develop an ecofeminist hermeneutic of mortality.

The Old Testament as Authoritative Scripture in the Early Churches of the East represents the latest scholarly research in the field of Old Testament as Scripture in Eastern Christianity. Its twelve articles focus on the use of the Old Testament in the earliest Christian communities in the East. The collection explores the authoritative role of the Old Testament in the churches of the East and its impact on the church's doctrine, liturgy, canon law, and spirituality.

This is a new and provocative study re-evaluating the history of the struggle between orthodoxy and heresy in the early church. Dr Williams argues that the traditional picture of Nicene ascendancy in the western church from 350 - 381 is substantially misleading, and in particular that the conventional portrait of Ambrose of Milan as one who rapidly and easily overpowered his "Arian" opponents is a fictional product derived from idealized accounts of the fifth century. Sources illustrating the struggle between the orthodox pro-Nicenes and "Arians" or Homoians, in the fourth century reveal that Latin "Arianism" was not the lifeless and theologically alien system that historians of the last century would have us believe. Dr Williams shows that the majority of churches in the West had little practical use for the Nicene creed until the end of the 350s - over twenty five years after it was first issued under Constantine - and that the ultimate triumph of the Nicene faith was not as inevitable as it has been assumed. Ambrose himself was seriously harrassed by sustained attacks from "Arians" in Milan for the first decade of his episcopate, and his early career demonstrates the severity of the religious conflict which embroiled the western churches,especially in North Italy. Only after an intense and uncertain decade did Ambrose finally prevail in Milan once the Nicene form of faith was embraced by the Roman empire through imperial legislation and "Arianism" was outlawed as heresy. This is an innovative and challenging book full of illumination new insights on the social, political, and theological entanglements ofthe early church.

Since 1963 the series Patristische Texte und Studien has been publishing research findings coordinated by the Patristics Commission, which today is a joint venture of all the German Academies. The series is presenting editions, commentaries and monographs on the writings and teachings of the Church Fathers.

Luigi Gioia provides a fresh description and analysis of Augustine's monumental treatise, De Trinitate, working on a supposition of its unity and its coherence from structural, rhetorical, and theological points of view. The main arguments of the treatise are reviewed first: Scripture and the mystery of the Trinity; discussion of 'Arian' logical and ontological categories; a comparison between the process of knowledge and formal aspects of the confession of the mystery of the Trinity; an account of the so called 'psychological analogies'. These topics hold a predominantly instructive or polemical function. The unity and the coherence of the treatise become apparent especially when its description focuses on a truly theological understanding of knowledge of God: Augustine aims at leading the reader to the vision and enjoyment of God the Trinity, in whose image we are created. This mystagogical aspect of the rhetoric of De Trinitate is unfolded through Christology, soteriology, doctrine of the Holy Spirit and doctrine of revelation. At the same time, from the vantage point of love, Augustine detects and powerfully depicts the epistemological consequences of human sinfulness, thus unmasking the fundamental deficiency of received theories of knowledge. Only love restores knowledge and enables philosophers to yield to the injunction which resumes philosophical enterprise as a whole, namely 'know thyself'.

This book contains the contributions to a workshop on apologetics in early Christianity which took place at the Fifteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies in Oxford in the summer of 2007. The workshop was arranged by scholars from Germany, Finland and Denmark who had for some time worked together in a project on early Christian apologetics. The aim of the workshop was thus to present and discuss some of the results and still unsolved problems which arose from this project. The book presents the contributions to the workshop. Hereby the editors hope to reach a larger audience and thus to be able to further the discussion of the topic of early Christian apologetics.

