Bøger i Oxford Early Christian Studies serien

This book explores the theme of 'memory' in Augustine's works, tracing its philosophical and theological significance. It shows how Augustine inherits this theme from classical philosophy and how Augustine's theological understanding of Christ draws on and resolves tensions in the theme of memory.

This book examines how Gregory of Nazianzus, a fourth-century Greek writer famed as 'the Theologian' in the Christian tradition, expressed the mystery of Christ in terms of his own life. It studies Gregory's three genres of writing (orations, poems, and letters) and shows how Gregory developed an 'autobiographical Christology'.

This book examines the cultural and political history of the Church of the East, the main Christian church in Iraq and Iran. Philip Wood uses medieval Arabic sources to examine history-writing by Christians in the fifth to ninth centuries AD.

Marius Victorinus, a professor of rhetoric in mid-fourth-century Rome, wrote the first Latin commentaries on the apostle Paul, whose letters have played a vital role in Western Christian thought. This is an English translation of Victorinus' commentary on Galatians, which is a presentation of the apostle's passion for the freedom of the gospel.

Divine simplicity is the idea that, as the ultimate principle of the universe, God must be a non-composite unity not made up of parts or diverse attributes. Radde-Gallwitz explores how this idea was appropriated by early Christian theologians from non-Christian philosophy with particular reference to Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa.

The "De Officiis"of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (c.AD 339-397) is a key text of early Christian literature. Based on a work by Cicero, it presents the first systematic account of Christian ethics. Volume 1 of this edition offers an introduction, the Latin text, and translation, whilst Volume 2 gives a full commentary.

Dr Shuve offers a comprehensive analysis of the interpretation of the Song of Songs in the Latin-speaking churches of Late Antiquity, showing how it was used by bishops and theologians to illuminate complex problems of identity in relation to liturgical practice, doctrinal definitions, and ideas about the body and sexuality.

In life Jerome's authority was frequently questioned, yet following his death he was venerated as a saint. Andrew Cain systematically examines Jerome's idealized self-presentation across the extant epistolary corpus, exploring how and why Jerome used letter writing as a means to bid for status as an expert on the Bible and ascetic spirituality.

A reconstruction of how Augustine, one of the most famous and productive theologians in the Western Church, used the Bible, based on information in his writings and surviving manuscripts. Includes a commentary on Augustine's text and exegesis of the Gospel according to John.

Examines and reconstructs the anti-Chalcedonian movement in Palestine on the basis of one of its most important witnesses, the fifth-century "Life of Peter, the Iberian" by John Rufus. This book uses textual, as well as archaeological data to reconstruct the history of Peter, the Iberian and his significant role in the anti-Chalcedonian Church.

The letters of Paulinus of Nola and his correspondents show an early Christian 'web' of ideas in action. Catherine Conybeare examines how messages carried between members of a far-flung community helped to tie that community together. The letters reveal the profound impact Paulinus had in shaping the new Christian Church.

Arnobius of Sicca was a Christian convert writing under the persecution of the Emperor Diocletian. This study of the man and his writings demonstrates the importance of Arnobius' contribution towards the final triumph of Christianity against the Roman Empire.

Hermanowicz analyzes Possidius' episcopal career and the biography of his life-long friend St. Augustine, the Vita Augustini She challenges the widely-held view of Augustine dominating the theological landscape of North Africa, demonstrating how often his position was isolated on key matters of law, coercion and diplomacy.

John Cassian (d. c.435) brought the teachings of the Egyptian desert fathers to the Latin West. A. M. C. Casiday offers a revisionist account of his work, restoring the stories he tells to a position of importance as an integral part of his monastic theology.

Eusebius' magisterial Praeparatio Evangelica offers a defence of Christianity in the face of Greek accusations of irrationality and impiety. Aaron P. Johnson seeks to appreciate Eusebius' contribution to the discourses of Christian identity by investigating the constructions of ethnic identity at the heart of his work.

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.

A study of the writings of the late-4th-century Christian writer Ambrosiaster, whose works were influential on his near contemporaries and throughout the Middle Ages. Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe discusses his political theology and also addresses the problem of the author's mysterious identity, placing him in a broad historical and intellectual context.

This study of the largest extant source for fifth-century Antiochene Christology conclusively demonstrates that its fundamental philosophical assumptions about the natures of God and humanity compelled the Antiochenes to assert that there are two subjects in the Incarnation: the Word himself and a distinct human personality.

This significant study provides an English translation of two important ancient Christian commentaries on St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians: Origen's Commentary on Ephesians', written in the third century, and Jerome's Latin Commentary on Ephesians, written in the fourth century. The translation is accompanied by Heine's commentary.

Maximus the Confessor (580-662) was an important Byzantine thinker, the 'father of Byzantine theology'. This study describes his metaphysical world-view. The discussion covers Maximus' doctrine of creation, the Logos and the logoi, the cosmic order, the activities or energies of God, and how created beings may participate in God.

What happens to the body when it is deified? This book puts this question to St Maximus, the Confessor, the world's greatest master on the subject of deification. At the heart of Maximus's answer stands the transfigured body of Christ, the incarnate Word of God. In him, all creation is joined to God.

The early Eucharist has been seen as sacramental eating of token bread and wine in imitation of Jesus. This text suggests diversity in its conduct, including the early use of foods. It describes and discusses these practices, providing an insight into the history of early Christianity

Hilary of Poitiers is widely held to have combined his two separate theological works, De Fide and Adversus Arianos, to create his monumental De Trinitate. Carl L. Beckwith examines why - and when - this revision occurred, situating the text in its historical and theological context as part of a broader re-mapping of fourth-century Trinitarian debates.

St Maximus the Confessor is one of the giants of Christian theology. His doctrine of two wills was ratified by the Sixth Ecumenical Council in AD 681. This book throws light upon the problem of the two wills in Christology. It examines the meaning of the terms person/hypostasis, nature/essence, and will in the context of Christology.

This study examines the sixth century formation of the Syrian Orthodox Church. Menze shows that the separation of the Syrian Orthodox Christians from Western Christianity occurred due to the divergent political interests of bishops and emperors. Discrimination and persecution forced the establishment of an independent church.

This study casts light on the life of John of Scythopolis, the 6th-century theologian who composed a series of annotations to the works attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite (whose conversion by St Paul is mentioned in Acts 17:34). It surveys John's sources, methods and doctrinal concerns.

A study of how John Cassian, a fifth-century Gallic author, tried to direct and reshape the development of Western monasticism. Richard J. Goodrich focuses on how Cassian's ascetic treatises were tailored to persuade a wealthy, aristocratic audience to adopt a more stringent, Christ-centred monastic life.

A wide-ranging study of baptismal symbolism in the early church, taking as its starting point Arator's Historia Apostolica, a commentary in verse on the Acts of the Apostles, written in Rome in AD 544.

This is the first comprehensive study in English of early Christian methods for calculating the phases of the moon and the date for Easter Sunday to have appeared in more than one hundred years. It offers a new explanation of how the system of numbering the years AD (Anni Domini, Years of the Lord) originated.

Comprises an English translation and studies, which examine the emergence of monasticism in Asia Minor. This book compares "The Regula Basilii", translated by Rufinus from Basil's "Small Asketikon" with the Greek text of the longer edition, as a means to tracing the development of ideas.