This is an introduction to the problems of reading Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-200), known as 'the first great Catholic theologian'. This book is a fully revised and extended edition of Denis Minns' standard introduction to the theology of Irenaeus. Readers will find it comprehensive, informative, lucid, and elegantly written. The book is chiefly aimed at those approaching him for the first time, but it is based on the most recent scholarship and provides much help for those who wish to work on him as a more advanced level. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-200) has been called 'the first great Catholic theologian'. As this book explains, the description is accurate, since the Christianity represented by Irenaeus is recognizably that of the Catholic Church, though unfamiliar in its primitiveness. The thought of Irenaeus represents an important stage in the development of Christian orthodoxy. Denis Minns explains why Irenaeus, the 2nd-century theologian, deserves his place in history. He explains why, though unfamiliar in its primitiveness, the Christianity represented by Irenaeus is recognizably that of the Catholic Church. Minns takes account of the recent scholarly work on Irenaeus and his period which has been done in recent years, but this book is principally an introduction to the problems of reading him. It is aimed mainly at those approaching Irenaeus for the first time.

Justin Martyr (c.100-165) was one of the key apologists of the Early Church. Oxford Early Christian Texts presents a new critical edition of the Greek text of the Apologies with introduction, English translation, and textual commentary.
Editors Denis Minns and Paul Parvis take a searching look at the text transmitted by the single fourteenth-century manuscript containing the works of Justin. They attempt to see behind the work of the Byzantine editor, and his predecessors, who sought to make sense of the badly damaged text before them. The commentary is designed not merely to annotate the text but to identify and draw out Justin's train of thought and the structure of his argument. It explains the readings adopted in the text by setting Justin's Greek within his Christian, Hellenistic, and philosophical contexts.
The introduction traces the complex history of the text in manuscript and print and discusses the puzzling relationship of the Second Apology to the First, and suggests a new solution. Justin is located against the background of the diversity of Christianity in the second century. A new understanding of Justin emerges from this work. His thought is often sharper, and his language more pointed than has been recognised, and the difficulty of the task he set himself of bridging the enormous gap between two cultures is clearly shown.

This is an introduction to the problems of reading Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-200), known as 'the first great Catholic theologian'. This book is a fully revised and extended edition of Denis Minns' standard introduction to the theology of Irenaeus. Readers will find it comprehensive, informative, lucid, and elegantly written. The book is chiefly aimed at those approaching him for the first time, but it is based on the most recent scholarship and provides much help for those who wish to work on him as a more advanced level. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-200) has been called 'the first great Catholic theologian'. As this book explains, the description is accurate, since the Christianity represented by Irenaeus is recognizably that of the Catholic Church, though unfamiliar in its primitiveness. The thought of Irenaeus represents an important stage in the development of Christian orthodoxy. Denis Minns explains why Irenaeus, the 2nd-century theologian, deserves his place in history. He explains why, though unfamiliar in its primitiveness, the Christianity represented by Irenaeus is recognizably that of the Catholic Church. Minns takes account of the recent scholarly work on Irenaeus and his period which has been done in recent years, but this book is principally an introduction to the problems of reading him. It is aimed mainly at those approaching Irenaeus for the first time.