For someone who has exercised such a profound influence on Christian theology, Paul remains a shadowy figure behind the barrier of his complicated and difficult biblical letters. Debates about his meaning have deflected attention from his personality, yet his personality is an important key to understanding his theological ideas. This book redresses the balance. Jerome Murphy-O'Connor's disciplined imagination, nourished by a lifetime of research, shapes numerous textual, historical, and archaeological details into a colourful and enjoyable story of which Paul is the flawed but undefeated hero.
This chronological narrative offers new insights into Paul's intellectual, emotional, and religious development and puts his travels, mission, and theological ideas into a plausible biographical context. As he changes from an assimilated Jewish teenager in Tarsus to a competitive Pharisee in Jerusalem and then to a driven missionary of Christ, the sometimes contradictory components of Paul's complex personality emerge from the way he interacts with people and problems. His theology was forged in dialogue and becomes more intelligible as our appreciation of his person deepens. In Jerome Murphy-O'Connor's engaging biography, the Apostle comes to life as a complex, intensely human individual.

The first translation into a modern language of an important patristic text, Gregory of Nyssa's treatise on the inscriptions of the Psalms. The book shows Gregory's indebtedness to classical culture as well as to Christian tradition, and compares his early understanding of the stages of the spiritual life with that in his later treatises.

The shape and course which Christian thought has taken over its history is largely due to the contributions of individuals and communities in the second and third centuries. Bringing together a remarkable team of distinguished scholars, The Routledge Companion to Early Christian Thought is the ideal companion for those seeking to understand the way in which Early Christian thought developed within its broader cultural milieu and was communicated through its literature, especially as it was directed toward theological concerns.

Divided into three parts, the Companion

• asks how Christianity's development was impacted by its interaction with cultural, philosophical, and religious elements within the broader context of the second and third centuries.
• examines the way in which Early Christian thought was manifest in key individuals and literature in these centuries.
• analyses Early Christian thought as it was directed toward theological concerns such as God, Christ, Redemption, Scripture, and the community and its worship.

Russian Society and the Orthodox Church examines the Russian Orthodox Church's social and political role and its relationship to civil society in post-Communist Russia. It shows how Orthodox prelates, clergy and laity have shaped Russians' attitudes towards religious and ideological pluralism, which in turn have influenced the ways in which Russians understand civil society, including those of its features - pluralism and freedom of conscience - that are essential for a functioning democracy. It shows how the official church, including the Moscow Patriarchate, has impeded the development of civil society, while on the other hand the non-official church, including nonconformist clergy and lay activists, has promoted concepts central to civil society.

The ancient Romans believed that only proper polytheistic worship could maintain the "pax Romana," or "Roman Peace." In the first century A.D., a splinter sect of Judaism began to crack this wall, bringing upheaval, persecution, and conversion into the lives of Romans, Jews, Christians, and pagans. This exciting volume explores the emergence of Christianity in rome during the first four centuries of the Greco-Roman empire, from the first followers of Jesus Christ, to conflicts between Christians and Jewish kings under Roman occupation, to the torture of Christian followers, Diocletian's reforms, and Constantine's eventual conversion to monotheism, which cemented Christianity's status as the official religion of Rome. Supplemented by photos, primary document excerpts, biographies of key figures, a glossary, an annotated bibliography and an index, this volume is an ideal reference source for students and general readers alike.

Modern readers of the New Testament often notice its varying ideas about women. Some passages encouraged women to be submissive and remain silent. Yet in others, women characters owned property, headed households, or spoke with approval. Women in the New Testament World helps readers understand this conflicting evidence. It argues that social norms of the time encouraged traditional feminine virtues. However, as Susan Hylen argues, women in the culture enacted these virtues in a variety of ways, including active leadership in households, associations, and cities. In contrast to earlier approaches that divided the evidence into groups that either allowed or forbade women's leadership, this book points to a tension that was pervasive across different groups and regions of the Roman world. Society widely viewed women as inferior to men yet applauded their active pursuit of familial and civic interests. Thus, it was not the case that some women led while others were silent; instead, women were praised for modesty at the same time as they exerted influence in their communities. Elaborating on this rich historical background, Hylen illuminates new possibilities in New Testament texts.

«My Share of God's Reward refers to a quote from Ignatius of Antioch, speaking of the desired compensation for his impending martyrdom. The author investigates the roles and widely varying conceptions of the afterlife presented in early Christian martyrdom accounts and concludes that personal immortality is integral to the functioning of these texts, as the anticipated reward for a martyr's death. Accordingly, the very diverse conceptions of the afterlife presented in them are indicative of the frequently ignored theological diversity and experimental spirit prevalent in both early Christianity and late Second Temple Judaism. The discussion also incorporates a unique definition of martyrdom that recognizes the genealogical and developmental connections between Christian martyrdom and its antecedents.

The Early Church: An annotated Bibliography of Literature in English is designed for students and interested laypersons, providing them with a non-technical, informed survey of recent scholarly debate on major topics important to an understanding of the early church. Divided into twenty-six chapters, each with an introductory essay of 2-3 pages, the bibliography contains abstracts of about one thousand books and major articles dealing with the church from the beginning of the second century roughly to the end of the sixth. Specific chapters deal with the development of the cannon, conversion and missions, persecution and martyrdom, monasticism, church office, church and state, creeds, orthodoxy and heresy, regional forms of Christianity, church and society, Constantine and the Christian empire, Christology, women, ethice, Gnosticism, Jewish-Christian relations, Roman society and empire, art and architecture, theology, worship and the liturgy, and patristic exegesis. More general chapters introduce the reader to the basic reference works, including dictionaries, atlases, serials, patristic texts and general histories. The entries are extensively cross-referenced, and user-friendly codes direct the reader to introductory works, survey articles, bibliographies, and collections of primary texts. Each abstract indicates the number of pages of bibliography, indexes, maps, charts, etc., and most abstracts are followed by a list of book reviews, enabling the user to gain access to a wider evaluation of the work in question. Almost forty pages of indexes (general and modern authors) complete the volume, making this a key tool for those interested in the early church.

The idea of God the Father has attracted scholarly attention for centuries, especially in terms of the revelation of God's fatherhood through the Son. 'The Father Who Redeems and the Son Who Obeys' balances the Christological perspective on God's nature with the image of God the Father that has its roots in the Old Testament, and is more prominent in the Second Temple period than sometimes acknowledged. For Paul, God is the Father who redeems. The Old Testament imagery that shaped the Israelites' conception of God's interaction with them (and which was a basis for God's future restoration of the nation, despite their unfaithfulness) is central to Paul's explanation of the new salvific act of God the Father in Christ, the faithful and obedient Son.

A monumental work bringing together in an accessible and digestible form the current status of scholarship on the writings of the Eastern Fathers in the period between the Council of Chalcedon and the death of John of Damascus. The book covers an era in which pagan ideas still existed and in which the symbiosis between Empire and Church was so close as to make them seem almost one, with the Emperor in the East often playing a dominant role in religious matters, while in the West the authority of the emperors had faded, allowing the papacy to assume increasing authority. The domination of the East - reflected in the triumph of Greek over Latin as the language of administration - meant that Rome itself, and the Western provinces, were seen as rather provincial. The East faced different challenges, most conspicuously the range of theological ideas. Nestorian and Monophysite doctrines had not been suppressed by the Council of Chalcedon. New disputes arose, and in particular differences over the value of imagery. In the seventh century Islam became a major threat to the Empire, while Islamic ideas also carried weight in religious matters. The literature of the period can conveniently be divided linguistically and regionally. Following an introduction, major sections cover Constantinople and Asia Minor; the Greek Literature of Syria; Palestinian Writers; Alexandrian and Egyptian writers; Syriac Literature; Coptic Writers; Armenian Writers; Greek Exegetical Catenae; and Canonical and Liturgical Literature. While descriptions of major writers and their work is very extensive, most entries are much shorter. There are lengthy bibliographies, and the work is indexed. The Patrology is designed to follow the general approach taken by Quasten. The book is a fundamental work of reference, and makes a major contribution to patristic scholarship. The Editor, Angelo di Berardino, is Director of the Institutum Augustinianum in Rome and Editor of the Encyclopedia of the Early Church. Other contributors are: Pauline Allen (Catholic University, Brisbane) Maria Antonietta Barbara (University of Messina) Paulo Bettiolo (University of Padua) Filippo Carcione (University of Cassino) Danilo Ceccarelli Morolli (Pontificio Istituto Orientale, Rome) Camillo Curti (University of Catania) Salvatore Lilla (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Istituto Patristico Augustinianum, Rome) Andrew Louth (University of Durham) Gianfranco Lusini (Istituto Universitario di Napoli) Adele Monaci Castagno (University of Vercelli) Manel Nin (Pontificio Ateneo S. Anselmo, Rome) Tito Orlandi (Universita La Sapienzia, Istituto Patristico Augustinianum, Rome) Lorenzo Perrone (University of Pisa) Paul Rorem (Princeton University) Manlio Simonetti (Universita La Sapienzia, Istituto Patristico Augustinianum, Rome) Basilio Studer (Pontificio Ateneo S. Anselmo and Istituto Patristico Augustinianum, Rome) Karl-Heinz Uthemann (University of Utrecht) Sever J. Voicu (Istituto Patristico Augustinianum, Rome).

Over 330,000 copies sold. This is the story of the church for today's readers. Bruce Shelley's classic history of the church brings the story of global Christianity into the twenty-first century. Like a skilled screenwriter, Shelley begins each chapter with three elements: characters, setting, plot. Taking readers from the early centuries of the church up through the modern era he tells his readers a story of actual people, in a particular situation, taking action or being acted upon, provides a window into the circumstances and historical context, and from there develops the story of a major period or theme of Christian history. Covering recent events, this book also: Details the rapid growth of evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity in the southern hemisphere Addresses the decline in traditional mainline denominations Examines the influence of technology on the spread of the gospel Discusses how Christianity intersects with other religions in countries all over the world For this fifth edition, Marshall Shelley brought together a team of historians, historical theologians, and editors to revise and update this father's classic text. The new edition adds important stories of the development of Christianity in Asia, India, and Africa, both in the early church as well as in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It also highlights the stories of women and non-Europeans who significantly influenced the development of Christianity but whose contributions are often overlooked in previous overviews of church history. This concise book provides an easy-to-read guide to church history with intellectual substance. The new edition of Church History in Plain Language promises to set a new standard for readable church history.

The annual expenditure accounts recorded in this Register provide a marvellously complete picture of a Cluniac monastery during its last 60 years. A medium-sized house containing about 15 monks, Thetford Priory was well-endowed and under the patronage of the Howard Dukes of Norfolk, but the Register was probably compiled to help regulate expenditure at a time of financial strain. The accounts provide important evidence for many aspects of monastic and outside life, including liturgy, obits and corrodies, the provisioning of the household, farming, taxation, legal disputes, and entertainments. Part 1 contains an introduction, glossary, and accounts for the years 1482-1517. The accounts up to 1540, in which can be traced the priory's strenuous attempts to survive, will be published in Part 2, which will also include biographical and other appendices and full indexes. Together these volumes will provide an invaluable resource for historians of Norfolk and of monastic life in the run up to the Reformation.

Optatus, Bishop of Milevis in North Africa in the late fourth century, wrote a detailed refutation of Donatist claims to be the one true and righteous church, an ark of purity in a world which was still corrupt despite Constantine's support for Christianity. This new translation of Optatus's work is the first since 1917, and makes full use of modern scholarship in its annotation and Introduction.

Theodore, bishop of Mopsuestia, (c.350-428) stands out as the pre-eminent exponent of the School of Antioch's literal, historical and rational emphases in exegesis and of its staunch defence of Christ's humanity. At his death, he was hailed as one of the outstanding, prolific biblical theologians of his time. However, after his works and person were later condemned at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, he is known today primarily as the "Father of Nestorianism." This addition to the Early Church Fathers series provides in one place new extensive translations of Theodore's major extant works that have not been available in English up unto the present. It also summarizes the secondary literature and discusses at length the fundamental features of his theological thinking, especially regarding his method of exegesis and his functional stress on the union of Christ's natures as occurring in 'one common prosopon.' Frederick G. McLeod presents passages from Theodore's major works 'On the Incarnation' and his 'Cathechetical Homilies;' his commentaries on Psalm 8, Adam's creation, John, Philippians 2, Galatians, Ephesians, and Colossians; and his rejection of the allegorists and Apollinaris, as well as providing all the anathemas of Constantinople II against Theodore's works and person. This book will be invaluable to any scholar who wishes to read firsthand what this influential and controversial figure has actually written.

Theodore, bishop of Mopsuestia, (c.350-428) stands out as the pre-eminent exponent of the School of Antioch's literal, historical and rational emphases in exegesis and of its staunch defence of Christ's humanity. At his death, he was hailed as one of the outstanding, prolific biblical theologians of his time. However, after his works and person were later condemned at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, he is known today primarily as the "Father of Nestorianism." This addition to the Early Church Fathers series provides in one place new extensive translations of Theodore's major extant works that have not been available in English up unto the present. It also summarizes the secondary literature and discusses at length the fundamental features of his theological thinking, especially regarding his method of exegesis and his functional stress on the union of Christ's natures as occurring in 'one common prosopon.' Frederick G. McLeod presents passages from Theodore's major works 'On the Incarnation' and his 'Cathechetical Homilies;' his commentaries on Psalm 8, Adam's creation, John, Philippians 2, Galatians, Ephesians, and Colossians; and his rejection of the allegorists and Apollinaris, as well as providing all the anathemas of Constantinople II against Theodore's works and person. This book will be invaluable to any scholar who wishes to read firsthand what this influential and controversial figure has actually written.

Exploring the origins of Christianity, this book looks at why it was that people first in Judea and then in the Roman and Greek Mediterranean world became susceptible to the new religion. Robert Knapp looks for answers in a wide-ranging exploration of religion and everyday life from 200 BC to the end of the first century.

Survival, honour and wellbeing were the chief preoccupations of Jews and polytheists alike. In both cases, the author shows, people turned first to supernatural powers. According to need, season and place polytheists consulted and placated vast constellations of gods, while the Jews worshipped and contended with one almighty and jealous deity.

Professor Knapp considers why any Jew or polytheist would voluntarily dispense with a well-tried way of dealing with the supernatural and trade it in for a new model. What was it about the new religion that led people to change beliefs they had held for millennia and which in turn, within four centuries of the birth of its messiah, led it to transform the western world? His conclusions are as convincing as they are sometimes surprising.

The anonymous theologian known as Pseudo-Dionysius, who was responsible for arranging the angelic hierarchy into nine orders, had a significant influence on mediaeval European mysticism. This book places him in his religious and political context in sixth century Syria, and uncovers the hidden agenda which lies behind his writings. New evidence is presented to establish the dating of the corpus more accurately than has been done before. Rather than analysing the minutiae of Dionysius' thought, Rosemary Arthur focuses on his sources for, and treatment of, the Angelic Hierarchy and the Dazzling Darkness, with a view to ascertaining his motive for writing, his relationship with his opponents and his need to hide his identity.

Bede states in the first chapter of this work (De Templo) that the building of the tabernacle and the temple signifies one and the same Church of Christ. Yet this allegorical exposition of the building of the Temple, a paradigm of the genre, is relevant not only to biblical exegetes but to readers of diverse interests, including iconographers, and those concerned with mysticism or merely desiring spiritual nourishment. Even to those primarily interested in Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica, it affords an understanding of that work, for its ideas are there given flesh and blood - the two books, as it were, forming a diptych.